Free Shadow Assassins (The Second Realm Trilogy) by Melissa Vazquez

animal form. Large cats patrolled the perimeters of their traveling group. At the front was an older man with graying hair, a woman in the traditional Kkyathi warrior armor and a strange human male.
    Kikkaho ignored their strange visitor for a moment and ran to the two leading the group. “Father! Sister!”
    Her father held out his arms to her and she ran right into an awaiting hug.
    “Welcome home,” she said.
    The older man hugged her tight and gave her is own greeting. He was the chief of the Kkyathi tribe. In his older age, he rarely hunted with the others, instead, joining the hunting party to guide his daughter, Kikkaho’s half-sister.
    “I see you fare well, sis,” said the woman in leather armor.
    “Kirrah. Glad to see you as well.”
    Other greetings were exchanged among the Kkyathi and supplies were distributed. The slaughtered animals were brought into a large tent with several other supplies. The crowd disbanded into several of the cabins or tents.
    Kikkaho oversaw each of the tribe move, before turning to the strange male in their party. “Who is this?”
    Kirrah pushed ink-dark hair out of her golden eyes. “I found him on our hunting grounds. He’s a shape shifter, this one. I saw him shift out of a bird form.”
    “Why is he bound as if he were a prisoner?” Kikkaho asked, noting how his arms had been bound behind him with leather cord.
    The woman named Kirrah frowned, accentuating a small scar near her lip. “Khala’s idea. Useless really, considering he can shift out of it, but he has not moved yet.”
    “I’ll take him. Thank you for the successful hunt.”
    “Of course, my sister.”
    Kirrah’s voice was ripe with formality, but Kikkaho didn’t bother to correct her. Half-sisters they may be, but Kirrah had never warmed to Kikkaho at all. They were total opposites, inside and out. Kikkaho had been charged to lead the women and families who remained behind when the hunting party left to roam the woods outside their small village. Her father Korjah, the Kkyathi chief, insisted it was best for her to run the village, while he took Kirrah out and taught her how to lead the warriors. Younger than Kikkaho, Kirrah had war in her veins. She was the perfect warrior, while Kikkaho was the perfect diplomat.
    Unfortunately, that difference in their being meant that they had no other common ground to bond on. Kirrah made a rapid exit, leaving Kikkaho alone with the strange younger male.
    She turned to him. “Why don’t we untie you?”
    The man allowed her to remove the leather bindings before he backed off from her, his eyes wide in fear.
    “I will not hurt you,” she said calmly, meeting his eyes. “I am not a warrior like they are.”
    “What are you?” he asked.
    Her eyes widened. He spoke Kkyathi-Wereinsh, her native tongue! The way he spoke it sounded choppy, as if he either wasn’t a native speaker or was using a magical device to translate. Mage speak, it had to be. If he was truly a shape shifter as her sister had said, he must associate with mages to be able to use the universal translator of magic.
    “We are the Kkyathi, a werecat tribe,” she explained calmly. “You were found on Kkyathi hunting grounds. This is our village. What are you called, shape shifter, and how are you speaking our language so fluently?”
    “My name is Kaleb,” the man said after hesitating for a moment. What followed was a confusing series of events, something about coming from the First Realm, jumping through a portal and becoming lost. He explained the foul potion he had drunken before crossing over, which explained the fluency he spoke with.
    “Kay-leb,” she mused over his name. “Such a strange name. Well, Kaleb, you are safe as long as you do not threaten my people here. You are free to go as well, if you wish it. You are not a prisoner of ours. I hope you find your people.”
    Her words were a clear dismissal, giving him the option to leave if he chose. She expected him to do just that, as