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.
Lyle held his hand there a little longer. He did not want his friend to be gone. There was a faint flutter under the pressure of Lyle’s fingers. Very quickly Lyle handed Amaris to Jason and ordered him to lay her on the couch and told Anna to stay with her. Anna did as she was asked with tears rolling down her cheeks. Lyle turned back to Marco and found that he was not breathing. He started CPR. Lyle worked for no more than a minute or two and Marco started breathing on his own. He had come to. He was a little groggy, but he seemed to be healed. They helped him up into the recliner that was next to the couch. Lyle reached over and touched Amaris to check that she was still ok. Christos, who had been standing back watching the scene, now came forward and looked at both Amaris and Marco. “What happened to you?” He said speaking to Marco. Marco looked at Christos. “I decided to take the tunnel that you came out of and go back to the temple while the gunman followed all of you. I thought
Lyle followed Christos up the hallways and tried to keep track of all the bends and turns, but he had to admit that since he was not familiar with the city or the tunnels that he was thoroughly lost. Marco tapped Lyle on the shoulder. “Where are we going? And where did Anna and Taji go?” Lyle came to an abrupt halt and Marco and Jason nearly collided trying to avoid him. Christos stopped too and came back. “Hurry! We do not have much time.” Christos urged. “Where are Anna and Taji?” Lyle said in almost a growl. His arms reached out for Amaris. Christos looked down at the unconscious girl and handed her over to her mate. He had no wish to start a fight now. He knew that Amaris would be safe with her mate. “Taji went back to find the final tapestry.” Jason said from the back of the group. All heads turned to look at him. “Are you crazy!” Lyle exploded “They can’t go back to the temple now!” Jason was shaking his head. “Over the last twenty years the guardians realized the importance of
As the door rose everyone scrambled to find a weapon and cover. They were all strapped in so it made it difficult. The small group were ready to leave. Jason mind linked everyone. As soon as the door is halfway up, start the engine and put it in gear. We leave on my signal. Stay close. “. Amaris saw Jason speaking into his wrist watch. The lights inside suddenly dimmed very low. If her eyes had not been used to the dim indoor lights she would have been blind. Looking back to the door Amaris was able to see that there were at least a dozen pairs of legs standing there. Panic rushed through Amaris at the thought of being out numbered. The door had risen to waist height when one figure leaned down and peaked under the door. Amaris let out a sigh of relief. It was Anna’s grinning face looking back at her from under the door. She quickly scooted under the door and ran to Amaris and wrapped her in a hug. “I am so glad to see you. We brought back up!” She said with a wide smile. Anna pointed
Gunfire rang out across the expanse and everyone in the dune buggy ducked. Coming in from the west, a second helicopter darted by between the dune buggy and the first helicopter. The helicopter changed its angle to get a better shot at the new intruder. “Okay. We have their attention. Put that pedal to the floor and get to the mountain. I am not sure how long I can hold them off.” It was Taji. He had used his helicopter as a distraction to give them time to get to the mountain. Amaris did not remember any of those helicopters having weapons on them. Lyle took off sprinting the dune buggy in the direction of safety. Taji swung his helicopter around to reveal two of the men that he had brought with him. They were holding a large machine gun in place. It was the kind that was meant to be mounted to the deck but clearly they had not had time. As they fired at the enemy helicopter the gun bucked and the men strained to hold it in place and aim at their target. Their attempt went wide of
Amaris gave a sigh of relief. From the little she knew about Lyle, she knew that he had been very close to his father. While she had never seen the watch before she knew it must hold a lot of sentimental value for him. Taji spread out on the table and everyone gathered around him to watch him work. He laid out his tools with care. He picked up the watch and examined it. He took out the jeweler’s loop and looked more closely at the outside of the watch. Taji put his hands down, turned quickly and shot a quizzical look at Lyle. He then went back to inspecting the watch. “Where did your father get this watch?” Taji asked turning to Lyle once again. “My father returned from a business trip and he had gotten it. It was always very special to him. He was never without it. When I got older he made it clear that I was to inherit the watch and my brother to inherit the coat of arms that was made specially for our family. He brought that back with him from that same trip also. “ Lyle had now m
The three walked together out across the hanger floor and around the helicopters that she had seen earlier. They crossed completely to the other side of the hanger, to a door that Amaris had not noticed before. Walking out into yet another stone hallway, they met up with the rest of the group who were already wearing their haversacks. Amaris released Anna’s hand with a smile and walked over to where Lyle was standing waiting for her. He had very gentlemanly swung both haversacks on, one over each shoulder. “Let’s get moving. We have taken the tracker out of Lyle's watch and disabled it. They will know now that we found it, but I am sure that they are gathering ground support, as we speak, to come back here as quickly as possible. We need to be gone before they arrive. Taji your men will also bug out shortly.” Taji nodded and stepped back to speak into his watch. He walked back to the group a few seconds later. Christos turned and walked down the hallway which ended in a do
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