Lucas glanced at Alex.
Alex shrugged helplessly. He does that. You're one of his now. There's nothing to be done.
Lucas looked down at the small serpent pressed to his ribs, and something in his face—carefully composed all morning—went briefly soft.
Sally found Alex by the fire sometime around midmorning.
She sat down next to him without preamble, stole the strip of dried meat he'd been eating, and said: "So. Four mates now."
"I know."
"You started this trip with three and you somehow left with four."
"Sally—"
"I'm not judging," she said quickly. "I'm genuinely just—I'm trying to understand the math here. Is this going to keep happening? Are we going to visit the lion lord and come back with five? Do I need to start building bigger sleeping quarters in this theoretical sanctuary of ours?"
"He saved my life," Alex said. "Lucas. He took a—"
