Amaris followed Marco up to the building and around the front over by the office. Anna was sitting on the picnic table out front. When she saw Amaris she leaped up and ran to hug her. Anna’s parents walked out of the office with the office manager behind them. “Ah Amaris. I knew you had not gone too far. You look like you are all in one piece. I think you had quite a fright last night. Thanks Marco. I’m going to take her up to Lyle’s office. She will be safe with us.” Anna’s father patted Marco on the shoulder with his good arm. The two men grabbed each other’s forearms and held on in a show of brotherhood. “Keep an eye on her from now on! “ Marco laughed as he walked back to his old 1980’s faded blue Chevy pick up truck and got in. He pulled the truck up to where they were all standing by the picnic tables and leaned out the window. “I will let Lyle and the council know that you are on your way. I am sure they will have lunch for you all and then start the proceedings.”Marco then w
The ride up the mountain was marked by family sing alongs as was the usual with Anna’s family. They were always a lot of fun growing up. Amaris had gone on family trips with Anna and her family and they would go fishing or to the lake. They drove with the windows down. It was a beautiful, warm day. The mountain breeze made it pleasant. They wove up the mountain switchback roads toward Lyle’s village. As they drew closer she began to smell the smokey smell that lingered on the air from all the fires. When they had gotten within a couple miles Anna’s father looked at Amaris in the rearview mirror and asked her to duck down before they got into town. He felt it was safer for her not to be seen. Amaris took off her seat belt and got down on her hands and knees on the floor of the back seat. The good mood suddenly shifted and no one was singing or joking around anymore. They drove into town and the family saw for the first time with their own eyes the devastation that had been wrought just
Once inside the cabin seemed much smaller than it had the first time she was in it. There were so many people milling around that it was like walking through a dense forest. Amaris followed Anna’s parents to their assigned room. They were all staying in the same room. The room contained two sets of bunk beds. Anna grinned as they walked in the door, and ran to the side of the bunk bed and yelled “top” as she clambered up onto the top bunk. Amaris and her parents laughed as Amaris threw her backpack on the floor next to the lower bunk and laid down. She reached up and poked the top bunk mattress in between the slats “But don’t forget I have the best position all night. Anna giggled and rolled to hang over the side and threw her pillow at Amaris. “Anna Bomb!”“I think that’s an Atom bomb.” Everyone looked up to see Adam standing in the doorway with a grin. “I came to check and see that your getting settled in. Lyle is not here yet. He is still out with his team looking for Gran. When I l
Amaris did not like the fact that he was touching her so casually. She did not know Adam that well. She also did not want to insult him by simply shaking off his arm. As Amaris was about to remove his arm, some of the people that were staying there walked into the kitchen. They were laughing. When they saw Amaris and Adam, the laughing stopped. The young woman that was in the front stepped forward “Sorry, we forgot the chocolate bars.” She reached out and grabbed the chocolate bars that were sitting on the small table in front of Amaris and the group turned and left. Among them was Blethyn. She looked back at her with questioning eyes, and then followed the rest of the group out the door.Amaris walked forward out from under Adam’s arm and turned to face him as she leaned on the table. “What was it that Lyle needed to talk to me about?” “Not much, he just needed to explain to you what the plan is from here on out.” Adam walked towards here again, this time he was face to face with her
Amaris thought she heard Anna wrong. Werewolves?! “What do you mean?” Amaris was about to laugh. She thought that Anna was trying to lighten the mood with a joke, but one look at her face and Amaris knew that she wasn’t. “When there is a full moon, when there is danger, when we are protecting our pack. We turn into wolves. The dogs that you heard howling here and the ones at the hotel were a rival pack. They are the ones that are trying to stop you from coming to power. Since they think that you are the chosen one from the moon goddess that the legends talk about they want you for their own. Their leader most likely wants to make you his mate to form an alliance, so that the two of you will rule together over all the packs.”Amaris just sat and stared. What Anna was saying did not make sense and yet it fit all the weird stuff that had been happening. Anna and her family were werewolves, and that would also make her a werewolf. Amaris suddenly sat down on the lower side of the pile of
Amaris let out a squeal of delight and then wrapped her arms around Gran and gave her a big hug. “Your here. How did you get away? Are you okay?” Amaris was now holding Gran at arms length, afraid to let go of her. “I’m fine child. Lyle found me and got me out of there. We had to hurry to get back here before moon rise. We almost didn’t make it.” Gran took Amaris’ hand and led her over to the stumps from the circle around the firepit. “Sit down we need to talk.” Gran took a seat on one of the stumps and motioned for Amaris to take the one next to her. “Gran, Anna told me all about the werewolves. She told me just before we went into the meeting. I’m not sure what to make of it all. And do you know anything about what Adam said in there? He said that I need to choose my life mate tonight?”Gran’s face looked very worried. “This was why I did not want you to come here until after the first full moon. I was afraid they would try and force you to choose.” Gran shook her head with a look
Amaris immediately turned around to look around the cell. There was nothing in there, but the walls that were made of steel had huge gouges into the metal. You could see that it was very thick metal and it had been pushed in and dented. It made Amaris shiver. Is that what being a werewolf meant that she would become an uncontrollable beast that needed to be locked up once a month? Amaris turned back around to face Gran only to find that she was alone. Amaris ran forward and grabbed the bars and called out. “ Gran! Gran, where did you go? Gran where are you?” No answer came back to her. She was stuck in this cell, locked in. There was no way out unless someone came and let her out. Amaris felt a little dizzy. She sat down on the floor and leaned against the wall. She was down here all alone now. Why would Gran leave her here locked up? Amaris had no idea if anyone else knew that she was here, or what time it was. She knew what was coming from what both Gran and Anna had said and it was
Amaris did not know if the wolves in the woods were friendly or if they were the ones who had been hunting her. She decided that the best course of action was to run away, until she found someone that she could trust, and then she could stop running and let someone know where she was. She had only just realized that she had left Anna at the meeting without telling her that she was going somewhere. Not only that, but Adam had announce that she was there and that they were going to have a ceremony involving her so they surely would be out looking for her in the woods. She was sure when she had gone out the door that a few of the people in the back row had seen her go. She made up her mind to find them in the morning light and pretend that nothing had happened except that she went out for a walk in the woods to clear her head. Gran had warned her about trusting people and at this moment she was feeling a bit paranoid toward all these new people that she had met in the last few days. The
Amaris and Lyle sat at the table in the RV which had now become their home. They had settled into their life together on the run. They drove through the European countryside acting like all the rest of the tourists. They stayed away from areas that were known concentrated werewolf areas. They fell into their day-to-day routine, and Lyle had even taught Amaris how to drive the RV. Amaris was starting to show now, and Lyle was concerned that she did not have the proper doctor's care for her pregnancy. More than once he had tried to see if he could find a pack doctor that was willing to see her that was not loyal to the crown. However, they were in Europe, where the werewolves were most loyal to the King or Queen, since they were so close to them. He had not had any luck. They had not had any contact with anyone that they knew, as they had planned. Lyle had bought a burner phone in case of an emergency, but had not even turned it on yet so that there was no way to trace them. To further
Amaris bent down to see Anna at her feet holding her bleeding leg. She had changed back and was now naked. Amaris stripped off her hoodie and gave it to her grateful best friend. "Are you okay?" Amaris asked Anna while looking over to see if Lyle had moved. "I'll be fine. It's nothing Taji can't take care of when he gets back. Go check on your mate." Anna said watching the torn look on Amaris' face. Amaris looked back and gave Anna's shoulder a squeeze, and then hurried to Lyle. Amaris dropped to her knees between Lyle and The King's corpse. Lyle was breathing. It was as if he was asleep. Amaris knew that he must be like the others that she had brought back. It would drain her of her energy to do it. Then she took a look at the area around her. There were so many men and women that were injured and needed help. She knew that Taji could not do it all on his own. Amaris thought about how to heal them all for a moment, and then came up with an idea. She took a deep breath and closed her
Alexis and Andreas' men were attacking in their wolf form. They were coming in from every side, and from the look of it they had The King's men out numbered. The clearing was in an uproar with men and wolves everywhere. Before Amaris knew what was happening, Lyle had transformed into his wolf and leaped between her and The King. His muzzle wrinkled as he bared his teeth and growled in warning. The King looked at him and merely laughed. He reached behind him and grabbed the staff that he had back at the palace. Lyle seemed to recognize it and backed up a few steps. The King laughed at his retreat. "Smart lad. Hand her over and I will not have to use it." Lyle backed up a few more steps and this time he leaned into Amaris pushing her back too. The fighting was still going on around them. Many of The King's men lay upon the ground, and most of the rest were fighting two or three wolves now, since they were severely out numbered. Amaris saw that many of the wolves were making their way cl
Lyle walked around the back of the house to the UTV as the truck drove away. He climbed in and looked at Amaris. "Decoy." He said with a thumb over his shoulder. "Where did you find him? He looks like your doppleganger." Amaris asked amazed. "Funny thing. When I went to get some of those items that we needed earlier, he was the supply clerk that helped me. I asked him to help me out this evening by taking the truck out for a test drive to see if the repairs I made earlier are going to hold. I told him I needed to drive a short way behind to see if it was okay." Lyle laughed again. "So that poor guy has no idea that he is bait?" Amaris was getting ready to get out of the UTV. "I did tell him that since we were hiding out that we need to be extra vigilent for the possibility of attack, which is more likely since we have been here for a while." Amaris got angry. "Lyle, that poor man could get killed because they think that he is you!" She turned and yelled at him. "We
Amaris' mouth hung open for a moment, and then anger grew. "Who? Who whipped you?" Lyle turned to look at her, then down to the floor. "Adam and Sveta. They were made for each other. They are equally twisted and driven by their need for power." Lyle said with a dismissive tone and then almost mechanically started taking the rest of his clothes off. It was clear that he did not want to continue this conversation any further. Amaris walked over and lifted his face to hers from his bent over position. "I'm sorry." She said in a whisper that cracked from the emotion behind it. "I did not want any of this, least of all for you to be hurt." she kissed his cheek tenderly. Lyle dropped the clothes that he was holding and put his arms around her. "This is not your fault. Don't ever think that. This is not something that you chose. You were as much thrown into this as the rest of us. This is all the fault of the ones who have greed and lust in their heart. The ones who have
Lyle dropped it back into the pack and put a few things in from the pile that he had set aside to go into the truck. Then he grabbed the pack that Amaris was filling and sorted through her things. He found a tracker there too. "Well, at least we know it wasn't Kliman. He never touched your pack." Lyle said as he moved over to the doorway of the barn. Sitting against the wall of the barn were a few dozen hiking packs waiting to be filled. Lyle grabbed two from the end and handed one to Amaris. "Fill them with everything that you will need. Only one extra set of clothes, and a couple extra pairs of socks and underware. Food, and matches, and so on." Lyle was moving so quickly that Amaris was not sure what to grab first to stay out of his way. "Quickly! We need to do this before he gets back, or anyone else comes along and sees us." They both hurried and filled their packs and then Lyle took them both and told Amaris to stay there and he would be right back. While Lyle wa
When Amaris' hand touched the young man's arm she suddenly was transported to another time. It was night here. There was the unmistakable sounds of fighting. Growls, and yelling all around her. The young man that Amaris had just been talking to was in front of her hiding behind a tree. He held some sort of black box in his hand and loooked to be waiting for something. "Where are we?" She asked the young man in a whisper as she stepped closer to him. The man did not respond. He did not even look at her. She reached up to tap him on his shoulder. Her hand went right through him. Amaris jumped back startled. She stared at her own hand, and then tried to touch the tree next to her. Her hand passed through that too. She took another look around her. She realized that the man standing next to her was speaking. "They are leaving now. Green transport truck. She is hidden in the back under the tarp. Out" The man said. He was putting the box away and turned to leave in th
Amaris stood there frozen and watched the back of Gran as she walked out of the room. She slowly sank back down on the couch next to Lyle again. He still had not moved from his spot, but seemed to be in deep thought. Amaris brought Lyle out of his stupor by grabbing his hand. "Did she just say what I think that she said? Are we going to have a baby?" Amaris thought about what Gran had said 'Little ones'. What did she mean? Was she talking about our children in the future? Amaris felt just like she often had lately after talking to Gran, more confused. Lyle took a deep breath and turned to Amaris. "According to the tapestries that we saw earlier, you and I will have one set of twins. A boy and a girl. Like you they will also have powers. Which means that like you they will also be hunted by others for what they can do." Lyle hung his head. He did not want to think about his children being hunted anymore than he wanted to think about Amaris being hunted. Now it was Ama
Amaris sat back and looked at Gran who had a big grin on her face. Anna walked over and squeezed in between Lyle and Amaris. "Sorry Romeo, but we need to get this meeting moving, and you just can't help yourself." She said patting Lyle on the shoulder at his disappointed look. Lyle rubbed the back of his neck again and smiled raising his hands in the air. "Got me." There were a few laughs and then everyone turned back to Gran. "Well, as I was saying. We will be splitting up." Everyone gathered around her nodded. Gran had presented this idea already, and no one seemed to disagree with her. "Lyle you will be taking Amaris and hiding. NONE of us is to know where you are." Amaris' eyes grew wide and worry now crept in. Up to this point she had been able to stay safe because she had the help of a lot of people. She did not want anyone else to die, and she was afraid that she would get Lyle killed if he felt that he was her only line of defense. Gran pointed a finger at Amari