Chapter 52
The front door opened and out walked a bear of a man with a huge dark beard flecked with grey.. His cheeks were rosy. If his beard was grey he could have been a stand in for Santa Clause. He smiled at them warmly and greeted everyone. Upon seeing him closer, it was clear that this was a jolly man and seeing his sharp eyes, he was one who did not miss anything. He shook Lyle’s hand and kissed Anna and Amaris’ hand as they each went to shake his. He and Marco embraced like brothers and Horis left his arm around Marco as they all walked inside.
Everyone else followed. The front room was a large open room with a cathedral ceiling. It was grand but comfortable and welcoming. There was a lofted second and third floor. The second floor railing continued to either side and into the greenhouses. The smell of earth and a sweet floral scent permeated the house.
Horis led them in through the back of the living room around an enormous fireplace. They walked into the dining room which the double sided fireplace also faced. The kitchen was open to the dining room and the entire back wall was glass. The whole wall was a row of sliding doors that could move to open the entire back of the house to the outside. From where they were standing you could see that there was also glass on the sides of the room that led into the green houses on either side. Dense foliage was visible. You could see standing above the banana fronds a lemon tree with the ripe brightly colored fruit almost ready to pick. Looking to the other side the green house was full of vegetable plants growing in great hydroponic cylinders. Horis noticed Amaris staring at the bountiful plants. “We are almost completely self sustaining here. The house and green houses are geothermal, and we have solar power, we also grow almost all of our food here. My wife and I work mostly as computer programmers for large corporations so we do not need to leave the house, and it pays for the things that we do not provide our selves. Except for the internet connection and cell phones, we do not go out at all.” Amaris was amazed. They were able to lock them selves away and completely take care of themselves. Right now the idea seemed appealing to her.
“Well my old friend, who am I making papers for?” Horis turned to look at Marco as he grabbed some glasses out of the cabinet. “Amaris here and Lyle.” Marco points first to Amaris and then to Lyle. “Ok you two follow me.”
"What about me?" Anna said from behind Lyle. "Oh, yes. I almost forgot." Lyle reached into his back pocket and pulled out a small book and handed it to Anna. "Here. I grabbed this from your house for you." Lyle handed Anna her passport. "Good. Well let's get you two taken care of." Horis reached in the fridge and pulled out a large glass pitcher of a blueish liquid. He places it on the counter next to the glasses and then took some cookies out of a cookie jar and placed them on a plate. “You two make yourselves at home. Help yourselves to Angel’s famous spice cookies and some homemade blueberry lemonade. We have had a bumper crop of both this year.” Horis starts to walk out of the room. He paused to wave for Lyle and Amaris to follow him back out to the living room. He continued out of the kitchen and then up the stairs that are at the side of the main room.
There was a large office at the top of the stairs. It had walls full of books, and there was a large wooden desk in the middle of the room. Horis walked to his desk and pulled open one of the drawers, and pulled out a remote. He walked to the other staircase and walked halfway down and he pressed the remote. A bookcase in the wall opened up. Amaris was surprised to see this somewhere else. “Does everyone have secret tunnels and rooms? Until a few days ago I had never seen this before.” Horis and Lyle both laughed. “Yes many of us have secret hidden rooms or tunnels for escape routes. Horis was where Marco got the idea and he told me. It was a continuation of the old tunnels that had been in the village for centuries. They have saved us several times just in the last few days alone.” Says Lyle.
Horis ushered them in and Amaris saw they had walked into what looked like a combination photo studio and printer's shop. Amaris looked over at Lyle. He was very handsome, and the familiar tingles began as she looked him up and down. Those broad shoulders and such a cute well defined butt. Horis cleared his throat, and Lyle grinned a knowing smile. Amaris blushed and looked at Horis. With a very understanding look on his face, he held his hand out "Shall we start with you first my dear?" he said as if repeating himself politely. Horis pointed Amaris to the photo area and the stool that sat in front of a pull down screen. She went over and sat down and faced the camera. Horis took a few photos and then asked Lyle to take a seat. Horis finished with the photos and then headed over to his computer and sat down. “You two can head down stairs, Angel should have lunch ready for you. This will take me about and hour or so for all the documents that you need.” Lyle turned and left first since he was closer to the door than Amaris. Horis looked back at her and says “You know even I can feel the strength of the pull of your mate bond and yet you seem to hold back and deny it. Do not be afraid. It is a gift and one that will make you stronger and happier. The moon goddess does everything or a reason and she surely would not make a mistake when it comes to you.” Horis looks back at his computer and gives a little nod of his head. "You remind me very much of your mother. You look a lot like her. She was also shy and cautious. I remeber when your father and she first saw each other. He had been away on pack business over the summer and they had both turned 17 during that time. We just got out of a security meeting at pack headquarters and your mom was hurrying because she arrived late. They locked eyes and knew they were mates, your father reached out a hand to her and she shook it and walked on into the building. It was 2 days before she spoke to him again. Her father made them sit down and talk. Your father moped the entire two days. They wound up together obviously and had one of the most beautiful love stories that I have ever seen. Apart from my own of course." He said with a wink and a nod in the direction of down stairs. "Your parents would want you to be happy no matter what. You need to make that choice. Like your mother, I think you may just need a push to give him a chance." WIth that he turned back to the computer screen and weent back to work.
Amaris turned and walked out and went back down to the kitchen. A beautiful dark haired woman with bright green twinkling eyes was standing at the counter with a platter full of sandwiches in front of her. “Hi I’m Angel.” She says holding out a hand to Amaris. “You must be Lyle’s Mate.” Amaris shook her hand “I’m Amaris. It’s nice to meet you.” Amaris mind linked Anna “Why is everyone here saying that. Is there something that I am missing?” Anna looks at Amaris thoughtfully. “Well, honestly you smell different lately. I am not sure what it is. Maybe it is that since you have found your mate, whether you are marked and mated or not, something has changed.” Amaris nodded and took a sandwich. She went to take a bite and some of the filling fell out and on to the floor. As she bent down to clean it up with her napkin, the pitcher of blueberry lemonade that had been sitting on the counter in front of her exploded. Amaris stood back up looking around to see what happened. Everyone seemed frozen for a moment and then Angel, who had been standing across the counter from Amaris, slowly looked down to her hand that was on her stomach, and collapsed to the floor. Lyle who was standing on the other side of her caught her and laid her down gently. Marco meanwhile grabbed both girls and brought them around to the other side of the kitchen island and made them duck behind it. “What is going on?” Anna said aloud. “Someone shot in through the glass back door.” Marco replied as he knelt to help Lyle. It was too late. Angel was already dead.