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Split in Time Ch. 01

By: whitesabretooth



Author's note: All characters and companies mentioned in this story have no existence outside the imagination of the author, and have no relation whatsoever to anyone or anything bearing the same name or names. Events portrayed in this story are pure invention and have not been based on any events that have happen in real life. All the characters involved in any sexual acts if their ages are not mentioned before hand; are over 18 years of age. Enjoy.

Hi everyone,

Here is the first chapter of the new story in my Were saga. For those who are new to my stories I suggest you go back and read the stories in the sequence listed in my Bio as it will introduce you to the World and Characters I have created.

For those of you who follow me you'll be pleased, two chapters one month.

As always thanks goes first to my editor who has been battling a cold while editing this chapter and to you the reader who encourage me to keep writing. So don't forget to vote and comment, if you have any questions leave an email address and I'll do my best to answer them.

Have Fun



Split in Time Ch. 10



Author's note: All characters and companies mentioned in this story have no existence outside the imagination of the author, and have no relation whatsoever to anyone or anything bearing the same name or names. Events portrayed in this story are pure invention and have not been based on any events that have happen in real life. All the characters involved in any sexual acts if their ages are not mentioned beforehand; are over 18 years of age. Enjoy.

Hi everyone

Here it is the latest chapter of Split in Time and I hope you enjoy it. As normal thanks goes to my editor who has been neglecting her sleep again to get this chapter ready.

All feedback is welcome and don't forget to vote.

Have fun

*

Destiny walked pass a window as she paced, she was waiting to talk with Amy. She had tried to get to Amy first after the duel but Amy's daughters were there first and Amy promised to talk to her next and that she shouldn't be long. Crystal had gone to get something to drink leaving Destiny to wait outside of Amy's office for Destiny's turn.

Destiny passed the window again and paused, she stepped back and her eyes focused on Sasha who was playing out the front. She stilled as she watched Sasha play near the invisible boundary which protected and hid the temple. Her eyes scanned the area, dread filled her as she spotted a squad of merks approaching and Sasha getting closer to the boundary, if she crossed it, it would break the wards and the merks would know they were here.

Destiny didn't think, didn't have time to call out for help, she just reacted. In moments she was at the front door and flung it open, she hesitated for a moment knowing she wouldn't be protected by whatever Amy had done to keep the dangerous UV at bay. She wanted to call out but she didn't know how the wards worked.

She took a deep breath, if she was quick she might just survive this, she could expose herself to perhaps thirty or forty seconds of UV before death took her and she needed less than that to get to Sasha and back. She blurred into action using all her speed, she was scooping Sasha up barely a seconds after leaving the house. Before Destiny could take off back to the safety of the house Sasha spoke.

"You're not burning."

Destiny stilled and glanced down at her arms, Sasha was right, she wasn't burning, her skin wasn't blistering. Amy and Crystal were suddenly beside Destiny and just as surprised as she was. Amy had also spotted what Destiny had from her office window and had come to get Sasha herself and had picked Crystal up on the way. Neither had expected to see Destiny out here.

"How old are you?" Crystal asked almost randomly as she watched the flawless skin on Destiny's arm, she had seen how Vampires reacted to the sun, it only took seconds for the skin to start to blister and burn and about fifty seconds before death.  

"Almost three millennia why?" Destiny asked trying to wrap her mind around this, she shouldn't be able to stand beneath the sun, she should be burnt to a cinder by now yet here she was safe and sound.

Crystal stilled as her mind focused on how old Destiny was. "And you ordered the destruction of my blood as a new born?" She asked.

Destiny stilled as she came to same conclusion Crystal had, Amy's mind was quick behind them. "Prove it... order me to do something." Destiny demanded of Crystal.

"Drop her." Crystal ordered, wishing Destiny would be able to resist.

Destiny tried to resist Crystal's command, tried and failed, she could not resist her Maker's command. She jerked her arms out from under Sasha and Sasha fell to the ground. "Sorry." Destiny said and helped Sasha back to her feet. "Judas..." Destiny growled, she had felt a pull to Crystal but she had also felt a pull to Amy she had just thought it was her curious nature coming forward.

"STOP." Crystal ordered a moment before Destiny took off. "He's mine." She growled but was suddenly stopped by Amy.

"Destiny deserves this more than you do but we do this my way." She told both women levelling them with her best Alpha look. Crystal went to rebel but remembered Ghan and she had agreed, on the behalf of their group, to join Wolfgang's pack which meant she would be disobeying her Alpha and would be cast out. Crystal bowed her head; she chose to join a wolf pack and that meant she had to live by it. She knew that for the most part she would be left to live her life without her Alpha's influence but in this instance she had to listen and obey her Alpha.

Destiny bowed her head after watching Crystal bow her head, if her maker submitted to someone that was her cue to submit as well.

Amy glanced at both women for a moment before nodding. "Stay behind me, I think Destiny deserves some questions answered." She told them both and turned walking back into the house, Crystal and Destiny followed with Sasha.

Amy stopped and spun around focusing on Sasha. "You knew didn't you?" she asked the little girl.

Sasha nodded, "he didn't bother guarding his thoughts when I was around." She explained. "So I figured out the best way to make sure Destiny and Crystal learnt the truth."

Amy nodded and turned to continue through the house. They walked into the courtyard; Judas was with several other Vampires talking quietly. Crystal hissed the moment she saw him but as ordered she stayed behind Amy, Destiny's hiss echoed Crystal's. They moved at Amy's pace but in short order they came to stand before Judas.

Arianna frowned as she watched Destiny who to the best of her knowledge had never been enraged before. "Destiny what is wrong?"

"Ask him..." she declared loudly, a growing crowd gathered around to watch and see what was happening.

If Judas could he would have paled as he realised he was in deep shit. The other masters came silently as they hadn't been far away and stood on either side of the cleared space between Amy's group and Judas.

"What is the meaning of this?" A burly Vampire asked.

"Ask Judas..." Amy taunted, she wanted him to come clean, she watched as he swallowed a little nervously.

He took a deep breath and stood tall. "I do not answer to you." He answered and got answering hisses from Destiny and Crystal for disrespect.

Sasha tugged on Amy's hand. "Ask him about what he did with Vlha." She said then hid behind Amy as Judas growled a feral sound at her.

Destiny stilled; Vlha, the man who had guided and befriended her when she was confused and scared, had vanished shortly after delivering her to the conclave. She would never have thought that Judas was responsible for Vlha's disappearance. Anger and rage filled her, causing her to lunge at Judas.

Crystal's arm shot out and grabbed Destiny throwing her onto the ground. "Stand but do not attack him."

Destiny quivered as she knew that was an order. She got up and brushed herself down her rage for the moment was leashed.

"I warn you..." Amy stated firmly, "if you growl at my aunt Sasha like that again... what I do to you will make you wish I let Destiny and Crystal tear you to into little pieces very... very... very... slowly." She continued with utterly no emotion, her eyes hard and those watching were exceedingly glad they weren't in Judas's position. Amy generally wasn't one for threats, she tended to just lash out and get it over with, but Destiny and Crystal needed answers and a shattered jaw would not help with that.

"What did you do to Vlha?" Destiny demanded her fists clinched as she had no choice but to stand before Judas, she wanted to beat the information from him; Vlha had been her guiding influence in this life, her friend and mentor. She had not dealt well with his disappearance but she knew how fickle he was and had just assumed he had gone off to do his own thing. Although she had not expected him to vanish for so long, she had sent agents of the conclave out looking for him a dozen times, beginning to suspect foul play but they had come back empty handed each time.

"Destiny... picture Vlha for me, everything you remember about what he looks like... sounds like and smells like." Amy turned to Vivian, "you are going to want to get blood and keep it coming, if Vlha's been starved for almost three thousand years he will be in a frenzy." What Amy knew about vampires was limited but she knew when denied their food source they went into a kind of hibernation state much like immortal Were did, they could live like that indefinitely or until their food source returned.

"Have you got that picture?" Amy asked Destiny.

"Yes."

Amy focused, no one spoke wondering if Amy was even capable of what she was suggesting. Before anyone could react a youthful man was before Amy, he was seated calmly on the floor as if in meditation. His silver blond hair ran in a long plait down his back and looped around his crossed legs, he was bare from the chest up, his lower half was covered with ragged skins, and dark crude tattoos ran up his arms.

"Crystal, Destiny, restrain him." Amy ordered. Just as the two women moved he was on his feet, his eyes were completely black but before he had a chance to attack anyone Crystal and Destiny had his arms and held him still. Vivian suddenly appeared with a pitcher of blood; she pressed it to his lips and poured.

He suddenly stopped fighting; he didn't care how he got blood as long as he got it. He drank deeply and messily spilling a lot down his own body, when that pitcher was empty Vivian made another appear. "Let me." He asked in a dead language that only Destiny and his brother knew, and she only knew it because he had taught it to her. She released his arm and he grabbed the pitcher to steady it as he drank, spilling not a drop this time. When that was emptied another was handed to him and Crystal released him to let him control his feeding, both women however stayed close just in case he decided to hurt Judas before they could get their answers.

Five pitchers later he stopped; although he did take the sixth pitcher offered to him and held it to his chest. His black eyes shifted, losing the blackness to return to the pale green his eyes normally were. Now that he was in control he glanced around wondering how he got here, a thought he quickly dismissed as he noticed Mryddin in the crowd. He had met the crazy man several times before he was locked in that coffin and knew that he had been freed by Ancients, only they had the ability to find someone in a solid marble and magic infused coffin tossed into an Abyss, and transport them instantly elsewhere.

His eyes landed on Judas and he hissed the betrayal dealt to him by Judas was still a raw note to him; it was all he had thought about in that marble prison. Well that and Destiny, the young one he had left at the conclave while he went in search of Crystal, not comfortable leaving her out in the world on her own after what Judas had done to her. However, he never had a chance to find Crystal as a day into his search Judas and few juniors blitz attacked him and placed him in his prison.

The betrayal was harder still considering he had turned Judas, in fact he had turned all of the oldest of masters, most purely by accident, some deliberately, but he had stopped after Judas. He had become jaded with his creations as they could not fill the void he felt, a void that had filled a little with Destiny in his life but more with his family, the family he left because it was the right thing to do.

Destiny stepped before him and he tilted his head as he looked her over. "He's mine." She told him in the same dead language.

Vlha considered her position for a moment, of all the people in the room Destiny was the only person he would put aside his own need for revenge for. "I will need some blood... so that I can learn of what I have missed." He told her before he hesitated, "how long?"

"If you vanished shortly after taking me to the conclave..." She began.

"Which I did," he confirmed flashing angry eyes to Judas who was watching on in confusion, in fact many were as he had not given the gift of his birth language to anyone but Destiny.

"Then almost three millennia." She told him and watched pain and anger cross his face, Vlha was much like Crystal and Destiny in the fact that he chose not to conform to what was expected of being a Vampire, something which had only strengthened when he met Destiny. He could understand controlling a Vampire's intense emotions as they always felt things with their whole beings but he didn't understand cutting them off completely like those who came after him chose to do.

"Who freed me?" He asked next as it was the most logical question.

"The short, dark haired woman directly behind you."

He turned slowly as not to startle anyone, his eyes focused on Amy for a moment before he bowed and spoke a sentence, he glanced impatiently to Destiny for her to translate.

Destiny thought for a few moments before translating the best she could. "He sincerely thanks you and is in your debt for freeing him."

Amy grinned but shrugged, "it was the right thing to do."

He glanced to Destiny for a translation which she quickly did.

He suddenly glanced up as he realised that the sun was shining on him, it didn't bother him, as the first of his kind he had none of the allergies the preceding generations had. But the others on the other hand were allergic to the sun yet there they were, safe as houses. "How is that possible?" he asked Destiny.

Destiny smiled, "again the short, dark haired woman behind you is responsible for this."

He nodded, "blood?" he asked, Destiny was the only one who could give him what he needed. Knowledge could be passed from Vampire to Vampire via their blood; it was how he taught her to speak his original language.

"I will have to ask my maker." She told him before she turned to Crystal, "he would like a few mouthfuls of blood from me." She said simply in English.

Vlha studied the woman Destiny was speaking to and suddenly everything seemed to fall into place in his mind, he thought he knew who was Destiny's maker was but had also known that Crystal wouldn't turn anyone. Judas and his cursed experiments, he thought to himself, if he hadn't been put in that damn coffin he would have pieced it together the moment he had brought these two together and under his care.

Crystal nodded, "I am indebted to him for helping you. A little blood is no problem."

Destiny offered her wrist to Vlha; he took her wrist but glanced to Crystal who nodded at him, again giving her permission. It was considered good manners, at least that was what he taught those he turned, to ask the maker before biting one of their underlings or feeding them for that matter and Vlha prided himself in his manners. Even though technically he had broken one of those unwritten rules when he fed Destiny his blood to teach her, there had been no known maker to ask. His fangs extended and he bit into Destiny's wrist. She winced as his teeth bit into her but the pain passed as he took a deep pull on her blood, he took another mouthful before he ran his tongue over his bite sealing the wounds. He released her hand and closed his eyes letting her knowledge infuse into his mind.

He could have drunk some of the blood from one of the others but he knew that he wouldn't get a whole picture, only the vampire side of things. However, he knew Destiny well, knew that she had an insatiable curiosity which she indulged whenever she liked. She would know the ins and outs of everything that had happened within reason since his... incarceration. At the same time he also wished he hadn't taken her blood as his head spun a little with all the knowledge she had gained in the last three millennia.

Vlha took a deep breath and opened his eyes, "Judas and several Juniors jumped me," he said in accented English, he could have dropped the accent all together but that would be denying some of his heritage. "They drained me and put me in a marble and magic infused coffin and dropped me into an abyss." He said simply stating his case. There were hisses and growls from the assembled masters, most of whom had been given this life by Vlha.

"Why?" Arianna asked Vlha, having kept a level head.

"Because I know Destiny, knew her before she knew that she was a vampire." Vlha answered simply, "He only became concerned when he heard I was going to search for Crystal as I didn't think it wise to let her loose on the world in her then current frame of mind. If I had brought them together back then we all would have known what Judas had done." He explained, "Although, I want to know how he managed to magic you to believe the sun was bad for you." He said directly to Destiny.

"I believe everything should be done in the right time," Amy said stepping forward, "starting with how many times he failed to turn someone using Crystal's blood and how he managed to succeed." She said directing everyone's attention back to Judas. "How many died before Destiny was reborn?"

"Eight." He answered knowing that he was dead anyway, how he died however depended on what he did here and how he answered Amy's questions.

"How did you succeed?" Was Amy's next question.

"I didn't wait for her heart to slow down completely before feeding her the blood, also I didn't bite her, biting doesn't help." He answered and closed his eyes making up his mind to tell them everything. "I knew I succeeded when her heart beat matched Crystal's at resting, forty beats a minute. To hide her heart beat I had a black witch restrict her heart to the point that it barely beats. I had the same witch infuse the fear of the sun and silver into her. She however told me that the magic would break completely if the blood of the maker were to pass her lips again."

Destiny stilled her hand on her heart which should be beating. She glanced to Crystal who was already offering her wrist to her previously unknown charge. Destiny took Crystal's wrist and quickly bit into it hoping to get this over with as the taste of blood from a human or vampire often left her gagging. The moment Crystal's blood touched her tongue she craved more but at the same time she didn't, it was yummy but it was precious as it was her maker's blood. She took no more than two mouthfuls knowing that should be sufficient to break whatever magic the witch had placed on her. She sealed the bite and released Crystal's arm.

Everyone watched and listened waiting. Destiny winced as she felt her chest constrict, it suddenly became very hard to breathe, but as soon as it came it went and for the first time in her conscious memory she felt her heart's slow steady beat. She closed her eyes and focused her ears on her own throbbing heart. Taking a deep breath she opened her eyes and glared at Judas but Crystal's order was set; she was not to attack the evil man before her.

"Why don't I remember my human life, my human name?" She demanded.

"I don't know," he said with little feeling, he simply didn't care. Crystal, Vlha and Amy growled at him, they would not accept that answer. "I think it may have to do with how long you took to turn." Judas said quickly in response to the growls.  

"How long did it take?" Vlha asked curious, taking a wet cloth from Vivian to try to clean up a little. Turning a human depended on how weak the human's blood and body were, it could be a few hours but never more than a few days.

"A week, she was feverous the entire time as if she was trying to fight the turning." Judas explained. "While Destiny slept I had the witch do what she did and when you woke the first time I was sadly out hunting, when I returned you were gone." He said finishing what he knew.

"Why?" Crystal demanded, "After what happened with me why risk it. If I had known I would have staked you out. Hell I might still."

Judas gave Crystal the same superior look he used to give her when he lectured her on their godliness, on how humans were sheep and only good for food. Crystal quivered in rage, she hated that holier than thou look. "You and Destiny are the closest things to Vlha... to our origin that any of us have been able to come up with."




Split in Time Ch. 10



"Did you ever stop to wonder why?" Vlha asked, "Why there is only one of me... why none of those I turned came close to what I am. I was born this way, my genes make me this way, I am like them or should I say they are like me." He said gesturing to Destiny and Crystal. "Something in their genetics makes them this way; it cannot be passed from person to person."

"We have turned many," Judas argued, "only those two are like you, I've looked into their genetics, I haven't found similar genes."

"You do not know all there is to know." Vlha responded. "No one bar the gods know." He glared at Judas, "perhaps I should not have released you," he began, "but then I would not have met Destiny and Crystal. For them I will forgive you for incarcerating me for almost three millennia but I doubt they will forgive you for screwing their lives up all on idealistic views. You are the way you are... stop trying to fix yourself and make yourself better and live with what was given." He let his eyes roam over the other vampires but they closed their eyes and bowed their heads slightly, they did not share Judas's view.

Vlha turned to Amy as he could tell she wielded a lot of power here, even without Destiny's scary memories of the beast the little woman turned into or her deadly dance with a sword. "I believe the masters will agree that his death is necessary."  

There were many nods from those assembled not just the Vampire masters.

Amy glanced around Vlha to meet Crystal's eyes, "how would you like this handled?"

Crystal glanced to Destiny then back to Amy, "get it over with, stake him out like I promised I would do if he fucked with me again."

Amy glanced to the other Masters. "Acceptable?" She asked them.

Arianna glanced to Judas, "I would prefer a more... fitting punishment... like say... a marble coffin in an abyss for three millennia before staking him out."

"I forgave him." Vlha pointed out taking that option out.

"True... staking him out should be fine then." She compromised.

Amy nodded and Judas suddenly vanished to a room in the temple with no doors or windows. "Vlha, Destiny, Crystal and I will take care of it tonight and wake you early if you wish to watch."

Amy glanced around but everyone started to disperse back to what they were doing. Vlha lifted the pitcher he clutched to his chest and took a drink. He frowned, "since when has blood come in pitchers?" he asked confused before he suddenly knew why, "forget I asked that." he told Destiny who chuckled.

"I've missed you." She told him honestly.

He grinned, "of course you've missed me... I make you and Crystal look tame."

Crystal rested a hand on Destiny's shoulder. "How do you want to do this, I can release you if you like."

Destiny shook her head, "please don't... you're the closest thing I have to a family." She told Crystal with tears forming in her eyes. Her life had just been turned on its head and although she was beyond the need for a Master, she had never felt a part of anything, not even the conclave. She wanted to belong somewhere, to someone.

"Think about this seriously, my life... I live with Were for starters, I take orders from a wolf and whatever she is." She said pointing to Amy who just grinned in amusement. "That will be your life."

"It doesn't seem like a bad thing. If the pack can accept you they may be able to accept me." Destiny said stating her opinion and her decision at the same time. She didn't want to be released she just wanted to try.

"And me if Amy and Wolfgang will allow it." Vlha said, "I think I want to try a different lifestyle, something similar to the life style I lived before I learnt what I truly was."

"Were life isn't that much different from Vampire." Destiny corrected, she had read everything Amy had given her and had been surprised by just how similar they were.

"I know," he told them. "But even Were life has changed since I was last around, like them all getting along for starters."

"Well if you are going to petition Wolfgang for a place you better clean up." Amy told him, "and you better come up with a way to show him you won't be a threat to his human members." She warned.

"Let me show you a room." Vivian said.

"Mind if I keep a hold of this?" Vlha asked gesturing to the pitcher cradled to his chest.

"No by all means drink as much blood as you like as often as you like so long as it isn't from a living source. You may be a true immortal but Amy may come up with a way to make you truly dead if you push her." Vivian warned, to which Vlha just chuckled.

"No... don't laugh... she isn't kidding!" Destiny said mortified as she followed Vlha and Vivian.

****

"NO..." Wolfgang growled as he paced before Amy, he had missed the entire scene with Judas as he had been spending some quality time getting to know Sage in a battle ring.

"Why?" Amy asked.

"He is a Vampire!" He stated. "No..." he corrected quickly, "He is THE Vampire."

"So... so are Crystal and Destiny, yet you can accept them." she stated.

"That's different..."

"Why?" she asked.

"Crystal proved she can live with a pack and be trusted by a pack, Destiny is her... what do you call it?" He asked.

"Junior..." she answered.

He stopped pacing, "how do you call a three thousand year old vampire Junior?"

She thought for a moment and agreed with him, "Okay... daughter then."

He nodded, "Destiny is her daughter, bound to obey her. Vlha is a wild card; he has no tie to Destiny or Crystal except that they are similarly weird vampires." He argued.

"I like Vlha. I think he is a good person, much like I thought Destiny was a good person and Crystal was." She told him. "You might be surprised by him, at least give him a chance, he is willing to be one of your members, bound by his own honour to obey you. That says a lot about a person's character Wolfgang."

He paced a little before Amy but he knew there was little he could truly do, Vlha could just hang around, at least if he was bound Wolfgang would feel a little easier about it. "I will let him plead his case but I make no promises." He told her.

"Good, because here they come."

"They?" he questioned and turned as a door opened and Crystal and Destiny walked in with Vlha. He was much transformed after having a bath and in a new change of clothes. He had chosen simple clothes, jeans, shirt and sturdy boots. Now that he was tidied up his age was easier to guess at, that he became a vampire at about eighteen or nineteen.

"Just out of curiosity... how did you become a vampire if you were the first?" Amy asked.

"That's the thing... I'm not a true vampire, not the vampires you know and are used to." Vlha said he gestured to a chair asking permission to sit. Amy nodded and silently told Wolfgang to park it.

"How so?" Wolfgang asked after he sat, trying to show interest.

"I was born this way." Vlha answered before he turned to Amy making a decision. "Remember I said that I knew vampire life and Were life wasn't that different." he asked.

Amy nodded and awareness dawned in her eyes. "You were born into a Were pack, but a genetic difference made you a Vampire instead of a Were." She stated and got a nod from Vlha. There was a knock on the door before Ghan and Keira walked in.

Vlha smiled a little at Ghan, but was wary of him at the same time.

Ghan let his eyes roam of Vlha for a moment before he turned his attention to Wolfgang, "I would like to speak in favour of Vlha."

"Why?" Wolfgang asked a little confused, he was also wondering why so many were willing to vouch for a Vampire... no THE Vampire, the first of his kind.

"He is my litter mate, my brother." Ghan explained.

The room went silent; no one knew how to process that. Amy's conclusion that he had been born Were hadn't shocked them all that much as there were too many similarities between the two races to simply be coincidence. But that Ghan and Vlha were siblings, which had them all stunned including Vlha as he was used to thinking that his brother would never claim him as kin.

Ghan turned to his brother, "if you had just waited, two weeks, I would have let you stay, I would have fought to keep you... I searched for you." He explained a little of his emotions from the time coming forward.

Vlha closed his eyes, "I'm sorry I thought I was doing what was best for the pack."

"Fuck the pack..." Ghan stated, "You are my brother that makes you as important to me as my mate."

"Ah shit..." Wolfgang said, defeated, as Amy bounced beside him.

"What?" Everyone asked.

"Wolfgang never breaks up families if he can help it. Welcome to the pack Vlha." Amy said amused. "See he had to accept Destiny because she is Crystal's daughter..."

"Huh!" Crystal and Destiny said together.

Amy gave them an amused look, "we couldn't wrap our minds around calling a three thousand year old vampire Junior since you refuse to be released. So we decided daughter was a more fitting term."

Destiny and Crystal both nodded as that did make sense. Most Juniors were released from their Maker's influence after a few hundred years. There had never been a Maker/Junior relationship that was still in effect thousands of years after rebirth, which meant that they would have to come up with a more fitting term. But for now Daughter seemed a better term then Junior, especially since technically Destiny was a Master.

"That's why he accepted you instantly, you have a kin tie, so does Vlha since Ghan is willing to claim it." Amy finished.

"There will be a backlash... vampires don't like to think of themselves related to Were, even though Vlha had told them as much when he turned the first masters." Destiny stated.

"They'll get over it, or they had better, too long they have clung to the notion they are above everything, it's time they stopped and joined us." Amy told the room. "Figuratively speaking that is..." she added and got chuckles as most Were wouldn't want to live with Vampires.

"Vlha I would like to introduce you to my mate, this is Keira. Keira this is my brother Vlha." Ghan said needing no prodding to get his mate to approach his brother and take his hand.

"It's nice to meet you, sadly Ghan has only told me little bits about you but that's okay, I would much rather get to know you myself." Keira said with a smile.

"I would like that." Vlha answered.

Amy tapped her chin as she thought, "can I get flesh samples from each of you?" She asked Vlha, Crystal and Destiny. "I have a theory that I would like to test." She explained.

"You think there may be a genetic similarity between us." Destiny asked.

"Maybe," Amy answered.

"Judas wasn't lying he tried that avenue." Vlha stated.

"Ah but he didn't have access to the Ancient labs. We have technology which surpasses anything he has managed to lay his hands on. We also have access to DNA profiles of every race and access to genetic knowledge which surpasses everything he thinks he knows." She thought for a moment, "oh and if possible a little of your venom, I have another theory about that too."

"Care to share?" Crystal asked.

"Not yet." Amy answered.

Wolfgang focused on Vlha, "hunting of humans in my territory is forbidden." He warned firmly.

Vlha nodded, "that's fine, human blood has never really appealed to me, I am used to hunting animals."

Amy frowned, "so what were you drinking earlier?"

"Elk blood, it was the first pitcher Vivian could lay her hands on. Since I showed no inclination of disgust she just kept it coming." Vlha explained. "Mind you in the state that I was in I would have drunk whatever blood was on offer regardless of whether it appealed to me or not." He turned directly to Wolfgang, "regardless, the humans in your territory whether they be friend or foe are safe from me. I give my word. I will not take blood unless offered and only in the direst of circumstances, I believe it is the same oath Crystal gave Ghan although she was pulling a face at the mere thought of drinking human blood as it truly does disgust her."

Wolfgang nodded, "welcome to the pack." He said with a smile, he could see himself liking Vlha a lot.

I...

Don't even say it... he said cutting into Amy's I told you so.

****

Amy found Destiny shortly after dinner in one of the many libraries, having remembered that before the afternoon's events she had been wanting a word with her. Crystal and Vlha were with her, chatting and getting to really know each other. Back when Crystal still lived with Judas, Vlha had visited and had unnerved her so much she had done her best to avoid the ancient vampire not knowing that he probably would have kept her secrets if she had told them to him.

"So before everything... you wanted to speak with me." Amy announced as she joined them, she flopped into a comfy chair near them and sighed.

Destiny took a deep breath as she remembered exactly why she had sought Amy out. "I am having problems with the scent of someone." She said a little hesitantly.

"What kind of problems?" Amy asked curiously not angered or concerned.

"Every time I smell it I want it more than anything else in the world, my fangs want to extend and all I want is to taste their blood." Destiny answered and flinched as she waited for whatever Amy was going to do to her.

"I'm not going to attack you; you haven't acted on your craving, which means you have control of these cravings." Amy told her.

"I don't know for how long though, it's getting harder and harder to resist." Destiny admitted relaxing a little.

"Do you know who the scent is coming from?" Amy asked.

Destiny nodded, "Susan." She braced herself for attack again as she knew Susan was a close personal friend of Amy's.

Amy nibbled on the inside of her lip as she thought for a moment. "Interesting." She said after reflecting. Destiny relaxed as Amy didn't seem angry that it was Susan whose scent was troubling her. "I wonder..." she pondered to herself for several moments before chuckling as an idea came to mind. She glanced off for a moment.

Vlha watched Amy for a moment, "what is on your mind?" He asked yet wasn't really expecting an answer as he had experience with one Ancient; he knew they only answered questions when they wanted to.

There was a knock on the door, "wait..." Amy called out. She turned to Crystal. "Can you order her not to move?" She asked.

Crystal nodded and turned to Destiny, "do not move until I release you." She ordered curious as to what was on Amy's mind. Destiny stilled completely, frozen by her maker's command, it made her feel a little uneasy as until she was released she couldn't protect herself if something happened.

"Come on in." Amy called out.

Susan popped her head in then came completely into the room. She approached Amy and glanced curious at the people in the room. Vampires, she surmised, their scent disturbed her a little as it had alarms going off in her mind, although these three didn't smell as bad as the other Vampires in the temple. She rubbed her nose still not used to her enhanced Were senses.

"You wished to see me?" She asked Amy.

Amy nodded. "Yep... go and smell Vlha for me."

Susan pulled a face. "No thanks... no offence." She told Vlha who just shrugged with a smile, he knew that his scent and the scent of other Vampires invoked danger instincts in Were. Instincts as old as time warned them that that which was different was not to be trusted, those who didn't look the same or smelt the same were again not to be trusted. Were had learnt how to overcome most of scents from the Others and had allowed them into their groups but they had yet to learn to overcome the scent of a Vampire. With good reason as some of the Masters had slaughtered whole groups of Were during their strained history and Were had done the same to Vampires in retaliation.

"Susan..." Amy started to say.

"No..."

"Yes." Amy said levelling an Alpha gaze on Susan.

Susan groaned and stomped over to Vlha, who just grinned at Susan amused at her reluctance.

"She is new, only recently turned and shifted." Amy explained and Vlha nodded and lifted his head unafraid of letting the newly turned Were near his throat.

Susan pulled a face as she took a deep breath. She stepped back and gave Amy a tortured look. "Ick... please don't ask me to do that again, although he doesn't smell as bad as the other Vampires." She compromised.

"Crystal next." Amy ordered.

Susan huffed and walked over to Crystal; she leant in and took a deep breath before frowning. She stepped back. "You don't smell bad at all."

Crystal chuckled, "I've been told that, it helps that I've never drunk human blood, that's what makes Vampires smell so bad."

"Then why does he stink?" Susan asked.

"That has more to do with the fact I am kind of Were." Vlha answered. "My scent is too similar yet also different and because it is different your body and mind reacts with disgust. A very old survival instinct."

Susan nodded.

"Now Destiny." Amy said firmly with just a hint of a smile playing at the edges of her mouth.

"What's the point of this?" Susan asked.

Amy rolled her eyes, "just do it."

Susan huffed for moment before she walked over to Destiny. Destiny held still although her knuckles betrayed her as she tightened her grip on the chair, as the object of the delicious scent moved closer to her than it had ever been.

Susan tucked some hair behind her ear and leant in, wondering silently why Destiny was so still. When she was close to Destiny's pale neck she took a deep breath. Her beast was suddenly in the front of her mind, she was not yet used to having her beast so it threw her for a moment before she realised why her beast was so focused on Destiny.

She leant in closer until her nose touched Destiny's skin and took another deep breath; her beast rumbled pleased in her mind and urged her human to claim their mate NOW.

Destiny glanced, panicked, to Crystal when Susan straddled her body and sat on Destiny's thighs, her nose not leaving the tempting scent. Amy chuckled and Vlha copied as he suddenly realised what Amy had. Destiny and Susan were mates, granted Destiny was technically a Vampire, and Were and Vampires didn't mate because Vampires didn't breed. However, as both were women that didn't really factor in.

Crystal glanced to Amy wondering what was so funny. She heard a muffled grunt and turned to watch as Destiny moved and wrapped her arms around Susan, kissing her back. Crystal snorted in amusement as she now understood what Amy had realised. She wasn't even pissed that Destiny had somehow managed to circumvent her order.

"Susan..." Amy said suddenly serious as she realised something else. "Stop."

Susan growled a warning at Amy, Destiny was hers.

Amy rolled her eyes and got to her feet, Crystal stood to help as she knew how possessive Were became when they met their mate, Ghan being her most recent experience of a possessive mate. Amy took Susan and firmly pulled her away, it was then Crystal's job to control her daughter.

"Sit down and do not disobey me again." Crystal told Destiny firmly. Destiny tried to fight it and felt pain before she relented and relaxed back into her chair.

Susan growled at Crystal, Crystal turned, her eyes went black as she let her beast, her vampire side come forward.

"Don't you dare tell me how to control my daughter." She told Susan with a voice which sent chills down Susan's spine and had her bowing her head and leaning back into Amy's body. Crystal's eyes returned to normal, "now that we have that settled. Why did you want them separated?" She asked Amy.

Amy didn't answer at first, Susan may have backed off but her beast was a moment from taking over and kicking Crystal's arse. One thing Crystal didn't know was that Sabres weren't like other Were, they were far more volatile than an average Were, they were also harder to contain when they let go of their fury. She reached up and touched Susan's temple and gently put the beast within into a gentle sleep. "Better, sorry about that Susan but I really couldn't let your beast attack Crystal and at the moment I need your rational mind."




Split in Time Ch. 10



Susan nodded and sat ready to hear Amy out. Amy sat next to her to help keep her calm. "Okay the reason I had to stop that was simple, we don't know what will happen if you bite each other. Destiny is some kind of Vampire and you are kind of Were."

Susan frowned. "Kind of? I thought I was Were."

"You are... kind of..." Amy answered. "I turned you but what am I?"

Susan didn't have to think long, she made an O with her mouth and nodded as she realised what Amy was going on about. Amy wasn't actually Were, she could turn someone but that person wouldn't be a true Were either although they would have all the characteristics of a Were including their abilities. They were simply something else.

"I don't know how you will react, you are immortal now, my bite gave you that. But what was my bite is now your bite... I think. Let me run my tests; make sure of what will happen. Fate chose to put you two together as immortals this way, I won't stop you but I just want to keep you both safe." Amy explained.

Susan nodded, she understood. "So..."

"So I should have some answers tomorrow." Amy said and made a sample jar appear in her hand. "Spit." She told Susan and offered the open jar to her. Susan waited a few moments before she spat some of her saliva into the jar. Amy capped it then gestured at Susan who vanished.

Destiny hissed at Amy.

"Oh stop it... I just willed her back to her room and sealed the door so she can't get out until tomorrow." Amy told the distraught woman. Destiny tried to calm down but for some reason she couldn't, the beast, the creature within her which was dark, vicious and dangerous, which only considered its own needs and its needs were focused completely on Susan. It wanted Susan; it wanted her body, her scent and her blood. It snarled and raged within her wanting to be free, needing to be free, to hunt down what was hers and Susan was HERS.

Crystal knelt before Destiny and locked eyes with her daughter. Crystal let her beast out; let it surface, her eyes went black as the beast came to the fore of their mind. Everything sharpened and she could see the strain in her youngling. "Be calm... she is safe... no one will get her... no one would dare take her from you before you claim her. If they tried I will hunt them down, drag them back and let you slowly skin them alive, slowly peel away the layers of their frail body." She gave Destiny a cold smile, "and don't get me started on what will happen if they hurt her. I would let you turn them, torture them for as long as you like then stake them out."

Destiny couldn't help but relax, her Maker hadn't ordered it, but she calmed down all the same. Crystal would never make a promise she would not keep. If anything happened to Susan, Crystal would set it right and let her exact her revenge. "Thank you." She said and bowed her head, Crystal's eyes returned to normal. Crystal knew what she had promised her daughter, it went against everything her mother had instilled in her but she knew Destiny needed to hear it, she doubted she would have to carry out her promise as Amy would never let harm befall her friend

"I think you should go to your room and stay there until I come and get you." Crystal said, it wasn't quite an order but at the same time it was. Destiny nodded and stood, she walked off to return to her room.

Crystal turned to Amy, "That will work for a day, do not delay it further or they'll snap."

Amy nodded she knew. "Then I best get started then," she then vanished leaving a bemused Vlha and a slightly annoyed Crystal.

****

Wolfgang found Amy in the lab early the next morning, he was finding it increasingly hard to sleep, his dreams were plagued with her. He watched as she leant over a device he had no knowledge of, in fact the entire room looked alien to him.

"Why are you up?" Amy asked, her eyes not leaving the reaction she was viewing.

"Why are you?" He asked back.

"Ancient... I don't really need to sleep, I do it out of habit or simply to pass time, to stop thinking or because I have nothing better to do." She answered, "You?"

"I can't sleep." He said as he walked carefully into the room, he was afraid to even brush pass the equipment and machines which filled the room, as he made his way to her.

"I gathered that, why can't you sleep?" She asked as she finally turned to him.

"I close my eyes and I see you." He said when he finally reached her. His arms snaked out and gathered her in his arms, gently pulling her close afraid that this was just another dream, that she would turn to dust and slide from his fingers. "Then when I get to you, you turn to dust and slide through my fingers."

"I'm sorry." She told him guessing how much the dreams were distressing him.

"Don't be..." he told her, "it is helping me come to grips with the fact that I will lose you. I just hope it's not too soon." He leant down and captured her lips, the kiss started out as soft, coaxing as he moved to hold her tighter. Groaning when her lips parted for his tongue and the kiss became more than just a gentle caress. His hands slid down her back until they rested on her behind which he groped as he lifted her up.

Her legs wrapped around his hips as her arms moved up to wrap around his neck. Stepping forward he came to a small cleared space of bench. He placed her on the bench to free up his hands which instantly started to explore the body of his mate.

Vivian walked in wondering if Amy needed a hand to finish her analysis. She smiled as she watched the couple who were oblivious to the audience and who probably wouldn't care. She cleared her throat hoping to get their attention. Nothing. They continued to kiss and if anything they got hotter as Wolfgang's hands slid into Amy's clothes.

Amy went to stop him but stopped as he grazed a thumb over her nipple which infused heat into her body and had her moaning.

Vivian suddenly realised that if she did nothing Wolfgang and Amy would probably mate before her, she knew they wouldn't care but she honestly believed there were just some things she was not meant to see. She made a deep pot appear in her hand and a ladle; she flipped it over then banged the ladle against the base of the pot and got a deep gong each time she struck it. Nothing! They just kept kissing as if nothing happened.

She glared at the couple for a moment and a bucket of water appeared in her hands and she went to toss it over the couple. She quickly reconsidered as she remembered all the delicate machines in the room. The bucket vanished as she considered another way of getting them to break it up. Grinning a little deviously she made two cubes of ice appear before her, before she willed both cubes into Amy and Wolfgang's underwear where they would have the most effect.

Wolfgang yelped and jumped back from Amy who cursed and hopped off the bench. Both reached into their clothes to get at the evil cubes of ice which as suddenly as they were there, were gone. Vivian wasn't evil; the ice had done its work so it didn't need to remain there.

"Now that I have your attention, kindly take that to your room." Vivian told them sternly.

Amy took a deep breath and shook her head, Wolfgang however was all for that suggestion, in fact a bed would make it better, mind you he wasn't fussy, bench, wall, floor, bed, as long as he got to make love to her he didn't care.

"Let's go." He said reaching for Amy.

She stepped back, "we can't, not yet." She told him.

"Why?" Vivian asked and suddenly she wished she hadn't broken them up, better for Amy to jump the hurdle than keep putting it off.

"Because we don't have the time." Amy told her grandmother.

Vivian chuckled, "Amy... time is an illusion here... you are in the temple, the home of the Ancients and doorway to the otherworld. There is a room where time stands still. You could be in there for a month and return only a moment after stepping through the door."

Wolfgang turned to Amy, "you spoke of that room, we could have used it immediately." He said a little hurt. "Instead you keep telling me to wait... why?" Anger bloomed in his mind and made him quiver as he tried to rein it in.

"Let's see..." Amy said feeling herself get angry, she knew what he was thinking, that she was hoping Fate would take her back to her world before she gave herself to him. He was wrong, it wasn't going to be that easy, she couldn't just get the Alphas to agree. She had to force a merk to change his thoughts, to realise the truth so that they could help pass the message, to turn those against them to those for them. She had to change set minds before Fate would allow her to go back to her universe.

"I didn't tell you that because I didn't want to add a new demanding mate to the hassles of having to get all the Alphas together. You keep forgetting, I know you... I know how you reacted before and that was without all the Alphas around, possible rivals. I can't afford to let you pick a fight with someone simply because they were talking to me." She told him firmly.

He knew he had made her angry... actually pissed was a better term, he had misjudged her intentions and deserved to be yelled at. "I'm... sorry..." he said gently. "I understand your trepidation now that I know your intentions. I probably would have attacked someone if we had mated sooner. I don't think I will now though." He slowly gathered her in his arms.

Amy rested her chin on his chest and glanced up at her mate.

"So sate the lust then try to get some uninterrupted sleep." Vivian said breaking into the moment.

"But the..." Amy started to say as she begun to turn out of his arms.

"I'll keep an eye on them. Have you set them all up?" Vivian asked.

"Yes." Amy answered as she took Wolfgang's hand and led him from the room.



Split in Time Ch. 11



Author's note: All characters and companies mentioned in this story have no existence outside the imagination of the author, and have no relation whatsoever to anyone or anything bearing the same name or names. Events portrayed in this story are pure invention and have not been based on any events that have happen in real life. All the characters involved in any sexual acts if their ages are not mentioned before hand; are over 18 years of age. Enjoy.

Hi everyone,

Here is the latest chapter and just to prove that I do read the comments you post I am going to answer a few questions or reply to some statements.

To Willieone and cantfightfate;

It may not seem so at this moment but every event, every story including Split in Time is important, I didn't just decide to go off on a tangent. Trust me please, what happens in Split in time might not make sense at this moment but in the end everything will make sense. I promise. This story is... very important and I can't say any more without giving stuff away.

Please hang in there, get to the end of Split in Time and then you can decide whether or not the story is needed but I will say this, what happens in this story will affect the stories to come.

To Korlin;

Amy can't give birth to the triplets in this reality because she has already given birth to them in another, way too complicated to explain... trust me. I know everyone misses the triplets, I think everyone really loves them as characters more than any of the others, especially Thais, everyone adores him.

To TorCha (chapter 5 comments);

I really think you should read the responses thrown at your comment on chapter 5 f you haven't already and that is all I am going to say about that.

To everyone who wants to see me published;

I want to see me published... and I am working on it but I also work full time, have family commitments, friend commitments and commitments to you to get the next chapter out and the next series written. At this moment I am half way through the re-write of Kiss of the Moon (just after the Alpha gathering.)

Now back to normal stuff, as normal thanks goes to my editor, Kittyhawk you rock! All feedback is welcome and if you send me a question please give me a way of getting back to you.

Have fun

Chapter 11

Wolfgang was excited as his eyes focused on Amy's behind which was framed to perfection in the light grey silk pants that hugged her form. The outfits she wore in the temple left little to the mind's eye, not that it bothered him as her clothes framed her body, he could imagine it naked as he speared into her. He didn't pay attention to where they were going until he spotted the colour of the door they were entering. He dug his heels in at the threshold of the yellow door.

"Amy... yellow doors are bad." He said, the Ancients had gone to great pains to inform every one of the danger, it took one curious Alpha to make the message stick. She had come out lead by Rhun, a quivering mess muttering about an endless hallway, of thousands of doors; that rammed home the Ancients warning.

Amy grinned, "yes, but only if you are not with an Ancient. I know my way around." She promised, which wasn't exactly true, she didn't need to know her way around exactly. Once in the other world she simply had to will herself to wherever she needed to be, and if she wanted out all she had to do was will it.

He nodded as he stepped into the hall, the door closed on its own startling him a little. Turning to the door he was sure they had just entered through he realised that it looked just like all the other doors that lined the hall way. Blinking for a few moments as he glanced around, Wolfgang frowned as Amy reached out for the door before her, they hadn't appeared to move yet she was already reaching for a door. She opened the door and led him in. At first the room was white and bare; the Ancients used it to focus and think; to work out problems and more. They furnished it as they needed and left it blank when they left.

The room started to shimmer, the walls darkened and became cave like, a flickering fire appeared in a circle hearth in the middle of the room a pile of furs were heaped on top of a thick mattress a little distance from the fire. There was a rustic table and benches to sit at although she doubted the table would be used for that purpose.

"I like this but the floor is going to be cold." He told her.

She chuckled and the floor was suddenly covered with woven mats.

"How do you do that?" He asked curiously.

She shrugged, "Ancients don't question how or where the things we will into and out of existence come from or go. We accept it and live with it. I believe however that it has to do with our minds, I just haven't figured it all out yet."

Reaching out for her, he pulled her to his body, his nose pressed against her neck as he inhaled deeply and growled. Her nails dug into his skin and quivered at the seductive sound, she was amazed that such a simple sound could heat her blood. As if they had a life of their own her hands moved, away from his arms, tugging the knot free beneath her breasts. The cloth unwound from her body and slid free. His eyes focused on her unfettered breasts, you would never know she had given birth and nursed three demanding cubs. They were tight, perfectly formed with perfect pink nipples that begged to be sucked and worshipped.

Cupping her breasts in his hands that trembled a little, he had dreamed and imagined this moment since meeting her, although nothing he had come up with his mind compared to holding the warm supple flesh in his hands, to flick the pebbled nipples. He didn't see her hands move again; his focus was completely on her luscious breasts. The gentle rub of silk against skin reached his ears and felt the cool material pool at his feet, glancing down to see a pool of silver at her feet.

He released one of her breasts and trailed a hand down her side, stroking her soft pale skin, past her waist-let, he came to her hip and felt a small sliver of silk on her hip. Tracing it around with his fingers, he quivered, it was a thong, she was wearing a thong! He quickly scooped her up and strode to the bed; he placed her amongst the furs and let his eyes run over her.

The lightly glowing markings added to her beauty and to her mystery. His eyes focused on the small scrap of silk she wore, it only just covered her sex, he inhaled deeply as he watched her. Grinning she arched her body provocatively. He quickly undid the tie that held his loose silk pants to his hips, they dropped to the ground with just a little push to get it pass his growing erection. Joining her on the bed he moved so that he covered her, and was cradled between her legs.

They kissed deeply and groaned as their hands ran against each other. He was just as perfect as she remembered while to him everything he touched was new. She didn't rush him, why rush? They were in a room which stood outside of time, they could be in here for years yet when they left they would return to a moment after they entered.

His hands were fondling her breasts as he brought his lips down and gently wrapped them around her left nipple. Inhaling sharply she squirmed a little under him as he gently bit her. As he breathed the scent of her arousal started to fill his nose, causing him to growl in need. Grinning in satisfaction, he transferred to her other hard bud to give it the same treatment.

A few minutes later he gasped as he felt a small hand wrap around him, she gripped him firmly and slowly started to stroke his maleness. "Amy..." he groaned as he quivered, he didn't know if he wanted to stop her.

"Roll over," she ordered seductively, with an unsaid promise. Doing as she asked he rolled off her and onto his back, he panted as he watched her straddle his thighs. A second hand joined the first and started to move over his erect flesh. His head arched back as he felt her tongue slide over the head of his member, his eyes rolled back as he felt himself get engulfed by the warm moistness of her mouth.

Pleased with his reaction she slid him deeper into her mouth, her teeth gently scrapped against his swollen member. She couldn't take much of him into her mouth, he was just too big but never neglected the rest of his silky smooth shaft. He panted, his hands finding purchase in her hair. Giving him an amused look as their eyes met for a moment, she started to purr.

"FUCK!" He roared as the vibrations from her purring tipped him over the edge before he even knew he was near his climax. It didn't stop her; she just kept on purring in between gulping down his seed. "Please..." he begged as he tried to get her to release him, it was too much.

Letting his member pop free with one last suck she smiled at him. He panted in relief that she had released him; her purring was exciting and fun but a little too much for him. His eyes watched her as she licked her lips with Cheshire cat grin. "Pleased with yourself?" He asked.

Chuckling she crawled up his body, resting on his chest, the heat of her sex directly over his softening manhood. He snorted as his body started to respond again, he was amazed that his body was getting ready for round two so quickly.

"That wasn't fair Amy." He told her.

She chuckled, "it wasn't meant to be, but it will give you staying power when we mate."

He had to agree, he probably wouldn't have lasted as long as he wanted but there were no guarantees that what she had just done would help, although it had taken the edge off. Pillowing her head on his chest she waited. His arms wrapped around her waist, then slowly his hands moved between her thighs and to her dripping sex after he pushed aside her underwear. Both hands explored her intimate place, she moaned as she felt two fingers pinch her clit then rub it firmly as two fingers from his other hand slid inside her.

She pressed her face to his chest and squirmed a little; she bit him gently which only fuelled him on. Grinning in pride, he watched as she squirmed on his fingers. His wolf came forward, he cared little for seduction, she was here, willing and he was not going to let his human side neglect the real reason they were here, he could love her later, they had to mate NOW.

Closing his eyes for a moment he relented, knowing his wolf was going to get more and more pissed if he kept him caged. He removed his fingers from her sex, she glanced up and saw the bronze glow of his eyes, his beast was close to the surface. Rolling them over he pinned her beneath his body and pressed his nose to her throat, growling as he breathed her scent.

Reaching down he snapped her underwear off with a violent tug and growled at her as she went to protest. He was trying to control his wolf; he didn't want to be rough with her. Shifting his weight just a little, his staff slid partially within her. It was enough to distract both minds long enough from their fight to agree to share this.

There was a rumbling growl from their chest as he started to shift, he was so focused that he didn't notice her own shift. His body lengthened and turned more beast like than man like; silver fur covered his body, his head shifted last. It was the thing of nightmares, long sleek and full of sharp dangerous teeth. Turning his attention to the woman beneath him, he was met with her own beast. She purred and rubbed her great head against his shoulder as her legs wrapped around him, trapping him in this position. He didn't complain although he knew it would be a little harder to set his knot but he didn't care.

Licking at her throat he started to work his cock into her body, his thrusts were strong and demanding. She growled as she wrapped her arms around him, pressing her nose to his neck as she raised her hips up to his thrusts, he grunted in pleasure and need as he felt his knot press against her opening. His movements stopped as he held still, pressing tightly to her core, slowly stretching her for him.

Amy growled showing her teeth at the discomfort, he growled right back at her and pressed harder, slowly it slid within in and then it suddenly just seemed to slip into place. Pushing himself up he started to really grind and hump against her sex. She growled and rumbled in pleasure as his shaft rubbed against her in delicious ways. Feeling his climax build, he was pleased to notice that she was with him.

He moved his head to her shoulder, wrapping his jaws around it to ready for his bite. Amy copied his movements until he felt her teeth against his shoulder, he didn't think about the big teeth which were about to bite into his body, his mind was focused on his own building moment of bliss and completion.

He felt as if he was suddenly squeezed as she came beneath him, her sex rippled and milked him as she snorted and growled. A moment later he joined her, they grunted and growled as their body's spasm before both bit down drawing blood. He released his bite and yelped as her teeth struck bone, his left arm lost all control.

Releasing her bite instantly, a moment later she was human. "Sorry." She told him as she carefully rolled him onto his side. It took a few moments but he slowly shifted back into his human form, his arm still jerked as if she had pinched a nerve. A towel appeared in her hand which she pressed to the deep puncture wounds she had inflicted. She held close and just kept pressure on the wounds. Slowly his arm stopped shaking.

"That hurt." He told her.

"I'm sorry, it's the fangs... they always bite deeper than I want. Always grate against bone or strike something I didn't intend to strike." She said apologising.

He kissed her temple, "its okay, your teeth can't kill me..."

Chuckling she pressed her face to his chest.

"I'm sorry I couldn't make it more... romantic." he said hesitantly, he had wanted to make love to her slowly, learn her slowly; his Wolf however had spoiled all that.

She kissed his chest. "We have until I leave to be romantic, your beast needed to claim, I understand that." She told him honestly. "He is afraid of losing me, the same fear you have, he did the only thing he could to try to keep me with him, with you."

He glanced to the towel, "think they've stopped bleeding?" he asked.

"I don't think so, but I can't tell because I can't see."

He chuckled as he knew why she couldn't move, his member was still firmly lodged within her and unless she wanted to hurt herself she had to stay still. Trying to pull her closer he stopped as his arm spasm in pain.

"Next time." She promised before she vanished.

He growled0, unimpressed, he had wanted to go soft within her. Reappearing at his back she gently pulled the towel away. Leaning in she gently licked at the wounds to clean away the blood, when they were clean she studied the wounds which were still bleeding a little.

"They have almost sealed, you'll be tender for a few days." She told him as she made a tube of cream appear in her hands. Opening it she spread a thin amount over the wounds to keep them from itching.

"Come here." He told her as he grabbed her wrist. She didn't fight; she crawled over him and settled in his arms, cuddling her close he nuzzled at her throat. Already he could feel himself rising again, "does this insatiable need ever end?" He asked.

"No." She answered, "You merely learn to control it."

He nodded, "okay." He said, a little sad and resentful that he wouldn't have eternity with her.

"I did warn you." She told him gently not wanting to start a fight.

He sighed, "I know," he frowned, "I was blocking that."

She snorted, "Deep bond remember." Tilting her head up; she offered her lips to him. "Take each day as it comes."

He kissed her briefly, "each day together is a blessing." He told her before he captured her lips in a deep demanding kiss.

****

Amy felt Wolfgang above her as she woke, his lips pressed to her shoulder as he slid into her body, his body resting against her back as he took her from behind. She groaned in pleasure, it wasn't the first time she had awoken to him making love to her, in either universe, and she doubted there would be a last. Wolfgang moved his lips to her neck, then her jaw and finally to her lips. His thrusts became more demanding now that she was awake.

She groaned as he slid into her, his shaft stroking into her felt amazing, she wondered how long they would have to stay here. Some internal clock told her that it had already been weeks in this room and that his lust should be wearing down but it didn't seem to be abating.

He broke the kiss and jerked her onto her knees, giving him more leverage before he then pushed her shoulders down. Amy didn't struggle against him or change the position he wanted her in. Fumbling for a moment, he linked their hands together before he started to thrust into her demandingly. They both grunted as their bodies came together rougher and rougher still.

He growled as he felt his climax build and he knew she wasn't far behind him. There was no finesse about this, this was rutting, fucking because the need was there. He didn't know exactly why this morning he had woken with this over- whelming need to mate her, he just had. His body started to shift as his grip on his humanity fled. The wolf came forward, taking over completely and making his body shift into his wolf form. She winced as she felt the nails of his paws dig into her hands, it didn't last long though as he moved his paws to hug her hips.

She sighed in pleasure when she realised his knot was already seated within her. His thrusts were short but no less forceful as he worked his way deeper. The pointed tip of his cock pressed firmly and a little painfully against her cervix. When he came his seed would have only one place to go.

She stretched her neck out as she felt his hot breath against the back of her neck, knowing what he wanted her to do, his jaws wrapped around her neck firmly holding her in place not that she needed it. Groaning in pleasure she felt her climax build, he started to dance around behind her as his thrusts became more frantic.

His knot slid just that little deeper and she suddenly came as that piece of flesh throbbed and rubbed against that super sensitive spot within her. He didn't stop moving throughout her climax, he was close, so close. Pressing her face to her pillow, she felt another stronger climax build; he growled and bit just that little harder. "FUCK," she cried into the pillow as this time they came together, he suddenly stopped thrusting and just held himself tightly to her body.

She felt the heat of him as his seed filled her womb; he released his bite and started to lick at her neck and back of her head. Panting gently she slowly came down from her high, the weight from his body was comforting but a little bit too much for her to brace alone in her current blissful state. She collapsed under him just as he braced his own weight. Pain had her gasping as she felt a painful tug from where their bodies were joined; she was still partially in the air, held up by his cock.

Her body was unresponsive as she tried to push herself up just as he lay down on top of her. A sigh of relief came from her as the pain caused by hanging from his knot was released. She could still feel him, throbbing and cumming within her as he hadn't stopped and was unlikely to for a little while. Shifting his form above her he returned to his human form, kissing her neck as he resettled himself on her back.

"I don't know what got into me." He said by way of apology for his morning antics.

She chuckled, "I know what got into you... I told you we would be going back after I woke."

"Do we have to, we could be here for years and no one would know." He complained.




Split in Time Ch. 11



"We can't, we have things to do, to set into motion, we can return." She promised.

"We have to wait until I deflate." He said pleased with himself.

"Okay, a little more time can't hurt." She told him.

****

Amy heard a knock on the door to her room. She opened her eyes and turned to Wolfgang who was draped over her. They had left the room which was out of time, and had quietly returned to her room. She had almost forgotten that it was the dead of night back out in the real world, almost but not quite, when they got back to her room she had forced Wolfgang to sleep with a simple command as she knew he would need it.

The knock came again. It took Amy a moment to remember that she was meant to be staking out Judas before dawn. The whole out of time for weeks then returning to a point she had almost forgotten about was going to screw her up and she now understood Nathanael's irritation when she had done it to him. She quickly slid out from under Wolfgang who mumbled a protest. In a moment she was dressed and answering the door.

Crystal, Destiny and Vlha were waiting on the other side of the door. "Sorry, forgot." Amy said as she quietly closed the door behind her.

"No wonder you forgot..." Crystal said as she saw the bite wounds both new and old on Amy. "Only, some of those look days old."

Amy nodded, "they are, there is a room behind the yellow doors which lives outside of time." She explained. "We spent weeks in that room and only returned a moment after entering."

"Nice." Crystal said kind of wishing that she had a room like that to throw Ghan and Keira in just to get rid of them for a while.

"Now, to stake out Judas." Amy said getting to the reason for the early wake up call.

Her group nodded and followed her. When they were outside they found a nice place to stake out Judas, in view of the room Vivian had picked for the Masters to witness the carriage of justice if they wished to. Amy handed out ground pegs and hammers. They each went to a point creating an almost perfect rectangle. Silver chains appeared in Amy's hands. "Just out of curiosity why are vampires allergic to silver?"

Vlha took a chain, "at first they weren't, however one of my juniors attacked and drained a S'ephalim messenger known as Sasha. The gods could have decided to wipe all vampires from the face of the universe. Instead they decided to make all Vampires allergic to silver as silver is infused in S'ephalim blood. The junior became addicted to S'ephalim blood, when Sasha returned to deliver a new message he went for her and he died the moment he took his first mouthful."

Amy smiled and finished handing out the silver chains. "Which just proves my theory that you aren't vampires." they got the chains hooked to the pegs before Amy made Judas appear before them. "Any last words or requests?" Amy asked.

"No, I don't regret my choices and I will not beg forgiveness." He said defiantly.

"Lie down." Amy told him and he lay down without the need for force, and didn't fight as they chained him spread eagle to the ground. "You were sentenced by your peers for your crimes; they have deemed your death to be your penance." She said formally.

They stepped back, "may your death be swift." Amy said gently, then together they turned and returned to the temple. "If you want to watch I can direct you to the right room." Amy said.

"I would much rather a hot cup of blood." Vlha said.

"Don't you mean a hot cup of coffee?" Crystal said.

"What's coffee?" Vlha asked suddenly as he glanced to Destiny and noticed that she too was confused. "Why don't you know what Coffee is?"

"Hello... only just learnt I can actually eat other things yesterday. So how about we both go and see what coffee is." Destiny said as she followed Crystal.

Vivian appeared and handed Amy a small black dome, an Atlantian computer, once the others were well and truly gone. "The results... I had Rhun go through them as they made little sense to me. He took one look and wanted to hand them off to the merlins. I gave copies to them all; they are in the meeting room waiting for you."

Amy nodded and together they went to the main meeting room the Ancients used. It also happened to be the room, in which she had told her story to them. The merlins were huddled around a computer, Rhun was busy with another. Amy sat and pulled up the results to see what had the others so concerned. Amy frowned, surprised that all the tests she had run on Keira, Ghan and many others were also there and used for references. She now could see what the others saw. Arianna and several other masters had offered their own tissue and saliva to help as well.

Judas had been right about genetic similarities he just didn't know what the hell he was looking for. He hadn't thought to look for multiple genes linking them. There wasn't one gene which made them different to Vampires but a series of them. All three had the dormant Were gene, which of the other masters only Arianna shared with them. All three had the immortality gene which none of the other masters had, and the last gene was a gene that Susan, Alanna, Electra and Sage had in common with them. A gene, which had no known name although it would later become known simply as the 'mystery gene' as no one knew where it came from only that it just popped up every now and again. Amy was sure she and her children carried this gene and that they got it from her, she was sure that was also how Susan, Alanna, Electra and Sage got the gene. But they didn't have a machine powerful enough to genetically analyse either her DNA or her bite so for now they just had to guess where these genes had come from.

"If only we could analyse your DNA," Rhun said suddenly into the quiet room.

Amy nodded, she understood, if she also had this 'mystery' gene, which she thought she did, it would put an even bigger question mark on what she was and what those who shared this mystery gene really were as well. "At least we know now why Judas's bite in conjunction with Crystal's blood didn't work to turn anyone."

Everyone nodded as that had confused them. "The question is whether Destiny had the 'mystery' gene or whether it was given to her from Crystal's blood."

"Bigger question is where Crystal got the gene to begin with; it's not in Vlha's bite so she didn't get it from Judas." Taliesin said.

"I doubt she got it from her mother." Mryddin added. "Although the curse may have altered a gene to become the mystery gene, but again I doubt it."

"This is giving me a headache." Rhun said holding his head.

"Mind if I copy all of this?" Amy asked as she willed her trusty globe into her hand.

"Go for it," Mryddin said, "more than likely you will be the one to answer the riddle."

Amy chuckled and transferred every scrap of data they had compiled onto her globe.

"You know, once you get the answer, could you ask Fate to let us know the answer as well." Taliesin pleaded.

Amy nodded, "I'll do my best."

"That's all we can ask." Vivian answered.

*

Amy joined Crystal, Destiny and Vlha at a table with her own cup of coffee a little while later. Susan appeared next to Amy and because her beast was still slumbering in her mind she didn't feel on edge. A cup of coffee appeared before Susan as she sat. "I have the answer." Amy told them then sipped her coffee.

"So I can claim my mate?" Destiny asked which made Susan smile and chuckle a little as she had been about to ask the same thing.

Amy nodded, "your bites aren't toxic to each other, but I had guessed that, what I was trying to figure out is if they would alter you, still don't know but they shouldn't do anything too drastic to you, you may gain some of each others characteristics but not much."

She considered what else she had learnt for a moment before turning to Vlha and starting with him. "The reason all other Vampires are not like you Vlha is because of a combination of genes. To be like you they require two specific genes, which pop up all the time in a dormant state. However in your case only one gene was dormant, the Were gene. So the active immortal gene woke up the dormant Were gene up, which is why you have a beast."

"And why I have to bite to turn?" Vlha asked as he had wondered about that, it had seemed such a Were like trait.

Amy nodded, "And why it is so hard to kill a true Vampire because the partially awoken Were gene is... on steroids," she said trying to find the best way to explain what she wanted to say.

"Because the gene was awoken by the immortal gene and not by an active Were gene," Crystal added as she was following what Amy was saying.

Amy nodded.

"Then why didn't they become like me?" Vlha asked.

"Because only the 'defective' Were gene is being passed on not the immortality gene, and both genes have to be present to be like you," Amy explained, "and I don't think there will ever be another being like you because an active immortal gene will prevent the defective Were gene from establishing. You are literally one of a kind; there will never be anyone close to what you are."

Vlha felt a little saddened that there would never be another exactly like him but he wasn't disappointed in the beings who were closest to him. Crystal and Destiny he knew would become true friends to him, as they were people who could truly understand him.

"Okay, what about us?" Destiny asked.

"You have one extra gene," Amy started. "You were given the defective Were gene but you were both born with an inactive immortal gene. The third gene however is rare, we don't know where it comes from it just mysteriously appears. This mystery gene we believe awakens the immortal gene and allows the defective Were gene to take root."

"So... who else do you know has this gene?" Destiny asked.

Amy nodded, "Susan carries it, as does, Alanna, Electra and Sage." She explained. "Pretty sure I also carry it and that it was I who gave it to Susan, Alanna, Electra and Sage. Can't test it though as my DNA will fry any machine that goes to analyse it. However I can prove that I gave the gene to Susan, as we have a DNA profile from both before and after her turn and she didn't have the gene before I turned her."

Amy sipped from her coffee, "Ghan doesn't have it, neither does Vlha, none of the Ancients have it and everyone else we have a DNA profile for doesn't have it."

"So what is a Vampire and what isn't a Vampire?" Destiny asked confused.

"You three aren't Vampires, you are something else. All the creatures turned by Vlha are true Vampires." Amy answered.

"But we drink blood." Crystal argued.

"In a way so do I, doesn't make me a vampire because I like the taste of my mate's blood." Amy argued. "You don't crave human blood like the others, you prefer animal blood, if you ate raw meat like Were do you would probably notice your need for blood lessen further. You will probably only ever truly crave the blood of your mate." She finished.

Garnet plopped into a chair next to Amy and rested her head on Amy's shoulder. "Wake me when breakfast is ready." She begged before she closed her eyes, a moment later her eyes snapped open and she turned to Amy, she could smell her brother's scent on Amy and it was strong. "I thought you were going to hold off mating Wolfgang until after the gathering?"

"We were... until last night." Amy answered.

Garnet chuckled, "he is going to be pissed that you aren't there when he wakes."

"He'll get over it." Amy answered confidently. "More coffee?" She asked as she made a pot of coffee appear.

"Yes please." Everyone chorused.

****

Wolfgang pressed his face to Amy's neck, after the talks had been dismissed for the day they had gone off into the courtyard gardens for some alone time which didn't involve a bed. She was cradled in his arms, his back against an old willow. He was still trying to get around the fact that the courtyard existed out of time, the plants were always in fruit, the bushes always covered with berries, the temperature was always just right, not too hot not too cold. Perfect snuggling weather.

"Does winter ever come to the courtyard?" He asked.

"No... that isn't how this area works, it is meant to be this way, this courtyard remains constant, a constant source of real food if we want or need it. Not that we really need it." She answered.

"We've had this conversation before haven't we?" He asked feeling a little stupid.

"Actually no... the other you only came to the temple with me that once and the courtyard wasn't a part of that experience."

"Then how do you know how the courtyard works?"

She chuckled, "Ancient remember, there are just some things we know, especially about the temple, this is our only constant in our long lives, we aren't always all here, sometimes it's empty so we need to know how this place works. Taliesin believes that our instincts are super sensitive when it comes to this place; we just need a nudge to... 'remind' us."

"Amy..."

"Hmm..."

"You aren't actually Ancient... so how do you know all this?" He asked seriously.

She thought for several moments, "regardless of what I actually am, I am still Rhiannon's daughter; her blood is a part of me, which makes me part Ancient."

He frowned for a moment, "if that is so... then shouldn't the girls have some Ancient qualities, since they share your blood."

Amy chewed her lip for a moment as she considered his statement, in theory he was right... in theory. "You know, you've just spoiled our afternoon." She told him as she stood. Alanna, Electra, Sage, Susan meet me at the front door please. She called out as she offered her hand to Wolfgang to help him up.

"Why the front door?" He asked as he dusted his behind and followed Amy.

"Simple... in theory if my blood has given them Ancient characteristics..."

"Who has Ancient characteristics?" Mryddin asked as he joined them having come from the fountain.

"My daughters and Susan..." Amy answered.

"What's this about Sage?" Gabrielle asked as she walked out of the orchard with a pear.

"Nothing bad..." Amy said and glanced around wondering if anyone else was going to walk into her conversation with Wolfgang. Wolfgang chuckled as he sensed her irritation. Grandma can you bring Sasha to the front door.

Why? Vivian asked.

Please, I'll explain when you get there. Amy answered.

Okay, we'll be there in a few minutes. Vivian answered.

In less than five minutes Amy, Wolfgang, Gabrielle and Mryddin were at the front door. A few minutes after they arrived Amy's daughters, Susan and their mates joined them with Vivian and Sasha.

"Okay, outside." Amy said as she made coats appear for everyone to rug up. When everyone was ready Amy opened the door and they exited. Ash was out the front having just given Bandit a gentle work out, Bandit had a bad habit of attacking the shrubs near the front door on the way back to the stables and nothing Ash did could stop it or move him on until he wanted.

"Wolfgang have you met Ash yet?" Amy asked.

Wolfgang thought for a moment, "No, but I have seen him." He studied the young man, Ash stood still and let the appraisal happen, all of the Alphas he had met had done the same, they stared and it was unsettling.

Wolfgang, you are unnerving him. Amy told him silently.

"Okay... so why did you drag us out here." He said directing everyone's attention to Amy.

"Alanna open the door." Amy asked.

"But..." Alanna said as she knew only Ancients could open the door.

"Just try, please."

Alanna shrugged and reached for the door handle, she took it and twisted the knob; the door opened much to her surprise. Vivian and Mryddin stared in shock.

"Close the door, Ash do me a favour and open the door." Amy continued, she wanted to prove a point, at least to those who didn't know that only those with Ancient blood could open a door leading into the temple.

Ash nodded and handed the reins to Tarval and walked up to the door, he took the handle and gave it a partial twist as the handle seized proving it was locked.

"Sage, Electra, Susan, Destiny, Sasha, Wolfgang and Tarval, try the door one at a time please." Amy asked as she sent a mental message for Rhun to bring Taylor, if her theory was correct then technically Taylor could also open the door as she consumed some of Rhun's blood to form the mates bond with him.

Sage, Electra and Sasha all opened the door and got no surprise that they could since Alanna had been able to do. Wolfgang, Susan, Tarval and Destiny however were stunned as they opened and closed the door.

Rhun and Taylor appeared just as Tarval tried and succeeded to open the door. Rhun's jaw dropped as he watched Tarval again open the door.

Tarval turned to Taylor, "your turn." He said as he stepped away.

Taylor scrubbed her hands against her jeans as she approached the door, she took the handle and twisted it with a little push, the door swung open as easily for her as it had for the others.

"Let's head in and I'll explain... you too Ash." Amy added and gestured at Bandit who vanished to his stall, untacked and with a branch of his favourite shrub. Everyone followed Amy into the temple and later into her office where everyone found a seat.

Amy paced a little as she waited for everyone to settle, her hand clutched her globe as she added another note to remind herself that she needed to seriously look into what her daughters were capable of. If her Ancientness was indeed rubbing off on them then it meant far reaching consequences, it changed the way Amy had to train her daughters. Both here and there, she hoped the other versions of herself, if there were any, figured it out before something bad happened.

"Okay," she said as she turned to them. "Wolfgang made a point in a discussion which led me to a theory..."

"Have you noticed that Amy's theories often turn out to be fact?" Destiny asked aside to Alanna who chuckled and got many other chuckles in agreement.

"Okay... so we were talking about the courtyard and he asked how I knew about the temple... I said it was simply something Ancients know; he countered and said that I'm not really Ancient, I'm something else. I said regardless of what I actually am, I am still Rhiannon's daughter, her blood is mine, and my blood courses through most of you now."

"I hate you." Wolfgang said not really meaning it. "Do you remember everything done and said around you?" he demanded to know.

Amy thought about it, "most times, sometimes I need a little prompt but generally no I don't forget."

"Back to what you were saying?" Vivian prompted.

"Anyway, Wolfgang then said, shouldn't the girls show some Ancient characteristics, since my blood bonded with them. So... I thought the easiest way to see if this works was to see if something... that Ancients don't even think about... worked with them."

"Like opening a door." Rhun concluded with a nod.

Amy nodded, "which they all managed to do, I invited the others because in some shape or form they have consumed Ancient blood including Susan who scratched me then cleaned the wounds with her tongue."

"You know what this means right?" Mryddin asked. "It means they are all possible Ancients. That they may become Ancient or gain Ancient abilities without the say so of Fate."

Rhun shook his head, "no, remember that everything that happens around us happens for a reason, including the people in our lives, which stands to reason that whatever happens was designed to happen by Fate and therefore her will. Maybe she is trying something different, a different kind of Ancient, they may not time travel or be able to alter the fabric of reality but they may not need to."

"But we simply don't know..." Vivian said as she hugged her daughter to her body. "We don't know how they will develop and you know as well as I do that they will only come into their powers when we start to train them."




Split in Time Ch. 11



"That's not true," Amy said, "the triplets... they weren't trained before they could use their powers, as infants they could teleport, will things into their hands, as toddlers I had to impress upon them that they were not to will food into fruition or to use their powers unless they had to. Hasn't stopped them from experimenting or figuring out what they can do. Their only restriction is me... I keep them from using their powers for everything."

"What have they done?" Wolfgang asked curious.

"Serenity broke her identity band... shattered her identity band," she corrected, which stunned the Were in the room who knew identity bands were virtually indestructible, Anna was still finding pieces of it and wouldn't stop looking until she found every piece. "She then made silver blocks rise up through solid glass which she was tapping."

Rhun frowned as he felt a surge around them. "What the hell is that?" He demanded as others in the room started to feel very uncomfortable, the surge made it slightly hard to breathe and had the hairs on their bodies standing on end. Everyone glanced around trying to place it, trying to find out where it was coming from.

There was a loud pop and a little boy appeared before Amy, he quivered for a moment, as he felt as if large chunks had been cut from his body. He put away what he was feeling and focused only on the now as he calmly looked around the room at all the people who just stared at him in shock. Thais turned and hugged Amy's leg, pressing his face against her hip with a shy smile, he knew these people but at the same time he didn't.

"Everyone this is Thais, Thais... everyone." Amy introduced before she knelt, pulling him free from her leg. "How did you get here?" She asked.

"Wanted to be here," he answered.

Amy frowned, "why are you here?"

He thought about his answer for a moment, he had seen everything before his mother reappeared back in their universe; he hadn't liked what had happened and was hoping that coming here was going to change what he had seen. His eyes went distant as the pathways started to rewrite, altering to factor him in closing off the other path, the one he had seen, completely. When his eyes refocused he smiled at her.

"You just changed something... didn't you?" Amy surmised as she was used to him 'spacing out' on her.

He nodded.

"Was it bad?"

The smile left his face, "yes." He answered simply. "It won't happen now..." he added, "why borrow trouble." He finished.

"Honey how did you get here?" Vivian asked curious.

"I willed it Gram." He answered.

"Gram?" Vivian questioned a little shell-shocked, time travel was one thing, time travel and universe jumping was something completely different, in their experience only Fate could move someone from one universe to another, yet he had done it on his own simply because he wanted to be here. She was beginning to understand Amy's concern with her children. Amy knew she was powerful, that she was capable of whatever she wanted and like her son she could probably universe hop if she set her mind to it. However as an adult Amy knew how to use her power without abusing it. Her adult children she had no issues with, but the cubs... all that power... the only up side with her cubs was that they didn't act like cubs, they were adults trapped in children's bodies.

"Short for great grandmother, Rhiannon gets Gran or granny." Amy explained just as other Ancients raced into the room having felt the surge throughout the temple. Their eyes all came to rest on Thais, Thais met them stare for stare and even looked at Noah with surprise as he had never met this Ancient in his universe, and now knew why as Noah looked at him with anger and fear.

Noah watched as the little boy's eyes remained fixed on him. "Why is he staring at me?" He demanded feeling anger rise.

"Because you are the dangerous one here." Wolfgang answered simply; it was a safety instinct in cubs, if in a dangerous situation they never took their eyes off the danger. This wasn't really a dangerous situation but the same instinct applied to those who the cub knew was dangerous.

"I'm the dangerous one? They are all freaks and I am the dangerous one." Noah said with disbelief before he vanished.

Thais glanced up at his mother, "now you know why you've never met him." Amy said to his unsaid statement.

Mryddin pointed at the little boy and turned to the others, "he willed himself here." He explained.

Thais gave them a toothy grin as he watched jaws drop. He gestured around the room, "They can open the front door." He said and watched as they all started to ask what was going on.

"Wait..." Amy said and quickly ran through what had happened that afternoon, effectively doing a down load to bring them up to speed as it was quicker than doing it verbally. The Ancients stood and blinked in stunned silence, their world was changing.

"I think Rhun is right," Cleopatra said, "I think Fate might be trying something new with Amy's children. Maybe we have held onto notions, which we never should have had to begin with, for too long. Maybe these children will lead us into a new era."

"How did you know about the door thing?" Gabrielle asked.

"I saw it." Thais answered.

"Thais... sees... everything." Amy explained, "Past, present and future, and he doesn't just see the immediate future, he sees... everything."

"Am I right little one?" Cleopatra asked as she knelt down to be at eye level.

Thais said nothing.

"He won't tell you." Amy answered simply. "He is a see and never tell little boy but I understand now why he doesn't talk about what he sees." She said as she ran her fingers through his hair. He smiled up at her, happy she now understood why he hadn't told them about the attack or about Keira's scratching. "He will tell you only if it means altering an event is possible." She added.

"Wait... so you see the future but tell no one... where is the fun in that?" Sage asked.

Thais smiled, "I do tell... I'm just suitable about it."

"Ah... that is so cute." Gabrielle said, "Scary... but cute." She corrected.

Amy chuckled. Thais moved away from his mother and over to his father, Wolfgang's eyes hadn't left Thais since he had appeared in the room, his eyes feasted on Thais, he was the product of the other him and Amy's love. He wished that he and Amy had that potential; that she could bear him a child, but it had taken many months before she fell pregnant the first time, a fluke as she hadn't fallen pregnant since and according to her memories she hadn't gone into heat that first time or since. He also doubted that she would be here long enough to either fall pregnant or carry to term.

Sweetie... Amy begun as she could feel Wolfgang's conflicted emotions, she was talking directly to Thais, she didn't know how Wolfgang would react, she knew he would never hurt Thais physically but he might do it emotionally.

It's okay... trust me. Thais told her as he came to a stop before Wolfgang.

Wolfgang snapped out of his brooding, he may never father a child in this universe, but he had three in another and this would probably be the only chance he had of getting to know a child of his blood. He reached out for Thais and lifted him easily before sitting Thais on his lap. Thais grinned at Wolfgang then turned to his mother with a slight I told you so look.

Amy tried not to grin, it was always hard not to when you get such a grown up look on a child's face. Thais sat for a few minutes just letting his eyes roam as everyone watched to see what he would do next. Amy suddenly remembered something, "Are you hungry?" She asked him.

He nodded.

"It was dinner time in my universe when I came here." Amy explained.

Wolfgang pulled Thais close and stood. "Let's get you fed then." He said as he sat Thais on his hip. Everyone else stood and left returning to the courtyard as they knew the conversation would continue out there. Wolfgang carried Thais, which Amy found surprising as Thais was a very independent little boy who didn't like to be carried unless it was in playfulness which normally meant upside down. Thais just let Wolfgang carry him, but he would eventually let him know that he didn't need to be carried.

"What would you like?" Wolfgang asked when they got to the buffet room. Thais turned to Amy who just smiled.

"Thais doesn't talk much..." She explained as she grabbed a plate, she knew what he liked and didn't like so started to organise a plate for him.

"Why?" Wolfgang asked not even realising that even though Thais had talked, he kept his sentences short.

Amy chuckled, "because he doesn't like to talk, he likes to listen. When he does talk he tries to say as little as possible." She finished filling his plate and started outside. She placed his plate on the table and a booster appeared so that he could sit and eat.

Damn it... Wolfgang suddenly said mentally as he realised that he probably wouldn't get to sleep with Amy again.

What? Amy asked as she poured water into a glass then sat as Wolfgang sat Thais in the booster.

I won't be able to sleep with you. He answered.

She tried not to laugh as she realised Wolfgang thought that like most cubs they liked to curl up with their mother when they slept, at least while they are young. Thais normally sleeps in his own bed, if he wants comfort, he crawls into bed with his sisters, Keira or Anna. He may choose to sleep with us tonight or he may choose to curl up on his own or curl up with another cub. However he rarely crawls into bed with us, he's done it once but that was because he had a really bad dream, his sisters also crawled in with us as they too had the dream.

Thais ate silently as the table filled with people who had been in the room when he appeared. Thais let his eyes roam over everyone, his eyes took on a distant quality and he stopped chewing, for a few minutes he didn't blink, Amy was used to this, the others weren't.

"Is he okay?" Rhun asked.

"He is fine, he spaces out regularly." Amy explained.

"And that doesn't concern you?" Taylor asked.

Amy shook her head, "why? It's not like it hurts him."

"But it must be dangerous what if it happens while he is doing something." Vivian asked.

"Then I see but don't see." Thais answered as he blinked and went back to eating, shocking everyone but Amy.

Amy chuckled. "He is completely aware of what happens around him, we were making cookies once, before Bastion banned Temperance from his kitchen, he was kneading dough, he got that vacant expression but it didn't stop him from rolling out the dough or cutting cookies."

Thais nodded, "see but don't see, like I saw but didn't see Ghost's cat run across the hall way before Aunt Susan came home." He explained even though he knew they wouldn't get it, no one got his gift, they had simply learnt to accept that he did weird things for reasons that were beyond them.

"That was days before Ghost came to live with us in my universe, Thais told Bastion to buy cat things because a one eyed ginger cat was coming to live with them... eventually. Bastion asked when and he said soon. Bastion asked how soon and Thais just shrugged. A few days later Ghost came and let a one eyed ginger tom cat lose in the manor. Annoyed the crap out of Bastion."

Thais smiled as people chuckled. Garnet joined them and Thais stared at her, he knew almost everyone... even Destiny and Crystal as in the future they would join the pack and he had seen that, but this woman was new to him.

It took Wolfgang a moment to remember that Garnet didn't exist as a person, or at least one he would know, in Amy's universe which meant Thais had never met her. "Her name is Garnet, my sister." He said to the little boy.

"Have I seen you before?" Garnet said to Thais, she could swear that she had seen him before although she couldn't remember where, she had been getting to know the children as most were going to join the pack except for the few who were going with Cass with their mothers.

Thais shook his head, "I just got here." he answered.

"This is Thais..." Amy said.

Thais... how did Amy's son get here? Garnet demanded silently to her brother.

He wanted to be here, he saw something he didn't like so came to change it... he sees the future Garnet... Wolfgang explained silently to her.

Garnet was suddenly curious, "do you know who my mate is?" she asked.

Thais thought about it for a moment, it wouldn't hurt anything if Garnet found her mate now and he did truly want his aunt to be happy. He held his hand out to her, he wanting to touch her as it would open the future up to him directly.

She placed her hand in his little one; he frowned a little in surprise as he watched her future flash before his eyes. He wouldn't have thought those two would be mates. He even saw himself pointing at Garnet's mate right here and now.

"He is here." Thais said confidently. Garnet's eyes searched the group, wondering who was hers. Her wolf had been alert since she got here and now she knew why, she couldn't pin point anything however because there were just far too many scents. Thais lifted his other arm, his eyes not leaving Garnet as he pointed at her mate, much to Taliesin's shock as he was the one Thais was pointing at.

Garnet released Thais and stood a predatory look in her eyes as she started to stalk Taliesin. Taliesin didn't know what to do; the laughter from Rhun and Taylor was not helping him. Before Taliesin had a chance to think or do anything Garnet was before him, there was something in the way she moved which had him backing up; it was as if she wanted to gobble him up and he wasn't far from the truth. She did want to eat him but in the most delicious of ways and hoped that he would like to taste her as much as she wanted to taste him.

She was also kicking herself, she had seen him, been around him but with so many scents she hadn't recognised him sooner. Watching as he backed away from her, stupid Ancient, she thought as she continued to stalk him as he continued to back away. Didn't anyone tell you that backing away was seen as running away, and boy do wolves like to chase, she thought.

Taliesin suddenly found himself against a wall, literally, Garnet took advantage of the obstacle and was suddenly before him, her arms shot out resting either side of his head, trapping him. She leant in and took a deep breath as she ran her nose up his neck.

"DON'T..." Thais called out the moment before Taliesin vanished.

Garnet growled a feral sound as she glanced around. Amy was suddenly before Garnet. "He didn't mean it Garnet... you scared him... he didn't mean to flee." She said trying to calm the beast.

"Hold her I'll get him." Rhun said and suddenly vanished.

"Wolfgang... hold her." Amy said. Wolfgang wrapped his arms around his sister and held her tightly to his chest. When Amy was sure Wolfgang had her she vanished.

"ARE YOU MAD?" She demanded when she appeared before Taliesin. Rhun was also there but was focused on keeping Taliesin here. "You've lived with Taylor long enough to know better than to run from your mate."

"Mate? I don't know her." Taliesin said still panicked.

"Did Taylor know Rhun... no she just jumped him, only he had sense not to try to run. You've just enraged her; you basically just turned around and told her that you don't want her." She told him angrily.

"No I didn't..." he argued.

"Yes you did," she cut in firmly, "you ran away, she lives in a rough world made rougher by the madness, her instinct is to grab you and claim you before something tries to take you from her. She doesn't care that you don't know her, she doesn't care that she doesn't know you, she just knows you are the perfect match for her."

Taliesin didn't know what to say or do. Rhun finally dropped his will, Taliesin wasn't going anywhere.

"Trust me..." Rhun said as he approached, "when Taylor jumped me I wanted to vanish..."

"But... you've known your mate at least three times before..." Taliesin questioned.

Rhun nodded, "but this is the first time I've known her as a Were, I've known her as a Fae, a witch and a human but never as a Were. The others I got to know before I loved them but trust me when I tell you this, you will fall in love with her quickly, she will become your world and you are made for each other." he said as he rested a hand on the older Ancient's shoulder.

"You wanted to know about love, she will show it to you." Amy reminded him.

He nodded.

"Now to appease her..." Rhun mused as he thought about the best way to calm her down.

"Taliesin," Amy said getting both men's attention. "Strip down and lie on your bed with your arms and legs spread out and your head tilted back. When she comes at you do nothing just lay there and keep your head tilted back, keep your neck and belly exposed. She may not be gentle with you, you ran on her but this will calm her down."

Taliesin nodded a little woodenly.

"I will give you five minutes before I will her in here. Be ready." She warned before she and Rhun vanished back to Garnet leaving Taliesin to prepare. Garnet growled when she saw Amy without her mate and started to fight her brother.

"He is in his room Garnet; I will send you to him in a moment he just has to wrap his mind around a few things." Amy promised.

Garnet stilled a little; she knew Amy was powerful enough to send her to where ever her mate was and when she got her hands on him he would never again vanish on her.

*

Garnet appeared in a dimly lit room five minutes later, a fire was burning merrily, contained by an intricate chain mail grate, candles were placed around almost randomly giving the room a warm cosy feeling. Her eyes scanned the room, taking in the haphazardly stacked books in a corner near the only modern piece of furniture in the room, a big dark brown lazy-boy recliner before they finally came to rest on the large four poster bed.

She almost lunged at him but stilled herself, taking a deep breath, it hadn't been his fault, he hadn't had a mate, not since becoming Ancient, she had been told. Growling gently, she calmly approached the bed where he lay. She felt her blood heat as her eyes focused on the body of her mate, her mate, she thought to herself almost beside herself with glee. She had found her mate, correction her nephew had found her mate for her but still she had her mate, she didn't care how she got him as long as he was hers.

She moved briskly to the bed and crawled onto it and over to her man. Her eyes scanned his naked form and found herself loving what she was seeing, he wasn't all firmly packed muscle like most men she knew but he wasn't 'geeky,' he had the body of a swimmer, lean long muscles that were gently defined. Straddling his stomach she waited but he didn't move and although she liked the submissiveness of his pose she didn't want it.

Leaning closer to him she licked his chest in a long smooth motion upwards towards his neck. She groaned as she inhaled, his scent danced around her nose, she nuzzled against his neck as her hands stroked his skin. But still he kept still, she growled as she shifted lying on top of him, she caught his chin and pulled his arched head down until their eyes could meet.

"You can touch me," she told him.

"Amy said to let you do as you please, that it would make up for vanishing on you." He explained.

She chuckled, "yeah well my brother chatted to me while Amy was chatting to you." Pressing her face to his chest her lips brushed against his skin, "how about we forget that you vanished on me," moving so that their eyes could meet, "forget what Amy said and just..." she didn't finish, she didn't know who started the kiss, if it was him or her, she didn't care, his lips were firm, moist and oh so addictive.




Split in Time Ch. 11



She felt them moving until she was pinned under his body, his head tilting to get better access to her mouth, parting her lips she felt him slide into her mouth. Groaning, she ran her hands against his bare back; his skin was smooth and soft. I am WAY overdressed, she thought to herself and as if he had thought the same her clothes were suddenly gone.

His hands were soft against her skin, not roughened by hard work but they still made her skin tingle and caused goose bumps to break out over her skin. Gentle shivers had him willing a blanket to cover them, thinking she was cold.

She chuckled, "I'm not cold."

"Then why did you shiver?" He asked.

"Excitement, nervousness... either one."

He smiled and closed his eyes as her hands reached up and started to run through his hair. Tugging gently on his hair she led his lips to hers and gave him a deep drugging kiss. She wrapped her legs around him and broke their kiss with a sigh.

"When was the last time you were with a woman?" She asked, she didn't care how many women were in his past as long as they were his past and she was his future.

"Not since I was human." He explained a little nervous, he hadn't been human for very long and his training had kept him away from women.

Garnet shrugged not caring, he was immortal, was bound to come across other versions of herself; it didn't mean he loved her any less than the others.

"So... I'm not very good at this," he finished.

Smiling she leant up and kissed him, "it is a natural act, an instinctual act. Follow your instincts, they will lead you and I will help."

Taliesin smiled and kissed her before trailing his lips down her neck as she arched back for him, giving him complete access to her neck. Gently he ran his tongue across her skin before he sunk his teeth in, knowing that was what she wanted. She growled, wishing he would bite deeper but his teeth weren't sharp enough to break her skin just yet.

Releasing his bite he gently kissed the abused flesh, his eyes focused on two perfect sets of teeth impressions. His lips brushed against her right collar bone before travelling down to her right breast. Focusing for a moment he studied the perfection before him, the nipple was puckered and surrounded by light brown skin. It drew him in perfectly, his lips sealing around the firm bud and his tongue flicked against it, causing a growling groan to be torn from her throat. Her hands held him firmly to her chest, not letting him move until she deemed he had worshiped her breast long enough.

Pleasure built up in her body causing her to pant and grind her hips against his body. Her scent filled his nose, making need burn through his body and his already hard member to seep more fluid and jerk as it sought the place it would claim for itself. He pulled his lips from her nipple and panted, his body was making demands.

"I need..." He started to say as they both shifted slightly and came together. Pressing forward slowly he felt the resistance of her innocence. She didn't hesitate; she jerked her hips up, impaling herself on his rod and tearing through her maidenhead.

She gasped at the slight pain but he had the sense to hold still and let her body adjust. Seeming to sense when she was ready he started to move, slowly at first but quickly he gained speed, they panted and kissed as their bodies moved in an act as old as time, her hands scratched red welts into his pale skin as her pleasure grew.

The beast within her growled and fought, wanting to bite, to claim what was theirs, and as if sensing her need he leant down and tilted his head to the side. Her eyes focused on that spot, splitting her attention between the pleasure their two bodies were creating and the desire to claim. Pulling him closer she kissed the spot where neck met shoulder for a moment, her body started to change slightly, honestly she could form a bond without shifting but she wanted him to accept her other side. Accept and trust which meant he had to start getting used to her and being with her.

Her teeth lengthened and sharpened, as did her nails but that was it for changes at the moment. Giving him no warning her teeth were suddenly in his flesh causing him to gasp but he didn't stop moving as he was too caught up in in the pleasure, which the pain seemed to add to.

They came together powerfully; she released her bite to call out as he grunted. Breathing deeply they held each other as their moment started to fade. She rolled them over so that she could drape herself over his chest. You aren't getting rid of me now, she told him in a pleased way.

I never wanted to get rid of you, I just didn't know you, and I should have trusted your instincts. He answered.

No regrets?

He chuckled as he stroked a pattern on her back. None, I understand what Rhun and Amy meant, I barely know you, but I feel that I've known you forever.

We are perfect for each other; Fate knows that even if you didn't.

I know, he answered.

****

"Where do you want to sleep tonight?" Amy asked Thais that night.

He thought about it, his eyes focused on Sally who was getting the last of the children to the dorm where they all slept. He started to move after the others, Amy followed. When they got to the long room the last of the children were getting ready for bed and most were already curled up. Thais didn't stop moving, he walked pass the empty bed and down the middle of the two rows.

He stopped before Ash's bed; Ash sat up and studied Thais.

"This is Ash; he would like to curl up with you tonight." Amy said.

Ash nodded not that bothered; the bed was big enough to share with such a little boy.

"Just a heads up he may shift in the night, but don't worry he doesn't do it often." She warned as she knelt and helped Thais out of his clothes and shoes, she made a pair of cotton pants appear and slipped him into them. Thais then crawled into the bed and under the blankets.

"He also twitches." She added as she smoothed the blankets over.

"As long as he doesn't wet the bed we'll be fine." Ash said.

"I won't," Thais promised.

"The bathroom is there," Amy said as she pointed.

Thais nodded. "Night ma." he said as he snuggled down. Amy leant down and kissed his forehead then kissed Ash's. She stood and walked down the rows stopping every now and again to straighten blankets or to tuck someone in. Sally waited for her at the door and when Amy finally joined her the lights went out.

Sally shut the door, "I am truly shocked he managed to stay awake so long." she said to Amy.

"I'm not, in my universe we have two troubled minds living in the house, the best way to deal with it is to nap, the cubs split their time between the two." Amy explained.

"Good night." Sally said as Robin came to claim her. Amy grinned and vanished to appear in her room. Wolfgang dragged her into his arms; he kissed her for several minutes before he broke the kiss.

"Is he all settled?" He asked as he started to help Amy from her clothes.

"Yes, he crawled into bed with Ash."

"Why Ash?" He asked.

Amy shrugged, "maybe because he knows Ash is a friend."

Wolfgang shrugged, he didn't care, it meant that he had Amy all to himself tonight.



Split in Time Ch. 12



Author's note: All characters and companies mentioned in this story have no existence outside the imagination of the author, and have no relation whatsoever to anyone or anything bearing the same name or names. Events portrayed in this story are pure invention and have not been based on any events that have happen in real life. All the characters involved in any sexual acts if their ages are not mentioned beforehand; are over 18 years of age. Enjoy.

Hi everyone,

Sorry for the delay, those who have been with me from the beginning know that December is probably the craziest time of year for me. So here it is the latest chapter in my Were world, there are three more chapters left of split in time before we move on to Coming of age.

As normal thanks to my editor who had as busy a December as I did, as does thanks go to you the reader. All comments are welcomed and I apologise to those who I haven't had a chance to get back to, I promise that I will soon.

Have fun





Split in Time Ch. 12



Amy nodded in understanding that it would be best to let them settle in for themselves. She handed him a new message globe. "Maddie is coming with us."

Jesse suddenly tensed, Amy may have put his beast to sleep but he still knew that Maddie was his mate and he wasn't going to let her go.

"Jesse, Maddie has to complete her healer training which she can't do here. The man she needs to learn from is in the central den." Wolfgang explained.

"But she's mine." Jesse complained then frowned as Maddie wasn't kicking up a fuss.

"Jesse, you are needed here, I need to be there." She told him as she walked into his arms and hugged him. She didn't want to leave him but she had no choice, not if she wanted to learn the full extent of her powers.

Amy stepped forward. "Look, compromise. Two weeks then Nathanael and Maddie come here for a month then you, Nathanael and Maddie come back to the central den for a month."

Jesse thought about it for a moment then sighed, he had no real choice and at least he knew she would be his in two weeks.

"Keep safe." he told her.

She grinned, "Don't worry about me, immortal, keep yourself safe." She told him.

He smiled, "you're immortal... so am I." She smiled and offered her lips to him which he took and gave her a soul searing kiss. She mumbled and wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing him back just as deeply. No one tried to stop them or pull them apart, letting them have their moment.

Mayhem chuckled and nudged Jesse to break them up. He sighed and broke the kiss; he didn't want to but knew he had work to do. He slowly released Maddie then stepped back. Amy, Wolfgang, Maddie, Kathryn and Sienna vanished leaving Mayhem's group to settle.





Split in Time Ch. 12



Nathanael rested a hand on his mates' knee. Claire... Maddie has to be trained, one day she may be a stronger healer than I. Besides, this is another group, you might make new friends. He leant over and kissed her neck.

Claire huffed then straightened as Amy approached with Garnet.

"Okay... ready to go?" Amy asked. The last two weeks had been an adjustment for everyone, adjusting to their new homes, to their new members. There had been a big dislike of Destiny, Vlha and Crystal from those who were currently living at the caves, but it was nothing compared to the dislike of the Da'Vaila. Wolfgang had been firm, laying down the law, if anyone attacked the new members of his pack he would make an example of them. Three people had jumped Sage the second day she was there, they were unlikely to get out of the infirmary any time in the next few weeks, even then they wouldn't be able to walk until all the breaks in their legs had healed. No one dared to piss Wolfgang off any further even if it had been Sage who had beaten the crap out of the three men who jumped her. Wolfgang had, after being thwarted the right to beat the men, turned around and ordered their wounds to heal naturally without pain relief; everyone now knew Wolfgang meant business.

They had organised scouting missions, once Ghan's group had been finally settled, looking for any groups of humans living in their territory. Those groups were now being watched discreetly, looking for anything that could indicate whether they could be approached with an offer of friendship. They were taking things slowly as they didn't want to try to befriend the wrong group and end up losing people. They were also compiling everything that could be given away which wouldn't be missed.

Maddie jumped to her feet and nodded eager to go. Nathanael and Claire stood and nodded.

"Let's go then." Amy said, before they vanished and appeared next to Mayhem who was busy helping to cut a pine down to more manageable pieces, none of the tree was going to waste, the needles and bark would be gathered and dried for tinder, the branches would be used for tools, furniture and more. The main trunk would be split down to make tables, benches, doors and whatever else it could be used for.

"Hi," Mayhem said panting slightly.

"Hi," Amy said with a smile, "where's Electra?"

"She's mapping the inner reaches of the caves, since she doesn't need light to see." Mayhem said fiddling with her own visor, "my eyes are light sensitive but I can't see like Electra does"

"You were exposed to minimal light, Electra had almost none." Amy answered, "She really can see in pitch blackness."

Mayhem nodded. "We've used paint to mark the different tunnels." She explained as she led the way to the caves. "She's mapping the white branch at the moment."

"How have you settled?" Amy asked.

"So far so good." Mayhem answered, she was actually waiting for the other shoe to drop and her people to go off the rails. She had no idea what she was meant to do, all she did know was that she couldn't just sit around and do nothing, so she had joined some of the work parties. Jesse hadn't discouraged her, in fact he wanted the pride to get to know her and this was the only way he knew how.

"Good, Garnet will be staying to help Jesse, you and Electra will be going to the central den to start your training." Amy explained as they finally made it to the cave's entrance. The entrance had been cleared and made to look more orderly even the way people came and went was orderly, people would always keep left depending on whether they were coming or going, which kept them from bumping into each other.

"How is your pride medically?" Nathanael asked.

Mayhem thought for a moment, "they... we haven't had a healer in years, I'm not sure." She told him honestly. Jesse had explained the skills of those in her pride, most of those who were left, if not all, were in the warrior classes, enforcers, investigators and Deltas, which was okay except there wasn't a large skill set. They were all learning new things in order to survive.

"What's your skill set like?" Garnet asked.

"Warriors mainly, a teacher, not much." Mayhem explained.

Garnet nodded and pulled out a pad and started to write, she handed it to Amy. "Can you bring those people here?"

Amy nodded, "what skills do they have?"

"Basic skills... wood work, leather work, food gathering, trapping and more. Some of them have multiple skills." Garnet explained, "Do you have enough food for winter?"

Mayhem glanced around and shook her head very slightly. She made a motion and took a left and went to their food store. Two men stood at the entrance to the dead end cave, they nodded to Mayhem and stood aside. Mayhem grabbed the torch and walked them in. Garnet went to grab the pad again but jerked as the room was suddenly full of food, died meats, grains, cheeses, preserved vegetables and fruits including kegs of cider and pots of honey.

Mayhem glanced around in shock at all the food. "How..."

"Hello... Ancient." Amy said as if that explained everything.

"But..." Mayhem said confused.

"Don't question it." Nathanael said with a smile, "Just know that your entire pride will be able to have three square meals a day. It will improve their health for starters."

Mayhem nodded pleased. "Is it enough to last the entire winter without rationing?" She knew that most, if not all of her people, had lost a lot of weight and conditioning because they couldn't eat the amount of food they needed to be strong.

Amy shrugged, "if not I'll just make more appear."

"Oh to be Ancient." Claire said as she grabbed a piece of jerky to gnaw on it.

Amy shrugged, turned and left, she was followed out. Jesse found them as they left the tunnel, he looked grim, until he saw Claire gnawing on jerky he knew they didn't have, his look turned puzzled.

We have enough food, the store cavern is full. Mayhem told him silently.

Jesse nodded; I'll send the cooks in and tell them to make a double serving of dinner. He glanced off for a moment before he turned his focus to Maddie. He smiled as he reached for her, she stepped into his arms and he hugged her tightly. His nose pressed to her hair.

"Another? How many is that now?" Garnet asked as she watched the love birds.

"I am not doing this..." Amy argued, it was not her fault people were falling in love left right and centre around her. Okay not entirely true, she had hooked up all the soul mates she knew but there were other matches that were coming to life that she didn't know about, like Susan and Destiny, Robin and Sally, Garnet and Taliesin, and Maddie and Jesse although technically she did have a hand in those as well. Rhun had teased her weeks ago that she was goddess of love and war as he watched people fall in love around her. She had countered with the fact that people fall in love even when she wasn't around, then she told him NEVER to call her that again.

"Right..." Garnet said sarcastically. "So... it just happens when you are around." She teased playfully.

Amy rolled her eyes as Electra joined them with a bucket of paint. "That branch has enough antechambers to set up twelve families in." She said pleased. "Hey ma."

"I'll send those people along and your mate, even if he hasn't finished with that book." Amy told Garnet before she made herself, Mayhem and Electra vanish.

Jesse turned to Maddie and smiled at her, his beast was anxious in his mind, it wanted to take her to the nice little cave he had claimed for himself, it even had a door which would allow them privacy as he claimed her. He stroked her jaw gently as he pressed his body to hers.

A woman raced forward. "Jesse, there is all this food in the store, it wasn't there earlier." She said keeping her voice hushed.

"A gift from our Ancient allies." He explained, "Give them a feast Stephanie, build their strength and encourage them. Full bellies will make them happy, more content."

"Do you want me to invoice what we have?" Stephaney asked.

"If you want, Garnet is bringing in skilled members so we will soon be able to supplement some of our stores with what we can find." Jesse answered his focus not once leaving Maddie.

"In winter?" Stephaney questioned.

"If you can find rotting logs you can grow mushrooms in a warm damp space, some ever greens are edible as well as roots and certain mosses. Some barks can be used for teas, there's not much but food can be found in winter." Maddie said much to the surprise of those around her, she glanced away from Jesse. "I had to learn as a cub, Ghan knows so much about food gathering and plants in general. Like what plants were good for sores, teas to relieve pain and swelling, plants that ward off infection. I learnt plant healing before I learnt that I could heal."

"Will you teach us?" Stephaney asked. It had been a shock for them trying to learn all this without anyone to teach them, they had done their best but they could have done better. A group almost teeming with Warriors, they had almost starved during their first winter when they finally managed to break away from Darrel's madness. They simply didn't have the skills needed to live rough, but they were learning and had taken in people who needed the protection for their skills.

Maddie nodded. "Right after I..." Jesse broke her sentence with a kiss, Maddie felt as if all her joints were turning to mush. Jesse pulled her tight to his body letting her feel his need.

Claire chuckled at the pair and turned to Stephaney, "I know a thing or two about cooking dried meats want a hand."

"Wait first where is the infirmary?" Nathanael asked.

"Yellow line then take the yellow and red branch." Stephaney explained before she and Claire left the kissing pair. Nathanael also left his eyes fixed firmly on the yellow line searching for the yellow and red branch.

Jesse broke the kiss, "let me show you our room." he told her with a seductive smile.

Maddie smiled, "yes please." He smiled and scooped her up. Cat calls and good natured laughter followed them as Jesse walked off down a dark corridor.



Split in Time Ch. 13



Author's note: All characters and companies mentioned in this story have no existence outside the imagination of the author, and have no relation whatsoever to anyone or anything bearing the same name or names. Events portrayed in this story are pure invention and have not been based on any events that have happen in real life. All the characters involved in any sexual acts if their ages are not mentioned before hand; are over 18 years of age. Enjoy.

Hi everyone,

I apologise for my tardiness with this chapter, it had nothing to do with the plagiarism issue I had last month but with a story issue that we couldn't figure out until I realised we were both overthinking it.

Now to all those people who sent emails of encouragement to me and condemnation about and to the plagiarist, I thank you and apologise if I didn't get a chance to email you. I was very stressed and couldn't focus on much besides my anger. So thank you very much to all those people who helped shut down that person and the BIGGEST thankyou goes out to the anonymous person who let me know that my work was on another site under a different person's name.

So here it is, chapter 13, and just so you know there are two more chapters after this one and then we will be moving on to Coming of Age.

I hope you enjoy and remember all feedback is welcome.

Have fun

*

While Jesse and Maddie were having fun, elsewhere Keira was out in the cold studying a settlement of humans from the safety of a small rise and dense bushes. They had chosen this spot because it was a perfect natural hide, the rise allowed them to approach and leave without being seen and allowed a great vantage of the settlement. Crystal was beside her as Ghan refused to let her out of the den without protection, which she thought was stupid since she couldn't die. The settlement was small, no more than twenty buildings with a little over a hundred individuals of various ages but from what Keira could see they were coping.

Looks like an argument. Keira said silently to Crystal as she watched a group gather and could just make out raised voices.

I'll go see if I can get close enough to listen, stay put. Crystal said before she used her preternatural speed to zip down to the settlement, find a place to hide and listen.

Keira sighed and waited for Crystal. Time seemed to go very slowly for Keira who quickly got bored. Sliding from the hide and back to the safer hidden side she rolled onto her back and stared at the sky. She even closed her eyes and napped for a little while.

Crystal returned silently over an hour later, she grinned and picked up a twig. Just as she went to tickle Keira behind the ear with her twig Keira's eyes snapped open and grabbed Crystal's wrist.

"How did you do that?" Crystal whispered, she hadn't made a sound, there was no way Keira could have heard her approach, not even her slow heart beat gave her away.

"I don't know, I just knew you were there, what was the argument about?" Keira asked.

"Merks... apparently they came through a week ago and almost cleared out their winter store." Crystal said gently. "One group wanted to go after the merks before they got too far away, and beat the crap out of them. The leader has knocked it down, he has organised scavenger parties."

"Perfect candidates for Amy's plan." Keira said and got a confirming nod from Crystal.

"You stay here and keep an eye on them, I'll tell Ghan." Crystal said as she went to stand.

"What part of 'do not leave Keira alone' didn't you get?" Keira asked miming Ghan's earlier words.

"You can't move as fast as I can, just stay put." Crystal said with a cocky grin before she was suddenly gone.

Keira lay back feeling a little useless, Ghan just wanted to wrap her in cotton wool and keep her in the den, she was immortal for fucks sake she didn't need to be wrapped in cotton wool. Closing her eyes she decided to nap again, her cat would warn her if anyone approached. No sooner had she closed her eyes did she snap them open again, listening carefully she heard a distant cry and the snarl of a mountain lion. She was suddenly on her feet and running in the right direction of the noise, ducking and weaving through the forest. When she was close enough to hear the laboured breath of a human, she shifted letting her beast come forward.

Keira ran into the clearing and jumped over the woman. The lion snarled, it's ears went back and it showed its teeth. Keira snarled showing her own teeth but the cat was starving and would defend its kill even from the bigger predator. When her challenge was ignored she decided to just end this and slashed at the lion, slicing it open, a quick bite and it was dead. She moved carefully over to the woman who curled up into a ball.

Keira shifted back into her human form, "hey... it's okay I don't want to hurt you." She knelt and waited, the woman slowly un-curled.

"You're hurt." Keira suddenly said as she saw the claw marks which were bleeding steadily. "Do you have a belt and some spare cloth, I need to stop the bleeding." The woman shook her head.

"Don't touch it, I'll be right back," Keira darted off looking for her torn clothes, Ghan was going to be pissed that she had ruined perfectly good clothes, not to mention the belt and boots which were now nothing but scrap. Sorting through what was there she managed to find some long strips which would serve her needs.

Racing back to the woman she knelt.

"Aren't you cold?" The woman asked as she shuddered.

Keira shook her head, "no, I don't feel it, in fact it feels pleasant, probably has something to do with snow leopard part of me." Working quickly Keira bound the wound tight, applying pressure to the wound in the process to stop the bleeding.

Keira smiled at her handy work, "I'm Keira."

"Ashley."

"Pleasure to meet you," Keira replied trying to lighten the mood.

Ashley grinned at the attempt of humour.

"I am going to stand you up and rest you against a tree. Then I am going to shift, what I want you to do is climb on my back, try to sit as close to my shoulders as possible and hold on tightly."

Ashley nodded. Moving quickly Keira easily got Ashley upright and to the nearest tree. "Try to keep off your leg and use the tree to stay upright. Bad leg first." Keira continued before she stepped back several paces. Taking a deep breath, "Don't be afraid, we won't hurt you."

Ashley nodded and watched fascinated as Keira started to shift. Ashley had been hearing stories about Were for as long as she could remember, none of the stories painted Were in a good light, but this Were was risking her own life to get Ashley back to her home and family. It wasn't the actions of a mindless beast, a daemon with no soul, these were actions of a being who could feel empathy, almost... human.

In no time Keira was in her beast form, so as not to scare Ashley she approached and lay down before rolling over, exposing her throat and belly. Ashley understood the gesture, it was in her nature books, it was a sign of trust to show the venerable parts of the body.

"It's okay... you're just so big." Ashley told her.

Keira chuffed as she got back onto her feet; she approached and got down as far as she could. Ashley reached forward and touched the thick coat, shuffling closer she flung her hurt leg over Keira's body and almost lost her balance. Grabbing a handful of coat she pulled to right herself. Keira didn't complain, she just stayed still while Ashley righted herself. "Sorry," Ashley said and Keira chuffed. It took several moments for Ashley to get into position; grabbing two handfuls of coat she took a deep breath. "Okay. I think I'm ready."

Carefully Keira stood and paused so that Ashley could adjust her seat, once Ashley had settled again Keira started to slowly move. She just hoped the villagers wouldn't shoot first and ask questions later. Deciding that the best approach would be to give them plenty of warning that she was coming, she approached the main entrance to the settlement. She heard the pull of bows and startled cries of the town folk and stopped.

"No... she saved my life... she's okay." Ashley said holding out her hands.

Keira gently went down to her belly as people approached to help Ashley get off her back. Slowly Keira backed away from the humans, although she was immortal she still didn't want to be made into a living pin cushion.

"No..." Ashley said as she watched her friends and family get ready to fire. Limping she placed herself between Keira and her friends. "Her name is Keira, she saved my life, she didn't have to save me but she did. She didn't have to bring me here but she did. She doesn't want to hurt anyone." Slowly people lowered their bows as Ashley's words clashed with what they believed they knew about Were.

A new woman ran forward and held out a blanket for Keira so that she could shift back into her human form. Keira shifted and wrapped the blanket around her body.

"Thank you." Keira told the woman, "She was attacked by a mountain lion, her leg needs to be cleaned and if you have antibiotics it would be good for her." She said trying not to sound bossy.

"Antibiotics..." a young man scoffed, "what world do you live in. If we had antibiotics the Merks took it years ago."

"Cat wounds fester; an untreated scratch could kill her..." Keira explained.

"Thank you." An older woman said as she gestured for the men to carry Ashley inside. "I would like to offer you some hospitality but... we have little."

Keira nodded, "it's okay... in fact..." she turned as she heard the approach of heavy feet.

People reacted and pulled up bows as several wolves trotted forward, their heads down and their teeth exposed. Originally they had come to scout the settlement and find the best place to leave the sled of food. However when one of them found the dead lion Ghan had blown a fuse and went straight for his wayward mate. Ghan led four other wolves in an arrow formation, Keira could understand the hesitation the settlers felt when they saw Ghan, Keira was a big cat and would immediately get mistaken for a tiger until they got a better look. Ghan however was a wolf, a massive wolf, far bigger than any wolf had the right to be.

"Wait... it's okay, it's just my pack." Keira said trying to calm things down as Ghan growled at the men with bows. "Ghan... stop it."

He turned and growled at her. Just WHAT do you think you were doing?

"I heard a cry for help, I helped." She told him honestly as he paced around her growling in anger, his hackles raised.

And why didn't you just take her to the den. You risk our home, our people, the young ones why? He growled into her mind.

We are trying to break down barriers of mistrust, how are we going to gain their trust if we just took her, they would never let her back if we return her healed. Keira explained. This way they see her heal slowly, they will see that she hasn't changed and maybe, just maybe, what I have done will help us gain their friendship.

Next time think, the pack's safety comes first, even if it means the death of a single being, one for the good of many. Talk to your father, it is the reason he didn't return to you and your mother. Ghan growled one last time, he couldn't fault her reasoning but she needed to start thinking like a Beta, like a person responsible for the safety and wellbeing of their group. What she did was dangerous and reckless.

No one noticed the mental argument since it happened so quickly, they did notice Ghan's demeanour had changed and that he was now sniffing his mate looking for injuries. He nosed aside the blanket for a moment but he was content that the only blood he could smell was the humans. "They need medical supplies now, Ashley's got some nasty scratches and they don't have any antibiotics."

Keira turned to the humans, "this is Ghan, my mate, he is also Beta of our group," she explained as people relaxed a little further , now that the massive wolf appeared calm. When they glanced around for the others they noticed that they were gone.

Crystal, Destiny and several others are coming with what we could spare. He told her.

Keira nodded as she could already hear them approaching with the missing wolves. She turned to the woman who gave her the blanket, "do you have someone who knows how to administer antibiotics?"

Everyone shook their heads.

Crystal ran up at a much more normal speed and stopped beside Keira. "The others are coming." By the way, you owe me, Ghan is going to kick my arse for letting this happen.

Nope, this is all on you, if you hadn't left you would have been there to stop me. Keira replied. "Good, I need you to go back and bring Blast and medical supplies to deal with a mountain lion attack." Keira said aloud.

Crystal nodded, Keira was right this was her fault, if she had stayed she would have had control of Keira's actions. "Alright I'll go back to the den."

"And be quick..." Keira added, Crystal gave her a cocky grin and was gone. "I hate it when she does that."

A blanket was offered to Ghan who shifted and wrapped it around his waist. "You did tell her to be quick."

Keira sighed a little defeated sound.

"Do you want to come inside, it's awfully cold out." The older woman offered.

"No, we don't feel the cold too much." Ghan answered, "but thank you for the offer." He added so as not to insult the woman for her offer.

She smiled and nodded then frowned as she watched several people pull a sled followed by wolves who looked familiar.

"We were going to just leave this in an easily found place but since we are here we'll just give this to you." Ghan said.

"Pardon?" the woman asked as the pack members slowed then came to a stop beside Ghan and Keira.

"It's not much, but it means you won't starve for a while." Ghan answered as he moved and pulled the tarp from the sledge to expose food.

"Wait... you are just going to give this to us?" The older woman asked.

Ghan nodded. "Yes... we are just going to give it to you."

"Our Alpha wants to stop the violence, we were going to slowly lead up to a meeting." Keira explained. "But... well... no one could have foreseen what happened today."

"How does your Alpha want to stop the violence?" A young man said.

Keira shrugged, "by being as helpful as possible. Food packages, medical packages, whatever we can spare."

"Why?"

"Because it is the right thing to do." Keira answered. "We would like to be your friends, nothing more. We don't want you to pick a side, we don't want to hurt you, we just want to be your friends."

"Flour." A new woman said as she read the label. "actual flour, we could have bread... bread." She said a little excited.

"I am sure in some tins there is some bake-ready dough." Ghan added.

Everyone gathered to see what else was in the sled, it was simple fare of dried meats and vegetables, mainly root vegetables and dried mushrooms, things that wouldn't perish quickly. However to the village it meant survival.

"Can we take it?" A young girl asked as she reached for a piece of jerky.

Everyone turned to their leaders wanting to know if they could take the offering. They nodded and everyone started to grab the food. "Hold on," the younger woman said. "This is all going to the kitchen, no stealing or hoarding." She ordered.

Ghan offered his hand to the older woman, "I'm Ghan, Beta to Wolfgang and Amy."

She took his hand, "Melanie Richards." She told him as she shook his hand. "What's a Beta?" she asked.

Ghan smiled, "Betas are... like lords who answer to their king and queen the Alphas."

Melanie nodded and gestured to the older man beside her, "my husband Michel Richards." Ghan offered his hand to Michel and got a firm shake in return.

"If you like we can make a request to meet our Alphas, and work out what you want to do from the answers you get from them." Keira suggested.

"We would like that." Michel said a little hesitantly, he wasn't sure if he should be trusting Were but he had to admit that the merks had never given them anything but heart ache. He would reserve judgement until he knew the motives behind this, because in his mind there had to be a motive.

"Destiny," Ghan called out as he knew she had kept back.

Destiny walked forward her head down and her hands in her pockets.

"Go and inform the Alphas we've made contact with a group." Ghan told her and she nodded. She turned and ran off, waiting until she was in the trees before using her preternatural speed.

Crystal and Blast were suddenly beside Keira. "You can let go now." She told Blast who was perched on her back, his eyes screwed shut.

"I think I'm going to be sick." Blast told her as he released her and sat in the snow.

"Come on it wasn't that bad." Crystal told him.

"You can see where you were going; all I could see was a blur." Blast argued taking deep breaths, when he thought his stomach wouldn't rebel he shakily got to his feet. He picked up his bag, "okay where is this woman."

"Blast is a healer," Keira explained, "he knows a little about treating humans." She added.

"This way." Melanie said and led him into the shack Ashley had been taken to.

"Make sure Blast gets home safely." Ghan told Crystal. "We will be back tomorrow." He turned and shifted, shaking off the blanket, Keira closed her eyes and had to think about it.

Crystal turned to Michel, "she's new to shifting." She explained as Keira finally started to shift. They watched as Keira stretched and trotted after Ghan, the others who had brought the sled turned and followed them.

Michel frowned, "they are mates, yet she is a... what is she?"

Crystal shrugged, "we don't have a name for what she is. See she was found and raised by Were even though she was human." She said launching into Keira's story, knowing it would help win them over.

****

Ash found Amy purely by accident, when he was looking for a library that same day, he stuffed his hands into his pockets as Amy's eyes met his. "Hello Ash, can I help you?" She asked, she hadn't seen much of him lately, she would see him at meals and when she checked on him before she went to sleep but hadn't had a chance to speak with him.

"Is something wrong Ash?" She asked as she put aside what she was doing, she patted the space next to her.

"I don't know..." He joined Amy on the chair. "I guess... all my friends have been brought into families... and I haven't... is... is something wrong with me?" Tears were forming in his eyes as he spoke, he had watched his friends one by one get folded into one family or another pretty much by the end of the first day. However no one had looked at him or if they had they still hadn't approached. He thought he beyond the need for a family but seeing his friends happy and accepted, cared for had him wanting that... needed that.

"Oh Ash..." She said and pulled him into a hug. "No... it's not like that... never like that." WOLFGANG GET YOUR ARSE IN HERE. She yelled mentally, Wolfgang was meant to have spoken to Ash days ago.

Less than a minute later Wolfgang ran in, she glared at him, Did you speak with Ash? She asked already knowing the answer.

Wolfgang suddenly looked away as he knew she was angry with him. No... he admitted as he walked over and sat behind Ash, wrapping his arms around Ash. "I'm sorry Ash, I was meant to speak with you but had other demands which took up my time."

Ash sniffed, a little confused.

"Ash the reason no one has approached you is because they knew that Wolfgang and I had already started to fold you into our family." Amy told him gently.

He raised his head and sniffed a little, "really?"

Amy nodded, "Why do you think you sleep near Alanna, Electra, Sage and Thais? In the part of the caves reserved for the Alpha's family?"




Split in Time Ch. 13



"I..." He began and started to cry again, feeling stupid for not putting it together sooner himself.

Amy pulled him close resting his head on her shoulder, Wolfgang rested his head on Ash's shoulder. They let him cry, they had actually spoken about Ash often after the first time Wolfgang met him. Wolfgang could see the potential in the young man, he would be a great leader with the right training and support as he seemed to attract loyalty. Amy however could see a young man who needed love, one day he could be a leader but for now he just needed love, understanding and a family to support him and be there for him. They were still working out the details as to how Ash would be a member of their family, Wolfgang was for adopting him traditionally, already planning for the future. Amy was less certain, after the revelations about her daughters having Ancient characteristics now she didn't want to subject another to it as she wouldn't be here to help him cope. Wolfgang argued that she might not be here to help her daughters, she was still trying to wrap her mind around the fact that something she had done in a completely different universe was in effect here and probably every other universe.

When Ash finally started to calm Amy made a hanky appear and pressed it to his nose as he sat up. "Blow." She ordered and he blew his nose, once he had blown his nose she folded the hanky and wiped the tears away.

Wolfgang stroked Ash's cheek, "we are still deciding whether or not to adopt you or foster you but regardless of what we eventually decide, you are in my family, you are my son."

Ash smiled, Wolfgang would never know just how much that statement meant to Ash, how much safer he felt, as he knew that Were protected their children more fiercely than they protected their mates. If anything threatened him Wolfgang wouldn't stop until the threat was gone.

There was a knock on the door and Bastion walked in with Destiny.

"Sorry," Wolfgang said to Ash as he stood, "Yes?" He said to Destiny.

"Ghan sent me, they've made contact with a group of humans and hope you could come and talk to them as they are wary but willing to try." Destiny explained.

"Is the group safe?" Wolfgang asked, going directly to his primary concern which was the protection of his members.

Destiny nodded, "the group is small and according to Crystal, starving. Even if they manage to get strength from the food we've given them they would never find us, their community is about an hour's hard run for a Were from the den." She added.

Wolfgang nodded accepting her report. "Go back and tell Ghan we'll be there in the morning." Destiny nodded and turned with Bastion and left the room.

Amy grinned as Wolfgang sat and wrapped his arms around Ash. "Where were we?"

Thais skipped into the room with a big grin, he hopped into Ash's lap and grinned at his mother.

"It's a boy... this is what you meant, that the next person to join our family would be a boy." Amy asked.

Thais just smiled and refused to confirm or deny.

Wolfgang chuckled, "did you really expect an answer?" He asked.

"No but I know why he is so happy." Amy said, "he has finally got a brother."

Thais held out his hand, his fingers spread wide, "five sisters." He explained. "Welcome to madness." he said then hugged his brother. Amy and Wolfgang chuckled.

****

Amy appeared next to Ghan the next day, Wolfgang was with her as was a woman who carried a doctors bag. "So just how did you make contact?" Amy asked a little unimpressed, they were meant to be taking it very slowly, ease the humans into it not just barge in.

Ghan pointed to Keira, as he was not taking responsibility for her actions.

Amy turned to Keira and crossed her arms.

"I was waiting for Crystal to return after reporting to Ghan that we found a likely group. While I was waiting I heard a human cry out so I went to help. A woman was being attacked by a mountain lion. So I helped her and took her back to her people." Keira explained.

Amy thought about it then shrugged, "well it wasn't a terrible first contact." She admitted. "Where is your healer?" she asked.

"Complaining that he doesn't have what he needs to fix her wounds." Ghan answered and nodded as Blast walked out of his office.

"Well that's why I am here." Eva said as she shifted the heavy pack on her back. "Besides I have more experience with humans since I was a human doctor." Blast offered his hand to Eva who shook it firmly. "My mate and I will be joining this group, I hope that doesn't bother you."

Blast shook his head, "no, in fact I will enjoy the company." He told her honestly.

"I can help improve your skills if you like, I've been trained by Nathanael and have been granted training status, I am also meant to start training Susan." She offered.

Blast smiled and nodded, he knew of Nathanael and had wanted to sit down and pick his mind. Nathanael as an immortal healer had a wealth of knowledge.

"I heard you have a chemist?" Eva questioned.

Blast nodded, "he has a very small lab and his greatest achievement is growing penicillin and tetanus, we are actually lucky to have him as he was one of the original researchers during the second world war. He grows small amounts in shallow dishes. He also makes herbal remedies, willow bark tablets for pain and fever and more although he got all those recipes from Ghan."

"So, are we going?" Wolfgang asked playfully glaring at the two healers.

Keira nodded and they left the caves they now called home. Twelve heavily packed sleds were waiting for them outside. "So how are the children settling?" Keira asked, everyone Amy had rescued had been slowly but surely blended into the pack, had been fostered into families and groups.

"They've settled," Amy answered. "It was an adjustment but they've settled."

"It's always an adjustment for humans coming into a pack, more so after the life they lived." Keira said as she took a rope to one of the sleds, Ghan took the other.

Others grabbed ropes and they started to move. Two hours later they made it to the settlement and were greeted warmly, the children even came out and walked alongside them.

Amazing what a full belly can do. Amy told the group.

Blast immediately went to take Eva to the shack Ashley was in the day before.

"We moved Ashley to a different house last night. We were careful not to bump her." Melanie said as she came forward.

"This is Eva, before the madness she was a human doctor." Blast explained.

"Thank you for coming." Melanie said with a smile. "Was?"

Eva smiled, "I let my mate turn me when we went to ground and was retrained to be a Were healer. But I am finding my knowledge in treating humans to be of more use lately." She said pleasantly.

"This way." Melanie said.

"Good and when we're done with Ashley I would like to give everyone a physical, see how you are." Eva said as she followed Melanie.

"Come on, let's unpack these sleds." Amy said.

"Alpha." The pack answered and went to work, Amy rolled her eyes at Wolfgang, who grinned. Sacks of flour, oats, corn and corn meal were stacked neatly in front of the communal kitchen as were sacks of dried meats, sausages stored in barrels of fat, wheels of hard cheeses, and smaller bags of salt and some spices. Clay pots full of honey were carefully unpacked from their padded places among blankets and clothes.

A woman walked out and offered hunks of a flat bread to the pack. Everyone accepted the offer with a smile and nod of thanks. The woman blushed as she offered pieces to Amy and Wolfgang, the fact that they weren't unpacking made her think that they were the Alphas Keira had talked about yesterday. "Sorry, we've pretty much forgotten how to make real bread." She explained.

Amy smiled, "it's okay. If you like I can show you how to make bread." She offered.

"Really?" the woman asked with a hopeful smile.

Amy nodded, "Amy," she said as she offered her hand to the woman.

"Trisha," she said as she took Amy's hand.

"Well Trisha if you have a note book I can give you recipes for what we have given you." Amy offered.

"Please, I had so many difficulties last night, I didn't know what to do with all the food. I managed to bake the loaves that were given to us, some were burnt but I did my best." Trisha explained.

Amy nodded and glanced around, her eyes focusing on Bastion as he had come purely to appease curiosity and to supervise the unloading of the food. "Bastion." She gestured and he came. "Lead the way." She invited Trisha who nodded and walked them into the kitchen.

Wolfgang chuckled then turned his attention to his pack members. "See what needs to be done." He told the waiting people who nodded and turned to the one building that didn't seem to be in use.

"We had to stop using that building," Michel said as he came to stand beside Wolfgang. "The roof was damaged in a storm, we don't have the equipment to patch the leak."

"We might be able to make it water tight again." Wolfgang answered.

****

Wolfgang sat with Michel and Melanie later that day, cradling a cup of herbal tea. Keira smiled as she watched Ashley being supported into the room by Eva. Ashley was brought over and sat carefully down as Eva turned to Melanie, "she'll be fine in a week or two but she has to take it easy." Eva explained as she sat. "Some of your people have rickets, they need to spend more time outside, I want to splint that little boys legs to slowly straighten them out."

"Will he be okay?" Melanie asked.

Eva nodded, "we got it early in all of them. Now that they are eating properly the malnutrition most of you suffer from will clear up."

"If the merks don't take what we have." A younger man muttered as he sat over his stew.

"If you like we can show you how to hide your food to keep it safe." Wolfgang offered. "There are many tricks we can show you if you like."

One of Wolfgang's men walked forward. "Alpha... that unused building, the frame is metal and the walls are stone plastered, we can remove the tin roof and thatch it. The tin can then be used to patch leaks in other roofs."

"How long will it take?" Wolfgang asked.

"About a week to gather the materials and a day to do it." He guessed. "However it will take time and lots of fire to dry it out before the spring."

Wolfgang nodded. "Co-ordinate with Michel to get it done, show them how to do it so they can take over the up keep. You and a team can start tomorrow, anything else."

"They go to the river to get water, there is an old well, we can fix that too." He added.

Wolfgang nodded. "Focus on that for now, find out what needs to be replaced to make it work."

"And don't forget to make it look like it's not in use." Amy added. "I'm sure they don't want the Merks to realise they are improving the camp. The merks might decide to stay."

Melanie smiled at Amy who seemed to know the hardships they faced and was doing her best to meet their needs and keep them safe at the same time. Wolfgang's pack member bowed his head and smiled as he was offered something to eat, a little break would do him and his team good.

"Is there anything else we can help you with?" Wolfgang asked.

"You are doing a lot already." Melanie complained.

Wolfgang smiled, "it's the only way to stop the violence."

"Keira said that." Melanie said in a leading manner.

Amy nodded, "our plan is to make friends with the same people the merks recruit from. It might seem selfish but in the end it's the best for both of our races. This war will not end if we don't start trying to be friends."

"And what happens when the merks come to 'recruit' how will your friendship help us then." The young man asked.

Amy thought for a moment, she knew the young man, if taken, would do what he had to, to survive and she respected that. "I don't know." She told him honestly. "I know what I ask is big, if they take you, you will do what you have to survive, we respect that. All I can hope is that you aren't taken."

"Mathew!" Melanie hissed at him.

"No... he is right to question," Amy said as she stood and glanced around the room. "He is around the right age that merks take from, I wish I could tell you I have the answers, that we will protect you. I can't... we don't know what is going to happen." She focused on Mathew. "But we have to start somewhere."

Mathew watched her thoughtfully for several long moments then he nodded. He respected her honesty and could see what she was trying to do.

Amy sat with a little smile and waved off Melanie's attempt to apologise for Mathew's manners. "It's okay Melanie, he is the one who has the most to lose in this, he'll make friends of Were and if the merks take him he will have to kill those he knows mean no harm to him in order to survive."

"Well at least the merks won't kill him on sight," Ashley said. "They won't care if it was a real mountain lion, that I was scratched by something which could be a Were is a death warrant."

"We'll keep an eye out." Ghan said, "by the way, there are some plants which will annoy the dogs, so they won't smell Were. Those same plants if boiled down to a syrup can ease coughs and fever." He added as an afterthought.

Eva leant around Ashley to address Ghan directly, "I am going to have to pick your mind, where did you learn that?"

"Born during the last ice age," Ghan explained with a shrug, "knowing plants was a part of survival. The berries the bush has are a good source of vitamin C." He added. "But can only be eaten when ripe."

"We'll find them and plant them around the town." Melanie promised.

"There are other things we can teach you, how to set traps, better hunting techniques, if you like." Ghan added.

"Thank you." Melanie said accepting on behalf of them all. By the sounds of what Wolfgang and his people were willing to teach them it meant independence for them. They would be able to support themselves and be confident that they wouldn't starve even if the merks cleaned them out. It was an act of true friendship.

****

Susan woke slowly, her arms tightened for a moment but her glorious mate was still delightfully in her arms. She wondered for a moment what time it was but didn't care, if she was needed they would be woken. Destiny shifted and pressed her face to Susan's neck. Destiny yawned and opened her eyes, she smiled at Susan for a moment. They were both curious as to why Amy had asked them to come back to the central den yesterday after meeting the settlement Keira had made contact with.

"Morning." Destiny said to Susan with a smile.

Susan smiled, "how can you tell it's morning."

"Inbuilt clock." Destiny moved to straddle her mate, she was surprised by the turn in her life, she had gone from not knowing who her maker was and being a very unusual Vampire to knowing her maker, finding out she wasn't actually a Vampire and finding her mate all in the span of twenty four hours. Destiny licked her lips as her eyes focused on her mate's neck.

Susan chuckled and sat up, they had developed kind of a routine in the mornings, starting with a light feeding for Destiny, then breakfast and finally reporting for whatever duties their Alphas had for them. Destiny had found that she didn't need to drink much of Susan's blood to sustain her and control her thirst, so she took a little each day to prevent a longer feeding and weakening her mate, however briefly, just in case. They kissed deeply for several long minutes, gently stroking each other. They broke the kiss reluctantly, Destiny licked her lips again as her thumb and forefinger captured Susan's chin and gently tilted her head up slightly and to the side.

Destiny trailed her lips lightly over Susan's neck, she enjoyed the anticipation almost as much as making love to her mate and even supping on Susan's endorphin rich blood wasn't nearly as enjoyable as doing this, building the tension before she finally broke Susan's skin. Susan squirmed a little but let her mate have her away. Destiny's lips came to the sweet spot where the blood ran close to the skin. Her fangs extended as she hovered over that spot for a moment then bit down.

Both sets of eyes closed in pleasure as Destiny's fangs retracted to let the blood flow, she knew she had limited time before Susan's body healed the wounds. She sucked deeply and Susan moaned, the taste of Susan's blood was as beautiful and precious as the blood of her maker, only a thousand times more addictive. Susan quivered, she loved the feel of Destiny's fangs sinking into her flesh and the feeling of pleasure as she drank she was providing what her mate needed to survive and it brought her joy. Just as those wounds healed Destiny's fangs returned and bit down letting more blood flow.

The door to their room opened just as Destiny's fangs bit in for a third time. Amy groaned as she leant on the door frame and waited for Destiny to finish her feed. She was getting used to walking in on Destiny necking her best friend who was more a sister to her than a friend. Destiny pulled away from Susan's neck and licked the traces of blood from her skin.

Both women then turned to Amy. "You know if you quit walking in on us you wouldn't see anything you didn't like." Susan snapped a little.

Amy chuckled, "that's not it... it just takes some getting used to, the whole, Vampire biting a Were and both living to tell the tale."

"Weren't you the one who told me I wasn't a vampire?" Destiny said as she got to her feet then walked off the bed.

Susan watched her go for a moment before turning to Amy. "So... what's on the books for today?"

"I want you and Destiny to be sentinels near that Village we've befriended, be on the lookout for Merks. If you see them going near the settlement go straight to Keira, she has message globes that will inform me, from there we'll coordinate a plan of attack." Amy explained. "Susan you are also meant to start your healer training with Eva." She added.

Susan nodded and got to her feet, then went to get dressed.

"So we're going to protect them?" Destiny asked as she started to lace her boots.

"Yes..." Amy said firmly, she was going to make a stand with this group, their first friends should be spared the fate and bother of Merks even if it meant around the clock protection. "There are several other teams going to be doing the same thing, come to the map room and I show you which sector I want you to keep an eye on."

Destiny and Susan nodded as Amy left them to get organised.

Twenty minutes later they joined Amy in the map room, the pack kept very accurate maps of its territory and a little outside it, the maps were always getting updated. The main map covered the floor and was maintained and updated by elemental magic, walkways kept people from walking over the magical map. Destiny and Susan walked across a walkway to the platform where Amy was.

Amy gestured to the copied map which was theirs to take with them. She then pointed to the area she wanted them to patrol. "I want you to patrol here." She explained then turned her attention to Ash who had been trying to remain invisible.

Ash smiled a little at Susan then nodded slightly to Destiny. He didn't fear Destiny but he still was thoroughly intimidated by the gorgeous woman. He took a deep breath and approached, he had been acting second in charge back before Amy entered his life so he knew how merks worked. "Don't just pay attention to the main road, they will send advance parties through the forest to cut off anyone trying to run." He explained with confidence.

Amy smiled slightly as she watched Ash explain standard tactics used by Merks. In the short time Ash had been at the caves he had made an impact on many of Wolfgang's Betas. Wolfgang had seen what the Merks had seen in Ash the first time he met Ash, a natural leader, or he would be with the right training. Wolfgang had handed him over to Sammy for Beta training and Enforcer training, also to pick his mind about everything he knew about the tactics of Merks.




Split in Time Ch. 13



When Ash finished telling Susan and Destiny he blushed as he remembered that Susan probably knew all this already as once upon a time she had been a Merk.

Susan shook her head sensing the reason for his hesitation, "no... I wasn't really front line, a medic only, I was always kept back until all the danger was over then brought in to patch people up." She told him.

He nodded seeing the logic in that as medics... trained ones at least were as important as doctors and herb men and women. They were guarded and protected if they went out into the field and if one was lost due to carelessness... it would mean the execution of the one responsible, at least that is what happened to the last second in charge in his group.

"Any questions?" Amy asked.

Susan and Destiny shook their heads.

"Then go... report to Bastion, he has food packs for you and Ghan will show you the plants you need to mask your scents." Amy told them, they bowed and left. Amy glanced to Ash, "That was the last group, Sammy is waiting for you." She told him before she gave him a quick hug and kiss before letting him go.

Ash nodded and left leaving Amy to wonder if what she was doing was going to help, and how many people were going to die in the attempt.

****

Crystal ran into Ghan's room, she glanced off to the side so that she didn't have to see Ghan and Keira wrapped up in a passionate embrace. She cleared her throat to gain their attention. It had only been a week since the patrols were started, they hadn't expected the Merks to return so soon or to have them slip through virtually unnoticed.

"What?" Ghan growled as he turned to Crystal.

"Merks have slipped through, they are less than an hour from the settlement." Crystal rushed out.

Ghan cursed and crawled off Keira, "has Amy been informed."

"Keira has the message globes but Destiny has gone to inform her as well." Crystal explained. Ghan tugged his clothes on, Keira got to her feet and started pulling on her own clothes. "What do you think you're doing?" Ghan demanded to know.

Keira rolled her eyes as she tugged on her boots. "Whether you like it or not I am involved in this. I will be there and I will fight if I must."

Ghan growled and went to grab her but she ducked out of his grip. "Ghan... I am immortal... I cannot die and you are taking this protecting your mate thing to a whole new level, you are acting pre-historic." She told him as she moved away.

"Keira... I am pre-historic..." he argued.

"And it's time you stopped, I love you but we no longer live in that time and if you continue to push this I will leave you." She told him firmly.

"You wouldn't!" He exclaimed.

"Try me." She snapped. "Equality or nothing Ghan, make up your mind."

Crystal slowly tried to back out of the room, "you know we really don't have time for this." She told the bickering pair. Both growled at her for interrupting but it didn't stop them from continuing.

"I am just trying to protect you." He continued.

"From what?" She demanded, "I can't die. I am immortal."

"Guys... really..." Crystal said trying to edge her way out but Keira was before the door.

"Stay out of this," both growled at her. Crystal raised her arms and wondered for a brief moment if she should have waited for them to finish before walking in. However, this had been building since Ghan found Keira and she knew it had to run its course.

"Keira... you are my mate... it is my duty..."

"It is your duty to support and protect our cubs... not to wrap me in cotton wool." She stated. "Even back when you were born it was not the practise to keep your mates out of danger. Males and females worked together to protect the pack and to hunt."

"Do you know how long I have waited for you? how many times I've lost you?" He asked and she shook her head. "Seven." He stated, "I have loved and lost you seven times. Forgive me for being a little paranoid. It's been seven hundred years since I last held you in my arms."

"But you still want me to stay here?" Keira asked and he nodded. She grabbed a dagger out of a sheath that was hanging off a wall. Before either Ghan or Crystal could stop her, Keira slammed the dagger into her chest, through her heart and prayed Amy was right about her being immortal.

She winced in pain but the pain vanished quickly only to be replaced with a feeling of nothingness. Ghan was suddenly before her and reached for the dagger, she caught his wrist and stood tall, it was an interesting feeling, she reached her free hand up and checked her pulse. Her heart wasn't beating and she found it a little hard to breathe but she wasn't dying.

Her eyes locked with Ghan's, "see I can't die." She grabbed his hand and put it on her pulse point to prove her heart wasn't beating.

Ghan's eyes closed in relief, he had been frightened when she grabbed the dagger and slammed it into her chest. Afraid that he would lose her again, in theory he knew she was immortal but in practise it was different, seeing her alive and whole with a dagger in her chest, piercing her heart, proved she was indeed immortal and he was stupid to wrap her in cotton wool when she couldn't die.

"I'm sorry." He told her and carefully pulled the dagger free, pressing his other hand to the wound to seal it while it healed. She winced a little as her heart jolted after a few moments then started to beat.

"That is a really interesting sensation." She told him.

"You should try getting your head chopped off." Crystal said. "That... was an interesting sensation."

"I remember, you spent almost an hour kicking your own head around before you finally caught it." Ghan said in amusement he remembered laughing himself silly for days after the event.

"You are never going to let me forget that." Crystal said, it had actually been a sparring accident, Ghan had accidentally decapitated her when she ducked instead of weaved.

"You brought it up." Ghan answered as he released pressure on Keira's chest. The wound had sealed leaving a red welt.

"Guys... merks going to the settlement." Keira said as she knew they would start to bicker and they had already wasted enough time doing that. She wanted to get this over with so she and Ghan could get around to the pleasure of makeup sex, as this was the first time they had fought since they mated.

Both nodded and together they left Keira and Ghan's room. "Hammer, Hawk..." Ghan called out, "our strongest fighters, gather them now, the human settlement is going to be attacked."

Both men nodded, split up and ran to do as they ordered.

"Mark go and get Blast and Eva, tell them to prepare for the worst." Keira added and Mark nodded before he too raced off.

"What happened to you?" Susan asked with a slight pant, she had run here to warn the nearest pack of the merks while Destiny had raced the further distance to tell Amy as she knew she would get there before Susan got here.

Keira glanced down to the hole in her shirt. "I stabbed myself." She answered. "It was the only way to make lug head over here realise that I am indeed immortal and do not need to be protected."

Susan chuckled then took the offered water skin to drink deeply. She could run faster and longer than she thought possible, she wasn't even tired in fact just the opposite, she was excited and edgy. She knew a battle was coming and her beast was anxious for it.

Amy appeared and with her was every immortal who could fight, that she could lay her hands on, she was going to do her best not to lose anyone and if that meant putting immortals between the two factions then so be it. With her daughters, their mates, Dominic, Gabrielle, Michelle, Nathanael, Maddie, Jesse, Nancy, Bastion, Vivian, Rhun, Boadicea, Cleopatra, Guinevere, D'Artagnan, Cass, Ghost, Wolfgang and herself, plus the six immortals here, Keira, Ghan, Destiny, Susan, Vlha and Crystal that made 29 immortals. She personally thought it was overkill to have so many immortals here but she could live with it.

"How are we doing this?" Ghan asked his alphas.

"Amy would like to reason with them, or try to." Wolfgang answered.

A woman ran up. "Ghan, Piper and two others took the children to the human settlement to take some cough syrup for the young ones."

Ghan growled, "how long ago?" He demanded.

"Two hours... they shouldn't have made it there yet." She explained.

"Crystal..." He started to say as he turned to her but she was already gone.

"I didn't think..." the woman began to say.

"Don't... we didn't know," Ghan said instantly dismissing her guilt. "How are we tackling this?" He asked Amy.

"Ash?" Amy said turning to the young man who took a deep breath and stepped forward. It had been a pure accident that he had been present when Destiny appeared to tell Amy and Wolfgang that the humans were in danger. He was still present when Sammy, Sienna and several other high ranking warriors came in to discuss tactics.

He had listened as they discussed how they were going to act. Each suggestion grated on him, they just seemed so... complicated. Without thinking he cleared his throat and offered a suggestion. They all stared at him, some grinning others annoyed. Sammy winked at him and focused as Amy and Wolfgang considered his suggestion.

And now he was here, outlining his plan to a group of seasoned warriors who were many years his senior with experience to back them up. "This is my plan..." he began, hiding his trepidation, this was his idea and lives depended on him and his knowledge.



Split in Time Ch. 14



Author's note: All characters and companies mentioned in this story have no existence outside the imagination of the author, and have no relation whatsoever to anyone or anything bearing the same name or names. Events portrayed in this story are pure invention and have not been based on any events that have happen in real life. All the characters involved in any sexual acts if their ages are not mentioned beforehand; are over 18 years of age. Enjoy.

Hi everyone

Here you go the second last chapter of Split in Time, I hope you enjoy it. However I am probably going to get a heap of angry emails about the end of this chapter, I am warning you beforehand that yes there is a cliff hanger at the end of this chapter. I will not say sorry, it was just the perfect place to end the chapter. But it's still isn't going to stop you being angry.

My editor and I are almost finished editing chapter 15 (which is the reason why I didn't post this chapter sooner.) I will submit that chapter as soon as it is done.

Thanks goes as normal to my editor, she rocks.

Have fun





Split in Time Ch. 14



Both women went to cry out in shock but Amy's hands stopped them, "calm down you're safe." Amy explained gently as she removed her hands from their mouths. "I've been told it is unsettling, I find it normal myself."

"Why did you wish to speak with us Alpha." The timid woman said.

Amy studied her for long moments, "what rank are you?" she asked.

"Omega..." She answered which meant she was a normally ranked member of the pack.

"Who is your Beta?" Amy asked with a frown, this woman may pretend but she wasn't Omega.

"Eden... Eden Clare... why?"

Amy glanced off for a moment and a few moments later Wolfgang walked out. "What do you know about Eden Clare?"

Wolfgang frowned, "Beta, runs a small group near the southern border, a little backwards but a good leader. Why?"

Amy turned to the woman, "your name."

"Sara, Sara Peirce." She answered.

"And why, Sara, is Eden keeping you in Omega rank when you are clearly enforcer or Beta rank?" Amy asked.

Sara shrugged, her eyes refusing to meet Amy's, she knew why she hadn't advanced as she should have. Eden was just a little too backward and it didn't help that he had a wandering eye and wandering hands.

"I think Eden needs to be removed as Beta." Amy said through gritted teeth as she had followed Sara's thoughts. "A little backwards... try a lot backwards, he makes even Noah look like the most forward thinking person going." She turned to Wolfgang, "he is deliberately keeping Sara put, so that he can sexually harass her."

Wolfgang growled. "I'll get Sienna on it, for now you and Miley will live at the central den and your training will begin. Will that be okay with you Miley... are you comfortable with the pack?" He asked.

Miley smiled a little, "it was an adjustment but Sara is everything I could ever want or need."

Wolfgang grinned, "your brother is inside, let's go eat and talk."





Split in Time Ch. 15



Author's note: All characters and companies mentioned in this story have no existence outside the imagination of the author, and have no relation whatsoever to anyone or anything bearing the same name or names. Events portrayed in this story are pure invention and have not been based on any events that have happen in real life. All the characters involved in any sexual acts if their ages are not mentioned beforehand; are over 18 years of age. Enjoy.

Hi everyone

Here is the last Chapter of Split in Time, I hope you enjoy it. A big thanks goes out to my editor Kittyhawk, she rules, and to you the reader. All feedback is welcome.

Have Fun

P.S. The next story in the sequence is Coming of Age.





Split in Time Ch. 15



"Six years ago the president stood at a dais like this and said the worst was over, we had won. Recent events however dispute that, we didn't fix the underlying problem... we simply stuck a band aid over it and hoped it would heal, and for a while it seemed like it was." She watched as some people nodded, things were better in some ways worse in others.

"So... I'm Ancient... right... I can time travel... cross to alternate realities... see and experience things that boggle the mind." She focused her eyes on the camera directly before her. "So when I say, I've seen what will happen if we don't fix this, get this right now... believe me. I've seen it, I've lived it... August the 3rd... that is a mere drop in the ocean compared to what I saw."

She watched as most of the reporters went pale, August the 3rd was bad, most if not all had borne witness to it, reported the aftermath, seen the carnage, that what Amy saw was worse was not something that was sitting well with them.

"Granted the world I was dragged to was different, how the war happened was different but it happened there, it consumed its people for twenty years. Everything gone... industry, medicine, it is a post-apocalyptic nightmare. Small pockets of humans living in a world they didn't know how to live in, Were and non-humans keeping away from each other." She took a deep breath.

"But that wasn't the worst of what I saw, of the stories I was told."

Keira... Thais told her directing her to give them an example, and Piper. He added.

"You all know Keira right?" She asked and got resounding nods from everyone, they all knew Keira, the orphaned girl who stumbled into the fire fight, she was the little human girl in the stand. "She was orphaned in that world too, her mother killed by merks in a terror raid, terror raids were the way they got reluctant humans to join their ranks. They would attack small communities which resisted the merks, who stood up to them and told them no. The Merks didn't like that so they had to make examples of those people make them fear the big mean Were. It was winter when they attacked, they tore the bodies up making it look like Were did it. Keira was left for dead, until two Were found her and took her as their own. Because she was human they then chose to avoid both sides of the war to protect her."

"I could tell you stories about people you don't know but I don't want them tracked down and asked how they feel about what happed to the alternate them. I will however tell you I saw children as young as ten forced to join the merks, forced to kill, of women who were treated like brood mares, meat for the grinder one told me. I saw a woman who was going to be killed for being attacked by a true mountain lion simply because they were afraid it could have been a Were." She stopped and took a breath.

"Although I saw a lot of bad things, I also saw a lot of good and the beginnings of a new era, I was there but it wasn't me who started the process of fixing it. It was a small village of Humans that Were had befriended, they changed the minds of a small group of merks, who agreed to go back and change more minds, to be like a virus. A virus of change."

She smiled a little, "do you understand yet why I told you about them?" She asked, "it has never been up to me to be the changing force of this world, that is everyone's job. If you don't want to live in the world I saw, or the world we were forced to see over the last few months then it is up to you. All of you... not just a few... every man, woman and child on this planet. It is your responsibility to change this world, not the governments', not the UN, not the humane groups, you..." She glanced around, she knew that the ending of her speech was radical but it was the only way to get through to everyone.

"And that is all I am going to say. If you want the world to change don't sit back and complain, do something."

There was applause from those around the room.

Thais tugged on her mother's leg, she leant down, "Answer one person's questions, she only has five and they are good questions." he told her.

She considered him for a moment then scooped him up and sat him on her hip, he was a little too big for her to do this to but it gave him the height he needed to reach the microphone. Thais leant forward, "Ms Rhodes... you can ask your questions." He said clearly.

The woman in question jerked in surprise, but since Joe had said Amy wouldn't be asking questions she hadn't expected this, nor had she expected it to be her as she was just a lowly assistant. Her boss jabbed her and handed her a note pad.

"Your questions... not his..." Thais added.

She stood and approached the small microphone stand, she straightened her clothes a little and cleared her throat. She took a deep breath and frowned as her mind went blank for a moment. "Will you be running in next year's presidential primary and if so which party will you join?" She asked as that was the first question to pop into her head.

Amy thought for a moment carefully. "No... I will not be running in next year's primary and if I ever choose to run for president I will remain an independent as I believe that the only way to truly speak for the people is to not be bound by party politics."

Ms Rhodes smiled, "We get the reports from the FBI but how are the victims of the Slave cartels doing?"

Amy chuckled, "my reports are more... detailed then the FBI, except for a few extreme cases most are settling back into normal life. Regardless of how they are it will take time to heal them from their experiences."

"Extreme cases?" Ms Rhodes asked.

Amy nodded, "there are a handful who have had complete mental breakdowns, they are being treated and will hopefully make full recoveries."

"And the children?" She added.

"All have been re-homed or returned to their families if they were taken and not sold. They are settling in well, give them time though, as children they will bounce back but things like that leave scars and behavioural problems, the families have support networks in place to help these children and get them back into society as well adjusted young men and women." Amy answered.

"And my final question, how is Ghost?" Ms Rhodes finished.

Amy smiled, Thais had been right, her questions indeed were good ones, ones that had meaning and were far away from things she wasn't ready to talk about. "Ghost is slowly coming to terms with his loss and is finally beginning to learn about his race and what it is to be a part of a group of people just like him. My family is supporting him through his pain and helping him in every way we can. There is little to no chance of a repeat of what happened the last time he lost his mate." Ghost's story had been told so many times over the last few weeks as he became widely known by the world. When it became known that Ghost had again lost his mate, had her taken away before he could save her, it had made humans feel for him and fear for him.

Amy glanced to Thais. "Thank you for coming and your time, good day." She told them, then turned and carried Thais from the room. Joe shut the door but left it open just a crack so she could watch what was going on.

"You were right, her questions were good ones." Amy told him and she put him back on his feet.

"I'm never wrong remember..." He answered with a small grin.

"I must admit I liked her style..." Joe said.

"She's getting fired for not using her boss's questions." Thais added.

Joe turned to Amy, "please can I steal her." She begged putting her hands together.

Amy nodded, "let me get Mary to talk to her." Mary? she said connecting to the reporter's mind.

Alpha, Mary answered respectfully.

Can you talk to Ms Rhodes, tell her I would like to speak with her as soon as possible, like in the next ten minutes. Amy asked.

Of course, Mary said, by the way... Thais looks simply adorable, where did you get the suit from? She asked.

For Chase? Amy asked.

Yes. Mary answered a little doe eyed when it came to her adopted son.

Sadly Thais willed it together after copying Wolfgang's grey Armani, bring Chase to the manor and I'll see what I can do. Amy offered.

Only if we can stay for a week, I think we all need a break, promise I won't report anything I see or hear. She added.

Of course. Amy said with a grin then turned to Joe. "Mary is taking care of it."

"Ma... I have to use the bathroom." Thais said.

"Go... I'll bring her to the office." Joe said and a moment later Amy and Thais were in Amy's office. She let Thais go and he walked to the bathroom to take care of his needs.

Amy poured herself a coffee adding sugar and cream. She heard the flush of the toilet and a few moments later the water tap turn on. She sipped her coffee and placed it on the coffee table before the couch, she then went back to the small kitchenette and opened a cupboard, she pulled out a bag of cookies and put a dozen on a plate, she walked it to the table then went to put the bag away.

"Ma can I have a juice please." He asked.

"Orange, apple or tropical?" Amy asked as she opened the fridge.

He hummed for a moment, "tropical please."

Amy pulled out the carton and poured him a glass.

"May I have a cookie?" He asked his hand hovered over the triple chocolate cookies which were his favourite.

"Yes." Amy answered as she turned and walked his drink to him, she put it down on the table and picked up her coffee.

Joe walked briskly into the room and was followed by a wary Sauna Rhodes, it still hadn't sunk in yet that she had just been fired, although she was going to sue her boss for wrongful dismissal. "Tea, coffee, juice or water." Joe offered Sauna.

"Coffee please," Sauna answered before she noticed Amy. "Senator... I..."

"Amy... my name is Amy, not Senator." Amy said firmly.

Joe chuckled, "Amy can't stand formality, how do you want your coffee."

"White with one." Sauna answered as she walked further into the room. Thais smiled at her as he munched on a cookie.

"Take a seat," Joe told her as she brought the drinks over, she gave a mug to Sauna and sat before she reached for the cookies.

Sauna sat and waited wondering why she was here.

"Thais says you just got fired?" Amy began.

"I am never wrong," Thais said firmly.

"I know sweetie, I am just trying to explain why she is here." She said trying to calm him down.

"Why me?" Sauna asked Thais.

"Your questions were the best." Thais answered simply before he picked his cup up and drank some juice, he put his juice down and ate the last of his cookie.

"But you said you weren't going to take questions?" Sauna stated.

Amy nodded, "and I wasn't but Thais wanted your questions answered, only at the end did I see his wisdom, you didn't ask about that other world you asked questions Ih were interesting for humans and non-humans, what they wanted to know as it was what you wanted to know."

Sauna snorted, "lost my job though." She muttered.

"And gained a better one." Joe told her. "Look I do too much... I've known that for years. I think you would do well as Amy's press representative freeing me to do my job and be her personal assistant."

"I'll leave you to convince her." Amy said as she stood. "Thais get your things."

Thais finished his juice and stood, he made a gesture and all his drawing things went back into his briefcase before it appeared in his hands. "Ready."

Amy went to open her mouth and tell him off but she had been planning to will her globe and her Ancient computer into her hands so she shut her mouth. She willed her globe and computer into her hands.

"You get used to it." Joe said to Sauna a moment before Amy and Thais vanished.





Split in Time Ch. 15



"How long?" She asked.

"Not even a month..." he answered glancing to Wolfgang, as he knew yesterday morning she wasn't pregnant as he checked her shoulder which had been dislocated in a sparring match the day before.

"What's wrong?" Wolfgang said as he approached.

"Nothing Wolfgang..." She told him her mind racing, it hadn't just been about Ash.

"Then what is it?" Wolfgang asked.

"I'm pregnant." She told him.

He thought for a moment then nodded, if she had been pregnant yesterday morning she would have told him which meant the other him and Amy had conceived a child. "Okay..." He said, he couldn't be jealous of himself, this was his child regardless of which version of him actually father it. "I'll warn Bastion and Joe... no more coffee for you."

"Come on... not my coffee..." She begged.

"Coffee isn't good for pregnant women." He said as he gathered her up in his arms, regardless of which of us fathered this child, it is MINE. He told her.

The other you had the same thoughts when it came to Thais. She told him as she hugged him back.

And at least you have a purpose for that other little heart...

She felt sad that she was denying the other Wolfgang a chance of holding his child but Fate obviously wanted it this way... for whatever reason that might be.





Split in Time Ch. 01



Cleopatra held up her hand to get Amy's attention, "You haven't told us what you shift into."

Amy smiled a little embarrassed, "I'm a white sabre tooth tiger." She told them. "I have a lot of Were characteristics, temper being one of them. I didn't know I was Ancient, neither did Wolfgang when he attempted to turn me and everyone I asks swears to the goddess of the moon, to Luna, that I smelt human, not something else. I didn't know so when I needed it I forced my power, my will into a change."

"But Sabre tooths were never..." Robin started to say.

"A Were race... I know... but that's what I shifted into." She told them.

"What did you think just before you shifted?" Vivian asked curious.

Amy thought for a moment, no one had asked her what she was thinking before. "Nothing... well not quite, everything felt wrong then I focused my mind on one word, 'Shift' and my will complied." She answered.

"Are you sure you didn't think Wolf or Cat." Boadicea questioned.

Amy shook her head, "No... just shift, my will took on a life of it's own or Fate stepped in and chose the form I would shift into. I just don't know, I don't know many things." She admitted.

"You think the answers to the question lie with your other mother," Guinevere surmised.

Amy nodded, "Ma and you guys..." She went to correct herself but stopped, they knew what she meant. "Well you have no clue as to what I am, about what the other half of my genetics is. We haven't figured out why my abilities are growing so diverse, I'm Ancient, I'm Were, I've learnt Elemental magic, I've never been formally trained to fight yet I can pick up any weapon and wield it like someone who has trained their entire life to use only that weapon." She explained, "We hope that my other mother will be able to answer the questions we're all thinking and will be able to answer the one question I've wanted to know... what the hell am I... I'm not Ancient and I'm not Were."

"But..." Mryddin started to say.

Amy held up her hand stopping him. "Okay... I didn't say that right..." She went thoughtful for a moment, "Wolfgang says that after I shifted, my scent changed slightly, added a hint of Were to the mix. When I came here and you told me I was Ancient, my scent changed again, Ancient now in the mix. Then when I went into the Kings men and had that experience my scent changed again, Were and Ancient were still there, but there was a new scent, stronger than the Were and Ancient scents, a scent that no-one has smelt before, or can describe."

Vivian's brow furrowed, "I... don't..."

Amy nodded, "I know... it's hard even for me to wrap my mind around sometimes. I'm Were and I'm Ancient but I'm also not. I am what I'm..." She stopped and blinked, she stood and started to pace with a kind of surprised yet confused look on her face. "I am what I'm not yet I'm not what I am." She said saying the exact words she had said on August the 3rd when she had been asked what she was.

"What is that?" Mryddin asked.

Amy stopped pacing, "It's a riddle, I said it after a great battle, when all this power was coursing through me, I am what I'm not yet I'm not what I am. I've known that phrase for years, it's taunted me for years and only now do I figure it out."

"Sometimes the most difficult answers are the ones we must work out for ourselves." Taliesin said with all the wisdom of his years.

Amy smiled, "Yeah... you like my riddles... you still haven't given me the answer to the last one I gave you." She told him as she returned to her seat. Taylor and Cleopatra had slid out of the room at one stage and returned with drinks and snacks.

"Really, what was it?" Taliesin said with a pleased smile.

She smile as she thought for a moment, "What comes without being asked and is gone without being stolen." She told him. She glanced around the room and saw that Cleopatra was about to answer. "Don't tell him the answer."

Cleopatra smiled and nodded.

"So..." Guinevere slid in before anyone else could sidetrack Amy. "What now?" She asked.

"We need to find where the divergence is, the split in time which has allowed this world to go to shit." Amy answered and everyone nodded as that did indeed seem like the first place to look.

"How... it could take us weeks... months... years even to find the divergence." Taliesin stated, he didn't even know where to start.

Amy rolled her eyes at his pessimism and dug into her pocket and pulled out a crystal globe glad and a little bemused that she had it on her, "We start with Were and Other history volumes one, two and three." She said as she showed the globe to Taliesin with a smile.

"There is only volumes one and two here." He said itching to take the globe and read what had gone on in her universe. He willed a globe into his hand, it had this universes Were and Other history volume one and two stored in it.

She nodded, "Yeah... shortly after the signing of the Human and Non Human bill of rights by the world leaders you decided to write volume three, a large part of it dedicated to my deeds. You've also started on volume four which has some of my daughters deeds in it." She offered him the globe after she willed it to change colour so that she would know which globe was hers.

Taliesin took the globe from her and willed a small black dome onto the table. It, like the globes in his hands was a piece of Atlantian technology that made even super computers of the 31st century seem like a primitive piece of technology. He sat both globes on top of the thought controlled computer and willed it to do a cross reference on Were and Other history volumes one and two. He willed a third globe into his hand and copied volume three onto it. He closed his eyes and let what was on the globe to fill his mind, absorbing the knowledge it contained.

He opened his eyes and turned to Amy in surprise. 

"What?" Mryddin asked.

"No Ancient... not everything we've done combined in our entire existence... measures up to what she has done virtually alone in a decade." He explained. 

Mryddin snatched the globe from his hand and held it like Taliesin had. He held it for several moments then turned to Amy and looked at her in awe. "She got the middle east to stop fighting, permanently." He tossed the globe on. "She got humans and Were and Others to work together, she adverted the genocide we all bore witness to."

Taliesin nodded, "Although the genocide we saw happened a lot earlier than the one she stopped." He added and Mryddin nodded in agreement.

"When did it happen?" Amy asked curious.

"About six years before you meet Wolfgang." Mryddin answered.

Amy thought for a moment, "That means that whatever happened or didn't happen directly contributes to the problems I managed to avert."

Everyone nodded.

Taliesin sighed as three discrepancies were highlighted, the first one he dismissed but the other two were likely candidates. "We have our answer, Ghan never started the first gathering, which meant the improved relations among the Alphas never happened, which in turn meant the borders weren't solidified. 

Amy closed her eyes pained. "No solid borders means the raids and constant bickering never stopped, which would lead the humans to try to eradicate us not knowing that we out number them and that a war with us would be their own destruction. There aren't enough humans to take out us Were."

Taylor nodded, "And they didn't expect us to head to ground and do what we do best... hide... which is why this has gone on for so long."

Amy chewed her thumbnail thinking. "How the fuck am I meant to fix this? Twenty years... almost a whole generation prejudiced against each other."

"Bring humans and non humans back together." Arthur said for the first time getting into this discussion. "Rebuild this world the way it should have been built to begin with."

Amy stared at him as if he had grown another head in mere moments, "Are you out of your mind? Do you know how hard it was the first time, and that was without twenty years of prejudice to cut through. It took a global mass protest to ram home the point that humans were not the masters of this world. The damage was limited to one battle and even that left its scars all over Harrisburg."

Everyone glanced to each other, they knew what she was talking about and how difficult this was going to be. "Where do we start?" Vivian asked.

Amy sighed, resigned to the plan of action before her but not liking it, knowing it could take years for her to correct this world. "Where I started the last time... with the Alphas." She told them. "But before we get to the Alphas we have to get my daughters, Cass, Becky, Shannon, Susan and Mayhem."

"Why are all those others so important, I can understand your daughters but the others?" Cleopatra asked just as the globe got to her.

"Cass and Shannon are the soul mates of two powerful Alphas, Roberto and Greyhawk. Becky is the mate to another Alpha Terri." Amy explained.

"Not to mention that Cass, Shannon and Becky with Amy wrote the bill of rights for humans and non humans." Taliesin jumped in, "Those three are important for stability among the Alphas."

"What about Mayhem?" Arthur asked.

"An Alpha and the soul mate of one of my daughters." Amy explained as she knew it wouldn't be in volume three. She looked at the screens and saw that a third discrepancy was highlighted. "Taliesin what's the other discrepancy."

Taliesin glanced to the screens then back to Amy, "One of your myths isn't one of ours." He answered.

"Which one?" She asked with a sense of foreboding.

"The one about Lupa." He told her.

She watched him for several moments, "But Lupa isn't a myth, he is a real person who..." She suddenly trailed off what she was saying, her mind whirled as she started to pace again. She understood why she and Rhiannon didn't exist in this world, no Lupa meant no Wildheart as it was his soul that Luna had created. After his first death and subsequent unveiling as her son she had hidden him in the body of a wolf, one of her creatures, to keep him safe. To keep the gods from using him for their own purposes while he was growing into his powers and safe from their games. The only goddess she couldn't keep her son safe from was the goddess of Fate, no one could escape her or her games.

No Lupa meant no friendship with Ghan, no friendship with Ghan meant no first Alpha gathering as it was Lupa who gave him the idea, no first Alpha gathering meant no border solidification, no border solidification meant genocide for this world. Not to mention no Lupa meant no Wildheart, no Wildheart meant no Rhiannon, no Rhiannon meant no her and nothing Fate could do could correct that. All she could do was drag Amy here to correct this but since this universe was not hers she would not be allowed to stay in it once the problem was fixed. 

"A person who what?" Taliesin prompted.

Amy stopped pacing and blinked for a moment before she suddenly snatched her globe back to keep that myth to herself. She had suddenly felt this overwhelming need to keep Lupa a secret even though she knew deep down that she wouldn't be able to keep him a secret for long.

Everyone frowned at her actions but no one reacted or commented on it, as they all felt 'compelled' to do things that defied all reason. They normally chalked it up to the goddess of Fate and left it be.

"So when do we start?" Vivian asked telling her in the same sentence that Amy would not be forced to do this alone, that they would all help her no matter what.

Amy glanced down at her power suit and realised that it was not the best thing to wear in rescue missions and stuff. "As soon as I change. I'll just go to my room." She told them before she left the room. Mryddin followed her to see which room she considered to be hers. He smiled as he watched her head to an empty room amongst the rooms in the north wing. She stopped at her room and turned to him.

He willed a name plate into his hand with her name on it. He slid it into the slot on the door and went to give her the key for the room. She smiled as her hand slid down the length of golden rope that looped around her neck, hugging her neck firmly, until she came to the figure eight at the end, her fingers found the hidden panel and tugged it free, exposing an ancient looking skeleton key. She reached out and unlocked the door with her key. 

"Amy..." He said to get her attention before she walked in. She turned to him and waited, "We all do things for reasons that we can't explain, no Ancient will question you about this Lupa, obviously we are not meant to know him."

"That's not the whole reason..." She told him. "Vivian's my grandma... I love her to bits... but I don't want her to know that her soul mate doesn't exist in this universe, that she is destined to be alone for the rest of time."

"Ah..." he said gently as he nodded. "I see... I think... I'll keep it to myself."

She nodded her thanks and walked into the room to change.





Split in Time Ch. 01



He walked into the well hidden compound ten minutes later, then into the bunker as their home was underground, and into his room. Blast was waiting for him, hot water and his tools all laid out and ready, he reflexively took a deep breath and could smell the blood.

Blast had been rescued from a merk death squad by Ghan about three years earlier and had been a boon to his little pack who had needed a healer. Blast was of Asian decent with a round friendly face, he kept his hair short as he was a practising Buddhist. "How was she hurt?" He asked.

"Shot... I think." Ghan explained as he gently laid her down on the towel which had been placed on his bed.

Blast quickly preformed a blood test to see what blood type she was just encase she needed a transfusion. He frowned when he saw no noticeable reaction to his kit, it meant one thing. "Alpha, she's human," he said surprised. "How did she get shot?"

Ghan frowned, "I was in the wastes, a squad came the dog reacted, at first I thought it was reacting to me but it wasn't it reacted to her and not the way dogs are trained to react to a human." he explained, "She bolted and they shot at her," he finished the story. "Do what you can for her."

Blast nodded and cut the sleeve, gently nudging her arm. She moaned and tried to pull her arm away. He grabbed some sedative, he rarely worked on humans so he measured a third of the dose he would give one of his own and injected her. He then went back to work on her arm. 

Ghan leant into her hair and took a deep breath, pushing the smell of blood away, he wanted to know why the dog had reacted. His wolf rushed to the surface of his mind, MINE, it growled at it's human half telling her that this woman he had meet only by chance was his one true mate. He pushed his wolf back, acknowledging that she was his and that he would not let her go until he had her and then returned to his task. He focused on her scent, he could smell faint traces of her human scent but it was a weird mix, he could almost swear he smelt tiger, or some big cat on her as well. That explained why the dog reacted.

Blast hummed to himself as he gently cleaned the wound, "She's lucky it's a through and through."

Ghan frowned as he tried to remember what he could of human physiology. "She has to have some kind of shot, to stop her getting sick right?" He asked Blast.

Blast frowned as he thought, it had been so long since he had last worked on a badly hurt human. "Yes for tetanus and she'll need antibiotics." He rummaged in his bag and pulled out the two vials in question, another member of Ghan's pack was a chemist who specialised in the making of drugs so Blast always had a good supply of anything he needed.

Ghan watched as Blast tended her wounded arm. A woman walked in with a basin of hot water and cloths, another woman walked in with spare clothes. When Blast finished stitching the wound and wrapping it the women took over, removing her clothes. Ghan growled when he saw the four slash marks that ran from her left shoulder towards her right hip. They were clean so they had been inflicted during a human terror raid and by the way the scars were recessed they were very old.

Blast glanced to Ghan and saw the possessive rage that was in his eyes, he backed away from the woman before his Alpha decided he was a threat, he left a first aid kit so that Ghan could tend her wound. The two women were just as wary having seen what Blast had, if they did anything Ghan didn't like he would attack.

Ghan picked up her bag and started to rummage through it, he checked everything, looking for anything that might help him find out more about her. The pockets of her pants were emptied as was her jacket. He glanced through that as well. It gave him no clues as to who she was.

He sat back and watched as the women worked, his eyes roaming over her naked form. Under the dirt was pale skin, he knew if he reached out and touched her it would feel soft and silky. The binding she used on her breasts was removed. They were firm luscious globes, large enough for him to cup and squeeze, which sprung free without sag, the nipples hardening in reaction to the cool air. He blinked and moved his eyes down her body, he could count her ribs and knew she had missed meals and knew hunger. Her waist was narrow then flared to full child bearing hips.

His eyes focused for a moment on the blond hair that covered her sex, his eyes shot up to her hair, it was so dirty he never would have thought that her hair was blond. His eyes roamed back down her body, pass her sex and down her long supple legs.

His wolf stirred again wanting to push the women aside and take her, but he didn't know how old she was. He would have to wait until she woke. He shifted and tugged his pants to rearrange his erection. The woman watched him from the corner of their eyes wondering if they should ask if he wanted relief but as his attention never wavered from the woman he had brought here they chose to ignore him.

They went to dress her.

"Leave her," he ordered. He helped them move her under the thick blankets.

He followed the women out, "Mike." He called to the retreating back, the man turned and walked back to his Alpha, he was a slight man, thin and wiry but as he was an Elemental Ghan expected no less. "I want you to sit on the door."

Mike nodded, he had heard that the Alpha had brought a human here. He moved a box and sat next to the door. Ghan smiled and walked down the hall and into the mess. The room went silent as everyone turned to him, Ghan glared for a moment around the room and everyone suddenly became very interested in their dinners.

He walked over to the kitchen staff and looked at what was on offer. He picked up a tray and was served a generous helping of everything. He grabbed a pitcher of mulled cider and joined Crystal who was eating in the far corner of the mess.

"So... the stray," she prompted as she scooped up some of the thick stew and put it in her mouth, while she chewed she tore a hunk from the loaf of bread before her. He watched her for a moment wondering not for the first time how she ate with a piece of metal in the centre of her tongue.

He took a deep breath and explained everything that had happened and what he knew so far. "She smells funny, she smells human but at the same time she smells a little like a cat. She also has terror raid scars, old ones by the looks of it."

She nodded as she sipped her cider and mopped up the last of the stew. "There's more," she prompted knowingly, before popping the juice soaked bread into her mouth.

He sighed but he knew he wouldn't be able to keep this quiet for long, not with a pack of this size, "she's my soul mate."

Crystal coughed as she choked on the bread she had just tried to force down her throat. She grabbed her cup and took a mouthful to force the bread to go where it was meant to. It took her a couple of moments to compose herself. "You go out for a hunt, and in a moment of pure accident not only stumble across your soul mate but managed to get her in a position to keep her until she agrees to be yours." She said in amazement. "Maybe I should go out more often if that's what happens."

He smiled at her. "Tomorrow you need to organise a hunt, a good one, a dozen more deer should hold us for the rest of the winter and into early spring."

She nodded. "We'll try to get two dozen." 

He gulped the rest of his drink and stood to take care of his dishes before returning to the woman his beast had been craving for so long he couldn't remember a time when he wasn't craving her.