`Chapter Forty-Four: Left Behind

Amelia Ravenswood

It felt as if my heart had stopped when Xander's voice went silent. I began to look around us, checking to see if we were easy targets for an ambush.

*"Xander! Alexander, do you hear me!"*

Angel was frantic and began to move towards the entrance of the cave, and just as she was about to pass through, a gentle gust of wind blew through the dark passage way. My eyes widened as a familiar scent registered with my senses.

I swiped at Angel's leg, sending her to the ground as my eyes scoured through the forest, straining my ears to focus on any sound that might betray the position of Damien's forces.

*"What are you doing, Amelia? Xander is in there and needs our help--"*

*"Be quiet, Angel! We need to move, this was a trap from the beginning... we need to get to the clearing now!"*

I growled as Angel pushed me, her jaw clenched in anger.

*"Xander is in there and you want us to run away?"*

*"They have turned that tunnel into a gas chamber, I can smell that red concotion--"*

*"Then the two of you can stay here, while I--"*

She moved forward once again, but was held back by Jared who wrapped his arms around her torso, pining her hands to her side. She kicked her legs in an effort to get away from him, her wrists flexing as she tried to claw him. I growled before raising both my front paws to claw at her legs, knowing that Jared could not hold her for much longer if I did not. The pain caused her to yelp, and turn her attention back onto me, her pupils now gold as she snarled at me.

*"Damien has already discovered a way to incapacitate Lycans, and he did so to Sapphire and most likely your brother... you are a fool to think that you would not meet the same fate if you go down that tunnel. Now listen--"*

I did not get to finish whatever I wanted to saw to her as a hit to my shoulder knocked me to the ground, a sharp pain soon spreading to the rest of my left front leg. I looked down to see an arrow head sticking out from my flesh, its feathered end protruding from the other side of my shoulder. I immediately looked around and saw shadows disappearing behind the trees.

*"To the clearing now!"*

Angel stood frozen to the ground, her eyes trained onto the passage way, but she allowed Jared to drag her away as more crossbow bolts flew our way, embedding themselves into the trees and earth.

The both of them shifted in mid-run, trying their best to outrun the wolves who had emerged from the forest and had started to box us in. My mind was scattered as I tried to keep an eye on them while at the same time focusing my hearing for the sound of crossbow bolts slicing through the air.

A wolf lunged at Angel, and I instinctively leaped forward, but my effort was for nought. I watched in awe as she caught the wolf in one hand, her eyes bruning with rage as she grabbed his lower jaw and pulled, a sickening crack following before she threw his remains at his comrades. Jared stood his ground as well, even managing to catch a bolt with his teeth before throwing it to Angel who plunged it into the back of a wolf who had started to move closer to us.

I lowered my head to dodge a crossbolt, my heart racing even faster than it already was as I saw what was attached to it.

There were two tiny glass capsules attached to the arrowhead, one filled with a black liquid while the other was filled with a red one. The red capsule might not have had enough of the concoction to poison Jared and I, but if it broke when the arrowhead entered our bodies... I still remembered the vivid picture Xander had painted for us when we asked about Emery's fate.

I looked up to see Angel in full Lycan form... a large moving target... I had no clue about the dosage it would take to poison her, we were not able to decipher how much it took to incapacitate Sapphire.

*"Angel, shift back and climb onto Jared's back!"*

*"Are you out if--"*

*"They are firing whatever took Xander down at us, your Lycan form is too much of a target"*

Angel huffed and tilted her head back as she howled in anger.

*"Shift back and jump, I will catch you."*

She shook her head before changing back into human form, grabbing tightly onto Jared's fur as he continued to race through the forest.

*"Lie low, Angel!"

It was now my job to protect all three of us as having Angel on his back limited what Jared could do. The wolves around us did not seem like they were going to give up anytime soon... many of them fell at my hand, but more joined their ranks like a never ending wave.

Relief flooded my veins as I saw the wolves of old standing at the edge of the clearing, I could see Maxwell gesturing his wolves to come to our aid but I shook my head at him. It would serve us well if Damien knew nothing about them, they were our only advantage over him and I was not about to lose that.

I snarled in pain as one of the wolves sank his teeth in my leg, I kicked my leg out in an effort to get him off me. It worked, but I growled as I felt his teeth shred throught the flesh of skin.

"Amelia!"

*"Don't stop!-- Jared move to your right!"*

He moved a fraction of a second before a bolt buried itself into the earth. I looked up, we were so close.

It felt as though someone had doused my body with warm water as I passed through the clearing. I turned to see that Damien's wolves had stopped, just a few inches from where we stood, we were facing each other but only one group could truly see the other.

They snarled before starting their run again, but they didn't enter the clearing at all. We watched in amazement as they seperated into two groups and ran around the edge of the clearing before merging back into one at the end of the clearing.

*"They will never be able to find you here."*

I turned around to thank Maxwell but was soon suspended in mid-air as a clawed hand wrapped itself around my throat and lifted me up. My blue eyes met Angel's gold ones as she glared at me.

"You left Xander there to die! After everything he has done for you and your pride!"*

I refused to struggle and glared back at her.

*"We would have been captured as well had we stayed! I saw the odds and made a decision on what I thought was the best move for us!"*

My body stiffened as she tightened her grip.

"We could have saved him! You--"

She yelped as I clawed her arm, wincing as she released me from her grip causing me to land on my injured leg.

*"Xander said so himself that if anything felt amiss while he was inside, we should go!"*

"It's because he is not your family that you treat his life so carelessly--"

*"Sapphire is the only family I have left, and I will protect her and whoever she loves till the day I die! I have lost my own pride members in an effort to save your pack, so don't you dare threw it back in my face and insult them! My cousin and pride members are still captives in this wretched place... you have no idea how much it hurt to leave all of them behind."*

I snarled as I stared at her, the both of our bodies tensed and ready to fight. Jared seemed to sense this too as he placed his hand on the small of Angel's back before leading her away to the other side of the clearing. I sat on my haunches and watched as the wolves who had come to watch the show slowly start to disperse.

*"Xander would never blame you for what you did... he would have been thankful that you followed his wishes."*

My shoulders sagged as I sighed, all the fight leaving me in that one breath.

*"I should have insisted in going in there first--"*

*"You would have met the same fate, Amelia. What is done is done, you can sit here and wallow in your self-pity of what could have been or you can start to think of what should you do next."*

I turned to watch as Damien's forces continued to skirt around the clearing, trying their best to catch our scent. I was at a dead-end on what to do next. We had no more vials to mask our scent, and Damien would have had increased the patrol teams to find us. I looked over to see the damage the wolf had done to my leg, and closed my eyes as I saw the shredded remains of what was left of it. I let my eyes trail up till they reached the embedded arrow, there was no way I could remove this here.

I closed my eyes as I processed my injuries, and started to huff. My human body was broken, and it seems that not even my other body could be spared. I opened my eyes to assess my wounds once more before I realised that maybe something good could come out if it.

We needed to get to get back to Shadow Mountain as soon as possible... and maybe we could without getting caught.