Chapter 33

“Mate.” Lyle says , while at the same time Adam let out a growl of fury. “No! NO! NOO! Get him out of here and dispose of him.” He said to the two wolves holding Lyle captive. They began to herd him away from the fire pit and into the woods beyond. Amaris was not going to let him out of her sight. She knew that she could not let him die.

She started to run forward allowing every ounce of the energy she felt to flow from her.

Everyone in the fire pit area stopped and covered their face. The wolves hid their face in the grass. Amaris had begun to glow so brightly that she was blinding. She decided that it was the perfect time to take advantage of the distraction. She leapt forward and with one swipe was able to sever the cords binding Gran she then lunged to the side and went shoulder first into the wolf that was standing between Lyle and Gran. The wolf yelped in surprise and scurried out of the way, leaving an opening for Lyle to scoop up gran, give Amaris a brief look of love and worry and head off into the woods.

Amaris now concentrated on the other three wolves who were now guarded by the other wolf that had been guarding Gran and Lyle as well as the original group of wolves and Adam. Amaris stalked closer baring her teeth. Adam looked in her direction shielding his eyes. “Amaris, we can still work this out. You may have seen Lyle, but you have not marked him, or mated with him. My wolves are out in the forest. If you want to see your Gran again, and if you want your best friend and her family to live, then you will mark me and be my mate. I will only offer you this opportunity once. You do not want a weak wolf like my brother to rule by your side anyway. He does not know how to lead. When our father died, he was tasked with leading our people, he went down to the village to see you, and as soon as he realized you were his mate, he came running back and dumped everything on me and left to just be near you. He abandoned our people on a whim. He is not worthy. “ He said now standing upright and circling Amaris.

In the distance she could hear the howling. There were indeed more wolves in the forest. She wanted to go protect Gran and make sure that she was ok. She did not want Lyle to get hurt. She had not even gotten to know him, and yet the bond from that one look transcended everything. She also knew that Lyle was born to lead and that he was stronger than most wolves. He was a Beta after all. She was not sure how she knew all this, but there were a great many things that were beginning to make sense in her head that just a few days again she had no idea even existed.

Amaris decided that she needed to free Anna and her family, because she knew in her heart that was who these wolves were that were being held prisoner. Amaris wished that she could talk to Anna. She would be able to find a way out of this easier if she was able to communicate with her. I need to distract those wolves enough so that Anna and her parents can get past them, then if I can put myself in the way of the other wolves so they are blind, then Anna and her Mom and Dad would have a chance to flea, but I need them to follow Gran and Lyle so that I only have one direction to protect.

“Mari? Is that you?” Came a voice in Amaris’ head. She froze. ‘Anna?’ She thought. “Mari it is you!! How are you doing this? We normally can’t communicate in our wolf form.” The smaller of the three wolves was looking right at her now. She knew this must be Anna. “I don’t know how. I was just thinking that this would be so much easier if I could communicate with you and then I heard you talking to me in my head.” Amaris was concentrating on Anna now, not knowing if she needed to keep her in sight for this to keep working. There was the sudden noise of a branch breaking behind her, and Anna yelled in her mind “Look out!! Behind you, Adam!” Amaris whirled and with lightning speed moved out of the way just in time. “Whoa! How do you move so fast. Your a blur!” Came Anna’s voice in Amaris’ head. Adam had swung a log at her head. Amaris rushed at Adam and rammed him. He flew backwards in the air and hit the tree that was behind him. He had hit his head and was out cold. Amaris turned toward the wolves that were guarding Anna and family. “Anna, while their attention is focused on me the three of you run into the woods. Follow the same path that Lyle and Gran did. Okay?” Amaris really hoped that this would work. “Got it. Then what are you going to do to get out of here?” Anna replied concern coloring her voice. “Don’t worry. I will be right behind you.” Amaris reassured her. Although she was trying to reassure Anna, Amaris just realized she had no plan beyond getting everyone else out of there.

Amaris moved toward the wolf guards in a crouch with her teeth bared. They were clearly afraid. They did not know what she could do, and were afraid that she would kill them. Simply out of fear, they turned and ran off past the house and toward the woods on the other side. With the exception of Adam’s unconscious body, Amaris, and Anna and her family, the clearing was vacant. Amaris decided it was not safe to stay for very long, so she trotted up to Anna’s wolf and gave her a quick nuzzle and a nod to her parents and then trotted off in the direction Lyle had carried Gran off in.