Chapter 199

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 eyes. She wished that all werewolves would be able to be healed quickly by their wolves. That they would be able to close wounds, and remake tissue if needed to allow the werewolf to recover faster. Amaris concentrated on this very hard. She suddenly felt a great weight on her. She was exhausted. She began to hear exclamations of wonder and happiness around her. She opened her eyes and saw some of the wounded that were sitting next to the truck just to the side of her, were looking at the arms, or legs, or body where they had been wounded and were amazed. She knew that it had worked when Anna walked over to her. "Did you do this?" Anna asked pointing to her leg. The sweatshirt barely hung below the top of Anna's thighs, but just below where her leg had a gash just moments earlier, she now had a pink pucker. It looked like it might scar, but at least she was healed enough to be able to walk on it now. Amaris smiled. "I could not leave Taji to do it all. Now I need to heal Lyle." She said running her hand through his hair.

Amaris closed her eyes as she heard Anna sit down on the ground next to her. Amaris began to concentrate on Lyle, feeling him through her hands on his head. She concentrated on finding where Lyle's mind was and bringing him back. She was also concentrating on healing him. Once again she could feel that evil lurking, trying to pull Lyle away. Trying to take him over. Amaris wished with all her might and everything that she had left to free Lyle from this evil, heal him, and bring him back. She could feel Lyle now. She could feel him starting to come back, along with a bone crushing exhaustion. Amaris began to fade. Then she felt hands on her shoulders and a flow of energy seemed to surge into her. It was enough to help her pull Lyle the rest of the way back. She fought with the blackness, the evil that had a pull on Lyle. It did it's best to try and keep him. Amaris called out to Lyle. At first she got no response, she tried again. "Lyle, come back to me. Lyle can you hear me?" finally she heard a weak voice. "Amaris no! Don't do this. You need to save your strength. The babies!." Lyle called back. Amaris was not about to give up. She concentrated harder. Only able to continue because of the energy being funneled into her by the warm hands on her shoulders. "Lyle please." She begged. "You have to fight. You have to want to come back. Fight. Come back to me. Come back to us!" She pleaded. She felt a shift. He was doing it. He was trying to come back. It became easier. She could feel Lyle getting closer. It was like a swimmer reaching the water's surface. She had just enough energy to speaak to Lyle one last time. "I love you." She said before she fell into a deep sleep once more.

What seemed like only moments later Amaris woke with a start, as the vehicle that she was riding in hit a bump and she was jostled. She yawned and sat up. She looked around, confused for a moment. She was in a bed, but the bed was in a vehicle. She was in an RV. She stood up hanging on to the edge of the bed frame to keep her balance. She looked down and noticed that someone had changed her into a t-shirt and shorts to sleep in. She made her way on her wobbly legs to the front to find Lyle driving, and no one else. They were alone, and they were on the road heading away from the others. Lyle looked back over his shoulder at the noise of her movement. "Hey sleepy head, your awake." He said with his sexy lopsided grin that she loved. Lyle looked back at the road as she hurried forward and gave him a quick hug around the shoulders. "And you are awake!" she said giving him a kiss on the cheek. Amaris sat down in the captain's chair on the passenger side. "Lyle, where are we going. and where is everyone else?" Amaris asked. "Is everyone okay?" she followed up quickly. Lyle looked at her briefly and then back at the road, as if he was deciding what to tell her. "No editing" She said. Lyle smiled again and licked his lips. "Ok. What do you remember?"Amaris turned forward in her seat and brought her feet up on the seat to hug her knees. "We were leaving in the UTV, we got shot at and The King showed up with his men and surrounded us. There was a struggle, he knocked you out with his staff, and then Sveta tried to stab him, only he went to hit me with the staff at the same time and knocked the knife out of her hand. It landed in front of me and I bent to pick it up at the same time that he turned to look at Sveta and she attacked him. It pushed him backward into me and we fell. He landed on the knife." Here Amaris paused and winced. In a whisper she added "He died." she hide her face on her knees. She did not continue, so Lyle finished for her. "From what I was told, She decided to attack you for killing her father even though she had just tried to do that herself. Anna and Taji came to your aid in their wolf forms and took her on. She attacked Anna and Taji fought her off and chased her into the woods. Before she left, she turned and challenged you. Taji chased her. He said that she was fast, and before he could catch her, she turned into her human form to give him a message to carry back to you. She said that she was coming for you to avenge her father and her mate. She holds you responsible for both their deaths." Lyle said and peeked at Amaris' face to see if she was ok. She had gone white. "It never ends does it. I get rid of one person that is hunting me, and another decides to take up the mantel. I will never have peace again at this rate." She covered her face. Lyle concentrated on driving but continued. "We all met after everyone was accounted for and the prisoners were sorted. We decided that the plan was to stay the same, only they would be setting a trap for Sveta and not The King. She has declared herself queen now, and she has the full might of her station behind her. We will all need to be extra careful. We left right after that. I traded the truck we had at a used car dealer for the RV. At least we will have something to live in and not be sleeping on the ground for now." Amaris' head came up. "Wait. How long have I been out?" Lyle looked back at her with concern. "Three days. If you were out any longer, I was going to have to put an IV in." Amaris shuttered. She did not like needles. "Speaking of which, you must be starving." Lyle said. Right on cue, Amaris' stomach gave a loud grumble. They both laughed. "Well, I guess we are on the run together until Sveta is no longer hunting me." Amaris said. Lyle pulled off the road into a rest stop. Turning the engine off, he faced Amaris. "We will be together until the end on the run or not." He leaned over and pulled Amaris into his arms and kissed her.