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with the risk of being punished by the vice lord. And beyond that, few wanted to live out the rest of their lives in animal form, or take a human’s when they saw little advantage to it.
    The Lioness returned to consciousness with a snarl, with a furious struggling that ended when her head whipped around at the sound of Rebekka’s voice saying her name, projecting calm and urging her to relax and allow healing to take place.
    Kala subsided, claws retracting but body remaining tensed in pain. “You can let me go now.”
    The bouncer looked to Rebekka for conformation.
    “We’ll be okay alone,” she said.
    He released Kala and stood. “How long?”
    Rebekka fought the anger that came with knowing he meant how long until Kala can be sold again . She hated that in using her gift, those who worked in the brothels would endure more in a night than they could otherwise. That seeing Kala return to the dungeon, restored to health, perpetuated the belief among humans that Weres could take more abuse and would heal rapidly from it.
    The pure Were did heal by shifting between forms. Rebekka’s bouncers were rarely injured severely enough to need her.
    It was different for the prostitutes who couldn’t change. Rebekka’s function in the brothel was a guarded secret known to few outside those connected to them.
    A hard, cold fist wrapped around Rebekka’s heart, squeezing mercilessly, whispering in a demon’s voice, telling her that using her gift extended pain, allowed for the oily spread of human evil.
    No! she told herself, slamming the door against the insidious doubt caused by Abijah’s words. What happened in Were brothels was no different than what she’d witnessed when she lived with her mother among human prostitutes.
    “How long?” the bouncer asked again.
    “I don’t know.”
    He scowled and gave Kala a hard look. “I’ll be back in an hour if you’re not out on the floor.”
    Kala shrugged, though the hiss of pain following it revealed that it cost her. The bouncer turned and left the room.
    Rebekka placed her hands on Kala’s back again. Closed her eyes and resumed concentrating on the weave of flesh and muscle, the return of fur.
    Time ebbed and flowed, meaningless except her strength drained away with it.
    Exhaustion returned like pounding surf as she used the last of her reserves to mend the bone in Kala’s tail and close the gashes left by the whip.
    She would have stretched out on the floor if the Lioness hadn’t guided her to the cot kept in the room for use after a grueling healing.
    “Thanks,” Rebekka murmured.
    “I’m the one who should be thanking you. Do you want a blanket?”
    “I’m fine.” She wouldn’t be allowed to sleep long, but if she was lucky, it might be a while before another emergency arose.
    Kala knelt next to the cot. Rebekka forced her eyes open. Like Feliss, Kala looked fully human from the front. She was beautiful and sleek.
    And very interested in Levi, who worked as bouncer, guard, or bartender, depending on the need.
    “Is he working tonight?” Kala asked.
    Rebekka didn’t need to ask who. “No.”
    Feliss was the only other person beside Rebekka who knew Levi’s brother had been held in the maze, and even she didn’t know Levi had also once hunted there, or that he’d played a part in today’s destruction of it. Like Cyrin, when Levi was a prisoner, he’d had the head of a lion. In human form, he was unrecognizable even to the brothel clients who also visited the gaming clubs and had once watched him on big-screened television sets.
    “He’s working another job?” Kala asked.
    “No,” Rebekka said, deciding she needed to tell Kala something or the questions would never end. “He’s in the woods but I don’t know where.”
    “And Feliss? Is she with him?” It was said in a light tone, but the look in the Lioness’s eyes didn’t match it.
    Only years spent among Weres kept Rebekka from reacting to the hidden menace with fear. “She’s in