The inside was surprisingly like an ordinary house. They were in an entry foyer that had a marble floor with a mosaic design in it. It was a design that at first glance looked like an olive branch with a large number of leaves. Once you walked closer, the scene changed and it took on the shape of a wolf's head with green eyes peering through the foliage. The eyes were so realistic from that point of view, it unnerved Amaris. It felt like the wolf was really watching you. Christos paid no attention to the foyer and moved through the room quickly, having been there many times in his youth. The rest of the group followed single file Amaris was almost the last to leave. Lyle was still there and again he seemed to sense her feeling of being unnerved and put his arm around her shoulder and steared her away from the mosaic and out of the room. Once she was out of the room, Amaris felt better. Christos had led the group into a very comfortable looking living room with a large sto
Anna bounded forward and ran her hand down the marble counter along the wall. The three center islands were all stainless steel, but each one was set up as a station for making different types of things. One was clearly for meats, the middle one for vegetables, and the far one was for desserts. "Oh Taji will love this!" Anna spun around in a circle with a big grin on her face. "I am glad you approve." Christos said with an appreciative grin. The pantry is through that door over there. It has been well stocked. Do not use anything from this fridge or the freezers." He pointed to a big cabinet next to him. The girls agreed and Christos left to go get the others settled. "What do you want to make?" Anna asked looking like she was ready to sprint laps around the kitchen. Amaris walked toward the pantry door, Anna right behind her. She opened it up and both their faces fell. It was stocked floor to ceiling with MREs. "Really!" Anna exclaimed in disgust. "Don't these guy
Lyle and Amaris pulled stools over to the counter next to where Anna sat. Each of them grabbed up a bowl of stew and began to eat in silence. When everyone was done Amaris collected the dishes and began to wash them in the sink. Lyle got up. Looking for something to do he walked over to the stove and started the ketlle. "You look like you could use another cup of tea." He said to Anna, taking her cup from her as she finished the last dregs. "Amaris would you like one?" Lyle said as he began to move across the kitchen to the counter where the box of tea bags sat. He looked like he was moving in a daze, just looking for something to keep busy. Without waiting for an answer he opened the supboard and took out 2 more mugs. He continued to busy himself.Amaris finished washing the dishes lost in her own thoughts. Now that Anna was clearly out of danger and they were back to normal, Amaris realized that she could feel strong emotions coming from Lyle. A profound sense of sadness
The control room was a series of monitors and keyboard stations that had surveylance from all the cameras on the property, but also from other cameras in places that Amaris recognized from around the island. Marco, Taji, and Jason were there, but no Christos. They were all seated at different workstations. They had turned around to see who had just walked into the room. "Anna is going to stay with you guys now that she is feeling a little warmer." Lyle said to them as the girls walked into the room. Taji spun his chair around the rest of the way, and opened his arms. Anna went to him and he sat her on his lap like a little kid. Taji wrapped his arms around her and then spun them around in the chair like a merry-go-round. Anna let out a giggle and started yelling for him to stop or she would get sick. Lyle reached down and took Amaris' hand. Without another word, turned and walked out of the room. Marco stared after them worried. Lyle walked Amaris back the way that the
Christos stood by the table and waved Amaris and Lyle over to him. Lyle finally moved from the spot that he had been rooted the entire time. He placed his glass down next to Christos' and walked over to stand next to Amaris across the table from Christos. "This first tapestry depicts the foretelling of you being born. It reads... The daughter of the shadow rulers shall be begotten on the night of the brightest moon and shall be born on the same. A descendent of the gods, it will not be known to her what she is, but she will have many wishes for the lycan. With a power unknown to her she will lead them all together into one." Christos paused there to let what he had just read sink in. This was the thing that had lead to the death of so many including her own parents who she never even got the chance to know. Amaris could no longer hold her tongue. "This is it? This is why so many people have been killed? Why they have hunted me? This could be almost anyone!" Amar
Amaris started to shake her head and rose out of her chair. "NO! No. Nope. No way! I am not going to be some oracle that stuck in a cave year after year to have dreams for others to interpret and make or destroy other people's lives." Amaris was so mad she even pounded her fist on the wooden mantle that she was now standing next to. Christos looked afronted, but Lyle looked like he was about to burst out laughing. "What? what is so funny?" She said, now on the defensive. The grin that had surfaced suddenly vanished as Lyle realized the depth of her anger and fear. He got up and walked across the room and took her in his arms. "I'm sorry. It's not funny really." He said pulling back to peak at her face. "You do have to admit, out of all the serious stuff that Christos just told you, that is the one that you draw the line on?" He looked at her amusement starting to show on his face once more. Amaris stopped and began to smile. "Ok when you put it like that it does sou
Anna led the other three back to the control room. When they arrived the three men were in a conference at one computer. All three heads jerked up and looked to see who entered. Anna bounded with a smile to stand next to Taji who stood hunched over at the back. He straightened up and opened his arms in welcome to her. "Anna says you guys found something." Christos says cutting right to the point. Amaris looked around the room. All of them were looking very tired. This constant chase was begining to wear on them. Looking at Lyle, who had come to stand next to her, he looked like he had aged 10 years in the last couple days. Lyle noticed her looking at him, and her concern must have showed on her face. His look of love and that smile that filled her with warmth and strength. She reached for his hand and gave it a squeeze before turning her attention to the others in the room. Marco had started talking and pointing to the screen. "Anna came up with the idea to use the so
The room fell silent waiting for Lyle's response to the news. Since there was none, Christos decided that they should all head to the kitchen and have some dinner. This time he surprised everyone and pulled some frozen pizzas out ansd popped them into the oven. While they were cooking, they started their planning session for the next day and started giving out night watch assignments. It was decided that they would split the night into 1 hour shifts per person with the two couples going first as a two hour block each, together. They made short work of 3 large meat lovers pizzas and one cheese pizza for Amaris, of which she only had 1 piece. The twins just about ate one whole pizza a piece, but they were very funny telling stories of when they were little and all of the crazy antics that they got up to. Amaris saw that Lyle visibly relaxed some, but did not paraticipate in the conversation. Finally the food was gone and the kitchen cleaned up. Christos showed everyone to their
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