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of the week , she was supposed to meet Nathan on the edge of Bear Valley territory with information about this clan, and she’d gathered exactly nothing she could use against them. And the biggest part of her was glad she hadn’t. Maybe she could just make stuff up.
    “Here’s Daria’s house,” Hannah said, interrupting her troubled reverie. “We’ll wait out here, and then take you to Chase.”
    Just the mention of his name sent a trill of anticipation down her spine. Her stomach clenched and warm th spread through her middle as she imagined, for the tenth time today, his flexed body as he had washed his face last night.
    The door to Daria’s house was open and the fragrant smell of herbs and spices and dried lavender filled the air. The windows were open, filling the large front room with natural light and everywhere, plants in different stages of drying hung from the low rafters. She ducked under and upside down bushel of blood flowers.
    “Hello?” she called out.
    “In here,” came Daria’s reply.
    Anya made her way to a dining area, or what would’ve been a dining area if the table hadn’t been made into a sterile surface to receive patients.
    “You must be the Long Claw transplant,” an older woman with gray streaked hair pulled back into a ponytail said.
    Her smile was friendly and Anya relaxed. “I am, only arrived last night. I wondered if I could ask you some questions that I was unable to ask my healer back home.”
    “Sure, dear. Have a seat.”
    Settled across from the healer, she fidgeted, unsure of where to start. Best to just say it. “I haven’t had a heat in over eighteen months. I was wondering if that meant my child bearing years are finished.”
    Daria looked surprised, then patted her hand, which rested clenched on her knee. “Without a proper examination I’ll only be guessing, but I’ve seen this before. You were mated to Nathan, yes?”
    Mated to him? The term sounded more and more wrong, especially with everything she was learning in Bear Valley. Manipulated or misused sounded more like it. “I don’t know,” she said honestly. “I thought I was.”
    “And you weren’t the only female he had, correct?”
    A nod was all Anya could muster.
    Daria leaned forward, eyes serious. “Did he make you happy?”
    This was the question she hadn’t planned on. Happy? She didn’t even know what that was anymore. But if she admitted the truth, out loud, she’d never be able to go back to the way she was. Her admission would change something fundamental about her, and she wouldn’t be able to go back to living under Nathan’s thumb. If she admitted how unhappy she’d really been, her fractured world would crumble to dust and ash around her.
    “Anya?” Daria said, coercing the dreaded words from her throat.
    “No. I wasn’t happy.” Even to herself, her voice sounded weak and strangled.
    The healer didn’t look surprised, only sad and sympathetic. “You have to consider the possibility that you haven’t been in heat because your body isn’t in a good place to have a cub with that man. It’s a mental thing, Anya. Your body was telling you something, you just didn’t know how to interpret it. I can do an examination on you and have a better idea of what’s going on, but I’m fairly certain that is your answer. I’ve seen it three times before this, and every one was caused by stress and unhappiness, or some kind of emotional struggle. It’ll come back when you relax and get to a better place.”
    Anya’s ragged voice dipped to a whisper. “So you think I can still have cubs?”
    “You’re young and smell healthy. Time will tell, but yes, I think someday, when you are in a more relaxed atmosphere, your body will start working the way it’s supposed to again.”
    Daria had given her a lot to think about. She did want children someday, but if she went back to the Long Claws, would she ever be relaxed enough to resume her regular courses? There was so much pressure.