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me?”
    “You fell out of a tree, and tried to turn yourself inside out rather than be held safely,” Valen felt obligated to remind Aaron. “You’ll have bruises all over.” Especially around his wrists. That smooth skin would be darkened with marks Valen had left behind.
    Aaron averted his gaze. Obviously an apology for his unfounded accusation wasn’t forthcoming. They sat awkwardly in silence for several minutes. Valen kept sneaking peeks at Aaron. With his blond hair appearing silver in the night, he was simply stunning. Valen was intrigued.
    “Here. I’m so smart.” Rivvie loped over and handed Aaron a crudely assembled cup made of woven leaves. “Drink fast. I can’t make these nearly as well as our sister Ashley can. The water will all leak out.”
    Aaron took the cup and gulped the liquid down.
    “I hope I didn’t use toxic leaves,” Rivvie mused.
    “Ack!” Aaron spluttered, water flying everywhere.
    Valen sighed and rubbed his temples. “He’s joking, Aaron. Rivvie knows what’s poisonous and what isn’t.”
    Rivvie hummed in agreement before saying, “So if it was made out of toxic leaves then I’d have done it on purpose.”
    “Rivvie!” Valen shouted, pointing beyond Aaron. “Go sit by the stream and count stars or something, and for shit’s sake, quit talking! Before you ask, yes, that is an order.”
    Rivvie grumbled as he walked off. Valen waited until he deemed it safe then he spoke. “Rivvie likes to joke, and he also has trouble showing his anger outright. He’ll do it like that, picking and prodding at you until he feels like he’s gotten his revenge.”
    “What did I do to him?” Aaron nudged the cup away with his foot.
    “He’s my brother. You stole from me. Would you need to do anything else?” Valen studied Aaron. Humans looked just like shifters did when they weren’t in their animal forms. Except smaller, if Aaron and his accomplices were anything to judge by. “I’ve never seen a Human before.”
    Aaron tipped his head up until he was finally looking Valen in the eyes. “You’re really not going to kill me?”
    Valen couldn’t quite repress a sneer. “It isn’t shifters who destroyed the world with their aggression.”
    Aaron’s cheeks darkened noticeably even in the moonlight. “I didn’t do it, either, but I get it. We didn’t destroy the world, just… Just most of civilization, I guess.”
    And now shifters outnumbered Aaron’s kind. Valen wouldn’t point it out though because if humans didn’t know it, they didn’t need to. Finding out that they were a minority like that might incite some of them to attempt shifter eradication—something shifters used to fear much more before the End Times.
    “I’m not going to kill you,” Valen said. He took his time looking Aaron over then frowned at the pants with their fur-trimmed pockets and foot coverings. “What kind of animal skin is that? Why aren’t you wearing a shirt?”
    “Uh.” Aaron scooted away from Valen. “It was too hot for a shirt.”
    The scent of his fear hit Valen, the odor of it acrid and just wrong. There was also the hint of an untruth in Aaron’s answer along with a fierce blush on Aaron’s cheeks that spoke of embarrassment. Valen decided not to push on about the shirt. “I’m not going to hurt you.” Were all humans so fearful?
    “You might when you hear my answer,” Aaron muttered. “It’s, um, I think it’s from a coyote— We didn’t kill it!” he quickly tacked on.
    Valen squatted, hoping to ease Aaron’s fear somewhat if he weren’t towering over the man. “Wolves have been known to eat coyotes,” Valen said casually. “Not our favorite food, but it does happen. Wolves, not shifters, also have mated with coyotes at times. It’s an odd relationship the two animals have, I’ll admit. We aren’t friends, if that’s what you’re worried about. There are no coyote shifters.”
    “We still didn’t kill it. Last month, Yasim—he’s my cousin—was