บท 3: Chapter 3

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As I led Amara out of my room, I noticed her looking around, probably looking for an escape route.

"You can run, love but you won't get far." I said.

"You have no idea how fast I can run." Amara said. "And it's Amara, or Mara but never Love at least not from you." She sneered.

"I know your name. I like to keep tabs on those in your father's pack, and I've seen you run, I'm not impressed." I smirked, she glared at me with those amber colored eyes of hers.

"I had a tranquilizer dart in my leg!" She defended herself.

"Aye, but I wasn't talking about that. I saw you earlier last night, while you were supposed to be running with your pack. The way you dart in between trees like the forest is an obstacle course, although amusing to watch, it's very much like a hyper pup, no wonder hunters were able to track you so easily." I said and shrugged.

"Call me pup. One more time." She snarled at me.

"Awfully bold of you to snarl at your Alpha." I smirked.

"You are NOT my Alpha!" She shrieked at me like a petulant child and then her feet stopped moving as if they were glued to the floor.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"Proving a point." She said and blew a strand of her dark brown hair out of her face.

"And what point would that be?"

"Alpha's have control over any one in their pack." She said.

"Aye but I don't use that on my pack, they follow orders just fine no need to take away their free will." I sighed; this was getting annoying quickly.

"But you're my Alpha." She said in a mocking tone. "And I am clearly disobeying your orders."

I sighed heavily looking down the stairs at Marcus and Rob waiting. I did not want to hit the lass again, for reasons unknown to me, it physically pained me to do so the first time.

I pulled on the rope on her wrists, and she stubbornly pulled back.

"Amara. Move." I barked. There was a spark of pure hellfire in her amber eyes and her plump lips curved into the sassiest smirk I'd ever seen.

"Make. Me." She said.

Oh, she would be a challenge. But it just so happened I liked those.

"Right. Have it your way," I said and then put and arm around her waist and effortlessly lifted her over my shoulder carrying her down the stairs.

"Hey!" She yelled and her fists drummed against my back. "Put me down you asshole!"

"You had every opportunity to walk on your own, but you've chosen instead to act like a bloody brat."

"Kieran! Put. Me. Down!" She screamed.

"Oh, she is a feisty one. Where has Alexander been hiding her?" Marcus grinned as we reached the bottom of the stairs, somehow the look he was giving her was annoying me.

"Put your eyes back in your head Marcus." I snapped "Where is Connor?" I asked.

"Sorry, Mary wasn't feeling well." Connor sighed as he walked into the room

"Aye its quite fine. That baby will be here soon enough, and she'll be feeling much better." I smiled.

Connor returned my smile and then looked at Amara over my shoulder who was still screaming and hitting me by now pissed off that I was completely ignoring her.

"Is that..." He said, stepping closer.

I grinned

"Aye, Alexander's pup." I said turning so he could see her face.

"Connor??" She exclaimed. "Father said you were... He said hunters...You're alive?!" Amara struggled with her sentence completely blown away by Connor standing in front of her.

"Well, I imagine it was easier for Alexander to come up with some outlandish tale about Connor's death than to admit, one of his ran to my pack."

"We mourned you." Amara said.

I could hear the hurt in her voice, and I cursed myself for the way it made me feel. What was it about this she-wolf? The way she was digging up feelings I had long since abandoned.

"I'm Sorry Mar. I'm sorry your father lied to you but his lies. They're the reason I left among so many other things."

Connor turned to me.

"You can't take her back." He said.

"I'm not planning on it, But Alexander has requested my presence, and he requested hers too. I'm a man with a code."

"I'm not staying here!" Amara yelled.

"Quiet pup, Adults are speaking." I said.

Amara screamed in frustration.

"I'm. 19!" She said punctuating her words with her fists in my back as we began walking outside.

"She hates being called pup." Connor chuckled.

"Oh, I know."

"What is this Connor?" Amara asked. "No, hey, put her down, She's fine. Why are you letting him do this?!" She demanded.

"He's the Alpha, Mar." Connor sighed. "Maybe just do what he says, you know. When in Rome."

"We're not in Rome, we're in fucking Maine, Connor!" Amara groaned; the reference clearly lost on her. I couldn't help but laugh.

"Stop laughing!" She said and hit my back. I reached up and slapped her on the arse. She yelped and jolted forward. I could feel that she was embarrassed.

"Did you just... How dare you?!" She yelled and hit me again. I reached up and slapped her again and she squeaked.

"Every time you hit me; I'm going to hit you harder. Your move pup, it's a long walk to the territory line."

"I hate you!" She growled.

"You know, you keep saying that." I chuckled.

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Once we reached the territory line at the River, I set Amara down and she scowled at me before she ran into the shallow water meeting her father in the middle. He hugged her before I nodded at Rob. Rob walked up behind her and pulled her back to my side of the river

"You hurt her!" Alexander seethed at me, talking about the cut, and light bruising on Amara's cheek.

"Aye, well she's got a lot to learn about respect. Don't worry, I'll teach her." I grinned and I could see that every bone in Alexander's body wanted to lunge across the river and attack me.

Amara twisted out of Robert's grip and went to stand beside Connor.

"You're welcome, you know. I could have just left her to the hunters." I said.

"Thank you." Alexander spat out, as though it left a disgusting taste in his mouth. "You may return her to me, and she will be dealt with." He said, turning his stern eyes to his daughter.

"No, I think I'll keep her." I said and shrugged. I didn't like the way he said she would be dealt with. It made my blood boil. Sure, I hadn't been princely to her but the thought of anyone else laying hands on her was not sitting well with me.

"Keep her? No! She belongs, with me, in her birth pack! Not in your pack of misfits and mutts!" Alexander growled.

I could feel Marcus, Connor and Rob all tense up ready to fight. but I put my hand up and they settled down.

"I don't know, she seems to fit in quite well over here." I smirked.

Alexander sighed and looked up at me with pleading eyes.

"Kieran, I know our packs have not gotten along for centuries but I am not asking you to return her to me, as the Alpha, I am asking as her father. Don't do this."

Alexander knew, he couldn't just come and take her back. She was on even ground when I took her.

"She's to be mated tonight, she's already a year behind and we are a month from season." Alexander said.

I shrugged again and gave him a devilish smirk.

"I'm sure any one of my boys would do just fine."

Alexander growled and his eyes flashed orange.

"Your boys won't touch her if they know what's good for them!" He threatened.

"Are you threatening me? Not wise, Alexander. Not wise at all." I warned stepping closer. "She stays."

"She comes home!" Alexander growled.

"She's right here, and she is choosing for herself! I'm not going to be forced to mate with anyone!" Amara yelled. I quickly turned around and Amara had gotten free from her rope bonds.

"Amara, don't be foolish." I warned and of course she took off running like a bat out of hell.

Alexander turned to the she-wolf he had with him. Jamie.

"Find her. Bring her home." He ordered. Jamie nodded and ran off in Amara's direction.

"Should we go after her?" Marcus asked.

"I will. Watch the line, if anyone crosses unwelcome, kill them." I ordered and started running following Amara's scent.

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I had to give the little she-wolf credit; she could barely outrun three hunters, but she had so far managed to keep herself hidden from me.

There wasn't much more of the forest she could go through, eventually she would reach the road that led to the city, and neither my pack or Alexander's cared much for going there and only went if it was absolutely necessary, it wasn't safe for our kind. Surely Amara wouldn't be foolish enough to go there.

I paused for a moment hearing twig breaking, I could smell another wolf, but it wasn't Amara. Just ahead of me, a gray wolf ran between the trees, and I caught the scent of something that struck something inside of me, that didn't come out often.

Fear.

I smelled blood, and it wasn't just any blood, it was Amara's. I took off running, the tree branches scratched my cheeks as I zipped past them following the scent of fresh blood.

I came upon a small clearing in the woods, where a small white wolf lay, her snow-colored fur matted with dark red. She whimpered and howled in pain as she tried to move.

"Don't move." I said gently, holding my hand out for her to cease movement. She laid her head in the leaves on the ground, taking shallow breaths. I crouched down to her and picked up a bloody knife, I let out a low growl that was unsettling to Amara as she flinched and then yelped.

"Easy. That wasn't for you."

I said and looked down at her front paws where there was more blood, I reached out and touched her paw gathering some of the blood on my fingers before bringing it back to my nose.

It belonged to the she-wolf that Alexander had sent to retrieve Amara, and my guess was that Jamie had no intentions on bringing Amara back to Alexander at all.

I sighed heavily looking at Amara, I wasn't just going to leave her here to die, not when I was sure she could be saved.

"Don't bite me, I'm going to try to help you." I said. "Even though you're a bit of a brat and you ran away from me."

She snorted in protest.

"No, I will not leave you here to die so you may as well get over that you stubborn thing." I said and took off my jacket and unbuttoned my shirt shimmying out of it. I lifted her as gently as I could so I could tie my shirt around her stomach where the wound was. She howled as I tightened the shirt applying pressure to the wound.

"Shh..." I said and found myself running my other hand over her ears soothingly, not even thinking twice about it.

"Alright. This is where it's going to really suck" I said and draped my jacket over her, as she was starting to shake, possibly from shock, and blood loss. I lifted her, she let out another cry of agony that gave me a dull ache in my chest. It was an awful sound to hear. I put her over my shoulders.

"Just hold on. If you die on me, after I ruined my favorite shirt just now, I'll have a witch bring you back and I'll kill you myself." I said, joking, mostly.

I took off through the forest, heading home, knowing I was hard pressed for time, I could feel her getting weaker and weaker by the minute

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"Someone, please get ahold of Jake and send him to the infirmary quickly!" I shouted as I stormed through the front door. I hurried, down the hall where I had a little infirmary set up for my pack and on rare occasions myself, it came in hand when the little ones of the pack played too rough and hurt one another, or for the expecting mothers in the pack, we liked to avoid the city hospital especially with hunters growing in numbers every day.

I laid Amara on the exam table in the room as Jake rushed in, a few other members of the pack looked in the room curiously until I shut the door.

"This. this is bad." Jake said as he looked over Amara. "I don't think I-"

"I don't think is not an option here Jake, Can, and will, are the only two you have." I barked.

"Kieran, I can't do anything for her in this form, I was a human doctor. Not a vet."

I hurried over to a cabinet and rummaged through it until I found what I wanted.

"This will force her to shift back into her human form, and she won't be able to shift for a few hours." I said and handed the vile of medicine to Jake.

"Kieran, even so, a few hours? You're asking for a miracle here." Jake sighed as he prepared the medicine in a syringe.

"Just do what I ask!" I snapped

Jake nodded.

"I'll do what I can." He said sheepishly before sticking Amara with the serum.

I watched her shift into the pale and fragile human form. She rolled her head to the side looking at me.

"Let me go. It's okay." She said weakly

I stayed quiet but I knew that my eyes were telling her exactly what I was thinking.

Not a bloody chance in Hell.