“Hey guys! How is it going?” Came a familiar voice into both of their heads. “Oh my god!! I love Greece! You are never going to guess what!!” Silence. Startled, Amaris and Lyle had flown apart. Lyle standing up on the floor next to the bed and Amaris grabbing a pillow from the bed and rolling away to cover herself. Both were breathing heavy, looking around the room. “Guys? Are you asleep?” It was Anna. Both Amaris and Lyle looked at each other and burst out into laughter. The voice had scared them. “We are here Anna. What's going on? DId you find out anything?” Lyle answered. “Are you okay? You sound out of breath. Who knew that you could sound out of breath in your mind.” Amaris’ face flushed bright red like she had been caught, even though Anna could not see a thing, she felt like she had been caught. “No this place has a lot of stairs.” Lyle said with a big grin on his face. “Oh wow! Well we are here at the bakery. This place has the most amazing bakla
Amaris opened her eyes. She was warm and snuggled up to Lyle’s side. She had her head on his chest, and his arms were around her. She had a warm glowing feeling. It felt like it was radiating out of her. There was also this strange connection now between her and Lyle that had not been there before. It was like. She could feel exactly what he was feeling. The joy and contentment coming from him was overpowering. She could not help but feel that way too. She decided to get up and take a shower. She needed to wrap her head around what she and Lyle had just done. She did not regret it, but it did mean that so many things in her life had just changed. She still had no idea about what was so special about her that people were willing to kill to get to her. She hoped now that she and Lyle were mated that much of that would stop and that she would be able to find out what the rest of the prophecy was and be able to go back to a normal life and settle down with her new ... Husband? No that was
Christos led the trio around the corner at the end of the corridor into an underground aqueduct. It was used as a way to bring goods in and out without being seen. Christos went to the row of boats and began untying all of them. He pushed all but one of them out into the flowing water and motioned for Amaris and Lyle to get into the last one. It was a gondola. There were not many of these to be found here since the island was so small and there were no canals for them to be used in. Christos moved to the back of the narrow boat and grabbed the forcola and began to propel the tiny boat in the direction of the mouth of the tunnel. The opening was opaque and it was impossible to see where they were going. They could not risk a light or they might be seen. There were footsteps pounding down the stairs. The sound tapered off as they went further in. The tunnel was dark. They could see absolutely nothing. The only thing they could hear was the moving water and the gentle circular motion of
“Well, Mari warned us just in time. We started to turn back, and then the guys with the gun showed up. They started firing on us right away. They definately had no intention of taking us hostage or even letting us live. Lucky for us they can’t shoot the broad side of a barn.” Anna tried to ease the tension on Amaris’ face. “We were able to take a secret pathway that Jason knew about behind one of those carvings. The guys with guns must not have seen us, because we got away. Then Lyle reached out to Marco and told him to meet us here, so here we are.” Anna said holding her arms out like a gameshow host.Amaris run up and gave Anna another hug. Then she rounded on Lyle. “Why didn’t you tell me you contacted them?” Amaris vented her frustration. “Yes. I’d like to know that too. You told us you did not have your cellphone.” Christos added looking at Lyle. Lyle shot a look at Anna and Amaris who suddenly realized what they had just done. Lyle now walked over to stand next to Marco. He tur
Christos relayed his plan to the whole group through the mind link. The men had stopped firing and were just waiting, but he was sure that they were not going to wait forever. “Surrender the girl and the rest of you can go free.” A voice came from the other side of the rocks.” Amaris got nervous. They could all go free if she just surrendered herself. No one else would get hurt. Lyle seemed to know what she was thinking, because he put his arm around her and pulled her close. Leaning down to whisper in her ear. “You are not going anywhere. We will all get out of here and we will ALL be fine.” “Come on it’s time to move.” Christos said. He waved Amaris and Lyle ahead of him and they were able to continue down the line of boulders to the bank. Men began to come out of the tunnel that Amaris, Lyle and Christos had emerged from earlier. They would now have men moving at them from two sides, and if they did not get out of there now that would give their assailants more time t
The temple ruins consisted of pillars. Most of them were broken, but there were three in the back that had been restored and the cap stones replaced. They still had to get down the hill and then across the open lot. Amaris could not see anywhere to hide once they got down there. “Where do we need to go Christos?” Lyle asked as if reading Amaris’ mind. Christos pointed toward the center of the ruins where the pillars stood. The group moved down the hill as fast as the terrain would allow. The loose scree toward the bottom of the hillside slowed them up considerably. Metallic banging came from the top of the hillside where they had just come from. The gun men had reached the grate, but it was apparent that they could not get past the padlock either. No one seemed to question when Amaris had opened a combination lock she had never seen before without even looking at it. That was an impossible feat. One that was emphasized now by the gun fire coming from the area of the grate. The gun men
Taji holstered the gun in the back of his belt and walked to the window where Christos had been keeping lookout moments before. “I will lead. Girls you follow close unless I wave you off. Lyle you cover the flank. Stay together. We are heading for that black Rover.” He sent to everyone. They stood in silence at the ready waiting for the diversion to start. A loud boom followed by a great plume of dirt and rubble on the far side of the adjacent hill. Every head in the parking lot turned and then they all started moving toward the explosion. Taji motioned with a grin, “I guess that’s our signal. Why does Jay always get to play with the explosives?” He said half jokingly. They all moved out the door and to the right. The Rover was not too far off and they all got to their doors quickly. Rather than automatically unlocking it, he used the key inside the fob and pushed the unlock button on the inside of the driver’s door once it was open, so the car would not beep and draw attention. Everyo
Anna and Amaris sat on the couch and waited while the three men sat at the table in the apartment. It turned out that this was Jason’s apartment and Anna had told Amaris that Taji lived right across the hall. They were all trying to think of what to do next, while hoping for Marco to reach out and let them know that he was alive. Anna had sent a text to her parents telling them to call so that they could be in on the discussion as well. Anna was visibly nervous. She had not yet told her parents that she had completed the mate bond with Taji. She was not sure if they were going to be happy about this or not. Especially since he was not a wolf that they knew and he lived half way around the world. The men were reviewing a map that Jason had of the entire site. It showed the temple, and the ruins, as well as many of the buildings surrounding them. They were still not sure what happened. How did the gun men get into the temple. How did they even find the temple or any of its entrances.
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