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Keer’s up again, favoring one foreleg. He rushes Rauk from the path, and Rauk lets go of Axan to meet him.

They’re in front of me now, close enough that Keer’s tail brushes my shin as Rauk forces him back. Rauk’s breathing is loud over the snarling. His bitten leg shakes when he puts weight on it, and his blood’s on the leaves, but he gets both feet planted anyway. How’s he still standing.

Keer gets a mouthful of shirt at Rauk’s shoulder and hangs off it, dragging him down onto the bad leg.

Fuck this. I’ve still got the rock, so I go in again with it up by my ear.

Keer sees me coming this time. He lets go of the shirt, whips around, and snaps, and his teeth shut so close to my arm that I get his breath on my skin.

I know that snap. He’s done it to me plenty of times, and it means get back. He’s never landed one. It comes a lot closer without fur, though.

Rauk’s forearm catches me across the stomach and shoves me back a step. The rock goes out of my hand.

Hey. I was helping.

By the time I’ve got my feet, he’s in front of me and all I can see is his back.

His ears are flat into his hair. The growl drops so low that I feel it in my sore ribs, and he quits waiting for them to come to him. He goes at Keer.

Rauk doesn’t know what that snap was.

He’s got hold of Keer before I can get around him, one hand in the fur at his shoulder and the other under his throat, and Keer can’t pull free. Rauk flings him down beside a thick root.

Keer lands on his side and tries to get up, but Rauk puts a foot across his forelegs and forces him flat again. Rauk’s bitten leg is bent and shaking under him, but Keer can’t get out.

Move, Keer. Move.

Axan staggers away from the bank, and one front foot folds when he puts it down. He lifts it and bares his teeth, with blood dripping from his side.

Stay down, Axan.

Keer’s throat is right there under him.

Rauk draws his hand back, every claw spread.

I’ve seen where this goes, and I cleaned up after it. He’s going to kill my brother.

Keer jerks his head up to bite, and Rauk’s hand starts down.

I duck under his arm and come up between them with my back to Keer. “Stop!”

His hand stops beside my neck. The claws don’t touch me, and I stand there inside his arms with my good hand pressed to his chest.

Okay. Okay. He stopped.

He’s bent over me, breathing through his open mouth, and both fangs are bare. He looks at my hand on his chest, then at my face, and pulls his head back. He actually looks insulted.

“Rauk. Please.”

“They took you.” His eyes go past me to Keer.

It comes out so rough that I barely catch the end. He’s growling under it, and I can feel it through my palm.

“I know.”

He looks down at Keer again, and his foot’s still across my brother’s legs.

“They took you away.”