Amaya’s War

Hurt

Amaya’s POV

Our group made our way back into the territory, Belle’s tears staining each step we take. Luca and I remain on each side of her, holding her up as we walk, nuzzling against her every so often.

The hurt that she’s feeling, it’s different than how I feel about my mom. When a mate bond is broken, especially by death, it’s almost like the other person is dying too. It’s like half their soul is missing, what do you say to fix that? What do you say to relieve some of that hurt?

“Amaya, let me take your place. Give yourself a rest.” Trion pleads with me. I simply nudge him away.

“I’m fine, Trion. She needs me.” Me moving my head for that moment caused her to lose her balance and collapse.

She lay there sobbing, Luca and I try to push her back to her feet with no such luck. At that point I didn’t know what else to do, so I did the only thing I could do. I laid beside her curling my body tightly around her the way Luca had done for me many times.

“We’ll keep watch, May, you two just rest.” Luca whispered to me as he rubbed his head against mine.

We laid there for hours in complete silence, when Belle’s soft voice finally broke it.

“What am I supposed to do now?” She whimpered in such a broken tone it nearly caused me to break, but I couldn’t do that. I had to be strong for her. I took a breath to answer her,

“You’ll come back with us, my dad will accept your re-entry to the pack and you will take it day by day. Just like I have to and more than that, like my dad has to. We’ll support you and be there for you in every single way. We will honor him and the love you shared and one day it will hurt less. You are our family, Belle. Always and forever.” Her crying slowed finally as she started taking deep breaths, taking in my words.

“You are a great kid, Amaya, and you will make an outstanding Luna one day,” she nuzzled into me a little more, “I’m tired, can we rest here tonight?”

“Of course we can, let me tell Trion and Luca.” I moved slowly as to not shift her body too much and make my way towards Trion.

“Tri, she needs you now. Can you use your healing abilities on her, allow her to rest tonight so that we can start again tomorrow? I’ll take watch.”

“Of course, Amaya. Stay close to Luca, howl if there’s trouble.” I nod to him as he starts towards Belle. I make my way over to Luca.

“Thank you, for today I mean. I imagine that wasn’t easy to do-“

“It was easier than you think, I would rather die than let something happen to you and today something almost did. He could have killed you, May.”

“I know, I know-“

“No you don’t know. You don’t know how important you are. To your dad, to the pack..to me. I can’t lose you Amaya. I just can’t.” I put my head under his and snuggle close to him.

“You’re not going to lose me, I promise. You have me forever.” He places his big head down onto mine and snuggles into me. I know that I scared him today, the idea of that wolf grabbing me I know was entirely possible. I didn’t need Luca to save me, I could have taken him down myself, but that didn’t change how grateful I was for what he did for me. Taking a life is no small thing and I know that. I know he won’t say it but it hurt him to have to do that, but he did it for me and that’s all that mattered to him in that moment. I start to doze off a little when I hear him whisper to me, “Amaya I—“ he pauses when I lift my head up to meet his gaze, “what is it Luca?”

“I—,I—“ he lets out a big sigh, “I’ve got watch, you rest.” I lay my head back beneath his and slowly drift off. I know that’s not what he wanted to say, but I’m not ready for him to say it yet. Maybe I never will be, but I’m definitely not ready now.

A few hours go by when I feel him standing up, which instantly causes me to shoot up.

“What is it?” I notice Trion standing behind us, both he and Luca staring off into the woods,

“There’s something there, get Belle ready to move.” I rush to Belle’s side and start nudging her to her feet. She’s still groggy so she’s moving slow.

“Belle, we may have to run. You have to be strong now.” Her ears perk up and she shakes off the grogginess. All four of us are staring into the woods, we each see an outline of something unsure of what it is. It starts to close in, Trion, Luca and I get into a fighting stance around Belle. I know she can run, but she isn’t ready for a fight. Suddenly I realize it’s a human, multiple humans. We get low as to try to avoid being spotted. We will take them down if they’re enemies, but what if it’s more people we can add to our cause?

They’re traipsing around, very careless as to the noise they’re making with their steps, when they suddenly stop. They pause for a moment and then they shift. They’re mountain lions. We can easily take them down, but they could help us. It’s something Xander wouldn’t expect. I decide to be brave and stand so that they can see me the way we’ve been watching them. They come out of the brush and stand right in front of me, when shockingly they mindlink me.

“Amaya, is that you? It’s me Curtis, and Shane, Brooklyn, Tommy, Vaeda, Micha and Rae. It’s us, May. It’s us.”

I pause sniffing them, investigating their every scent.

“How did you get away uninjured?”

“We left, we’ve been planning it for a month. We waited for the guards to change shift and left.”

Something about their story was strange, I’ve seen what these wolves can do. The fact that they just walked out, I got the feeling it wasn’t the truth. I grabbed Curtis by the back leg and pinned him to the ground. The others seemed ready to fight, but hesitant. They know that we could kill them, even in a group like this. I sniff him all over, when I catch a whiff of a burning smell on his fur on his right shoulder. I’d smelled this before, in the same spot on a wolf. A brand. I focus in on it and make out the shape, the dark claw marks of the Shadow Pack.

“TRAITOR!” I yell at him. I pick him up and throw him into a tree. The others now terrified to move.

“Amaya, please. We didn’t have a choice. They were going to ki** us if we didn’t take the brand.”

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING OUT HERE?!” I growl, circling him.

“He told us to come out and track down any others. He wants to rule this entire territory and he knows that anyone not in his pack is a threat to that. We had a wolf with us, Axel, but the guy was intense. We split from him the first chance we got and decided to just stay on our own. Unless we found the pack, we wanted to be with you guys. You’re our family. Please, Amaya, please.”

His pleading reminded me of Arrow’s final moments.

“He ki**ed, Arrow,” I speak calmly to him the rage still clear in my voice, “Axel murd**ed him, while he pleaded for his life. So why should I show you any mercy!? Why should I let you live?!”

“We can help you, we know them we’ve been amongst them. We can help you run, help you fight, whatever you want. Please Amaya just let us live.”

Should I?