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Corian looked toward me immediately.

"Adult Kelvarin," I said. "Coming from the east. Fast."

Weapons appeared.

"Don't attack unless it changes targets," I added. "They protect pups aggressively."

Corian nodded once. "You heard her. Back slowly."

This time nobody needed reminding. We moved away from the pups just as vegetation exploded beside the water channel.

The adult Kelvarin came through low and hard, water spraying from its body as it landed on the bank. It was enormous compared with the pups, easily six feet from nose to tail, with dark blue-black fur stretched sleek over dense muscle. Webbing connected the toes of its broad paws.

It opened its mouth and released a sound that wasn't quite a roar, but something higher, sharper and somehow more threatening because of it. The adult moved between us and the pups, its aggression shifting the moment it saw all three standing. It pressed its nose to the smallest pup, then moved rapidly between the other two, checking each one before turning its bright eyes back toward us.

I kept my hands visible.

"We're leaving."

Corian didn't question it. "Back."

We backed away slowly. The smallest pup followed me. I stopped.

"Go."

The pup sat beside my boot, its ears twitching when the adult called. I wanted to reach down and touch it, but I kept my hands at my sides.

"Go on."

It looked at me once more, then bounded through the ferns toward the adult. Within seconds all four Kelvarin disappeared into the jungle, cyan markings flashing between the leaves before the vegetation swallowed them.

Ashter held his ground a moment longer, ember eyes tracking the space where the adult had vanished, before he dissolved. Smoke rushed up my arm and vanished under my sleeve, curling tight around my wrist again.

The ferns settled back into place like nothing had moved through them at all. My pulse hadn't caught up yet. I stood there staring at the space where four Kelvarin had been, waiting for my body to believe the danger had actually passed.

Nobody spoke for several breaths before Halver padded over in Veylith form and sat beside me. I looked down at him, and he looked up at me with an expression I refused to interpret.

"Don't start," I warned. His ears twitched, so I booped his nose again. Alex collapsed into laughter, and this time even Nykos joined him. Corian didn't. I knew why.

The humor drained out of me almost immediately. We still had the trap field behind us. The wire I had nearly crossed remained visible where Nykos had lifted it from the mud.

Dannian assigned two researchers to record the location and mechanisms while Alex floated the disabled power unit into a sealed evidence case. Nykos marked the route coordinates, and Corian sent Halver through the surrounding jungle once more to make sure whoever had built the traps wasn't waiting nearby.

I helped because standing around feeling guilty seemed worse, though it did nothing to ease it. Every time I looked at the wire, I saw the six steps Corian had mentioned, and six steps wasn't far. Once Dannian's team finished recording the final trap, I walked toward Corian while he tightened the strap around the evidence case. "Corian."

He looked up.

"I was wrong." His expression stayed neutral, and I hated him slightly for it. "I should have stopped the first time you told me."

"Yes."

Of course. He offered no rescue, not even a polite denial, and I met his gaze in silence. Corian's eyebrow lifted.

"Did you want me to lie?"

"No."

"Good."