Chapter 3

The forest outside the community walls was a different world. Darker. More dangerous. The trees crowded together, blocking out the sun, and the air was thick with the scent of damp earth and unseen predators. I had no food, no weapon, only the thin clothes on my back and the crushing weight of my sister's betrayal.

I didn't get far before I knew I was being followed.

A prickling sensation crawled up my spine. I heard the soft padding of paws on damp leaves, the snap of a twig too deliberate to be an ordinary animal. I broke into a run, my heart hammering against my ribs. I glanced over my shoulder and saw him-a feral leopard-kin, his eyes glowing with hunger, his lips peeled back in a snarl. He was one of the exiled, a predator who saw me as easy prey.

Panic gave me a burst of speed. I ran blindly, branches whipping at my face, my lungs burning. I didn't know where I was going, only that I had to get away. My foot caught on a root and I went sprawling, tumbling down a short, steep embankment.

I landed hard at the mouth of a cave, the impact knocking the wind out of me. I scrambled inside, pressing myself against the cold stone wall, expecting the leopard-kin to be on me in an instant.

But he stopped.

He stood at the entrance, his body tense, sniffing the air. A low, guttural snarl escaped his throat, but it wasn't directed at me. It was aimed at the darkness within the cave. After a moment of tense hesitation, the leopard-kin backed away slowly, then turned and vanished back into the forest.

I held my breath, listening. The silence was broken by a sound that vibrated through the stone and into my bones. A low, deep growl. It was a sound of pure power, and immense pain.

My eyes slowly adjusted to the gloom. And then I saw him.

He was magnificent. A cougar, larger than any I had ever seen, lay in the shadows at the back of the cave. His fur was the color of sand and rock, his body a coil of muscle, even at rest. He was covered in scars, old and new, a testament to a life of constant battle. But it was his leg that held my attention. It was horribly wounded, a deep, ragged gash that was swollen and red, oozing pus. The smell of infection was heavy in the air. He was trapped, too weak from the fever and pain to hunt, to even move properly.

This was why the leopard-kin had fled. This was the master of this territory.

My fear was replaced by a strange sense of purpose. In my last life, I had learned basic herbal medicine to treat the endless scrapes and sicknesses of my ten children. I knew the plants of these mountains. I could help him.

Slowly, I pushed myself to my feet, keeping my movements small and non-threatening.

"I can help you," I said, my voice barely a whisper. "I'm a healer. Let me help you, and you can let me stay. Just for a little while."

The great cougar watched me with intelligent, golden eyes. He didn't move, didn't make a sound. I took a hesitant step forward, then another. I expected him to lunge, to tear me apart for my audacity.

Instead, to my utter astonishment, he shifted his weight and extended his injured leg toward me. It was an offering. A sign of trust.

My hands trembled as I knelt beside him. The wound was gruesome, worse up close. It was deep, festering, and full of dirt and debris. I worked carefully, using a piece of my torn dress and water from a small pool in the cave to clean it as best I could. He flinched but remained still, his breathing a low rumble of pain.

After cleaning the wound, I left the cave. He watched me go, a flicker of something unreadable in his eyes. I searched the surrounding forest, my senses sharp. I found yarrow to stop the bleeding and plantain leaves to draw out the infection. I chewed them into a poultice, just as I had done for my children a hundred times before.

When I returned, he was waiting. I gently applied the poultice to his leg. He let out a soft huff of air and then, incredibly, he nudged my hand with his massive head. It was a gesture of thanks.

He was starving. I could see it in the hollows of his flanks. I knew I had to find food, for both of us. As I stepped out of the cave again, I noticed something strange. The cougar's powerful scent now clung to me, a wild, musky aroma that was like an invisible shield. The other predators of the forest would smell it and know I was under his protection.

I was no longer just an exiled woman. I was the cougar's healer. And for now, I was safe.