Chapter 532 Chapter 532
Amari glanced behind her checking again for Tripp. Regret was a new feeling for her, but she was deep in right now. She shouldn’t have taken off like she had and left him up there, knowing he couldn’t follow with the extra weight. Her cat, who was normally on board for all kinds of adventure was doing something Amari had never felt, not in a very long time... concern. She was worried that he wouldn’t get down here and find her.
Huffing out a breath, she came to a sliding stop and turned around. Visibility was better down here, but it still wasn’t perfect. She scanned the entire scope of her vision, looking for him.
Swinging her head, she checked that she could still smell the floral scent, the kind that didn’t come from nature. One of the girls missing was wearing some kind of perfume or spray and it was like a neon sign. It was getting fainter, which worried her, that their body temperature was dropping and not giving off the odor as much.
Checking once more for Tripp, she forced her cat to turn back in the other direction. He was a capable man; he would be just fine. Amari was annoyed that she was having to do this right now when every second counted. Once she found those lost and got them back to their warm home, she was going to have to do some soul-searching. She needed to decide if she wanted to do this for the rest of her life. Care about someone this way. She wasn’t the cold heart others thought her to be. In truth it was quite the opposite, she felt too much. Feelings were a liability; she’d learned that one the hard way. It was okay to care or be concerned, but it was best to keep it on the inside. If she let it show, others would doubt her, and think she was too emotional to do the things she needed to do. She had a small circle of friends she would go to any lengths for, her team—now, she needed to figure out where Tripp fit in with that. Could he fit in with that? She couldn’t be sure right now. No time for this. Her cat interrupted. Her creature was much better at keeping emotions on lockdown.
With a growl, she swung her head to look straight ahead and lowered it so she could scan the ground for any evidence of someone walking this way. The new snowfall would make it hard, there would be no covered impressions in the snow, but a bent branch, or trampled plant was a pretty good indicator.
Her cat stopped unannounced and lifted her head. Amari inhaled, then wondered why then the sounds came to her. Someone was singing. She listened, blocking out every other sound, make that two singing. Mom was a smart one, distracting them by having them sing. It was also like ringing a bell and saying, ‘here we are.’ With slow steps, she let her cat find the direction it was coming from and then took off that way.
She would have run right past them if it hadn’t been for the singing. Mom had them hunkered down under a small outcropping on the rock face, trees blocking it from view. Amari went through the trees and then stopped when a low warning growl came from the mother squatting in front of her two girls.
Amari sat right there and lifted her head high, hoping Mom would see that she was wearing a run pack and wasn’t some hungry mountain lion looking for a snack.
“It has a pack on, Mom.” One of the girls said quietly.
The mother straightened and then her shoulders slumped in relief. “I don’t know who you are or why you’re here, but I’m really glad to see you.” She offered an empty smile.
Amari assessed quickly that they were uninjured, just cold, and scared. She continued to sit in the same spot, so Tripp would be able to find her, she could do nothing to help them when he had all the supplies. She looked over her shoulder to see if she could spot him.
“Are you waiting for others?” One of the girls asked. “See, Mom, Dad sent someone to find us.”
“Yeah, you can stop worrying he’s lost now.”
Amari didn’t have to look back to see which one had spoken, that bored sarcastic tone could only come from the older of the two children. Teens, she really didn’t understand them at all.
She watched Tripp clear the trees and slide to a stop. His sides were heaving from the run, but his eyes locked on her, not the ones they were supposed to be looking for. Amari didn’t need words to know he was pissed with her stunt and if he could speak right now, he’d be telling her she was a bad, bad kitty.
She got up and gave him room to move into the tiny space.
“They have a backpack. Tell me you brought mittens.” The younger of the two girls said.
Tripp hunkered down and looked at the mom. With cautious movements, she shuffled over to him and stretched out an arm to release the clasp at his side. They may be here to rescue them, but she was still wary of the larger, strangers being near her children. Pulling the pack free from his head, she moved back and opened it quickly.
Tripp gave Amari another ‘we’re going to talk about this later’ look and then went back out through the trees.
Amari decided she was better off staying in cat form at that point. She didn’t need to be airing her issues in front of these females with her mate. She paused in thought at that. Her mate. Snapping her head back around, she looked to see the mother wrapping a blanket around the two girls. When she pulled out a packet with one of the mylar blankets in it, she gave her a confused look.
“Wrap them over the warm blankets.” Tripp crawled into the space and nudged Amari as he went by her.
Amari noted, he was in some sort of track pants and t-shirt, and that black beanie. She’d never considered keeping a pair for those times when she needed to shift back and forth. She lay down and watched as he pulled other items out of the bag.
“I’m Tripp,” he motioned with his head, “that’s Amari, we’re from the Alliance.”
“They called the Alliance?” The mom sounded surprised.
“We were in the neighborhood.” He shrugged it off like it was no biggie that they’d driven through a storm to get here as quickly as they could manage. He held out a bottle of water to the oldest girl, “hydrate, it helps.”
She nodded and took the bottle from him.
Amari watched him pull out the can and then a candle. “This is my mate’s brilliant idea,” he glanced at her, a faint smile on his face, “let’s warm up those hands.”
“I never would have thought of something like that.” Mom said as he lit the candle and set the can closer to them. She looked over at Amari, “thank you, for finding us.”
“Once you’re warmed up, we’re going to head back to the village.” Tripp offered the youngest a protein bar, “this storm is going to last a couple of days, so even if we have to make a few stops along the way, it’s better that we do it now and not tomorrow.”
The mother nodded, but her expression was filled with worry. “It will be easier with the two of you leading the way.”
Tripp only nodded to that and then set a garbage bag on the ground and sat down. He leaned back and rested his hand on Amari’s hip like this was something they did all the time. She looked at his hand and then to his face, his eyes said a serious discussion was imminent, and his mouth twitched with a smirk as he chewed on some jerky. She dropped her head onto her paws and looked away from him. The last thing she needed was someone to harp on her over everything thing she did, if that was what this mate stuff was all about, his talk was going to go in a totally different direction than he planned.