You better know what you’re doing

Amaris

“Ugh,” I groan as I land on the dark gray mat covering the floor of the gym within the training grounds.
“Come on, Princess,” Zach goads, knowing that I absolutely *hate* that nickname. “If you can’t stay on your feet while fighting me, how do you plan to take on our enemies, or any other threat?”
“Fuck you!” I snarl as I flip, landing back on my feet and immediately charging him, launching into a roundhouse kick, barely holding back a laugh as he drops to the floor with a groan of his own.
Ever since early this morning, something has felt off, like something is wrong, but I don’t know what. My wolf has said nothing, but I know that she has retreated to the far recesses of my mind.
*Kenton*
His name echoes through my mind, just as it had early this morning when the feeling hit me out of nowhere, but I wonder if the thoughts of my mate have something to do with my wolf’s longing to be with him.
I’d dreamt of him after finally falling asleep this morning, but it was more like a nightmare than a dream. He’d been in an accident. I watched, helpless to do anything, as his vehicle plummeted over the side of a cliff, rolling end over end, before flipping side over side, finally landing on its top, kept from falling any further by a thick line of trees.
Kenton hung suspended upside down by his seatbelt. Another boy was hanging half out of the broken passenger side window, either passed out or dead. I’m not sure of which, but I have myself more than once begging for the former rather than the latter. My stomach turning over at the mere thought of him dying at such a young age.
At thoughts of the nightmare, my wolf whimpers, ‘*mate*,’ she says. ‘*Mate needs us.*’
*It was just a bad dream*, I tell her, not fully able to believe the words to be true even as I say them.
My wolf keeps telling me that we’re special, but just how special, I couldn’t even begin to guess, but I’m wondering if premonitions are part of what makes us *special*.
“You okay?” Zach asks, pulling me out of my head and the memory of what I hope really was only a bad dream.
“No,” I tell him honestly. “I have this feeling that I can’t shake and I think that I need to go and look into it.”
“Okay,” he says, not questioning me even a little as he walks to the doors. “Let me just link Zane and Zara, and we will go with you.”
“No!” I’m quick to say, causing him to look at me oddly. “I couldn’t ask you guys to do that. You have responsibilities that you can’t just up and walk away from to help me.”
“You’re not going alone, Mer,” he says, using the nickname that he knows that I actually like, and it softens me a little, but I still don’t want him, them, to come with me.
“But—” I start, but a voice cuts me off.
“We go with you or you don’t go at all.” When I turn around, finding Zane stalking towards us with Zara hot on his heels, and then “And it isn’t up for discussion, Amaris,” he says with his Alpha command surrounding us.
It doesn’t affect me anymore, but they don’t know that yet. So, instead of arguing with him, I nod, making him think that I've given in to his command, and follow the trio out of the gym and over to the treeline behind the pack house. Without waiting for the others, I immediately shift, letting my wolf take over.
*Can you find him?* I ask, unsure of how we’re supposed to find him and his friend.
‘*Yes*’, she says simply, then takes off into the woods with only one thing on her mind.
Her mate.
Zara, Zane, and Zach quickly catch up with me, having had to shed their clothes in order to shift and not ruin them. We run in silence for miles and miles, but when we reach the United States/Canadian border, Zane steps in front of me.
*Amaris, stop!* He orders.
I wait nervously, not knowing how my wolf will react to being ordered to halt her search for her mate, but when she relents, stopping and lowering her head in respect, I let out a sigh of relief.
*We can’t cross the border. It’s not our territory. We must turn back,* he tells me, making both she and I irritated at being ordered around. *Keep calm,* I tell her when she begins to growl low in her throat. *We can't growl at him, he will percieve it as a threat.*
'*He wants to keep us from our mate,*' she snaps angrily.
*I know, but we cannot growl at him. He is the future Alpha of our pack,* I argue, trying to make her see reason.
'*Fine*', she says with a pout as she shoves me forward, letting me take over the conversation.
Turning to Zane, I say, *I have to*, not explaining further.
*Why?* he asks, his wolf narrowing his blue eyes at me questioningly.
*I can’t explain, but I have to go.* I begin pacing, feeling my wolf getting antsy at just standing around arguing. Turning back to him, I snap, *Look, I didn’t ask you to come. So, if you must turn back, then do it. Just go, I’m not going to stop you, but I need to keep going,* and with that, I make to move around Zane, but instead of allowing me to pass, he releases a growl of warning.
I huff, annoyed, but don’t let his threat stop me.
I feel two other presences come to a stop on either side of me and my hackles rise at being ganged up on.
I thought that they were my friends, but I guess family trumps friendship.
Imagine my surprise when Zach gets into a defensive stance and starts growling at his brother and future alpha for me.
Zane chuffs, clearly irritated, then says, *You better know what you’re doing, Amaris.*
Not waiting for another minute, my wolf pushes herself back to the forefront of our mind and then jumps over the Alpha wolf, desperate to get to our mate.
We continue running, my wolf still leading our group, only stopping when necessary for drinks of water. Nightfall is almost upon us, but I continue, the feeling that time is of the essence urging me on, as well as the strengthening of the mate bond, letting me know that we are close.
I sniff the air, altering our course slightly at the scent of blood in the air. I follow it until I come upon Kenton’s Range Rover, lying upside down against a line of trees.
‘*Mate*’ my wolf cries, fear overtaking me at what we may find as we close the distance between us and the vehicle.