I’ll see you again

Amaris

As I close the distance, I shift back to my human form, smoothly transitioning from running on four paws to two feet.
It’s been less than twelve hours since I first got the feeling that something was wrong, but I still fear at what I’m going to find when I make it to the Range Rover.
Climbing up between trees, I wind my way over to the driver’s side and lean down, looking into the window to see if there is any sign of life within the vehicle.
Gasping, I quickly pull the door open, Kenton’s large body falling out onto the ground with the action.
“Kenton,” I shout, moving to stand over him just as I hear the other three pulling the two more doors open.
“There are two more in here,” Zach calls, his voice echoing slightly in the cab.
*Crap! Crap! Crap!* I mutter over and over again as I try to find the pulse in Kenton’s neck. “Oh, thank Christ!” I say with a relieved sigh when I find a strong pulse beating against my fingertips.
“He’s alive. I think he’s just knocked out,” I say as I straighten and move around until I’m standing with my feet on either side of his head.
“These two are alive also,” Zane says, gesturing to two boys that I recognize as Kenton’s best friend Asher Monroe, and another one of his friends, Boone Griffin.
Knowing that they're in excellent hands, I bend down and slip each of my arms beneath his armpits to move him further up the hill. Once I’ve got him what I feel like is a comfortable distance away, I bend over and try to rouse him. “Kenton,” I say, lightly smacking his cheek.
When he doesn’t come to, I make my way over to the other three and ask, “How do we know if they will be okay?”
Zach, without turning around, says, “Thankfully, it takes a lot more than a car crash to take out a shifter, Mer.”
“I wonder what happened? Why would they be all the way out here?” I mutter under my breath. But if there’s one thing that I’ve learned over the last week of being amongst other shifters is that unless it’s not actually vocalized, anything that you say is likely to be heard.
My suspicions are confirmed when Zane turns his attention to me, a look of curiosity staring back at me. “Tell me, Amaris,” he starts, closing the distance between us. “How did you know that there was something wrong and exactly where to find them?”
Chewing on the corner of my bottom lip, I try to figure out the best way to answer this question. With a sigh, I say, “Would you believe me if I told you that my spidey senses were tingling?”
“Not even a little bit,” he retorts with a look that says, are you really going to try to bullshit me?
“Honestly,” I say, feeling defeated but not knowing any other way to explain this other than with the truth. “About one or so this morning, I got this terrible feeling that I couldn’t shake. After finally falling asleep, I dreamt about this. About these guys going over the cliff and their car plummeting into the trees. I saw that they were stuck, but didn’t know if they were alive or dead. When I still had the feeling this afternoon, I just knew that I had to do something about it. I couldn’t keep ignoring it.”
“So, you’re what, some sort of psychic or have precognition abilities or something?” He asks, looking at me with a shocked expression.
“I don’t really know *what* I am,” I say with a frustrated sigh. “I told you guys and your dad that I had abilities. I don’t know the extent of them or anything. For all I know, I can raise the freaking dead. *I. don’t. know.*”
“Okay, okay,” He says, holding his hands up in surrender. “I believe you. I’ve just never met a wolf that has magical abilities. And to see them in real life, it’s unbelievable.”
“Trust me, I know.” And I do. It seems like I find out more and more about myself each day and I just wish that someone could give me answers about not only who, but what I am. Because clearly, I am not like every other wolf out there.
*’No, we definitely are not like all the others,*’ my wolf tells me thoughtfully. ‘*I keep telling you we’re special.*’
*Yeah, but just how special are we? I feel like a freak… and considering I’m surrounded by a bunch of shifters, that’s saying something.*
‘*I know it’s frustrating, but all will be revealed in due time. You must have patience.*’
*Patience,* I think with a snort. *Yeah, right. Easy for you to say, you have answers. Answers that you refuse to share with the rest of the class.*
She doesn’t respond, just goes back to being silent. Instead of obsessing over answers that I’m likely not going to get any time soon, I focus on the matter at hand.
“So, do you know who they are or where they’re from?” Zach asks, coming over to stand next to me after they placed the other two next to Kenton.
“That’s Kenton Clearwater, future alpha of the Artemis pack,” Zane answers for me as he comes to a step in front of me and beside Kenton, glancing from me to my mate, and then back to me again with a curious look on his face once more.
“You said that Kenton helped you through your first shift,” Zach states, now giving me the same curious look as his older brother. “He’s from your old pack, isn’t he?”
“I didn’t have a pack,” I say, a pang of sadness hitting me as I think about how different things could have been if I had not lost Axel.
*If he had not taken his own life, would we have joined Kenton’s pack? Would I have mated with him and taken on the role as the future Luna of his pack?*
Of course, they’re questions I’ll never have the answers to because we can’t go back in time, and we can’t raise the dead… right?
*’No, my dear. I’m afraid that even we do not hold the ability to bring the Goddess’s children back from the afterlife.*’ She sounds sad as she says this, which is just a reminder that not only did I lose my human twin brother, but she also lost her wolf brother as well.
“But this is the same Kenton that helped you?” He asks, kneeling next to Kenton to get a better look at him and I find myself having to hold back the urge to tell him to back away from my mate. “He’s from the town that you fled from after your first shift?”
I nod. “Yeah, that’s him,” I say, feeling conflicted.
I can feel the bond that we share strengthening even though he is unconscious. I don’t understand how it could affect me this way, not when we aren’t even so much as touching. But Goddess, it’s taking everything in me to not kneel next to him, to pull him into my arms and share in his warmth, bask in the feel of his skin against mine, the tingles that our touch elicits.
*Imagine how it would feel if we were to kiss, to touch* I get lost in fantasies of what could be. But the sound of the siblings talking around me makes me realize what I’m doing. *No,* I say, chastising myself, *I can’t have those sorts of thoughts or feelings towards him. At least, not until after I’ve gotten through my warrior training. If Kenton and I are to have a future, I need to be able to fend for myself, and not rely solely on my magical abilities—whatever they may be.*
“So, what should we do?” Zara asks. I turn my attention to her, noting how she is hovering unusually close to Asher as if she can’t seem to pull herself from his side.
“We have been out of our territory for too long already. We must get back,” Zane says in answer to her question.
“But, we can’t just—” She starts, but Zane interrupts her.
“We can and we will.” He states as he walks over to his sister, pulling her from Asher’s side. “Thanks to Amaris, they will be okay and will be able to find their way back home once they come to. But, we must get back home. Father keeps trying to reach me and I can’t keep blocking him.”
“Why does he keep trying to link you?” Zach asks, surprise in his voice. “He hasn’t reached out to me.”
“Me either,” Zara states.
“I’m not sure,” He says, but the look of concern on his face betrays the cool demeanor he’s trying to give off and it makes me worried that something may be wrong. “I hope it’s just that he felt us leave the boundaries of our pack. But either way, we must go now!”
That same bad feeling that I’d gotten last night takes up residence in my stomach again and suddenly, I don’t think Glendon linking Zane has much of anything to do with our leaving and everything to do with something bad having happened at home.
“He’s right. We need to go, now!” I state, but opposite to my words, I stop next to Kenton and kneel at his side. When I’m sure that no one is looking, I lean over and place a gentle kiss against the corner of his lips.
*I’ll see you again, I promise.*
And then, I quickly shift back into my wolf and run to catch up with Zara, Zane, and Zach, my heart heavy that I’m once again walking away from my mate.