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Robb shook his head. “No, if that happens, you should definitely fly away.”

We will do no such thing, the brolga squawked. We will not abandon our mate. You are both being entirely ridiculous.

We will do whatever needs to be done, Tahnee replied, an edge to her tone. She wasn’t exactly happy about this, either.

Robb’s brow furrowed. “Maybe you should head back to the others now, anyway. We can’t risk you getting captured.” His expression serious, he went on. “More than anything, I think James wants revenge against me. I exposed him as the mole, and had him locked away. We’ve known each other for a very long time, and somehow, in his twisted mind, I think he thinks that I’m the one who betrayed him.”

“James can shove it up his arse,” Tahnee said. “He’s a Grade-A certified buffoon.”

A smile twitched at Robb’s mouth.

“Be that as it may,” he said mildly, “I think we can buy time by splitting up and sending him in my direction. I can lead him on a merry chase, as the people of Lyle Castle might say.”

“Nuh-uh,” Tahnee said, her tone firm. “You can’t get rid of me that easily. I feel safest when I’m with you.”

Holding up her hand to forestall argument, she continued, “If things get dangerous, I’ll fly away. But for now, I want to stay with you.”

Her tone softened in a way that she wasn’t used to.

“Please.”

Robb studied her face for a moment, before nodding.

“Fine. But you have to leave at the first sign of trouble.”

“Deal.”

There wasn’t any more time to argue about it, anyway, because the sounds of battle were getting closer.

A sudden thought occurred to Tahnee.

“I’ll just do a bit of quick reconnaissance,” she said. “In case there’s anyone actually still in the maze.”

She couldn’t stand the thought of luring James in there, only to find that she’d trapped some poor innocent person in there with him.

“Good idea,” said Robb. “I’ll see if I can get a quick call through to the team, so they know where we are and what the plan is.”

From her safe position behind the bakery, Tahnee shifted into her brolga form and launched herself into the air.

The hedge maze was close by – and, thankfully, it was empty. The castle grounds in general seemed to be a little less crowded now, some people making their way to the exits, though there was also a small but determined group of people watching the main battle and recording it on their mobile phones.

From her quick glance, it appeared that most of the combatants had stuck to their human forms, for which she was grateful. It seemed like the Hargreaves staff hadn’t gotten the memo about management not caring about whether or not anyone saw them shift.

Of course, Tahnee hoped that Robb’s team would shift if they had to – they had some pretty powerful shifter forms amongst them. But if they could at all avoid it, it would be best for all shifters everywhere. Tahnee didn’t want any scrutiny coming down on her, and she certainly didn’t want it coming down on her sanctuary.

… Or maybe, she thought, with sudden surprise, maybe there’s someone who did get the memo.

Because a giant cassowary was pelting pell-mell through the grounds, an inhuman, booming growl coming from its throat and almost seeming to ruffle Tahnee’s feathers with its sheer force and depth.

Unless that’s just an actual pissed-off cassowary, she thought dazedly. Could go either way, really.

The cassowary hurled itself headfirst into the melee, and Tahnee was pretty sure that it was on their side – though its attack was so frenzied that she couldn’t be certain.

I hope it’s on our side.

And standing in the middle of it all was James, still in human form, and looking supremely pissed off.

Coming back in behind the bakery, Tahnee shifted back into her human form just in time to hear Robb finishing up a hurried call with Hector.