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Split in Time Ch. 02

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 chapter 2, I know shock... it has only been a few weeks since the last chapter. My editor and I are currently working on three chapters at once to try to get them out quickly which means I have to get to work on the next story. So everyone thank Kittyhawk, for the speed of this chapter.

As usual, all comments and feedback are welcome, I do try to answer all questions (as long as they don't give the story away) and messages, and if I have missed you, I am sorry.

Have fun

Chapter 2

Amy returned to the sitting room twenty minutes later dressed in what she considered her house clothes, as they were exceedingly comfortable. She was wearing loose green cotton pants that hung low on her hips exposing her waist-let, which was made from gold and had sapphires and diamonds dangling from it as well as six little golden hearts with the names of her children on them. The top she wore was a halter neck that was tied in place after it wrapped around her back and beneath her breasts, exposing her lean muscles and her almost translucent alabaster skin.

Her collar stood out against her skin but more than that, it was the length of the excess collar that stood out even more. When it had been first placed the figure eight sat just below her breasts, but as her powers and her size grew, the pack jewellers were forced to add a new length just before the figure eight. The excess still ran between her breasts emphasising their swell but now the figure eight rested slightly below her belly button.

She slid off her wedding band and engagement ring and attached them to the hidden loop that had been designed into the figure eight for safekeeping. Everyone in the room stared at her, most however were wondering how this woman could turn into the picture they had seen of The Stand, how she could turn into the rage driven creature she had been on August the 3rd.

Amy walked further into the room ignoring them as she was used to this kind of reaction. Her green markings, which she had received here all those years ago, that ran down her spine from her hair line; around her hips and across her shoulders, glowed gently as they had since she received them.

Vivian stood, "So who first?" she asked as she strapped Excalibur to her side.

Amy thought for a moment, "Alanna, Electra then Mayhem in that order," she wanted to get those three out of whatever situation they were in ins comma fast. She closed her eyes and hoped that the Gabrielle in this universe had made her sword. She felt its presence and willed it into her hands. She smiled as she looked at her sword, aptly named Monster; it was a true work of art, in both the magical and the blacksmith aspects of the weapon. It was even large enough to be wielded in her hybrid from, not that she'd had a need to do so yet, in fact this would be the first time she had ever used her sword and she did intend to use it.

"Wow." Vivian said in awe, as a blacksmith herself she knew the blade was a piece of art.

Amy smiled, "Gabrielle made this, it's called Monster, obvious reason." She carefully ran her hand down the length of the blade; it was wider than her hand and etched with an intricate knot design. In most ways, it was a true broadsword being long and wide, except that it was also a two handed sword, which meant the hilt, was long enough to be wielded with both hands. The pommel was simple in design with a large piece of flawless crystal mounted in a web of metal. The blade was not beautiful and deadly like Alanna's sword, Monster wasn't designed to sit on a wall and be admired, it was a well created but brutal instrument of war.

Vivian nodded then frowned, "Won't she notice it's missing?"

Amy shook her head, "Nope... since making it she hasn't looked at it... she's been afraid to. She had to do a quick flight to get it and bring it to the markets to show and sell it to me. The box still had a good inch of dust on it." Amy willed a metamorphic belt and a swivel sheath into her hand. She then slid the blade into the sheath and attached it to the belt, which she flung onto her back so that the sword ran from right shoulder to left hip. It was far too long to be buckled at her hip. She turned to Taliesin, "Can you ready three regeneration pods?"

Taliesin wondered for a moment how she knew they had regeneration pods then shook it off; of course, she knew they had them. He nodded and stood. "Are you certain these three are still alive?"

She nodded, "They're immortal but in my universe they were all in really bad situations until my actions freed them."

Rhun stood, "I'll go help then." He said and followed Taliesin out of the room.

Taylor stood, "You won't be able to will yourself to them if they are under pack or pride protection. Rhun couldn't until I left my pride." She told Amy.

Amy grinned, "That is true, but Rhun couldn't sense you either. I can sense them."

"How?" Guinevere asked, pack and pride and whatever had always been protected by their Alpha, and it was impossible to sense or will to them as long as they were loyal to their Alpha.

"Alanna and Electra are my daughters; I adopted them formally by pack standards with a blood mix. Their blood is inside me just as mine is inside them. Since I'm... well you get what I mean... my blood left a mark on their souls, which in theory should have reverberated through all the different universes. I will always be able to find them." She thought for a moment, "Except when they are at Sogol, all the magic in the air and godly influence makes it difficult to feel them when they are there."

"What about Mayhem?" Taylor pointed out.

"She's a born Alpha... I can sense all the Alphas so I can sense her. I can also sense Cass and Shannon but not Becky, although I know she is alive, don't ask me how. If Becky is protected by a pack or pride I can still will myself to her I just wouldn't know if I was in danger or where I was going until I get there." She answered.

"Is there anything you can't do?" Boadicea asked in envy.

Amy sighed, "I can't stop Fate... anything after that however... yeah." She finished with a small smile, which made Boadicea roll her eyes.

*

Amy appeared in a grove of trees a little while later, the others quickly appearing next to her knowing it would be easier on Amy ins 'for them' to follow her and not rely on her to take them. Everyone glanced around but it was Taylor who broke the silence, "Where are we?" she asked quietly.

"Italy." Everyone else answered as one. Ancients always knew where they were at all times, as their senses were tuned to those kinds of things so that they would know at a moments notice if Fate had stepped and moved them without warning. Much like with Amy only there were two things their senses couldn't tell them, and that was if they were even in the same universe and what the date was, those they had to find out on their own.

Amy had decided to keep the group small, just bringing Vivian, Cleopatra, Boadicea and Taylor. She had decided to stick with women but she also knew they were all fierce warriors and could handle their weapons with ease.

They waited for Amy, who started to follow her senses to her daughter. She had decided to appear close to Alanna but not too close as she didn't want to have a pack of angry Were descend on them. They wanted to do a snatch and grab with as little blood shed as possible. What the other ancients didn't know was that Amy did intend to kill someone, Gus, the man who had forcibly taken Alanna as a child. It was the only way to ensure Alanna was free of Gus forever.

They watched as Amy settled into her trotting pace, quickly getting ahead of them but they didn't fear that, as Amy could easily take care of herself. Amy let her senses guide her; it was as if an invisible cord was leading her to her daughter. Her pace sped up further as her senses picked up Alanna's silent pain; her ears picked them up long before her eyes did. When she finally spotted them through the trees she drew Monster, and charged into the clearing her stride not faltering.

Gus turned in surprise, a switch of wood held above his head. His eyes took in the massive sword then took in her sex and size. He gave her a cocky smile as he swung to strike her with the switch. Amy dodged his swing with unexpected speed and threw her shoulder into his stomach sending him sprawling and away from Alanna. Amy kept with him and when he landed she stomped her left foot on the hand which was holding the switch. He went to cry out as he released the switch but Amy's right foot stepped firmly on his throat choking the cry off before it begun.

"Alanna." Amy said urgently to get her attention.

Alanna turned to her with a bewildered expression. Her long wavy hair was matted and dreadlocked, her green eyes were almost dead as if all the fight had been drained from her. Amy's heart gave a painful lurch as she realised she was back to square one with her daughter, that it would take a long time to get her back to what Amy considered a healthy frame of mind.

"You are now free." Amy said, the moment before she lifted her right foot and slammed Monster down through his throat and severing his spine, giving him a quick almost painless death, a death he didn't deserve for his crimes against Alanna. She pulled Monster free and wiped the blood off on Gus's clothes. Sheathing Monster as she moved slowly to Alanna. A blanket appeared in her hands, carefully wrapping Alanna up before she hugged her close. "You're safe now..." Amy murmured as she tucked Alanna's head under her chin.

Alanna was tense for a moment, she was being hugged by a total stranger, but for some reason she couldn't stay tense. There was something so natural, so comforting to be in this woman's arms, she felt herself forgetting everything, nothing else mattered but this hug, the strange woman's comfort.

Amy glanced up as the others joined her; no one commented about the dead body, they just studied the woman Amy held so tenderly. Amy picked up Alanna easily, much to everyone's shock although they could all see how emaciated the girl was. "Let's get you somewhere safe... somewhere far away from here."

Everyone nodded and together they vanished only to reappear seamlessly before the temple. Cleopatra raced ahead to get the door open for Amy. Amy carried Alanna down three basement levels and into a space age hospital with all manner of devices, three of the twelve 'pods' were open and ready, they actually appeared more like tanning beds then actual medical devices. The devices weren't from the future but were another piece of Atlantian technology, most of the technology Ancients used was Atlantian as it was the only technology they had encountered so far which was telepathically controllable.

Amy took her to the bed closest to the door. "That door will remain open at all times," she told the room, instantly informing them that Alanna was claustrophobic. Amy helped Alanna out of the blanket and what was left of her clothes, she was put in a special smock and encouraged to lie down in the pod.

As Amy went to close the lid, Alanna grabbed Amy's wrist, shaking her head, frightened.

Amy leant close, "Alanna... look... it can't be locked, you can get out when ever you want. This isn't going to hurt you, just the opposite; it's going to make you all better." She explained gently.

Alanna felt herself relax; despite all she had gone through, her gut instinct was telling her to trust this person.

"Sleep..." Amy coaxed, "No one will hurt you here, and there will always be someone here with you." She promised. Alanna nodded and closed her eyes as Amy gently closed the lid. The pod lit up with gently pulsing red light.

Noah walked in followed closely by a confused Tarval. "It seems a portal opened in Sogol, sucked him up and spat him out at our front door." He explained with a shrug and left leaving them to deal with Tarval.

Amy glared daggers at his retreating back. "I really do NOT like that man."

Cleopatra chuckled, "Noah is an acquired taste." She explained. "However, as an Ancient he is a taste you must acquire at least a little." She added.

"Over my dead body." Amy snapped, she waited a moment before clicking her fingers, "That's right... I can't die; therefore I will never acquire a taste for that narrow minded arse."

Tarval chuckled, liking Amy's frank nature. He was dressed simply in brown woven breeches and a light white shirt, which had front and back lacings to allow room for his wings to poke through his shirt and move unhampered. His long black hair was pulled back from his face and his green eyes sparkled.

Amy turned to Tarval, "Hey Tarval..." She said with a smile.

He frowned at Amy for a moment. "Have we met before?" He asked a little confused; as he was sure, he would remember having met this small feisty woman, as she was unique.

Her smile went broader, "In this universe... no..."

His frown deepened for a moment before he shook his head and shrugged it off. "Ancients... you're all nuts." He commented.

"Don't believe me?" Amy asked amused.

He watched her for a moment. "When it comes to Ancients... it doesn't matter if I believe or not... you always get your way." He said with all the wisdom of his years of experience with Vivian, Cleopatra and Rhun, he didn't need someone to tell him that the small feisty female was Ancient, there was something in her manner which he had come to associate with Ancients, a confidence and insanity that was unique to those who meddled with time.

Amy smiled as Cleopatra and Rhun chuckled. "I'm Amy." She said introducing herself. "Do me a favour and stick your hand in there and hold Alanna's hand." She requested.

He thought about it for a moment, but her request, although odd to him, wasn't difficult. He glanced around for a moment and grabbed a stool. Placing the stool beside the pod, he sat and slid his hand in into the pod, taking the much smaller and delicate hand in his. Alanna's eyes shot open and she turned startled eyes to Tarval, his grip tightened but only to hold, not to hurt. "Hi... my name is Tarval, I'm here to keep you company while this device does whatever it is meant to." He explained.

Amy leant down so that she could be seen, "its okay... this man is a good man... true to the core, not an evil bone in his body. I promise." She said to Alanna. Alanna nodded and relaxed.

Tarval gave Amy a dumbfounded look, how the hell could she know he was a good man.

Amy smiled at him as if she knew his thoughts, I know you really well Tarval... better than almost anyone but the woman who will come to own your heart, I know you are a good man, even if you aren't so sure. She told him silently. Turning she moved to the control panel and placed her hand on it. Focusing for a long moment, she pictured her daughter as she last saw her and added an image of her naked. She chose to quit the room just as he opened his mouth to question her.

Cleopatra and Vivian followed her out.

"That was the funniest thing I've ever seen." Cleopatra said with a smile. "I've never seen Tarval so dumbfounded and bewildered before and trust me... I've known Tarval a long time."

"Trust me... in a few days time you'll see him gob smacked and sucker punched at the same time." Amy told them as they walked up stairs.

"Really, why?" Cleopatra asked excited.

"I know why he's here." Amy answered as they came to the entrance hall.

"Why?" Vivian asked.

"Alanna is his soul mate." Amy answered in a matter of fact tone.

Cleopatra and Vivian chuckled, "Please let us be there when you drop that bomb shell." Cleopatra begged.

Amy rolled her eyes and nodded. "Let's go get Electra." Taylor and Boadicea were waiting for them. When Amy got to them, she vanished. They appeared on top of a ruin; Amy had guessed correctly, Electra had been left in her lightless cell while the others fled. Amy walked around the ruins, she could feel her daughter, she was faint... almost too faint to feel but she was there.

Amy started to move rubble looking for a way into the underground cells as she couldn't really will herself there without knowing what the internal layout was like, unless she wanted to will herself into a wall. She was sure she could figure out a way around that little problem if she thought about it but it was faster to simply dig.

"Why are we digging?" Vivian asked.

"Electra is in a cell somewhere over there." Amy explained as she pointed a little bit away from where she stood. "There must be a way down, something hidden." She explained as she came across a slab of concrete and carefully tried to move it; she strained a little and managed to lift one end. Cleopatra, Vivian and Boadicea combined forces to help Amy move the slab carefully.

"How fucking strong are you?" Taylor exclaimed watching Amy lift one end and three ancients straining to lift the other end. They put it down out of the way.

Amy shrugged as she dusted her hands. "I am as strong as I want to be." She explained.

"Am I the only one who thinks that is un-fucking fair." Boadicea asked as she rubbed her burning muscles.

Vivian snorted and went to move the remains of a pillar, which had been beneath the concrete slab. She smiled after she pushed it away and turned to Amy. "Found it." She called out.

With everyone working together, they managed to make it big enough for Amy to squeeze through. "Okay... I'll go down. Grandma can you tear a strip from a blanket... I'll need a blind fold." She said as she slid her legs into the hole and slowly lowered herself into the darkness. Landing lightly on her feet she glanced up to the hole. Vivian handed a torn bit of blanket to Amy; she was still trying to come to grips with the fact that in some other universe she was a mother, grandmother and great grandmother.

Amy moved away from the hole and focused for a moment, her markings started to glow brightly, filling the darkness with a soft green light. She followed her senses, which led her to a heavy steel door. Seeing the way the door was welded shut and took several steps back. Running at the door she turned her body at the last moment and collided with the door, it buckled a little under the force.

She backed up again and ran at the door, again at the last moment she threw her shoulder into it. It buckled further, one more time, she thought to herself as she backed up again. Running at the door for the third time, she threw everything she had at the door. It groaned but gave away under her strength; she glanced around the room, rolling her shoulder to loosen the abused muscles and joint as she looked for her daughter.

Her eyes picked up a small mass in the far corner of the room, tears trickled down her face as she approached her daughter. A very faint, slow heartbeat came from the mass confirming Amy's assumption that it was indeed her daughter. She carefully moved the body and got no reaction, before her was Electra, but not the Electra she knew, this Electra was nothing more than bones covered with skin.

She took a deep breath and pushed her feelings aside, she needed to be strong for Electra. Folding the strip of blanket in half she carefully tied it over Electra's eyes, once that was done her fingers went to the collar that bound Electra to the wall. She quickly snapped the collar and scooped Electra into her arms, carrying her from the cell and towards the hole.


Split in Time Ch. 02



Taylor, who was the smallest after Amy, had made it down the hole and was holding a blanket. She balked at what her eyes were feeding her. Amy's glowing... that she didn't even care about... seeing an immortal, starved and imprisoned for the last umpteen years, no person should have lived that life.

"I... I have a blanket." Taylor said feeling stupid; Electra needed much more than a mere blanket.

"Good, drape it over her head, the torn blanket isn't enough to keep her blind." Amy told her. Taylor did as she was asked. "Hold on, I'll will us out of here." Amy said and a moment later, they were out in the ruins.

Vivian went pale when her eyes fell on the woman in Amy's arms.

"She's in some kind of hibernation." Amy explained.

"Let's get her back..." Cleopatra said gently. Everyone nodded and vanished.

"She'll have to be cleaned first before she goes into a pod." Boadicea said as she raced for the door cursing the fact they couldn't will themselves inside the building.

They walked into the temple and straight to the nearest bathroom. Taylor aided Amy as she had night vision and they had to work in almost no light. Together they washed Electra carefully in warm soapy water, washing away years of dirt and filth, Taylor washed Electra's hair as Amy cleaned the dirt from under her nails and trimmed them down. When they were done, they wrapped her in a towel and covered her eyes with a spare towel before taking her down to the regeneration pods.

Amy gently put her on the table next to Alanna; they removed the towel and put her in a smock. Amy closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Her mind slid into Electra's and came across nothing, she delved deeper and was suddenly in a room of darkness. Amy made the markings on her 'body' glow filling the room with gentle light. She nearly jumped, startled, as Electra was before her, her wolf just off to the side, her teeth bared in a silent warning.

"Who are you?" Electra demanded.

"I am Amy... I have freed you."

Electra was stunned; she wanted to rush out of the darkness of her mind to see for herself.

"Wait... we have covered your eyes to protect them, they are badly light sensitive." Amy explained. "I'll get Rhun to make a special visor which will allow you to see in any lighting condition." She added, "When you wake you'll find yourself in an enclosed space. It's not lockable and you can get out whenever you want, however if you don't let it do its job it will take you longer to heal."

"For some reason I feel myself trusting you." She said to Amy not quite knowing why she trusted Amy, only that she did.

Amy smiled, "I'm glad that's so... I'll explain why when you're better." She slowly left Electra's mind. She opened her eyes and turned to Rhun and Mryddin. "She shouldn't freak out when she's strong enough to leave her safe place."

Both men nodded pleased about that, the last thing they needed was a freaked out Were in here. Amy rested her hand on the panel and fed what Electra should look like into it. When that was done, she turned to Rhun. "Can you make me something?" She asked.

"Depends on what you have in mind and how much you know about it." He said as he offered his hand to her so that she could feed him what she knew. She placed her hand in his and gave him everything she knew about the visor Electra wore, how it worked and what she knew of its design.

He smiled when she released his hand. "I know what you are talking about... I stumbled across one a couple years back."

"Can you make two please... metamorphic." She asked.

"It's simple enough, it won't take long, ten... fifteen minutes to make." He said with a nod and left the room.

Amy followed him out but took a different turn and went back to the entrance hall. Guinevere was waiting with the others. "Please... if I don't get out of here I'll take a sword to Arthur and hack him into little pieces." She begged.

Amy sighed but nodded, allowing her to come. "It's fine..." She said before she took a deep breath and vanished. She appeared concealed behind some bushes but instantly knelt, the others appeared next to her and all instantly crouched down.

Taylor went pale, A detention facility, are you mad! She demanded after glancing around the bushes.

Amy shrugged; Mayhem is in that building. She explained.

Vivian glanced, too well fortified to attack. She told the group.

The others glanced around the bushes to have a look. Amy rolled her eyes and took a deep breath, she wasn't like the other Ancients she somehow could do things they couldn't do even if they tried. Such as her ability to do magic like an Elemental, she used that ability now and her body started to lose cohesion, becoming nothing more than a playful breeze she stuck around for a minute to make sure the others didn't do something stupid.

Boadicea turned to ask Amy something. Where the fuck did she go? She asked the others.

Cleopatra frowned and shook her head; she won't do anything stupid let us wait for her to return.



Amy moved off, streaking across the ground. She found an air vent and entered the building, looking for flaws in their security and marking the people they had to get out. Eventually she found Mayhem; the room was brightly lit to the point that it would cause Mayhem discomfort. Mayhem's head was bowed; her long hair was shading her head trying vainly to cut out the light. Her arms were shackled first to the chair then to the floor, it was the same with her legs, the chair was also bolted to the floor.

Amy didn't bother talking to her; she had found what she needed. She left the building and returned to the others. Her body solidified much to the amazement of the watching Ancients.

Boadicea glared at Amy, Does anyone else think that is un-fucking fair?

No but I want to know how you did that. Vivian asked, Ancients can't do Elemental magic; it is not based on will but on actual magic.

Amy shrugged, I don't know how, but when I saw Mira do it, I wanted to try it. She thought me nuts but explained the process, when I succeeded she got her mother in and she taught me how to harness the magic she believes comes from the markings on my body. The markings given to me by the folk. She explained.

Amy turned to the group, I have a plan, there are five Were in that building, we have to get them all out.

Why? Boadicea asked.

Taylor growled almost silently, it wouldn't help our cause with the Alphas if we leave the others in that building. She told Boadicea. If we are breaking one out, we may as well break them all out.

We will be getting them out Boadicea; there is a four-year-old girl in there. I will not leave her there. Amy told her firmly. My plan is simple; the security has a flaw, a three-second delay before the back up generators kick in. She told them.

Guinevere was the first to click on to Amy's plan. Will in will out when the power's out. One person each. Simple and effective.



Okay... how will you overload the system? Vivian asked surprised by Amy's planning and logic.

Mayhem... her ability is electrifying. Amy said with a smile. It took the others a moment to catch on but they suddenly knew how Amy was going to do this.

So... I've marked each of the Were in there, all bar Mayhem. Pick one, when I say now will them out. She told them, everyone nodded once, understanding their jobs in this.

Amy let her body go and in a moment was a playful breeze again.

Boadicea glared in the general direction Amy had just been, I still think that is bloody unfair.

Amy went back to the building and into it and quickly went to Mayhem's room. Mayhem hadn't moved, her head was still bowed, her white hair shielding her face trying to block out the light, which hurt her eyes. Amy focused on Mayhem and slid into her mind.

Mayhem didn't react or acknowledge her at first, thinking the little girl a few rooms down had crawled into her mind again to escape her tormentors. The drugs, which bound their abilities, was meant to stop that from happening, but if the ability was extreme telepathy, the drugs didn't work. Mayhem wished for a moment she could do that, escape her mind for a little while. It took her several moments to realise that it wasn't the little girl in her mind. She and her beast rushed to intercept the stranger.

Amy waited politely for Mayhem to acknowledge her and was surprised it took so long. Mayhem paused before Amy wondering for a moment who this person was, she knew that the humans would not use a human telepath; they were considered to be non-human just like her. Who are you? She demanded to know.

My name is Amy, and I am here to free you Mayhem. Amy told her.

You're nuts and signing your life away. This place is too well fortified for an attack. She told Amy.

From the outside, yes... however, there is a flaw in their system, a power surge will shut the power off. Amy told her.

She nodded, she knew of the flaw and had concluded long ago that three seconds was not enough, for all of three seconds... you can't get us free in three seconds. She argued. Stay free.

Amy chuckled, Silly girl... anything is possible if you're Ancient.

Mayhem's mind went blank for a moment, Ancient, she thought in awe, Ancients were powerful creatures and nothing was beyond their abilities when they put their minds to something.

Another woman appeared in Mayhem's mind near Amy. Amy we've taken Taylor home, we think it will be wiser to go straight to the temple once we have our targets. Vivian told her.

Amy nodded; when I say go, we go.

Vivian nodded and vanished.

We're getting everyone out. Amy explained.

Mayhem smiled, so what's the plan... how are you going to overload the system?

Amy grinned, actually, you are going to over load the system.

Mayhem was instantly wary. How...?

Amy smiled and the picture in Mayhem's mind shifted, they came to a metal box, which was covered with heavy chains, the drugs that kept her powers bound. Amy reached out and the chains crumbled and fell away from the box. She opened the box exposing a large throw switch and a large dial. The switch was in the off position and the dial read zero.

How did you know this when I didn't? Mayhem demanded to know.

How about I tell you tomorrow after we get you out. Amy told her as she reached forward and cranked the dial as far around as it would go.

Mayhem felt the charge build beneath her skin.

It won't hurt you, relax. Amy told her. They waited watching the charge build, bolts of lightning started to spark from the box, little longer. Amy told her. When the electrical storm was at its most intense Amy turned to Mayhem, Count to ten and throw the switch. Amy told her then vanished. Mayhem started to count and when she got to ten, she threw the switch.

Amy watched as the electrical storm inside Mayhem shot out at everything electrical, over loading the system. GO. Amy yelled to the others the moment before the lights went out. She solidified and rested a hand on Mayhem willing them both from the room. They appeared outside the temple, the others were there also. Rhun was waiting with a visor. Amy slid it onto Mayhem's face so that she could see.

Vivian picked up the little girl and carried her inside. All the freed Were were taken down to the regeneration room and were put in pods. Mayhem was put in a pod along side Electra.

"These pods are going to help you heal, so please just relax, nothing will hurt you here." Vivian told the room as she sat at the little girl's pod and held her hand. The little girl sighed and closed her eyes drifting off instantly.

Amy checked on Mayhem but she was already asleep. She moved to check on Electra, Electra was awake and glancing around, her eyes protected by a visor.

Sleep Electra. Amy coaxed.

But something yummy just walked pass. She told Amy.

I know but your body needs to sleep to recover. She told her gently knowing Electra would listen.

Okay... Oh yeah... thankyou, I thought I would be spending eternity in that cell. She told Amy.

You're welcome, now sleep. Amy coaxed before moving on to Alanna who was still holding Tarval's hand, she had rolled onto her stomach so that she could watch him, she had seen the anger in his eyes as he looked at her torn up back and knew that if he had witnessed the beating he would have killed Gus.

Tarval was telling her about Sogol, his home, his people. His voice was soft, gentle as he talked to her knowing that she had been abused in many ways, for a very long time. He felt honoured that she even let him get this close to her, let alone letting him hold her hand like he was. Her eyes drifted closed, he waited a few minutes before he gently tried to slide his hand free but her eyes jerked open and her grip tightened.

"Sorry." He told her, shuffled his chair closer, and moved so that her arm was within the pod. Her eyes drifted close again.

Amy rested a hand on his shoulder and made a much more comfortable chair appear beneath him, one that reclined and allowed for his wings. He sighed and rested back keeping his hand wrapped around Alanna's. "I'll bring down something easy to eat for dinner." She told him.

He smiled at her then turned his eyes back to Alanna.

Amy rolled her eyes and left the room.

Taliesin was watching Tarval and Alanna with a frown. "Let it develop..." She told him quietly.

He frowned at her. "Why, why was it so important that he hold her hand?"

Amy smiled, "They're mates... he will be able to keep her calmer then any drug known. They might not know that yet, but they won't be able to stay away from each other and they'll figure it out."

He shook his head not understanding.

She sighed, "Tarval's love will heal her faster and more thoroughly than anything I can do for her, I know that for a fact. The same with Mayhem and Electra. Love is a twin edged blade Taliesin." She told him honestly. "It can be used for good and used for evil. It can cut a wound so deep and nasty it will never heal but it can also heal wounds that run all the way down to a person's very soul. If you let it." She told him before leaving him.

He watched her go a little envious, he wished he had that kind of first hand knowledge to what love truly was, but unlike Rhun and Amy he had never come across that special someone and he was beginning to doubt that special someone even existed for him.

****

Keira jerked awake the next day, she swore as her arm started to throb painfully. Light was streaming into the room through small windows set near the ceiling. She got up and looked around the large room, it had a potbelly heater with a stack of wood next to it, a desk was pushed into a corner and crude shelves strained under the weight of books. Wrapping a blanket around her body and crawled off the mammoth sized bed. She spotted the bathroom and walked in, gathered up the blanket so that she could use the toilet. She heard the other door open. Rearranging the blanket to ensure it was firmly around her body she walked out of the bathroom cautiously, popping her head out for a moment before walking back into the room. A woman was setting down some food, hearing the bathroom door open she turned and smiled at Keira.

"There are fresh clothes in the top drawer that should fit you, and underwear." The woman told her before leaving.

Keira licked her lips as she looked at the food. Her stomach rumbled pleased with the smells that were filling the room. She sat and ate heartily, finishing the thick stew and picking up the bed before she started to feel guilty. Only when she had finished the thick stew and was about to eat the bread did she begin to feel guilty. Carefully wrapping the roll, she put it in her bag; she then really looked at her surroundings, looking for a way out. She knew the door would have a guard on it so she didn't even think to use that route. The window was far too small to slide even her thin frame through; she glanced up hoping for an air vent. There was one but again it was far too small for her to use, however the ceiling tiles held promise if they were sturdy enough they would be able to take her weight. She went to the drawer and found the clothes the woman had told her about and quickly dressed, she was impressed with the quality of the clothes, they weren't patched or several sizes too big. She helped herself to a pair of socks and pulled her boots on.

Grabbing her bag, she picked up the medical kit and considered for a minute before putting it into her bag. She wrote a quick note thanking the man who had rescued her, glad that her parents had insisted she learn although she still considered it a useless skill. Hopping onto the bed, she popped a panel of the ceiling up. She pulled herself up ignoring the bite of pain in her arm, and reset the ceiling tile behind her. Crawling carefully she spread her weight so that she didn't fall through. Finding a window, she used her dagger, which they had foolishly let, her keep, to loosen the frame. She watched the guards, timing them. Finding the gap in their movements, she slipped from the window, landing silently. Ducking behind a convenient pile of chopped wood, she waited for the next gap. When it came, she made the dash into the forest. She pulled out her compass to get her bearings when she was sure she was far enough in to not be spotted and headed purposefully into the forest.

She ran for the better part of the afternoon and early evening, stopping regularly to make sure she wasn't being followed. Some extra sense told her that someone was watching but she neither heard nor saw a thing so kept going, checking her compass regularly to make sure she was still on track. Finding the cave easily she ducked down and started to enter.

"I have a gun." A stern female voice warned as she cocked the gun.

"Ma." Keira replied.

Gabby turned the solar powered light on but kept the gun trained on Keira as Keira walked further into the room. Only when she was sure it was her daughter she put her gun down relieved. She was an average woman in height, and very thin. Dirty and scruffy but she was all the family Keira had. Her left leg was heavily splinted, but she looked okay to her daughter. Her hair was like Keira's, blond when clean, and her eyes were warm honey brown. She smiled at her daughter then frowned, her daughter was almost spotless and her clothes were different.

Keira knelt. "I have a treat for you," she reached into her bag and pulled out the bread roll, offering it to her mother.

Gabby's mouth watered as she took the treasure from her daughter. Her hands shook as she brought the bread to her nose and took a deep breath. She hadn't had bread in years; the little wild grain they had managed to harvest was normally just boiled into a mash.

She went to halve it.

"No ma... it's for you." Keira told her.

"But..." Gabby went to protest.

"No... I've eaten... this is for you." Keira insisted.

*

~A few hours earlier, back at the compound.~

Ghan walked into his room, he frowned on not seeing Keira immediately and went to check the bathroom then glanced under the bed. When he realised she wasn't here, he roared his fury. The man who had been sitting on the door bore the brunt of his anger as Ghan stormed out of his room.

Ghan watched as Mike got to his feet, holding his nose to stem the flow of blood.

"When did you last check on her?" Ghan demanded with a low menacing growl.

"Maddie took her lunch in; she was in the bathroom using the toilet." Mike replied.




Split in Time Ch. 02



"An hour ago then." Ghan replied.

Mike checked his watch and nodded. Ghan walked back into the room and wondered for a moment how she had gotten out. He noticed the feet marks on the bed and glanced up. Getting onto the bed, he pushed the panel up; he didn't pull himself up knowing the ceiling couldn't hold his weight, yet since she was so light, it had easily handled her weight. He stalked out of the compound and shifted, tearing his clothes from his body as he grew. He grew from seven feet tall to nine as his chest expanded and black hair grew all over his body. He wanted to howl and take up the chase but he also wanted to know why she was stupid enough to try to escape him.

"Oh... did your little human escape." Crystal said in a teasing tone as she was suddenly beside him.

He growled at her, pulling his lips back and showing two rows of deadly teeth. Don't just stand there, track her, and make sure nothing happens to her.

"Do you want me to grab her?" She asked in a bored tone, tracking humans was such a waste of her skills.

No... I want to see the reason she has run on me. Let her get to wherever she's going, she has about an hour head start on us. Stay close but stay invisible. We'll catch up in maybe an hour depending on how quick she moves. He told her.

She sighed and rolled her eyes before suddenly she was gone. He blinked for a moment; he would never get over how fast Crystal could move when she felt so inclined.

He turned to a group of his best men who had come to see what the commotion was. Be on guard, he ordered, as they all straightened and turned to two of them. Hawk, Hammer with me. He ordered. The two men he had called forward quickly changed into their hybrid panther forms, tearing their clothes, and followed him around the building, looking for the spot Keira had used to escape. Ghan located her scent, Hawk and Hammer sniffed around to familiarise themselves with her unique smell, to help with the tracking as they would spread out to catch any back tracking on her part.



Ghan's pack was a mixed bag of whomever he could find who wanted safety and were willing to live beneath him, and included several Were races as well as Elementals, a human, and a lone vampire. His pack numbered eighty adults and about another ten juveniles.

Ghan was off the moment he knew Hawk and Hammer were confident with the scent they were tracking, feeling his anger rise. She had run away, he had been nice, helping her, saving her and she ran away. He wanted to tear, to bite and fight whom ever was important enough for her to run to. However, more than that he wanted to grab her and mate her, linking their minds so that she could never get away from him again.

They caught up with her a couple of hours later, having followed not only her scent but Crystal's that had joined hers a few minutes after going to find her. They followed her to the cave, taking up positions; Crystal was perched in a tree carving a piece of wood while she waited for the others to arrive. Ghan waited to see if she would emerge again, then he would grab her and take her back to the compound.

*

Gabby lifted her empty canteen as she chewed on a piece of bread, she swallowed, "I was getting worried."

Keira nodded as she checked her mother's leg. It had been broken in two places a few days ago when a tree had fallen on her, and Keira was not strong enough to set it.

"I'm sorry; I didn't mean to be so long." Keira told her mother as she lifted the matting she was using to cover the wound where the bone had come through. Keira had managed to get the bone back inside but nothing more. She pulled out the first aid kit she had stolen and opened it; she used the contents to clean and started to redress the wound.

"Why were..." Gabby paused, she could smell blood and it wasn't her own. "You were hurt?" She said firmly.

Keira sighed. "I was shot." She admitted.

Gabby went pale.

"I went to the wastes." Keira began to explain.

"How many times have I told you to avoid the wastes?" Gabby demanded, she reached forward to grab her daughter to see for herself how badly she was hurt.

Keira avoided her mother's hands and pulled out the six tins of food she had found in the wastes. Gabby jerked, surprised at the sheer amount of food her daughter had managed to find. "I found these, there may have been more. A human patrol was stomping around. Their dog found a scent but not originally mine, the dog decided to come after me, I killed it and bolted, I got shot in the arm. I ran, I don't remember much after that except for waking in a bed." She explained.

Gabby sighed, happy it wasn't a bad wound. "A bed?"

Keira nodded, "yes in a compound."

Gabby frowned for a moment, the fact that her daughter had managed to get away was a good thing but it also meant they had to move again, however she was in no state to travel. "Can you get me some water?" She asked, her mind still ticking, Human or Were, which had helped her daughter?

Keira nodded as she finished dressing the wound. She grabbed the ten-litre bottle and the canteen and went to fill them in the creek.

*

Ghan heard movement at the caves entrance. He had perched over the opening ready to pounce. He watched as she walked out after checking to make sure the coast was clear. He watched as she checked the coast was clear before walking out, carrying empty water bottles. He waited several moments before jumping and striking her, knocking her out. He caught her before she crashed to the ground.

See what's in there. Ghan demanded, not caring who did it as long as someone did, Crystal appeared beside him.

"Calm down, you have her now you didn't need to knock her out," she told him. He growled at her in response. "We've talked about this..." she warned him, a deadly hint to her voice, "stop growling at me before I kick your arse into next week."

Hawk and Hammer went to do as Ghan ordered, leaving Crystal to calm him down. Gabby didn't bother to raise the gun, she had smelt them the moment they had come into the entrance. Hawk knelt beside her and checked her leg.

Hammer went out to inform his Alpha of what they had found. A woman. He told Ghan. She's hurt and she's Were. He added, the last part was almost irrelevant, it didn't matter what race she was, what mattered was if she had been a he, if a man had been in there he would be dead, Ghan would not stand for rivals.



Pack their things and get her back to the compound. Ghan scooped up Keira and carried her all the way back to the compound, taking a far more direct route than the one Keira had taken to get here. Crystal followed discreetly just in he needed help. It was just getting dark when they got back; he took her straight to his room and handcuffed her to the bed head. He shifted back into his human form and pulled on some jeans and grabbed a jacket, throwing it on but didn't bother doing it up. He went to the compound's blacksmith.

"I want you to make me a collar." He said with an edge to his voice, the rage of her leaving him still colouring his actions.

Bruno pulled the nearly completed collar from the forge, he knew the moment Ghan went after her that when he came back he would want a collar for her. Some way to keep her from getting away from him again before he could bind her to him.

"It'll be done in a few moments." He checked the metal then cooled it off. Spending a few moments filing the edges down before he then glued leather to the inner edge to make the collar comfortable. He then buffed the metal leaving the outer edge shiny. Bruno offered the collar to Ghan then gave him a decent length of chain, three heavy padlocks and their keys.

Ghan went back to his room. Blast was checking the back of her head, he turned to Ghan, "She is human you have to be gentle with her."

Ghan ignored him and put the collar around her throat. It was loose as Bruno had made the collar assuming she was Were, so that if she shifted the collar wouldn't snap off. He locked the collar closed then started to measure out the amount of chain he was going to allow her to have. Locking the chain to a loop connected to the wall near the bed head he then locked the chain to the collar. With her secure, he took the handcuffs off.

Blast watched Ghan for a moment, if there had been any doubt about where his intentions lay with the woman, him chaining her to his bed squashed them. He wanted her, she was his. Blast stood and left leaving Ghan with the unconscious woman. Ghan started to take off her boots and heavy outer jacket then the jeans she wore. He then tucked her under the covers.

There was a gentle knock on the door.

Ghan growled, his eyes flashing for a moment; he stormed over to the door and yanked the door open coming face to face with Grey, a man he had taken in over a year ago. "Yes Grey." He said barely controlling his anger.

"I want my daughter." Grey said trying to inject as much strength into his voice as he could, he felt his insides churn as his Alpha stood before him, barely contained rage radiated off him.

Ghan blinked. "She's human." He responded not willing to give her up.

"Gabby and I..." Grey started to explain.

"Who is Gabby?" Ghan asked.

"My mate, the wounded woman in the cave." Grey told him. "We found her when she was a toddler, maybe three, we weren't sure. We passed a ransacked convoy, she was the only one alive, albeit barely. We couldn't just leave her to the elements. She had a little bracelet with her name spelt out on it, Keira; we took her to an Elemental we knew. She tended the wounds and Keira recovered. I wanted to give her back to the humans but when I went to broach the subject, I knew it would break Gabby's heart as she had bonded with Keira. We can't have children, a virus destroyed Gabby's womb when she was younger. So we kept her."

"But you haven't formally adopted her, have you." Ghan asked seeing another way to keep her put.

Grey shook his head. "After we found Keira we avoided other Were. So no elders to perform the rites and bind our blood." He paused. "Mind you over the years I'm sure our blood found its way into hers through open cuts. Since she was about six her scent has never smelt completely human."

"How old is she?" Ghan asked curious.

"We think she'll turn nineteen in a little over a month, it's as close a guess as we can make." He answered. "Please my lord, can I take her." He asked.

Ghan growled and Grey cringed.

"No... she's mine." Ghan said staking his claim verbally.

"My lord she is my daughter, until a moon after her nineteenth birthday you can't take her." Grey debated.

"She's staying where I can keep an eye on her, you can visit but she isn't leaving my control." Ghan told him. "In fact since you're staying here now, you may as well adopt her fully." He stepped back and shut the door ending the discussion.

Grey winced and went back to his room. Gabby was waiting, her leg had been set and immobilised the moment she got here.

Gabby glanced around Grey. "Where is she?"

Grey approached his mate and sat on the bed pulling her back into arms, he had been surprised to see her as Hawk carried her into the common room for Maddie to start her healing. He had to pinch himself just to be sure he wasn't dreaming, he didn't remember moving, one moment he was sitting having a snack the next he had his arms around her and his nose in her hair.

If he had been surprised to see her it was nothing to the shock and pure joy she had at being back in his arms. She knew she hadn't lost him that he lived but it had been hard to live without him, but she also knew that he couldn't return. A year ago, he had been hunting and was captured by a merk squad. He had managed to get away but he couldn't go back to his family, it would put them in too much danger. Ghan had taken him in, had kept him alive.

For long minutes they had said nothing, they just held each other, however Gabby's mind always drifted to her daughter. As Maddie examined her leg, she told him that Keira should be here and that she wanted her daughter. Maddie had suggested he go while she tended to Gabby's leg and since Maddie was a healer, even if she was just a trainee, her 'suggestions' were like orders. He kissed Gabby soundly before he started to leave; as he turned Maddie told him they would be moving Gabby to his room.

"She's here but... my sweet... the Alpha... he has claimed her." Grey said trying to break the news as gently as possible.

"No... he can't." She said trying to get up. His hands stilled her.

"Gabby... you don't understand... Ghan... he was furious when she ran. He brought her here, had her arm seen to, and she ran... if she had asked he would have taken her to you and brought you back but she ran away from the Alpha. Rumours have it he's collared and chained her. He won't let anyone near her, his hackles are up." He warned her.

She relaxed against the pillows. "That means his wolf... he is a wolf right, I only saw panthers but I smelt a wolf."

He nodded confirmation.

"She is his mate." She continued her statement she remembered when Grey had first found her, he had nearly attacked her brother thinking he was a rival. He had even gone as far as to kidnap her to ensure that she was his before anyone else sought to take her from him.

He nodded. "He did however give us permission to visit when ever we wanted. She's just not allowed to leave his control, not until he has bound her to him..." He sighed. "To be honest I don't think he'll let her go even after they've mated. He's an immortal Gabby, a very old one. He has found and lost her so many times he has become paranoid."

She sighed in defeat; she would not be getting her daughter back for quite a while. He shifted his mate, sliding her so she could lie down. He then curled around her, holding her and breathing her scent. For the first time in a year, he slept without the aid of pills or concoctions. He breathed in her scent and started to purr, happy to have his mate back.

*

Keira woke with a groan, her head throbbed painfully. Her hand searched out the source of her pain and came to a small bump on the back of her head. She wondered for a moment what had happened. Turning her head gently she took in the gently lit room, her eyes coming back to a man she vaguely remembered, the one who had cuddled up to her the night before. She was back in the compound; he had caught up with her. She felt fear for a moment, fear for her mother, and fear for her self. His eyes flashed bronze for a moment and she knew that she was somewhat safe, no Were would harm her or her mother... she hoped.

Standing, he walked over to her. She gulped as his massive frame approached her, she sensed his rage, he was not happy with her. He was ruggedly handsome and had her feminine side reacting but she quickly stomped on it, she was not going to get involved with anyone, she was not going to bring a child into this world, not if she could help it. He offered her pills and some water, he kept his silence, as he was afraid to talk to her, afraid he would scare her. He was still livid that she had run from him, and he knew she could sense his rage.

She watched his hands for a moment. Taking the tablets from him she swallowed them not bothering to ask what they were, and not willing to spark a Were's volatile nature. Lying back, she was asleep almost instantly.

He watched her for several moments as she slept. Reaching over her, he turned the light off. He took off his heavy jumper and shirt before he kicked off his shoes and slid into the bed. He waited for a few moments she barely stirred as he pulled her to his body, letting his warmth surround her. Keira, he said to himself, it was a beautiful name that suited her. He leant in and took a deep breath, his wolf finally starting to relax.

She rolled onto her side; he copied and slid closer to her until they spooned. He took another deep breath taking in her scent using an arm to hold her to him as he slowly closed his eyes.



Split in Time Ch. 03



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,

Sorry for the delay with this chapter, everything was on track to get this one out a lot sooner, however, my editor is from NZ and although she lives and works in another country, has family and friends in Christchurch so she had more important things on her mind then editing. Thankfully everyone is okay.

So as normal all feed back is welcome.

Have fun

*

Amy woke with a jerk and reached out to grab Wolfgang, to pull herself close to him. Her sleep-muddled brain was confused, as she always woke in his arms with his body pressed to her. She glanced around for a moment, recognising her room in the temple, it took her another moment before her mind snapped into place and she remembered where she was. It hit her like a sledgehammer, no Wolfgang. On the few occasions they were separated she was still comforted by the fact she could feel him in the back of her mind but this time he wasn't there, she quivered and shook as panic set in. She felt for the first time the devastating sensation of loss, the loss Ghost felt when Katie died; it was as if someone had taken a razor to her body and her soul, shredding them to pieces.

It took ten minutes before she had control of her panic, after so long of having him in her mind, she felt a little lost without him. But she managed to pull herself together, she just kept reminding herself that he wasn't dead he was just far away. Her beast growled in her mind, he wasn't that far away, there was a Wolfgang here in this universe and she urged her human to go to him. She told her beast NO, this was not her Wolfgang. Her beast rolled its eyes and ignored that stupid comment.

Amy crawled out of bed and prepared herself for the day. She wore her normal clothes and quickly put her hair into a plait, shoes were quickly put on before she left her room. A few minutes later, she walked into the dinning room. The people they had saved from the detention facility stared in amazement as Cleopatra, Guinevere, Rhun and the Merlins loaded the table with a wide selection of food, from roast meats to fruit and cereal.

"Help yourselves," Rhun coaxed as Alanna walked with Electra and Mayhem into the room. Electra was still a day off being completely healed but had wanted out of the pod and something to eat. Amy was already getting herself some food to eat as she had a long day ahead of her.

Vivian walked out with a tray of tuna Mornay and glared at Amy. "Hey I thought you wanted tuna for breakfast." She complained. "It's what you told Robin to make last night."

Amy swallowed and smiled, "I'm not that fussy, it's not for me but for Electra, she'll eat the entire pan if you let her." She explained. Vivian shrugged and put the tray down before Electra. Electra cast Amy a puzzled look.

"Trust me, try it, but be careful it's hot." Amy told her before turning back to her breakfast.

Electra picked up a fork and scooped a small amount up, she brought it to her nose to sniff, her stomach made a welcoming gurgle, and she blew on it then put it in her mouth and chewed for a moment. A woman Amy didn't know went to take some, Electra growled and pulled the pan closer to her and hovered over it protectively. The woman raised her hands and backed off knowing that Electra would attack if she tried to take her food again.

Alanna gave Amy a look that was part amused and part puzzled as she had watched the whole thing, she was wondering about the woman who had saved her, how she could know about them when they had no memory of her?

Amy smiled, "You normally have fruit, yogurt and muffins for breakfast but will eat just about anything if it's on offer and Electra hasn't claimed it first." She told her.

Alanna frowned, "How do you know that?" She asked.

"Give me until no later than this afternoon and I will give you the answer to that question." Amy told her honestly, Alanna nodded, she could accept that. Tarval walked in panting gently, having just run up several flights of stairs to get here from the gym Mryddin had shown him, he was topless having discarded his shirt during training. Alanna turned and watched him, her eyes scanning down his chest, watching beads of sweat trickle down his firmly muscled chest.

Amy watched her daughter for a moment and smiled, a towel appeared in her hand and she tossed it at Tarval, "You're dripping." She scolded playfully, "By the by... some time soon I want to fence with you, I've been told that you are the best of all Da'Vaila."

He smiled at her as he wiped his chest and arms with the towel she had given him. "I am, but what makes you think I should duel with you."

Amy grinned, "Because I am the granddaughter to Vivian." She said honestly and watched as his head jerked to Vivian then back to Amy surprised. Her smiled broadened, "But unlike grandma who learnt the blade, I was born to the blade."

Vivian sighed knowing he was going to tease her for this, "She is right, she disarmed me so easily it's scary." She sat to eat.

Tarval studied Amy carefully, wondering for a moment how such a small woman could be a threat to him, he brushed those thoughts aside, even the small are terribly dangerous when they need to be. "I accept, name the time and I will be there." He said as he took the seat next to Alanna.

Amy smiled, pleased, as she continued to eat her breakfast, she had been dying to have a go at Tarval ever since she saw him and Alanna fencing a few weeks ago back in her own universe, it had been exciting. She finished her breakfast and stood, "Grandma, Boadicea, Guinevere, Cleopatra." She said listing those she wanted to come with her. She turned to Taylor, "Sorry, I have a feeling of danger where we are going, there will be a fight and I don't want to have to worry about four mortals."

Taylor nodded; she could understand where Amy was coming from.

"If it is going to be dangerous perhaps I should come?" Tarval suggested.

Amy shook her head, "Sorry Tarval, but women will be less threatening to the people we are going after today."

He bowed his head, he could accept that.

Amy stood and left the table, the others following her. Boadicea was bouncing, excited by the prospect of a good fight. "You're a freak." Vivian told her as Excalibur appeared in her hands.

Boadicea shrugged as Vengeance, her sword, appeared in her hands; she belted it around her hips. "Come on... a fight is good... it will get my blood pumping, I hate being cooped up in the temple."

Cleopatra rolled her eyes as a scimitar appeared in her hands, she checked its edge to make sure it was sharp enough for what was about to come, slicing her thumb down to the bone with only the slightest pressure, smiling as she sucked on the wound, a few moments later it was healed. Sheathing the curved blade, she clipped it to her belt.

Guinevere held her hands out as her sword appeared and dropped into her open hands. She smiled as she pulled her blade from its sheath letting her eyes roam over it, before she slammed it back into its sheath and attached it around her waist. All three women glared as Monster appeared on Amy's back already belted in place, "It's not fair." Boadicea said grumpily.

Amy paused and turned to her. "Stop complaining about what I can do and start working on what you can do, you are all capable of what I can do you just need to change your preconceived notions. I don't doubt myself; I don't think things are impossible just because they've never been done."

"Not all of us have altered our very nature." Boadicea retorted.

"Dah..." Amy said, "The only reason I did that was because I had no preconceived notions of what is and isn't possible." She argued before she took a deep breath. She knew she wouldn't be able to discuss this at length, "Let's just go," she told them and vanished to reappear in woodland.

Amy slowly approached the tree line, a tall cornfield still obscuring their objective. Carefully they made their way through the corn, doing their best not to give away their position by disturbing it too much. They came to a stop and got low when the cornfield stopped. Vivian made a pair of binoculars appear in her hand and brought them to her eyes to see what was going on in the house. Amy shifted her ears so that she could hear what was going on, another pair of binoculars appeared in her hands and she brought them to her eyes.

A squad of Merks, the shortened name given to the mercenaries, stood before a partially fortified homestead, women with bows and arrows stood on the roof behind crude shields. None of the women looked afraid as they trained their bows on the unwanted men.

"I am warning you, surrender and none of you will get hurt." The well-dressed leader of the Merks said. "We don't want to hurt you, you are pure, untainted. But if you fight us you leave us with no choice."

"What choice?" A voice that sounded like Cass's said angrily. "Join you and become brood mares for your stupid war or die here, I only speak for myself but I would rather die than be a part of your madness."

What's the plan? Vivian asked silently.

They aren't leaving without them. Amy said firmly. I'll shift, draw attention to us and away from the women. You take out the Merks but be aware of the woman in their ranks; her name is Susan and is NOT to be harmed. She told them as her body began to shift, tearing her clothes from her body as it grew to its full monstrous dimensions, the metamorphic belt did its job and Monster stayed firmly attached to Amy's back.

She stretched and yawned as her teeth grew in, rumbling she slowly moved out of the corn, keeping her mammoth body low as she crept forward, hoping that the women wouldn't give her away until she and the others were in position.

Cass's eyes glanced at the huge, and she did mean HUGE, white tiger making it's way towards the Merks but didn't give the obvious Were away as it's attention seemed totally focused on the men harassing them. None of the women with her gave away the Were either, they were used to trading with Were and didn't fear them like they feared the Merks. Were were honest in their intentions, they came to trade meat for corn, leather and fur for anything else they might have, they didn't bother them or make demands, they simply let them be.

The dogs the Merks had went to turn and growl as their noses picked up the obvious scent of Were. Their tails went between their legs as they came face to face with something they had never seen before, something big and deadly and not to be messed with. Instincts for self-preservation kicked in and they stayed silent.

Amy got into position as the others in her group found their own spots, picking their targets, their swords drawn and ready. Ready? She asked.

Ready. She got four confirming voices.

Amy took a deep breath and roared. The startled Merks turned and started to bring up their weapons before they even looked at her. Their jaws dropped as they came face to face with the biggest creature they had ever seen. Amy opened her mouth, displaying her teeth in all their deadly glory. She rushed forward and the Merks scattered, some even dropping their guns to run.

Boadicea let out a blood-curdling war cry as she threw herself into the fray, the others quickly following. Vivian went to slice the head off the person approaching until she realised it was the woman Amy wanted spared, she tilted her wrist and whacked the woman with the flat of Excalibur, knocking Susan out cold then moving on to her next target, confident Susan wasn't going anywhere for now.

It took the well-trained women little time to dispatch the Merks, they were simply men with big ideas, fears and guns, nothing compared to the woman who had been training for centuries in various battle situations.

As Vivian dispatched the leader, Susan started to come to. Cleopatra noticed Susan starting to wake and since she was the closest, she raced forward and stepped between Susan's shoulder blades, pressing Susan back down. Quickly Cleopatra knelt placing her knee where her foot had been, rope appeared in her hands and she quickly hog-tied Susan up to keep her from running. Amy shifted back into her human form and made clothes appear on her body.

"You go talk to the women; we'll clean up this mess." Vivian told her glancing down to her bloody blade and the dead body before her.

Amy nodded and approached the homestead; bows were trained on her as she approached. She stopped a good distance from their home, their safe place, holding her hands up in a gesture of peace. "I am Amy, I mean you no harm nor do the others who are with me." She said firmly putting as much truth and conviction into her words she could muster.

"What brings you here then?" Cass asked.

"We have come in search of two people, you and Shannon." Amy told her.

"Why?" Cass asked.

"It's hard to explain Cass." Amy answered. "I do want to explain it to you but now is not a good time."

Cleopatra raced up, "A scout was sent to tell others about this group, more will come... and soon according to the radio they had, reinforcements will be here in an hour, two at the most." She told Amy.

"You are in danger, more Merks are coming." Amy told the women before she glanced back to the others in her group, "Leave their bodies where they lay, gather the guns and ammo." Cleopatra nodded and ran off to help the others.

"You have two options, pack and leave or stay and fight." Amy told them listing their options.

Cass shook her head. "We can't just leave; we have sick and young here."

"We can get you out of here, far away from here to somewhere safe." Amy said hoping to get these women to leave here, as she knew this place would be too difficult to fortify and hold for any long period.

"Let us discuss your proposal." Cass said and everyone left the roof. Amy stayed where she was as Boadicea and Vivian laid out the guns and ammo.

"I hope they choose to leave, this place won't be able to withstand any prolonged attack." Guinevere said gently.

"I know, but in case they don't, start to think of ways to defend this place." Amy told her.

Guinevere nodded and knelt, starting to make plans as best she could. Cass walked out of the house ten minutes later as Guinevere moved the truck the Merks had and then turned it on its side with a simple thought. As Cass walked up to Amy, Amy's eyes took in her friends' features, from her braided red hair to her green eyes. The only thing to have changed was the hard look to her eyes and a scar across her left cheek.

"I asked the women in the basement if one of them was named Shannon, they said no." Cass said.

Amy glanced up and let her senses go looking for Shannon, "No Shannon is there, in your basement." She insisted.

Cass shrugged, "Must be the injured woman we found this morning."

"So... your decision?" Amy asked.

"Why are they doing that?" Cass asked as Boadicea moved the other truck into position and turned it on its side by willing it to flip.

"Creating fortifications just in case you decide to stay." Amy explained.

"Never would have thought to use their cars like that." Cass said in admiration, "You can tell them to stop, we aren't staying." She turned to the crop, "I am however loathed to leave the crops for them to use."

Amy chuckled and whistled a loud note, "Stop fortifying and start razing the crops." She called out. Everyone nodded and changed tasks.

"Gather everything you want to keep and get ready." Amy told Cass.

Cass shifted for a moment, "I have horses, and I don't want to leave them." She said hesitantly.

"That's okay, we can take them too." Amy said calmly, although her mind was busy trying to think of a place in the temple where they could house horses.

"There are stables near the forges." Vivian said guessing Amy's thoughts. "I'm going to dismantle these guns and ammo beyond use. You go check their injured."

"The corn is ready to be harvested, do you really want it burnt." Cleopatra said as she ran up.

"Harvest what you can." Vivian said, "Send it to the empty rooms on the forth basement level." She added.

Amy turned to Cass, "Ancients, they'll have it harvested before you're ready to go." She explained then gestured for Cass to lead the way. Cass nodded and led Amy into the house.

"Pack quickly." She ordered the already packing women; children did their best to help.

"What happened to your grandda?" Amy asked gently.

Cass paused on the stairs leading into the basement. She took a deep breath, "He died hiding me and two other women from a Merk squad, his heart gave out on him." She said with only a slight hint of pain.

"I'm sorry Cass; I know how much he meant to you." Amy said gently.

Cass spun and took a good look at Amy but never in her life did she remember meeting such a person, "How... I don't know you. How do you know about my Grandda?"

Amy wished she could comfort Cass, "Please... once we leave this place I will explain everything to you, I swear." She said sincerely.

Cass jerked her head in a nod, seeing the logic as they didn't have the time. She turned and went back down the stairs. Amy followed silently cursing herself for falling into an old pattern, of thinking of this Cass as the Cass she knew and was her friend.

Cass walked Amy up to a woman who was getting bandages changed. "Something is keeping her blood from clotting properly." She explained as Amy's eyes scanned over Shannon.

Vivian had followed them in and sighed, "I'll take her now."

"Wait." Amy said and rested one hand on Shannon's pale forehead, the other on her chest above her heart. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, releasing it slowly; she focused her mind, her will on a thought, for her to heal. Amy's markings pulsed for a moment then she opened her eyes and stepped back. Vivian blinked in shock as she stared at the healed wounds.

"I agree with Boadicea... that's not fair." Vivian said when she had her voice back.

Amy smiled, "I'm a freak Grandma, get over it."

Vivian rolled her eyes and vanished taking Shannon with her. Amy turned to Cass and smiled, "You better finish packing and get your horses organised." She warned then left the basement. She glanced around; the corn had been harvested and was just waiting for the stalks to be set ablaze.

Guinevere jogged back to the crop and poured gas on it to help it burn when they set it alight. "Where are the others?" Amy said joining her.

"Clearing out the out houses of anything of use." She said, "Boadicea suggested it and it's a good idea to leave nothing for the Merks to use and when we eventually re-home them they will need that stuff."

Amy nodded seeing the logic. "Hope the Merlins won't mind all the company."

"They'll get over it." She said with a smile as she raced over to pour gas onto the turned over cars and stuffed bloody rags into the gas tank of one of the cars ready to be lit. "This is so much fun." She said with glee.

"You're nuts." Amy said as Guinevere skipped around to the other car to do the same.

"We're done." Cleopatra said as they walked around the building, seeing what Guinevere was up to. "Nice." she said pleased with the preparations Guinevere had made.




Split in Time Ch. 03



Cass came around with her horses; Amy walked up to Bandit, the beautiful stallion Cass had raised from a colt. "Hello Bandit." Amy said stroking his face, she focused for a moment and the horses vanished as did the cart full of their things.

Amy smiled at Cass's stunned look, "Yeah... I'm complicated." She said in explanation.

"One of my horses is missing." Cass said just as Boadicea rode up on Cass's missing horse.

"We have about twenty minutes before they get here." Boadicea told them as she dismounted; she patted the horse for a moment thanking it before making it vanish.

"I'll hurry the women." Cass said a little frantically as she raced off, she did NOT want to be here when the merk squad came. Ten minutes later Cass ushered the women out of her family's home, she stared at it for a moment saddened by the fate that was to befall it. Her family's most prized possessions were packed neatly into the box and bag she had, her clothes she had already sent ahead with her horses.

Boadicea held a glass bottle. "Take them Amy, we'll finish up." She said knowing that Cass would fall apart if she saw her home set alight.

Amy nodded and focused, all the women and children vanished with her leaving the three ancients to finish their work.

Cass blinked as her eyes focused on the ancient looking building they had appeared in front of. "Where are we?" She asked a little dazed.

"England... but don't worry, anyone who sees this building sees a ruin not what you are seeing." Amy told them.

"Then why can we see it." A little girl asked.

"Because we let you." Mryddin said as he walked around the building, "Just settling the horses." He explained, "That stallion by the way is magnificent." He said with a smile. He held up a stuffed duffle bag, "Who does this belong to?" He asked.

Cass shuffled her load and lifted a hand; he nodded and hooked it over his shoulder. He went to the front door and opened it. "Just a warning, the doors leading out of the house only open for those with Ancient blood so make sure if you want to come out to play or see the horses to grab one of us. Also, don't open any yellow doors, they are dangerous."

He stepped in and held the door wide open. "Please come in." He invited. Everyone moved to enter; Taliesin was waiting for them and smiled in welcome.

"You all look hungry, put your things down and get something to eat; once that's done we'll show you where you'll be staying." Taliesin said, he waited for them to do as he suggested then led the way to the dinning room. With Were in the house they were making sure there was enough food on hand to feed them, much to Robin's glee as he loved to cook and finally got to cook for a group of people who couldn't just make what they wanted to eat appear.

He was in the process of putting freshly baked bread rolls on the table next to everything for sandwiches. He smiled, "Yes... more guests," he said pleased. Electra and Alanna were already making sandwiches, much to Tarval's amusement.

"You just ate." He exclaimed.

"Were... we have a high metabolic rate." Electra answered.

"Aren't you meant to be in a pod?" Amy asked as she walked in and took a bite of Electra's roll, Electra gasped and pulled her sandwich away from Amy who smiled at her.

"Rhun said I could go to sleep in one tonight and that I would heal faster if I eat more food." Electra explained.

"What I said was you would heal faster if you weren't squirming around in the pod." Rhun said as he walked in. "So I suggested she finish her treatment at night while she sleeps. You suggested food."

Amy chuckled as she quickly made herself a roll then got out of the way. "Girls." Amy jerked her head, telling Alanna and Electra to get out of the way and let the others get something to eat; they nodded and obeyed. Shannon walked into the room following Vivian, she had only needed twenty minutes in a pod to fix the rest of her problems, her eyes landed on the heavily laid table and licked her lips. She grabbed a plate and got in line her eyes picking out the foods she wanted and hoped that those foods wouldn't run out, high on her list was the freshly baked bread.

Robin was gently showing the ones he knew Amy didn't need for the conversation to come, to the kitchen courtyard where they could eat outside yet sill be protected by the Temple. One of the new women stopped next to him, "I am getting the feeling you have some things to talk about with Cass and... Shannon... if you want I'll keep everyone here until you come and get us."

Robin smiled at the woman, with her practical short brown haircut but the kind eyes, "Please... the kitchen courtyard is quiet big, you can wander around and if you can get the children to pick two buckets of apples when we're done, I'll bring them into the kitchen and show them how to make apple pie." He explained.

She nodded, her deep chocolate brown eyes watching as several of the children she knew walked up to the Were child Vivian had rescued from the detention centre. The little girl quivered in anxious fear, humans had always meant pain to her, but these children had been raised without bigotry, as Cass wouldn't stand for it. Thomas, the little African orphan Cass had found a few months earlier offered her a bite of his sandwich; she shook her head and showed her own sandwich. The children all moved off to sit together on a blanket Robin had put down.

Robin smiled, "Good, I was afraid for a moment, little Sasha hasn't had a good experience with humans." He explained.

"Cass was very..." She stepped out of the way of another person. "Cass was very adamant with the people who lived in her home, racism and bigotry wasn't allowed, that it was those acts which ruined our world. She even kicked a woman out and told her to never come..." She cursed and went back into the dining room. "It was Kaylee." She told Cass.

"What was Kaylee, Sally?" Cass said as she stuffed a roll with roast beef drenched in gravy.

Sally rolled her eyes, "Cass you kicked her out a week ago and we suddenly get hit by merks, I've lived with you for nine years and that was the first group of merks to come to us. After she was kicked out. She gave us up."

Cass sighed, "If that's so Karma will get her." She said firmly, a little disappointed in Kaylee. She finished loading her plate and went to join the others but Vivian directed her to the sitting room.

Sally went out into the courtyard, her eyes snapping in fury. Robin got out of her way with a smile, she reminded him of his first love, Marian, he made a mental note to get to know Miss Sally.

When the last of the guests were in the courtyard he shut the door and went to the sitting room, Vivian offered him a sandwich. Boadicea sat next to a very docile Susan.

Amy glanced around the room, "Okay... I promised answers to most of you. Cass, Shannon, Susan, as humans you're the ones who are going to have the most trouble with what I am about to tell you." She explained and took a deep breath, "This is not my reality, I was dragged here to fix this world."

Cass glanced around the room, "So why have you hunted us down?" She asked curious and a little in disbelief.

"Because in my world you all had a hand in preventing this from happening." Amy explained honestly. "But please... if my words are not enough to convince you perhaps my memories will be enough."

"Amy you can't..." Taliesin started to say.

"Yes I can, I have done this before, with humans, Were and Ancients." She said cutting into what he was trying to say.

Vivian chuckled. "Taliesin, don't try to tell her she can't do something because she'll just turn around and do it anyway."

Amy grinned a little cockily and turned to Cass, Shannon and Susan. "Close your eyes and open your minds. You too Tarval. Everyone close your eyes and open your minds." She coaxed.

Everyone closed their eyes and did as she asked. Amy took a deep breath and brought them into her mind and through her memories, showing them what had happened in her world, everything, up until this very moment. She opened her eyes and waited for them.

Vivian got up and walked into a corner to hide her tears as she fought to control her emotions. Amy had not been able to keep Lupa and Rhiannon from her memories, as they were too much a part of her life. Amy stood and went to her and hugged her, "I'm sorry," she told her grandmother honestly, wishing she could have saved her from that kind of pain.

Vivian hugged her back, "Later can you show me everything about them?" She asked.

Amy nodded and returned to her seat; Vivian wiped her face to clear away the last of her tears and returned to her seat.

Alanna and Electra watched each other for a moment, letting the fact that the strange woman who had freed them was also their mother, that they had a family, sink in; it also explained why they trusted Amy down to their very souls. They then turned to their respective mates, Tarval was still with shock as he processed the love and affection Amy had shown him between him and the woman he had met only yesterday. Mayhem lunged at Electra and wrapped her up in her arms.

"Do you want to turn me again?" Susan asked.

"That is your choice." Amy told her. "Think carefully about it Susan. The last time you asked it was in a battle situation and it was the only way to save your life."

Susan frowned, "Has my life been hard since I was turned?" She asked.

Amy shook her head, "Nope... the opposite in fact."

"So... are you going to reunite us with our mates?" Shannon asked a little hopefully, something was tugging at her, a need to be with the man who had stolen her heart in that other universe, a need to know his love and protection.

Amy turned to Cass who had a very thoughtful look on her face, she felt the need just like Shannon, a hollowness that had been in her heart for so long but which she had only just noticed was there, longed for him as she knew that he would fill that gap. She turned to Amy.

Amy nodded, "Yes, but I want to warn you, the men in this realm, they will be slightly different to the men I have shown you."

Cass shrugged, "Count me in."

"And me." Shannon added before taking a bite of her roll.

"So are you doing what you did before, getting the Alpha's together?" Cass asked.

Amy nodded, "Yep, we're going to organise a gathering. However, we will start tomorrow. For today just relax, bathe and eat."

****

Keira grunted and moved her head rubbing her face against Ghan's chest. Some time last night they had both moved, him to his back and she to using his chest as a pillow, her injured arm was wrapped loosely around him. He watched her as she slept, he knew when she woke she would be furious, but for the moment he was content. During his existence he had watched many friends die knowing he couldn't join them, he had even watched her die a few different times, but for the first time in ages, he was truly happy.

She blinked slowly as she woke; she yawned and squinted to focus her eyes. Grunting, she pushed herself violently away from him disgusted by her own actions. She would not give this man any ideas that she wanted him to pursue her. The chink, chink, chink of the chain moving followed her movement but for the moment she didn't really notice it.

Scrambling from the bed, it took her a moment to realise that she was again naked. She glared at the man as he appraised her body and grabbed the upper most blanket, jerking it around her body wearing it like a sarong. He chuckled at her bashfulness wondering how she could be shy when she was raised by Were. He waited for the explosion as her hands found the chain that was connected to the collar around her neck. She pulled on the chain and saw it connected to a loop in the wall.

She turned to him, her glare turned murderous. "Release me." She demanded tugging on the chain to get her message across.

"No." He said playfully tucking his hands behind his head as he saw flashes of her rage come to the surface.

She tugged on the chain wondering if it would come free of the wall under her own strength.

"It's designed to withstand Were strength." He told her guessing her motivation.

"Please... you have to let me go." She pleaded; she wanted to go to her mother.

"No I don't." He replied completely unmoved by her pleading.

There was a knock on the door. She judged the length of the chain he had allowed her, it was long enough to let her get to the bathroom and the toilet but not long enough for her to answer the locked door. He smiled as she glared at him again. He got out of bed and walked to the door. She was happy to note he was at least wearing some form of underwear.

He opened it and Grey took a step into the room.

She blinked in shock and surprise as her eyes drank in a familiar person she had not expected to see again. "Da." She said before she rushed to him forgetting that she was chained up. The chain pulled tight as her body kept moving, she slammed onto her back. Grey raced with Ghan to get her up and check to make sure she was all right. She coughed as her eyes watered and she tried to breathe. Gabby hobbled in on crutches, alarm on her face as she saw her daughter on the ground and the chain, which held her captive.

Ghan was carefully checking the back of her head to make sure she hadn't cracked her head open when she landed. Grey gently clapped her on the back as Keira rubbed her eyes and took a deep breath. Gabby carefully moved further into the room and sat on the bed to wait for Keira.

Ghan picked Keira up gently and sat her back on her feet, when she was safely on her feet Grey helped her rearrange the blanket she wore to cover her body. Keira saw her mother out of the corner of her eye as she hadn't seen Gabby enter and raced to hug her; Gabby wrapped her arms around her daughter and kissed her temple.

"Ma..." Keira said pleased to see her ma was safe and that her leg had been set.

"Sweet baby girl." Gabby said using the same words she used whenever she comforted her daughter. She took a deep breath and rubbed her face against her daughter's hair.

Grey sat on Keira's other side and hugged his daughter, creating a Keira sandwich just like they used to when she was young. Ghan watched the scene; he couldn't wait for that to be him and Keira comforting their own child or children.

Keira glanced at Ghan for a moment then turned to her parents as they had rights, rights that could free her from his chain. "Why won't he let me go?" She asked them.

"You've been claimed." Grey explained.

Keira shook her head in denial. "But I'm not old enough. He can't claim me." She stated, she knew her law, a woman was not a woman until a moon after her nineteenth birthday, and un-mate-able.

Grey nodded agreeing with her, she was right but she was forgetting something. "That is true but that can't stop him from laying a verbal claim on you," he explained.

"But..." Keira started to say ready to argue for her freedom.

"He's the Alpha Keira." Grey said firmly, telling her in that sentence that they could do nothing to free her. He could do nothing but sit back and let events unfold. Parents guarded their daughters fiercely, as they were keepers of the future of their race, but the moment a claim was made, this close to her coming of age, the parents had to sit back, to let go, within reason.

Ghan waited, he knew that she would turn her anger and frustration on him now that her parents had told her that they could nothing.

Keira turned and glared at Ghan. "Let me go. I want to be with my parents."

Ghan shook his head; he wasn't letting her go ever.

Gabby got up sensing a fight brewing and didn't want to be here for that. Grey followed her out silently, so quietly that Keira didn't even notice their exit.

"You can't do this, I'm not nineteen, you can't remove me from my family until after my nineteenth birthday and you can't claim me for a moon after that." Keira demanded.

Ghan growled annoyed that she was lecturing him on law. "I know the laws..." He snapped. "I wrote them." He told her as he paced just out of her reach.

She frowned; those laws were written long before man came out of the dark ages. "But... that would make you immortal." She surmised a little thunderstruck... immortals were in a league of their own.

He stopped pacing and smiled at her. "Yes... I am over ten thousand years old." He told her truthfully.

She glared at him, if he wrote the laws then he knew what he was doing was wrong but was doing it anyway. "What you are doing is wrong, you..."

He was suddenly looming before, his shoulders heaved as he tried to rein in the rage he had gone through when she ran away. He trembled as he gripped her shoulders. "YOU RAN AWAY." He roared explaining exactly why he was not going to let her out of his control until he had fully bound them together.

She was frozen in fear, she had seen her father's fury, once, so being confronted with a furious male Were reminded her just how volatile their emotions could be and how she shouldn't be pressing his buttons like she was. She also knew they were obsessively protective of their mates, more so in the world they lived in, which explained why he was acting the way he was, he thought she was his mate but she didn't want a mate.

He stepped back releasing her. "You ran away, if you had asked I would have gone and gotten your mother, I would have brought her here. Then I might have given you your freedom. But you ran away." He said through gritted teeth, trying to control his emotions, he could smell her fear and more than anything he didn't want her to fear him. He started to pace, to release some of his anger in a way that he hoped wouldn't frighten her further.

She remembered the lessons her parents had drilled into her. She had been basically raised as a Were child only she never had to learn how to shift and control her beast as she wasn't truly Were. The laws were easy enough to follow, they applied to all Were, it was the day-to-day rules of each individual pack that were difficult to follow. However, one thing was common, what the Alpha wanted he ultimately got and he wanted her, his beast wanted her, they were mates and nothing would keep him from claiming her as his.

A woman popped her head in, "Sorry to interrupt." She said stepping into the room. Keira had the distinct feeling that this woman was his second in charge. She was tall, lean and had the hairs on the back of Keira's neck standing on end; the woman was dangerous her senses screamed.

"Crystal... this is Keira. Keira this is my second, Crystal." He said performing introductions.

Crystal nodded her head in greeting, she knew what was going on in Keira's mind, benefit of being what she was, she could read minds. She dug her hands into her pockets and tried to be as unthreatening as possible. Humans always had this reaction to her, more so now that the world had gone to crap. She looked a little wilder, which is what had alarm bells going off in most human's heads.

She liked the life she had in Ghan's pack, people accepted and even liked her; involved her in the day-to-day goings on in the pack. She even had real friends, outside of Ghan's influence, for the first time in her life she was accepted for being what she was and not treated like a freak.

"We got those deer you wanted, we need help butchering." Crystal told him. He nodded and went to join Crystal to take care of the kills.

"What do I call you?" Keira called out as he reached the door. Crystal snorted in amusement and ducked out as Ghan glared at her for her reaction. Crystal couldn't help it and peals of laughter filled the hall.

He rolled his eyes at her laughter, as he turned to Keira and frowned; how was it possible that she didn't know his name. He suddenly realised that no one had said his name nor had he introduced himself. He turned rubbed the back of his neck feeling foolish. Crystal continued to laugh out in the hallway.




Split in Time Ch. 03



Keira felt herself warm to woman who had no obvious fear of her Alpha, and if she was as dangerous as her senses said she was at least she was technically on Keira's side.

"My name is Ghan." He told her before he turned to leave.

"Aren't you going to get dressed?" Crystal teased playfully.

He glanced down and blushed as he finally realised that he was wearing nothing but his underwear. Walking back into his room he scooped up his clothes, he didn't bother to dress, he just left the room.

Keira stood after he had left, and walked into the bathroom. There was a tub hidden behind the door. She tested to see if she could get into the tub so she could bathe; gratefully she found that she could. Putting the plug in she then paused as the main door opened.

"Forgot something." Ghan called out to her.

She glanced around the door. "Ghan, do you have hot water?" She asked wondering if there was hot water and if so if there were limits on it.

He nodded. "Of course."

She smiled, it had been ages since she had a hot bath, and the last one didn't really count as she had been plunged into a hidden hot spring. "Any limits?" She asked.

He shook his head. "Water is heated two ways here, both natural, solar during the day and ground heated. You know thick black tubes sunk into the earth to be heated by the sun and kept warm by residual heat." He explained.

She nodded and turned back to the tub turning on the hot water. She watched the steam rising from the water and smiled.

"Keira." He said gently.

She jerked surprised, thinking that he had gone, and turned to him. He walked over to a cabinet and pulled out some shampoo and conditioner as well as some bath oils, soap, toothbrush, toothpaste and some razors. He offered them to her then set a brush on the sink.

"Maddie... the woman who gave you lunch will be in with your breakfast in about half hour." He told her then left her to her bath.

"Thankyou." She said softly as she set everything down, she sniffed at the oils and settled on the honey and vanilla oil, she put four drops in as directed then put the oil back in the box. When the tub was full, enough she shut the water off, removed the blanket and slid into the hot water with a sigh. She rested her head back and let the warmth from the water enter her, being careful with her arm. Knowing the water would cool she went to work on getting seriously clean for the first time in ages. She shaved for the first time in months and washed her skin, which was mostly clean from her sponge bath from only the day before.

She left her hair for last, as she could soak as the conditioner did its work. When that was done, she relaxed in the warm water ignoring the chain, which hugged her throat and arranged the chain so that it stayed out of her way. After several minutes, she rinsed the conditioner from her hair and got out of the tub, grabbing a big fluffy towel. She pulled it to her nose and took a deep breath, it smelled of sunshine and summer breezes, before she dried herself and wrapped the towel around her. She used another for her hair then pulled the plug.

She walked into the bedroom to see Maddie setting up breakfast. Maddie was about the same age as Keira but wore her hair short in a practical cut. Her eyes sparkled with inner amusement and Keira found herself instantly liking her.

"You must be Maddie." Keira stated.

Maddie nodded. "And you are?"

"Keira." Keira held out her hand. Maddie hesitated for a moment but shook her head. Keira walked over to the dresser and looked at what was on offer, she dressed quickly in jeans and put a button shirt on, and once the buttons were done, she put a cardigan on and did up its buttons. She pulled on thick socks and finished drying her hair. Maddie frowned. "If you want I could get scissors and trim your hair."

Keira smiled, "Thanks that would be great." She sat and started to eat, savouring the meal.

Maddie grinned and left her to eat and to get her scissors, she returned not only with scissors but also with a second helping of breakfast. Maddie offered it to Keira, and watched as Keira ate the second helping only marginally slower than the first then sighed when she finished.

Maddie smiled. "Come let me brush and cut your hair."

Gabby hobbled in and smiled at her daughter; Maddie looked up, and offered Gabby the brush she'd just brought in.

"You brush, I cut." Maddie offered before she picked up the breakfast dishes and left with them.

"Don't piss him off Keira." Gabby cautioned as she started to attack the long blond hair.

"I'm not trying to." Keira defended.

Gabby brushed silently for several moments. "Ghan suggested that since we're staying..."

Keira frowned, her mother was a snow leopard, she could only just tolerate having Grey around all the time let alone a whole heap of people. "But... you don't like lots of people; you can barely stand da and me most days."

Gabby sighed. "You are my daughter; I will cope as long as I can be with you." Gabby held her tightly.

"Okay so what has Ghan suggested?" Keira asked.

"He's suggested that we formally adopt you." Gabby told her.

"Thus making me completely Were and unable to mingle with humans if I managed to get free again." Keira supplied.

Gabby frowned, she hadn't thought of it that way.

"Ma its okay... I don't think I can mingle with humans even now. I know nothing about humans." Keira told her.

Gabby kissed the back of Keira's head. She pulled back and kept on brushing the long blond hair. Maddie came in with a stool and a dustpan and brush. Keira moved to the stool and let Maddie cut her hair.

****

The next day Amy took a group to start getting the Alphas to agree to a gathering. They appeared in a small clearing inside of thick forest, clouds overhead were threatening to dump their loads, with rain or snow was anyone's guess.

"How far away have you put us?" Vivian asked.

"About a mile from the central den." Amy answered.

"Why so far away?" Boadicea asked.

"It would be rude to appear beside them." Amy answered. "This way they'll find us in a few minutes, we triggered a border alarm," she added as she led the way. She had kept the group small, Cass, Shannon, Vivian, Boadicea, Alanna, Taylor and Guinevere. Alanna and Taylor were under strict orders; they were not to change, even if they were threatened.

Amy hadn't been lying when she said they would find them promptly, they had only been walking five minutes when they were suddenly surrounded by two dozen Were, some in full animal form and others in hybrid form. They paused and waited for the group to circle them.

"We are here to speak with your Alpha, we have come unarmed and in human form." Amy told them calmly.

The leader of the group was a bear, and in his hybrid form which was hard to distinguish from his full animal form. He tilted his large head, thinking about her statement. Nodding his head slowly he turned, showing them the way. The others kept their ring around Amy's group and helped to lead the way.

They moved through the forest, keeping Shannon and Cass in the middle of their group just in case. Soon they approached the entrance to the caves where Grey-hawk's pack had taken up residence, Grey-hawk had been warned of their approach, and was waiting for them.

His eyes scanned the group and came to rest on Amy, as she was clearly the leader of this group. His eyes raked over her taking in her supple legs, full hips and nice bust. He suddenly changed his thoughts about the woman before him when his eyes focused on the collar she wore clearly around her neck; it was well made to the point of being a masterpiece. It also told him that her mate was powerful and rich.

"What can I do for you?" He asked only a little curious.

"We have come simply to talk." Amy answered. "I am Amy Wild-heart." She said introducing him using her Ancient name. Grey-hawk frowned, he knew no Wild-heart who was a member of the Alphas but that meant nothing, and she could simply be using her maiden name.

Amy turned to the group and pointed them out as she said their name. She turned back to Grey-hawk who had leant forward and was sniffing the air

"What are you?" He asked a little concerned now.

Amy smiled, "I'm complicated." She answered simply.

He watched her, waiting for a more detailed explanation and when one wasn't forthcoming, he shrugged it off. "Come, let's talk inside," he told the group and turned, leading the way into the labyrinth of tunnels and chambers. He walked them into the largest chamber, which was the packs' communal chamber where they ate, played and socialised.

He walked them to some of the smaller round tables; Amy joined him as the others took a different table clearly indicating that they actually weren't a part of this conversation. He turned his attention to Amy as he sat.

"Okay... what brings you to me? Do you want amnesty from an abusive mate?" he asked in quick succession.

She chuckled, "He would never strike me." She told him honestly. "I'm here to invite you to a gathering."

He frowned, "A what?"

"A gathering." She answered. "It's being hosted by the Ancients."

He glared at her. "I will not have Ancients meddling in my pack." He said as he slammed a fist down making several people jump.

Amy just watched him as he tried to calm down. "I said that they were hosting... not that they would be in charge or meddling. Ancient land is large enough and versatile enough, include the fact that Ancient land is neutral and hidden from humans it makes it the only place possible to house over four hundred alphas."

He went pale, "All the alphas... you're including the vampires."

She nodded, "I have no choice, this concerns us all."

"And the purpose of this gathering?" He asked.

"To try to find a way out of this mess." She told him simply.

"We didn't start this." He said, trying not to lose his temper.

"It doesn't matter who started this, it's gone on for long enough it must end now." She locked her eyes with his but didn't bring her Alpha influence into the mix, he watched her for a moment before he jerked his eyes away. She was powerful and good at controlling her Alpha influence; she hadn't needed it to make him understand that what she said was the best course of action.

He thought seriously for a minute about what she was proposing, if it was successful, it meant no more hiding, no more running and avoiding humans, for everything to go back to the way it was before. "Count me in." He conceded, "when and where?" He asked.

"You're the first to agree; I have to go to every Alpha and am trying for at least three to four a day... maybe more." She explained.

He groaned, it would take weeks to get this done let alone set a date.

"We are hoping to have it in a month." She told him.

He sat up in surprise, "How... no one can move that fast."

She chuckled, "Vivian and Boadicea are Ancient, the moment we leave here we will be at Roberto's to convince him."

"Wolfgang would be a better choice to go after next; if he is for something most Alphas will fall in line and follow without question." He explained.

She shook her head, "Wolfgang is the last Alpha I'm going after. You'll find out why at the gathering."

He shrugged, she had her reasons. "Don't forget Ghan... granted his pack is very small and he has a Vampire..." he said stressing the word, "for a second, but he is still technically an Alpha."

She frowned, she could sense Ghan but she could also sense Ghost, she thought it was simply because they were immortal. "And what of Ghost?" She asked curious.

He blinked for several moments. "If you can lure him out of his self imposed exile then everyone will jump on the band wagon."

So Ghost wasn't an Alpha... maybe she could sense them both because they were members of her pack.

"Oh..." he said suddenly remembering something. "Jesse, although technically not an Alpha, is acting as one until Mayhem reappears." He watched her for a moment, "unless you know where she is?" He said in a leading way. Mayhem's disappearance was seriously becoming a legend, most didn't even think she was alive yet the members of her Ambush swore black and blue that she was and since she wasn't there no one could challenge her.

"No Jesse will have to come anyway..." she answered, "Mayhem doesn't know the inner workings of her pride like he does."

He frowned, "wait... you already have Mayhem?" He asked.

She nodded, "Broke her and some others out of a detention facility a few days ago." She said as she stood, indicating that it was time to go.

Jay, Grey-hawk's second approached. Amy wondered for a moment at the change in the man who had once always had a cheeky grin and whose deep hazel eyes, which always seemed to sparkle with inner amusement at everything. This man was hard; the last twenty years had not been a picnic and had wrought a massive change in the once free spirited man.

"I don't trust her." He said not even bothering to say so silently.

"I'm not out to destroy your pack." She said gently.

He gestured to her collar, "Who do you belong to?" he demanded to know.

"I belong to myself." She said with just the right amount of anger to tell him that she resented his assumption that she was nothing more than chattel.

The others of her group stood and moved to stand with Amy. Alanna quivered with anxious energy, wishing silently for a moment that Tarval was there to watch her back. Taylor's eyes darted the room as others stood.

Grey-hawk growled, telling his pack members to sit back down and relax. He turned to his long time friend, "What she proposes could change our world for the better; I am willing to give her the chance she needs to do this." He explained he frowned as a scent finally reached his nose, taking a deep breath for a moment as his mind focused; his eyes came to rest on Cass. Her scent said human but she was in a mixed group and she had the scent of Were on her strongly. But there was more to it.

Amy smiled and waited for it as she moved just a little to clear the way. She wasn't disappointed; moments after she had moved Grey-hawk lunged, grabbed Cass and jumped back, his nose buried into the junction of her neck and shoulder, he took a deep breath from the source to confirm his assumption. His blood suddenly caught on fire, his arms became like steel bands holding her to prevent her escape. He was surprised that she didn't fight him.

"Let her go Grey-hawk." Amy said calmly.

He growled and stepped back taking her with him, he felt her face press against his chest, felt her inhale. He pressed his hardening member against her.

"Cass stop encouraging him. Grey-hawk release her." Amy snapped a little annoyed and a little amused.

Cass, Grey-hawk thought for a moment as he heard laughter like he had not heard for years, he knew it was a shortening of something, a name popped into his mind, "Cassidy." He whispered into her ear and got a shiver out of her.

Amy smiled at Jay who was laughing himself silly. That was more like it, she thought to herself. "Jay you bray like an ass." She commented which just caused him to laugh harder. She turned back to Grey-hawk. "Release her... you won't like what I will do if I am forced to remove her from your arms. You might be healed by the gathering; chances are however that you most definitely won't be."

He had already conceded that Amy had power and could back up her threats; it left him with no choice. He released her reluctantly and Cass, equally reluctant, stepped back to join Amy.

"Don't be sad or anything, you can collect her at the gathering and I won't stop you from mating and bringing her back." Amy told him and he suddenly perked up.

He frowned for a moment, "You knew?" He asked as Amy turned to walk away, she turned back and smiled at him before suddenly they were gone.

They appeared in an olive grove, the air was cool. They started to walk although they knew that again they had tripped some kind of perimeter alarm. Amy turned to Cass who looked clearly conflicted. "What's wrong Cass?"

She jerked to Amy a little surprised, "Is it wrong to wish that you hadn't pulled me away from him?" She asked.

Amy chuckled, "No... knowing what you know plus that unexplainable draw you were feeling the moment you were near him." She reached out and gripped Cass's shoulder. "You are just not ready to be his alpha female yet. Give me the month I need and you'll be much better prepared for your life to come." She turned to Shannon. "The same applies to you."

Shannon nodded, she felt slightly sick with nerves, she was going to meet the man who had started to feature in her dreams. From the moment she saw him in Amy's memories she needed him, but a small part of her mind kept taunting her with little comments like 'he may not want you'. Seeing Grey-hawk's reaction to Cass she felt a little better, if Roberto didn't react to her scent then he obviously wasn't the man she thought he was.

They walked for no more than five minutes before they were circled by an obviously battle weary group, some still were flecked with blood around their muzzles, some were even slightly wounded. They growled and bristled at Amy's group, they were on edge and they were moments from attack.

"We are here to speak with your Alpha... we are un-armed and those of us who are Were are in human form. We wish no harm to you or your pack, in fact if you have injured we can help." Amy told them holding her hands out in a non-threatening pose. The leader of the group glanced off informing his Alpha of what she said and what he saw.

He grunted and turned, trotting off the pack moved, herding them in the right direction. They came to a gully that looked like it had just been turned up side down. Amy glanced around wondering for a moment what was going on. A scared woman ran from a person who was simply trying to help her. Amy reacted knowing exactly who this person was, she stepped left and her arms caught Maria around the middle.

Maria cried out and struggled in Amy's arms for a moment. "Maria calm down." Amy told her as she pulled her close, turning her body until they were chest to chest and Amy could hold her. "You're safe now." She told her, and for reasons unknown to her, Maria relaxed.

Amy's scent filled Maria's nose and had her taking deep calming breaths, something about Amy had her relaxing for the first time in years. Amy stroked her gently, combing her fingers through Maria's hair carefully loosening the tangles.

Roberto was storming around glaring at his enforcers, "Where is Gus?" he demanded, he wanted none of the men of that pack to be alive.

"We don't know he wasn't with the pack." The group leader said slightly afraid.

"Don't worry about Gus." Amy called out, "I killed him a few days ago," she added as she gently moved to check Maria's shoulder, Maria growled a warning, no one touched her shoulder.

"I know you protect that arm Maria, but I know we can fix it." She told her earnestly. "Trust me... please."

Maria relaxed but tensed again as Roberto approached.

"You killed Gus?" He asked.

Amy nodded as she stroked Maria, calming her down again and she relaxed. "Had to... bastard was whipping my daughter." She said coldly.

"His mate?" He questioned.

"My daughter." Amy said with a nod.

"Where is she?" He demanded to know.

"She's safe... as is Electra... if you even thought to look for her." Amy said deliberately being evasive with her answers.

"What brings you to my territory?" He questioned, eyeing the way the very skittish Maria was clinging to the strange woman before him. He wanted to tug his new pack member from the strange woman's arms, but he was loathed to do so as she had some how managed to get Maria to relax and be calm and even allowed her to touch her badly healed arm which she let no one touch.




Split in Time Ch. 03



"I have come to invite you to a gathering." Amy answered.

"A what?" He said a little confused.

"A gathering." She said with a smile when he gave her an annoyed look for her evasive answer. "A gathering is when a whole heap of Alphas get together to talk about problems and forge friendships."

"I've never heard of it." He said disbelievingly.

"Well... that's what I hope will happen. This gathering is mainly to deal with the madness of humans." She explained.

"I say kill them all." He growled.

"That won't solve the problem only create a larger one, already Were are devolving. The only reason we haven't reverted back to our primal selves is it's too dangerous." She told him slightly scolding him at the same time.

"So when is this gathering?" He asked starting to get interested.

"In a month, it's being held in England, on Ancient land." She said listing some of the answers to the questions running around his mind. "An Ancient will come and get you and it will last about a week."

He nodded and stepped forward to peel Maria from Amy. Maria stifled a cry and tightened her arms around Amy. He jerked his arms back. "We freed her yet she trusts you?" He questioned.

"I'm easy to trust but there is more to it and you will learn the answer at the gathering. I would like to take her with me. You'll find her a much changed woman if you allow me to." She offered.

He considered Amy's proposal and had no choice but to agree, Maria would lose her mind if he forced her to stay here. Nodding, his eyes scanned her group; his eyes skipped over Cass but came to rest on Shannon, even though both had beautiful shades of red hair and green eyes. However, Shannon seemed to spark his interest if only for the fact she had lips that were meant for kissing. His eyes moved from Shannon, skipping over Alanna and the rest of Amy's group.

"I don't even know your name." He said to Amy.

"Amy Wild-heart." She told him.

The breeze shifted, blowing Shannon's scent straight to him just as he took a deep breath. His beast rushed forward as the delicious scent filled his mind. Closing his eyes, he savoured her scent, before opening them to focus on Shannon. He just knew that the scent came from her, and too, that she was human, which just rammed home Amy's point that humans were important too.

Shannon gave him a small knowing smile, as if she knew what he had only just realised. He glanced at the group but they all seemed preoccupied, glancing around at his pack or obviously ignoring him for their own reasons. He leant forward and tugged her into his arms taking several steps back as his nose pressed against her skin. He was surprised that she didn't fight him, just the opposite in fact, she seemed just as eager as him to get close.

His nose pressed against her throat for a moment before his lips fastened to hers. There were wolf whistles from many of his pack members who thought that it was about bloody time his mate made an appearance. Amy chuckled and gently transferred Maria to Alanna's arms. Maria was surprised, as she knew this woman; she glanced up as Alanna smiled at her.

"Roberto." Amy grumbled a little in amusement. "Release her."

He growled and turned putting his body between the two women as he continued to kiss the life out of Shannon.

"Shannon stop encouraging him!" Amy exclaimed as she walked forward.

Roberto growled again, his arm tightening. "Mine." He told her dangerously.

"Yes yours." She agreed, "that's why I brought her here but she's not ready to be your alpha female, give me a month and you can claim her at the gathering." She said as she got between the two and moved Shannon away, ignoring Roberto's growls.

He stilled himself as he watched Shannon join her group. "You will not fight my claim?" he asked.

"No, in a month... once she's trained you can take her." Amy said simply.

He nodded and gestured to Cass, "Who is she for?"

"Cass is for herself; however she fully intends to claim Grey-hawk as her own at the gathering." Amy said with a warning for him not to assume ownership of Shannon.

He smiled, as he understood Amy's warning. "Lucky him." He said as his eyes feasted on his Shannon.

"An ancient will be by in a month to collect you." Amy told him and he nodded.

They vanished and appeared outside of the temple. They walked in and took Maria down to the pod room. Rhun was just about to shut down the pods but stopped. "More strays?" He asked.

"I made a promise that you are going to keep." Amy told him as she pressed Maria into a pod.

"Amy what if I can't keep that promise." He said mortified.

"Trust me... run a scan." Amy told him as he got behind the controls. Alanna shut the lid and whispered that everything would be all right, as Rhun looked at the scans.

"Okay..." Rhun said. "You were right; her shoulder is really a simple matter to fix." He said, already starting the procedure. The pod hummed as it went to work removing scar tissue; it reopened the original wound and re-healed it correctly. It also fixed several minor illnesses caused from malnutrition.

"All done." He said as Amy went and sat Maria up. Amy carefully moved Maria's arm to test mobility, Maria pulled away and checked her arm herself and smiled at Amy when she realised she had full movement back.

"Thankyou." Maria said a little hesitantly.

"It's okay." Amy said and took her hand, taking her back into the main sitting room. "Okay Tarval, Guinevere," both turned to her and smiled, glad to be given something to do. "I would like it if you would take, Electra, Alanna, Cass, Shannon, Mayhem, Susan and Maria to the training grounds and start to train them, but be careful of Maria's shoulder as it was just healed."

Maria was about to flee as she took in the massive Tarval. Alanna caught her hand and held it tightly preventing her escape. "Tarval is a good man, a gentle man." Alanna told Maria honestly.

Tarval and Guinevere smiled and got to their feet, "Come on ladies." Tarval coaxed as Guinevere lead the way. Amy watched as the women followed Tarval and Guinevere out.

A board appeared with a long list of names; Amy ticked Roberto and Grey-hawk. Rhun leant forward and tapped a name, "I know him. I'll go and invite him; he could help me get the other Vampire masters to come."

Amy nodded, "Go for it," she said giving permission to proceed.

Cleopatra leant forward and tapped several names. "I can talk to the Elementals, I have lots of contacts and they know me. If you like." She said.

Amy smiled and nodded.

"I have connections with the Fae," Mryddin said as he leant forward touching the four major Fae leaders.

"And I know the four major flight leaders." Taliesin added. "You keep with the Were, we'll deal with the others." He told her. "Divide and conquer."

Boadicea wrapped an arm around Amy. "Who next?"

"Well, I think we can kill four... no make that six birds with one stone, there is a mini gathering happening right now between the English Alphas." She said with a smile.

"Then who...?" Boadicea said wanting as much time outside of the temple as possible.

"Then sadly I'm going to have to leave you here and go after a few more people I know." She said.

"Who?" Boadicea asked curious.

"Eric... Maria's mate and while I'm in the general area I may as well get Ghost and Katie... if she is alive." She said a little distracted. "Let's go." She told the rest of the people in the room and they vanished.

*

Amy kept low as she approached the well-hidden cottage. She had left the others behind after getting the English Alphas to agree to come, she was also a little pleased, as they had met for much the same reason, she was organising a gathering. They had agreed to hold off on doing anything until a general approach had been agreed on.

She stalked forward carefully as Eric barrelled out of the cottage, throwing packed bags onto a horse. Katie followed him out and Amy felt a surge of joy that Ghost's mate had survived the madness. Although alive, this Katie had only just survived, she had a scar on her left cheek that ran all the way to her jaw, down her neck, and limped noticeably.

Eric grabbed her things and tied them to the horse that was waiting for her. He then flung her onto the saddle. Amy heard what had them spooked, a truck was approaching. She snorted as she felt Ghost getting closer; this was hopefully going to be much easier than she thought. She also heard what the two humans couldn't; the most obvious trail that they would take to escape was being blocked by more merks, these ones on foot.

Amy raced out to stop them. "No..." She said as she held out her arms as Eric trained a bow on her. "Merks are down that trail." She warned.

Katie turned to Eric and pulled out a knife and went to slit her wrists, she would die a free woman not a captive brood mare, the dagger vanished from her hand and appeared in Amy's. "I would rather you didn't do that Katie."

Katie turned startled eyes to Amy. "How..."

"Can I explain later, I would rather both you and Eric just stay still and let me deal with the merks." She told them as she knew by now they too could hear the approaching truck.

"You're not human, they will kill you." Eric surmised.

Amy rolled her eyes and stabbed the dagger into her chest; she felt an odd numbness around the area of the dagger but knew it would pass. "I am immortal, they can try... they will fail." She pulled the dagger out and turned to face the merks as they pulled into the small clearing around the cottage.

The merks piled out from the truck and pointed their guns at the group. Amy's eyes scanned over the group and felt saddened, none of the people who were pointing guns at her were older than sixteen; they held their guns in trembling hands. She was in their minds reading their thoughts; they were scared, cold, hungry, sick, and tired of being harassed. That was the only reason they had joined the merks, for food, shelter and to no longer be chased.

A large man levered himself out of the front cab. Amy recognised him as one of the men who had been arrested for the beating of Ghost and murder of Katie back in her home world. A dog was let loose but didn't react to Amy; in fact, it sniffed at her then curled up at a girl's feet.

The fat man lumbered slowly over as the rest of his group joined them. They, like the others were barely old enough to vote in Amy's world. She felt herself getting angry, as children should NOT be in this situation. "Ah good... two women. You are now being ordered to accompany us for the good of human kind."

Amy snorted. "If I were human... which I'm not, I still wouldn't aid your bigotry." She said coldly.

He glanced to the dog but it just wagged its tail and panted. He then roared with laughter. Amy glanced at the children. "Is this what you truly want, to kill people, just to live. You think the merks have the answers... they are the reason for this..."

The man stopped laughing, turned, and backhanded her; she turned and glared at him. "SHUT YOUR MOUTH WOMAN." He roared.

"NO." Amy answered firmly. "I know you... I know your heart... you're nothing but a scared man who fears. Instead of facing your fear you are trying to destroy it."

He raised his hand for another blow, "I SAID SHUT YOUR MOUTH." He roared, he paused as he felt cold metal press to his neck.

"Let her speak." A young man said with a slight waver to his voice, he was scared but Amy's words were honest.

"You didn't need to do that." Amy said carefully backing the young man up. "I have him handled."

"He has no right to hit you." He answered firmly which caused Amy to smile.

"You are a good young man, your mother would be proud of you." She told him and he blushed ducking his head. She turned back to the man who had struck her. "Your mother however is probably rolling in her grave."

"Keep your filthy mouth off my mother." He growled.

Amy sighed, she had two options, let him go or kill him. If she let him go he would report her to his betters, if he had the nerve, or he would blame it on Were, more than likely he would blame it on the Were as the dog refused to react to her the way he was trained. "You leave me with no choice." She said with regret, she moved quickly, her arms shot out, grabbed his head and jerked it to the side, killing him instantly. She held him and gently lowered him to the ground.

"I'm sorry." She told him as she moved his arms, crossing them over his chest. She didn't like killing, she did it if she had to and in Gus's case she did as the law she lived by demanded but if she could, she tried not to. She stood and glanced at the group and knew she had lost a little ground with them. "He left me no choice. Either I let him go and he blames this on Were which is a partial lie and signs your death warrants or I kill him and protect you all." She told them.

She waited hoping she hadn't lost them entirely.

"She's right..." A girl barely in her teens spoke up and many nodded, agreeing with her.

"But now what?" A boy asked as he pushed forward.

Amy smiled, "Come with me, I can house you all, feed you all." She told them and glanced back to Katie and Eric. "I originally came to get Katie, Eric and Ghost but I'll take you with me."

"Just like that." A girl in her mid teens asked then clicked her fingers.

"No strings, I only ask one favour of you if you come with me." Amy answered.

"What favour?" The young man who had come forward to stop her being hit asked.

"That you simply keep an open mind. Where we are going there are Were, Ancients and humans, we don't always get along but we respect that we are different and we don't judge each other." She said firmly then approached the truck and flicked back a tarp. She was met with a large snarling ball of black fur in a small cage.

"He was hit by the truck." The young man said joining her. "He's Were but I didn't think they got that big." He added.

"Actually they get bigger." She answered. "He's immortal, that's why he's larger than a normal Were, but Alpha immortals are even bigger than him." She explained.

"I'm Ash." He introduced himself and got a smile in response from Amy. It was hard to tell what he looked like, his face and hair were dirty, his clothes were far too big, but Amy saw promise in this young man. Give him good food and a good guiding hand and he would be a good leader.

Amy held out her hand, "Hello Ash, my name is Amy."

He glanced at her hand not understanding her gesture. She grabbed his right hand and put it in hers; she held it firmly and gave it a shake.

"Pleased to meet you Ash." She said and released his hand. She glanced back and growled, "Stop." She said firmly as a girl had been about to kick the dead man. Amy walked forward. "He may have been a scared and twisted man but he was someone's son, someone's brother, someone's father. He deserves respect in death even though he probably showed no respect to you. How you treat your dead reflects how you treat the living." She said giving them a little lecture.

Shovels appeared in her hands and she handed them to several of the stronger young men. "I require a hole, the length of his body and as deep as your head." She said pointing to the tallest of the young men. "The rest of you gather stones." She ordered gently but was instantly obeyed.

Vivian appeared and glanced around. "Why stones?" A little girl whispered as she picked up a stone. She was talking to no one in particular and got a start when Vivian took the stone from her.

"Amy lives with Were, she lives by their belief that the spirit has to be released from the body in order for reincarnation to occur." Vivian said as she put the rock down on the growing pile. She noticed at all the young adults were listening intently. "Do you know what reincarnation is?" She asked.

They shook their heads. "Reincarnation is when the same person is re-born every time they die. They don't just die never to be seen again. So Were believe..." She continued as she grabbed another rock, "that the body must be burned in order to release the soul."

"So why are we burying him?" The young girl asked.

"Were believe that by leaving the body to decay naturally they are denying his soul a chance to move on at least until his body breaks down completely. It's also a form of punishment for the soul which has wronged, a way of making the lesson from their life stick to their soul so it isn't repeated." She finished as she dumped another stone.

In quick time, the grave was dug and the man was carefully lowered into the hole and arranged, before the hole was back filled and covered with the stones to keep animals from digging it up. The young people who helped had listened to Amy and were treating the dead man with respect even though he had shown none to them.

"Okay... guns and ammo in a pile, daggers, bows and arrows are allowed." Vivian said as Amy was busy getting Ghost off the truck, she kept him in his cage, not game enough to let him out until she had him somewhere safe.

Everyone obeyed Vivian. A small arsenal was piled up before her and when the last gun was dumped on the pile, she asked everyone to stand back. In moments, the pile of weapons was nothing more than a molten hunk of metal, which was quickly cooling.

"How did you do that?" A boy exclaimed.

Vivian smiled, "Before I became Ancient I was a blacksmith..." she noticed their confused looks, "I moulded metal with flame and hammer." she explained. "I've always had an affinity with metal."

Amy moved a furious Ghost the last few feet. "Get your things; we'll leave in a minute."

Vivian knelt to look in the cage. "So this is Ghost?" She said curious about the famous Were.

"Yep..."

"I thought he would be... bigger." Vivian said a little confused.

"Against a normal Were, he is big, but he's not an enforcer or Beta who are slightly bigger when either immortal or mortal, same with being an Alpha, he is an average sized immortal. You're used to seeing Beta and Alpha immortals." Amy explained.   

Vivian shrugged and stood. Amy went to Eric and Katie.

"Is he hurt?" Katie asked, her rarely used skills as a vet were already at work in her mind thinking of possible problems a hit wolf would have.

Amy shook her head, "Not that I could tell. We'll see when we get him to shift. Ready to go?" She asked.

Katie and Eric turned to each other, wondering about the woman before them, she seemed so honest and caring, they felt themselves trusting her even though they knew nothing about her. They both nodded slowly, first to each other then to Amy.

Amy smiled, "Good." She glanced at the rest of her group but they were ready to go. "Away we go." She said focusing on the group and willing them to the temple.

Everyone blinked at the change of scene. Robin was leaning on the doorjamb, his arms crossed. "More strays?" he asked as he pushed himself from the jamb and stepped forward. He wore an apron, which was immaculately clean; he stroked the line of line of facial hair on his chin.

"I am trying to break cycles of violence, the best way to do that is to get children to understand we mean them no harm that like them we just want to rebuild the world and live normal lives. That we aren't really that different fundamentally." She explained.

"Robin..." Vivian slid in before he could say anything. "Look at all these hungry mouths." She said with a smile as she gripped some shoulders.

Robin suddenly smiled as he realised that with more people it meant he could cook more, "I like that. However, they all need to be deloused and checked before they interact with the others. Rhun's taken care of the others and he'll hate to do it again."

A new man walked out of the house and smiled.

Amy held her arms open, "D'Artagnan." She said happily.

"You must be Amy..." He said with a light French accent and walked down to greet her with a hug and kisses to each cheek. "Robin has filled me in and I am at your service." He said with an extravagant bow.




Split in Time Ch. 03



"You are such a prat." Amy answered with a smile. "Can you settle the horses with Cass's?" She asked.

"Of course." He said tucking long flowing hair behind his ears, his brown eyes sparkling. He walked over to the horses and took charge of them as Katie and Eric dismounted. Amy touched the cage Ghost was in and willed it to the first training ground thinking that he could wait there until she was ready.

Amy turned to the group, "Follow me, then we'll get you fed." She walked into the temple.

"You're free to go where ever you want but do not enter any rooms with yellow doors; those doors are dangerous to mortals." Vivian explained as they went down stairs and walked into the medical room. Vivian moved to a control panel. "Do you know how to use this?" She asked Amy and Amy shook her head.

"No..."

Vivian smiled and activated it, turning to the new group as she gave them instructions. "Okay, see the blue line on the floor I want you to walk along that line in single file please." She set the parameters and the machine hummed to life. Ash was the first to walk through the first of ten arches, which were linked by bars of metal.

As Ash walked through, the sonic functions of the device blasted the dirt and parasites from his skin, hair and clothes leaving him microscopically clean. He was scanned and his grazes were healed, only when he got towards the end of the walk did device work on any internal parasites, working on a microscopic level to kill and deconstruct them.

He turned to the others when he got to the end. "It didn't hurt a bit." He told them, encouraging them to walk through, with a smile.

"Name?" Vivian asked.

"Ash." He answered as others started to file through, when they left Vivian asked for their name to put on the files she created. Any who had illnesses the machine couldn't handle were then put into a pod to be healed.

Katie was the last one out of the pods. She carefully flexed her right leg, which had been badly hurt years ago and had always caused her pain. She stood and put weight on it but it didn't hurt, she then took several experimental steps and smiled.

"Okay..." Amy said to the room, "Who's hungry?"

Arms shot into the air.

"This way." Amy said and led the way.

Vivian stopped them from entering the dining room, "Ground rules," She said firmly, "There is plenty so, no pushing, no fighting, single file and seconds are allowed." She said then stepped back letting them in. She smiled as she watched them pause and stare at all the food on offer. "Try a bit of everything then if you want more you can come back and get more but don't stuff yourselves silly." She told the group.

Ash was the first to grab a plate and as suggested, he got a scoop of everything and a bread roll then wondered where he could go to eat all this, as it was the biggest meal he had ever seen. Sally moved him into the courtyard and he was followed one by one, as the others got their food.

"What are we going to do with them all?" Vivian asked Amy, a little daunted.

"Arthur can teach them to read and write and true history, D'Artagnan can take them in the afternoons, teach them how to fight." Amy answered.

"What about the ones who came with Cass..." Sally asked as she joined them, "They already read and write."

"Well..." Amy thought for a moment. "Boadicea can take them in the morning, teach them the fundamentals and Arthur can take them in the afternoon."

"Why would I want to do that?" Arthur asked as he walked forward having come out of his rooms for lunch.

"Well for starters, it's something to do rather than sulk in your rooms." Amy said as she turned to him, "Second, do you want the story of your life to continue to be told the way it has been or how it actually happened? That is the main bone of contention between you and Guinevere."

He thought for a moment then nodded, "Okay... I'll do it." He said then walked away, not bothering with the food that was on offer.

"You can handle Arthur but you can't handle Noah?" Vivian questioned.

Amy gave Vivian a puzzled look but remembered that Noah hadn't tried to kill Rhiannon in this universe because she didn't exist. "Noah... tried to kill your daughter in my universe; he has gone out of his way to be an arse to me. He thinks I'm as big a freak as my mother, bigger in fact because I can do more than any one else, I am mated to Were and I have children. I have good reasons not to like Noah and to not let him into my home or life." She explained firmly and watched, as Vivian finally understood where Amy was coming from when it came to Noah. Amy then grinned, "Unlike Noah, Arthur can be nice... if he chooses to." She finished and got a chuckle from Robin who had walked out of the kitchen to put out more food while Amy was talking to Vivian. She walked into the dining room and grabbed a roll, cramming it with beef and gravy she took a big bite before walking out, still chewing, leaving a chuckling Vivian.



Split in Time Ch. 04



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;

I didn't think after updating my profile to warn every one of the reason for the delay with the next chapter that my editor would get it back to me and said good to go. So here it is chapter four, I hope you enjoy it.

So as normal thanks go out to my editor and you the reader and to those of you who sent me emails if I didn't get back to you I am so sorry.

Don't forget to comment and vote and have fun.

*

Amy walked over to Maria, Electra and Alanna who were just finishing their snack. "Okay," she said as she squatted down. "I have Ghost..." she told them and watched their jaws drop. "But I need your help to get it through to him that we mean him no harm and want him to join us." Amy sat completely on the soft grass beside them. Sasha quickly sat in her lap and Amy wrapped her arms around the little girl.

"How?" Electra asked.

"I want to try what you did to get him to trust you the first time. I want you three..." Amy gestured to Alanna, Electra and Maria.

"Me too," Sasha said as she looked up at Amy.

Amy thought for a moment but couldn't see any harm in it; he was in a cage so she was unlikely to be hurt. "Okay you too," she conceded and Sasha smiled, showing dimples in each cheek, her pale green eyes sparkling with joy. Amy ran her hand through Sasha's short mouse brown hair; someone had cut it while she was away, to get rid of all the damaged parts. Mayhem joined them, running her hands through her now short pale hair.

Sally walked over with scissors and made a snip, snip sound as she pointed at Electra. Amy turned to her. "Sally... can she be cut later, I kind of need her now." Amy asked.

Sally nodded; "I have lots of hair to cut..." she said and walked off grabbing Ash by the collar and moving him to a chair.

Amy turned to the group, "Okay so the plan. I want you four to strip and change before him. Then I want you to howl, if he doesn't join you by your third series of howls step back and change. If that doesn't work I'll drag his human mind forward but I would rather he did it himself."

"And this worked the last time?" Electra asked.

Amy nodded.

"Who will start the chorus?" Maria asked, as normally the highest ranked pack member in the group started a chorus, since they weren't technically a pack she didn't know who actually was the most important.

"Electra..." Amy answered. "Since technically she's an Alpha female she is the highest ranking pack member after me then Mayhem."

Mayhem bristled for a moment, "Why are you higher than me?" She asked as she knew that Amy was an Alpha female just like Electra, not a dominant Alpha like herself or Wolfgang, which meant technically she was above Amy as she was a dominant.

"Do you honestly think you'll beat me in a fight?" Amy asked directly and Mayhem quickly shook her head, Amy would wipe the floor with her broken body, in a heartbeat without even trying. "I know this is confusing for you, this isn't exactly anything like a true pack or pride. You're more than welcome to set up a pecking order if you like but I would rather you didn't, as you were always equal in my world." She explained.

Everyone nodded. "Okay... are you done eating?" Amy asked and again everyone nodded. "Then let's go and deal with Ghost."

"Who's Ghost?" Cass asked as she stopped near them, having overheard the last of the conversation.

"I'll tell the story..." Taylor said, "You go and draw him out of his madness." She wrapped an arm around Cass and took her over to join the others in the courtyard. "Who wants to hear a story about a Were who doesn't know he's Were?" She asked all the people in the courtyard.

Amy took Alanna, Maria, and Electra to the training grounds where they calmly approached the bristling black wolf in the small cage. Mayhem had decided to tag along to watch, and stood aside with Amy while the others stripped. In moments, three adult wolves and one cub approached the cage.

He stopped growling and studied the wolves before him. They were like him and could shift just like him, three were obviously adults, yet two were remarkably bigger than the other and one was a child, had been born this way. He didn't know if he was born this way, he could have been.

Electra took a deep breath, threw her head back and howled; a moment later she was joined by two more voices. Sasha didn't even try to howl knowing she simply didn't have the wind. Ghost's ears went forward as he listened to the howls; they were calling to him, calling to him in a way that had never affected him before. He wanted to join them and when they howled again this time his voice joined theirs.

Amy smiled and made the cage disappear. Sasha yapped and bounced up to him happily; he dropped his nose and sniffed at her. Mayhem chose this moment to join them, her beast was eager in her mind wanting to rub her scent all over her mate's body.

Ghost watched Mayhem as she stripped, only when she started to change did he notice that although like him she wasn't like him, he didn't know there were others. Mayhem yawned and stretched, then approached the group carefully as she didn't know how Ghost would react to her.

Ghost's ears went back, unsure, but then his ears went back up when Electra walked over and greeted Mayhem. He watched as Mayhem pushed Electra down and started to groom her. Maria was next to greet Ghost, letting him smell her.

"Come on guys..." Amy said. "We have things to do."

Sasha was the first to shift and dress. She ran up to Amy who picked her up and sat her on her hip. Electra and Mayhem shifted next, but didn't move. Mayhem leant down to kiss Electra, who moaned and wrapped her arms around Mayhem pulling her close.

Ghost watched in curiosity for several moments, while Maria shifted and started to get dressed ignoring the two women.

"Electra... Mayhem... if you are going to go any further go your room, there are children running around this house." Amy said, telling them off with a slightly amused tone. They broke their kiss and separated reluctantly and got dressed, everyone then turned to Ghost waiting for him to join them.

The wolf went into his mind and to that dark place his human had hidden himself in, it was time for him to start living again and this time he would be living with his own kind, people who could answer his questions, help him with his pain. He grabbed his human half and threw it forward, forcing his body to shift.

A man quickly took the place of the wolf; he glanced around for a moment before he fainted.

"Don't worry; it happened the last time, it's been a very long time since he last shifted." Amy explained as she put Sasha down and made a pair of sweats appear in her hands. "Help me dress him," she told them and they helped her get him clothed. They waited for him to come to and when he did, they helped him up and got him up to the dining room.

Maria got him a plate of food and they walked him out to the courtyard and sat him down to eat. Everyone stared, having heard his story from Taylor they were curious about the actual man.

"Guys..." Cass said telling them to cut it. "Robin wants you lot to go pick peaches," she told the young people and they went to leave taking buckets with them.

Ash turned to Cass, "What's a peach?" He asked, just looking at him you could see he had been transformed in the short time since being here, his clothes had been changed to ones that actually fit him, as were his boots, his brown hair was cropped very short to his skull but it had removed the dreadlocks and tangles. His hazel eyes were bright with life and hope. His eyes drifted to Amy and grinned a little at her, which she smiled at.

"Do any of you know what a peach is?" Cass asked the group and got shakes of the head from all of them.

"I'll take them." Taylor said with a smile. "I'll even show them where the chickens are and what else can be found in here." She walked the group off.

Robin leant out a window, "Get me some eggs." He called out to Taylor.

Katie sat at the table across from Ghost. Ghost blinked and stared at her, she looked familiar to him, like he had seen her before, been with her before. He lifted his head and sniffed the air, Katie's scent seemed to dance in his nose before his wolf came rushing forward, that scent, he knew that scent as surely as he knew that he couldn't die. That scent belonged to Snow but he knew Snow was dead.

The realisation that the new woman smelt like Snow had him looking at her more closely but even that was adding to his confusion, he thought she looked familiar even though he hadn't seen her before, now that he thought about it even her features were similar to Snow's, it's just her colouration which had changed. He shook his head and stood, to his mind people only lived once and that this woman looked and smelt like his beloved was unfathomable. Stumbling, he tried to get away from the woman who was Snow but at the same time wasn't.

Calm down Ghost. Amy told him as she gripped his arm getting him to focus on her alone. He watched her lips but no sound came from them, he started to freak out more. Ghost please... I know this is hard for you but I need to explain. She told him. He refused to listen and tried to pull away not understanding where the voice in his head was coming from.

Amy moved faster than him and caught his head in her hands; she focused and swamped his mind with her memories, her knowledge. He dropped to his knees as he saw that other world where he watched Katie's body burn, the promise of her resurrection the only thing that kept him together.

Amy slowly pulled away from his mind, I'm sorry Ghost... you just wouldn't listen.

He held her hands as his eyes locked with hers. So... she is my Snow? Just a new Snow? he tentatively asked, unsure whether he could also do this mind talking.

She nodded.

Will I be forced to watch her die again? He asked.

Again, she nodded. But know that she will always seek you out. She is yours and only yours. You are not alone Ghost, there are people now who can help you with your grief when she dies, people who will share your pain for they too have lived it. You are not Alone. She finished with emphasis.

He took a deep breath and let his eyes wander back to Katie. She watched, concern marking her features. Amy glanced back and smiled. "Now... I promised I would explain why I tracked you down and why you..." she turned to Maria, "... trust me." She said with a smile as she got up and returned Ghost to the table. "Sit down and open your minds... I have a story to show you."





Split in Time Ch. 04



He felt anger rise up in him but he quickly stamped it down, it was not anyone's fault that she had gone without meals, all he could do was make sure that she was well fed now. "Thought as much, when we were treating your arm we stripped you down to get you out of your dirty clothes, your ribs stand out."

She sipped her cider again before breaking off another piece from the loaf, he was breaking off a piece, again and they raced to see who would get to the cheese first. She smiled when he let her win; she smeared the cheese on her bread and slowly continued to eat.

"So... what can you do?" He asked as an icebreaker.

She paused halfway to putting some more food in her mouth. "I can do a lot of things but you would have to unchain me for me to do them." She said softly trying not to anger him.

He growled gently, he was not going to unchain her until he had thoroughly sated his body with hers and even then, he might change his mind and keep her there.

"So in other words I don't have any skills that can be done while chained up." She finished quickly hoping he wouldn't make a scene.

He ate for several moments to keep control of his temper. "We have a few skilled people. You could learn to knit or sew or..."

"So is that all I am going to be?" She asked cutting into his sentence, "a caged brood mare giving birth to your children and mending your things." She added quietly but everyone had paused, Were always had better hearing than humans.

Everyone turned to see how Ghan was going to react. Gabby glared at her daughter but no one interfered, as it was not their place to get involved in an argument between the Alpha and his mate.

"Finish your dinner before it gets cold." He told her gently deciding to put this off until they had the relative privacy of their room; he began to finish his meal breaking off bits of bread to scoop up the juices.

She finished eating quickly, keeping her eyes on her plate and trying not to think about what would happen when they were alone in his room and he let his temper go.

Maddie walked over. "Desert?" she asked gently as she didn't want to aggravate the situation.

Ghan nodded. "Take away."

Maddie nodded and left, returning a few moments later with containers.

Taking the containers from Maddie and picking up the coil of chain he stood and glanced at Keira, waiting for her to stand. Keira felt nervous, she didn't want to go back to the room and have an argument with him. However, she stood and followed him back into their room, as she simply had no choice in the matter. He quickly chained her up then sat at the table to have a look at desert. She sat almost on the very edge of her seat, ready to try to put distance between them if he got angry, and waited. He gestured for her to eat the apple pie and cream, his favourite. She refused, too nervous to eat anything further.

"You didn't answer my question." She stated.

Putting his spoon down, he took a deep calming breath. "I didn't want to yell at you in front of everyone. But since you have brought it up again let me tell you that is not what I expect of you. The whole reason I've chained you up is that I don't want to let you go until I have bound you to me in every way." He told her trying to keep a rein on his anger that flared at the mere thought of her leaving him.

He dug into the apple pie and cream. "Eat." He told her as he wanted her to put on some weight and the rich desert would help.

Anger quickly flashed through her at the order, and she refused on principle. He growled put down his spoon and stood, he stepped around the table and grabbed her holding her injured arm near the wound, she gritted her teeth and kept the cry of pain from passing her lips as his grip on her arm was sending searing pain up her arm.

Pulling her to her feet, he didn't see the grimace of pain and fear pass across her face as he pulled her to his body. "You need more meat on your body, you need to eat." He told her firmly.

"Is that an order?" She responded feeling her anger flare.

"Keira..." he said softening a little, "I am not the enemy; I am trying to keep you safe and get you healthy." He released an arm; keeping a firm grip on the other as he raised his free hand and gently stroked her face. She quivered a little as he was doing what her father did before kissing her mother, she didn't want Ghan to kiss her; she wanted him to leave her alone. Carefully he caught her chin and tilted her face up as his lips descended on hers. She tried to jerk away from his kiss but both the grip on her chin and her arm tightened. He growled gently and captured her mouth with his, the hand that was holding her chin quickly moved and fisted into her hair, tilting her head further back so that he could explore her luscious lips.

She tried to fight him as she felt herself melting beneath his kiss but he didn't let up, his tongue slid sensually between her lips and into her mouth, tasting her thoroughly. He broke the kiss and panted as he tried to control his mad need, he leaned in to kiss her again, already addicted to her taste he needed more, she was similar yet different to the other incarnations he had managed to come across.

"You're hurting me." She told him before his lips captured hers again; she knew if she let him kiss her again she was going to respond, regardless of her resolve to never get involved. There was something primal within her that wanted him, wanted his domination but at the same time, it wanted to fight him, to make him earn her.

He frowned and looked to his hand suddenly realising he was holding the arm that had been shot, quickly he released his grip. "I... I'm... sorry." He said gently.

She ignored his apology and pulled away, her arm was throbbing painfully but her heart was still beating erratically, her nipples tingled and she felt herself moisten a little in a way that was unfamiliar and scary.

"Keira I..." he started to say as he watched her pull away. "Let me look." He said taking a step forward.

Taking a further step away she made sure she was just out of reach, not letting him touch her, afraid that if he did she would start responding. "Just leave me alone," she told him before she raced into the bathroom and slammed the door.

She panted as she rested against the door, knowing that if he wanted to he could easily over power her to get in here. Her arm had been throbbing for the last couple of days, now it felt as if it was burning. She heard Ghan leave the room, giving her space. She listened for several moments before she opened the bathroom door and glanced around the room to make sure he wasn't there. Cautiously she left the bathroom and checked behind the bed just in case he was still in the room but hiding.

Kicking off her shoes, she slid her pants off and carefully removed her jumper, leaving her in a tank top and underwear. She slid into the bed and under the thick covers, before she could start to relax. All she wanted was the oblivion of sleep, and tired out by recent events she soon feel asleep.





Split in Time Ch. 04



He spread dinner out as Keira set to the box to the side for Ghan to put away later, and together they ate in comfortable silence. She yawned as she tried to stay awake; although she had slept a lot already, she was still tired. Grinning he stood and scooped her up before he quickly deposited her back on the bed. Done so quickly in fact that she didn't even have a chance to utter a protest. He returned to the table and tied the plates quietly before taking them out and giving them to a guard to deal with.

He crawled into bed beside her but he resisted his instinct to pull her close, instead he just rested beside her lending her his body heat to help keep her warm.





Split in Time Ch. 04



Three hours after the needles were put in they were removed, as her body had stopped fighting. She was released from her bindings, her parents cuddled up to her as she fell asleep. Ghan left her knowing she was chained to the wall and safe from wandering even though he knew walking and moving around would be beyond her for a while.

Maddie was hovering for news as in such a short time Keira had become a close friend.

Ghan smiled at her, "she's resting."

She frowned. "But... doesn't... isn't it meant to take longer." She asked

"The elder said that she already had some of her parent's blood in her, not enough to change her, but what she had lessened the effect of the adoption. It wasn't as violent as some I have witnessed." He explained.

She nodded and offered him a box. He frowned and gave her a quizzical look.

"A gift for Keira, I made it myself. To welcome her." She explained.

He smiled and nodded, he carried it back to their room. He put it down on the bed and pulled out his own gift, he had wrapped the smallish gift in old pieces of newspaper. He knew her parents would be giving her their own gift the moment she was awake.

He paced in his room, he wanted her in his room, back in his arms, he wanted to love her, to claim her and show her the joys of sex. He felt his possessive side start to war with his resolve to give Keira all the time she needed with her parents. There was a knock on the door and he answered, he quickly jumped aside to let Grey in, carrying Keira as her legs were not stable enough for her to walk. Ghan quickly opened the blankets and Grey slid her onto the bed and Ghan tucked her in.

Ghan fed more wood into the potbelly heater to bring the warmth up.

"You didn't need to bring her; she could have stayed with you longer," Ghan told Grey.

"She told us you get very mad when you aren't in control of her." Grey explained.

Ghan frowned. "How did you get her free? I have the only key." He exclaimed.

Grey grinned. "She picked the lock." He said with a slightly cocky edge to his voice.

Ghan glared at Keira who had fallen asleep.

"She had to learn some very interesting things growing up, picking locks was one. She's really good at it. Gabby has her pick set; it was a two second job for her." Grey explained.

"I want that pick set." Ghan demanded.

Grey gave them to him knowing that he would want them when he learnt what she could do. Ghan snatched them and stormed over to his safe, he quickly checked to make sure all the picks were present then locked them in.

"Ghan... she made the choice to come back so soon. Not us, she knew you would start to get anxious. We told her we didn't have keys. She said but you have my picks. Gabby said you would be pissed when you learnt it was so easy for her to get free but she didn't care." Grey explained.

Ghan paced a little. "All this time she could just pick the locks?"

Grey nodded, "Even the smallest piece of metal wire she can use to pick a lock." He explained.

"Why didn't she pick the locks?" Ghan asked.

Grey sighed. "Because what is the point, you'll just hunt her down and drag her back." He said as he left.

Ghan took a deep breath and glared at Keira again. She slept on unaware of his anger. He considered not chaining her back up since it was so easy for her to get free but changed his mind and locked her back up, she might not have taken off again but at least he still could keep her away from other curious males although he would kill anyone who even thought about smelling her.

He crawled into bed beside her and pulled her tightly to his body, not waiting for his body to warm up as it was still warm from the fire, letting his heat fill her body. He nuzzled at her throat kissing and biting it. She mumbled and shuffled closer to his body causing him to smile; she was beginning to warm to him. He wondered if it was the chess or if she was finally developing some feelings for him. He didn't care but he knew he had to keep going slowly.



Split in Time Ch. 05



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 about the lengthy delay with this chapter, I've received a lot of very angry emails demanding as to when the next chapter would be out. I would like to take this time to remind everyone that although my editor and I are dedicated to getting these chapters out as soon as possible we also work full time and have other obligations which take up our free time. Your eagerness for my stories is what keeps me writing but sometimes shit happens and it causes delays.

That being said, here is chapter 5 and we are furiously working on chapter 6 and I hope you enjoy it. As is my norm, thanks go to Kittyhawk for editing this chapter and to you the reader for reading it.

All feedback is welcome and if you have any questions feel free to ask but please include an email so that I can get back to you.

Have fun and enjoy.





Split in Time Ch. 05



He ignored her plea and just kept slowly building her desire as he kissed her deeply. When her pleas got more demanding he knew she was close, closing his eyes as he was finding it hard to remain focused on going slow, he wanted to plough into her until her, over and over until both of them were sated and he was going to take her like he wanted but he wanted to coax an intense climax from her first.

"Cum for me..." he whispered into her ear and as if his words were the catalyst, she clenched around him, her body tensed and she came apart under him. Grinding his teeth together he held still, waiting for her to calm down and be ready for a more fast and furious love making.

She panted as she finally came down from her high; she squirmed a little under him. "You didn't finish?" She asked a little surprised.

"Because I haven't yet," He took her lips and started moving again only this time he was more forceful in his movements. Her head rolled back as she moaned, his movements triggered mini aftershocks throughout her body. He stopped suddenly much to her dismay; he chuckled as he pulled her up until she sat on his thighs. Hooking both hands around her body he started to move again the sound of their skin connecting rapidly filling the room.

Her head and eyes rolled back in pleasure as this new position had a whole new series of pleasure points being stimulated. His eyes focused on her as he grinned for a moment in pride, he did that to her, before he attacked her neck with gentle kisses and bites. Gasping she lifted her head as he bit a little harder, her nails digging into his arms, she could feel another climax coming.

"Tarval..." She cried out moments before she came again.

He grunted as he pulled her close and let go with his own release not able to hold it off any longer. Dimly in a part of his brain that wasn't consumed with pleasure he registered that she had called his name in her moment of bliss and had delight mixing with the pleasure that he had given her such pleasure. He released his bite and panted against her neck as his body continued to release his seed into her welcoming depths. 

Carefully he lowered her back on the bed and let his weight crush her, he kissed her jaw gently and she smiled. 

"Wow." She said with a little laugh.

He chuckled a little before he agreed, "Wow."

"Can we do that again?"

"For the rest of time," He promised, pleased that she wanted more.

"I meant tonight," she commented which caused him to laugh, causing all types of delightful friction, rebuilding their passion.

"Of course." he said before he took her lips in a long drugging kiss.





Split in Time Ch. 05



Breathing slowly she tried to coax her beast forward, her mind came to that dark place where the beast slumbered, it was waiting for her, its head tilted to the side as if saying what are you doing?

Look I'm new to shifting, give me a break. She told her Cat.

The cat chuffed at her and started to rub her body against her human. The large cat butted her human side forward back towards the surface of their mind but at the same time the cat overtook her getting there first to force their body to shift. Once that was done she stepped back letting her human side be forward in their mind but still being there to keep her in animal form.

When she opened her eyes her body had shifted, it complained a little as she shook her body, righting her fur. She dug her paws in and started to move forward slowly as the sled was nothing but dead weight, slowly she and the sledge built up speed and they moved smoothly across the snow. When the snow started to come down again with a vengeance she was glad that she had started moving already. She managed to find Ghan's scent, as promised he had shifted and marked trees to help her find her way in the storm.

When her nose started to pick up cooking smells she didn't need to look for scent markers. She spotted Ghan before he spotted her; he was pacing and checking his watch. He had given her a time and the moment she exceeded it he would be off. Gabby was seated near him as her eyes could see the small differences in snow and in snow storms that Ghan's eyes wouldn't be able to.

"There she is." Gabby said as she pointed.

Ghan turned and his eyes searched the blowing white but couldn't spot his mate. He kept looking but it wasn't until she was almost on him that he spotted her and he only spotted her because he saw the sled she was dragging.

What happened? He demanded to know.

Terror raid on a small caravan. I scavenged everything I could but there were bigger things that could be useful. These two were alive. I couldn't leave them to the elements, we are better than those humans. She explained.

Others came and quickly freed her of her load; they carefully carried the women in. Keira sighed when Ghan undid the ropes connecting her to the sled. She suddenly found it hard to stay in her cat form, her body shifted almost instantly. Ghan was there, wrapping her up in several blankets before he scooped her into his arms and carried her in. She was exhausted and looking forward to sleep... a long sleep.





Split in Time Ch. 05



Keira nodded and tilted her head aside, giving Crystal an unhampered view of her neck. Crystal leant forward and took three deep breaths, one after the other memorising Keira's unique scent and ingraining it her mind as Keira's.

"So where is this caravan?" Crystal asked

"Don't exactly remember how far but I moved due west from where I was released until I got to some crags then I climbed it and headed north, that's where I found the caravan, I then came back north east where I found Ghan's scent."

Crystal nodded, "We should be able to track that. We're going now while the storm is light, it'll cover our tracks."

"I'm going to help," he told Keira, "while we're gone everyone will be looking to you for leadership, if you need help talk to Maddie, she's a Beta and knows how the cave runs." He told her before he leant down and kissed her temple. "Rest as much as you can it will help."

Crystal grinned as they started to leave, "don't burn the cave down." She said before she cracked up laughing at some private joke, Ghan went red and hurried from the room, "tell you about it when we get back." She promised before she chuckled and followed a grumbling Ghan.

Keira glanced out the open door but the guard that had been on the door previously was gone. She groaned and threw back the covers, the least they could have done was close the door so that she could go back to sleep in peace. Gabby met her daughter at the door having decided to bring breakfast.

"What's for breakfast?" Keira asked as she closed the door, all thoughts of sleep gone. Gabby chuckled as she walked over to the bed with the tray of food.

"Get back in bed, keeping warm will keep your bones from aching." Gabby scolded as Keira bounced a little. Keira crawled back into bed and pulled the covers up. Her mother put the tray down across Keira's lap. "Now to answer your question, more stew, protein will get you back on your feet quickly." Gabby removed the cover which hid the food then perched on the bed to watch her daughter eat.

Keira savoured her meal, eating slowly, she chased some of the food down with tea and turned to her mother. "Ghan said the pack will look to me for leadership while he is gone."

Gabby nodded, "you are his mate, and it's what is expected of you."

"My job?" She asked her mother.

Gabby nodded, "yes, your job, you are his equal..."

"He chained me up! In what universe does that make me his equal?" Keira asked, "how can the pack trust me if he couldn't?" She added.

Gabby sighed and sat beside her daughter, wrapping an arm around her. "Do you remember what we taught you, the stories and legends, more so about those who are immortal?"

"What does that have to do with this?" Keira asked.

"Answer the question," Gabby said firmly, not to be swayed until she had her answer.

Keira thought for long moments, dredging up her teachings, "Immortals are both admired for their immortality and pitied for the same reason." Keira said out loud as that was the first thing to pop into her mind.

"Do you remember why they are pitied?" Gabby prompted.

"Admired because they live forever, pitied for the same reason, they watch those they love come and go, over and over again, each time it hurts them deeply, a wound which never completely heals." Keira answered using the same words her father had used.

"And Ghan is immortal, a very old one, I doubt that there is a Were immortal out there older than him." Gabby said firmly, "So, think about what you have just said and wonder, how many times he has loved and lost you, how many wounds have the previous incarnations of your soul left of his soul?"

Gabby got up and went to leave, picking up the forgotten meal knowing Keira wouldn't be able to finish it, "think about that when you think about him chaining you up. He has lost you so many times before, that having you then you running on him was bound to make an emotionally delicate man lose himself in fear that he would lose you again. To his mind what he did was reasonable."

Gabby turned and got to the door before she paused. "You are his equal Keira, more equal than you know."

"Ma, what moon cycle is it?" Keira asked suddenly almost at random.

"Waning moon of the tenth..." Gabby's eyes went wide as she realised what Keira mind had been thinking of. She turned to her daughter, "Oh shit!"

Keira nodded the small amount of her parents blood in her body which had made her adoption so much easier had also a few years ago changed her bleeding cycle, her heat was approaching.



Split in Time Ch. 06



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,

I hope you enjoy this chapter and I know I am going to get emails about the ending but it was just too good an opportunity to miss. I promise I will try to get chapter 7 out as soon as possible.

As normal thanks goes out to my editor and you the reader. All feedback is welcome.

Have fun





Split in Time Ch. 06



"Now to introduce you to the pleasures of my knot." He whispered into her ear moments before he started to shift, stay human. He added as he finished shifting into his hybrid form, she tensed a little as she felt him get larger within her, he had already been big, now he was bigger and she knew his knot would be bigger still. Lifting her hips, he positioned her until he had the perfect height and angle, looping an arm under her hips to keep her there. Wrapping his jaws around her left shoulder, he didn't want to aggravate his other bite mark before it had a chance to heal a little. When he was happy with the way she was beneath him started to thrust demandingly into her body opening her further for his cock.

She grunted and squirmed beneath him and his demanding thrusts, her fingers fisted in the fur on his biceps as she couldn't hold on to his arms they were so wide. She shook her head as she felt his knot start to stretch her further than she thought possible. Growling a warning at her he tightened his grip on her hips, she was not going to escape this. He stopped thrusting and just held himself tightly to her.

"Ghan..." She pleaded wanting the pressure to ease; he was just too big for her. Easing off a little, it gave her a false sense of relief as he moved his hands to her thighs, pressing her legs open as far as she could go. He started to thrust again, this time with her stretched so wide it only took two extra hard thrusts to seat his knot.

Keira cried out in pain and relief as the massive piece of flesh was finally accepted by her body. The sudden stretching of her opening had been painful but it had been fleeting and now the sensation of him being inside her completely was anything but painful. He rumbled pleased and started to jerk his hips as he released her legs to trap her hips again and hold her tightly for his possession. She gasped as his groin mashed against her clit and caused her to cum hard. As she climaxed beneath him he bit down and came a moment later. Holding her tightly he felt his release surge into her body, he continued moved gently, prolonging bliss for both of them. Only when their bodies started to calm down did he release his bite and panted gently against her neck.

He rolled over onto his back and sat her up; she rested her hands on his chest as she panted still feeling the tingle and quivers from her climax. Surprised that he was still hard and lodged within her even as he shifted back into his human form, he slid a hand up her body across her ribs which were now only just visible, his thumb brushed her nipple before he cupped her breast gently squeezed it causing her to groan and grind herself against his still hard member. He growled gently and cupped her other breast, he started to play her body in just the right way to slowly build their pleasure again.

I am going to keep fucking you until you pass out. He warned her moments before he grabbed her hips and started to guide her movements more forcibly.

She groaned as she moved her body to better accommodate her motions... yep... a long couple of weeks, she thought to herself. She was going to love every minute of it and if she wanted to get away from him, well he was chained to the wall not her.





Split in Time Ch. 06



"That didn't answer my question."

Amy tilted her head and smiled at Crystal, but before she could say anything further Ghan started to approach. Amy turned her attention to Ghan, and then looked beyond in surprise as a grown up Keira followed him. She was pleased that Keira had managed to survive the turmoil and find Ghan, but she was a little peeved with herself that she had forgotten Keira, which meant she had also forgotten Maddie. Focussing back on Keira, her eyes scanned for differences, Keira was a lot thinner and more guarded but what had her attention was the heavy length of chain in her hands which was connected to a collar around Ghan's neck. Amy wondered for a moment what Ghan had done to warrant the need for a chain.

"Ghan what did you do to warrant being chained up?" She asked with a little bit of amusement as Ghan and Keira came to a stop beside Crystal. Keira growled at the familiar tone Amy used but it was Ghan who stepped before her, mentally telling her that he knew nothing of the woman before him. He crossed his arms and held his body rigid, trying to keep from trembling. Crystal felt terror when she looked at Amy, Ghan felt helplessness. Amy could easily strip him of everything that he was and had, but what he couldn't decide was whether that was a good or bad thing, he felt beholden to her as if she was his Alpha but no one had held that sway since his father's death.

"Sorry." Amy closed her eyes and focused, dragging her influence back within her body and locking it up tight. She opened her eyes and watched as Ghan visibly relaxed. "Better?" She asked.

He nodded, "Thankyou... that was disconcerting." He said. "How do you know me?" he asked.

"That's complicated." Amy answered. "How about we sit and I'll try to explain." She suggested.

Ghan nodded and started to lead the way.

"So what did you do Ghan?" Amy asked as she started to follow the others bringing up the rear.

"This is retribution for my own actions towards Keira." He answered truthfully.

Keira took a deep breath as Amy turned to her. "See... I ran away..." She answered a little bashfully.

Amy snorted to keep from laughing and Keira blushed. "Didn't your mother teach you not to run from a Were... oops... forget I said that..." She corrected herself. Of course her human parents would have taught her to run from Were, in this world that was the safe thing to do.

"Actually they did..." Keira admitted and Ghan chuckled, "I just had other obligations which made me run."

"She didn't give me a chance to help her." He corrected with a playful glare.

"I had a reason." She argued.

He nodded, agreeing with her, before glancing back, "What did you mean by 'forget I said that.'" He asked.

"Well... where I come from the war you've all lived through... never actually happened. Where I am from Were and humans are friends." Amy answered.

"And that is how you know Keira..." Ghan surmised as they walked into the mess.

"And you... and Maddie," Amy added as her eyes focused on the young woman who she only knew as a young teenager, having seen pictures of Madeline taken before her abduction she could see that her daughter mirrored her both her features and colours.   

"How did you get here if I may ask?" Ghan said, being as old as he was nothing bothered him, he recognised one of the people in her group, the famed blacksmith who lived at the lake back when he was much, much, much younger.

"Complicated... I'll try though." Amy answered honestly although explaining everything was one of the last things she wanted to do, she only wanted to repeat her story so many times but she knew he would need an answer. "How did Maddie join you?" She asked pleased that Maddie was safe and sound. Maddie's head snapped up upon hearing her name, then focused her complete attention back on getting the woman with the heavy cast on her leg to a chair, another woman was already at the table and just as heavily bandaged.

Ghan walked them over to Maddie. "As I was just forming the pack, back when the madness began, I came across a woman who had obviously only just escaped from a really bad situation, she was clutching Maddie. I brought them back to my den only to get the woman's name and to watch her die." He said regretfully. "So I named her after her mother and she's been with me ever since." He finished with a bit of a smile, he didn't see Amy's frown as she realised that Maddie's story here mirrored her story back in Amy's world. "However, I feel that I will lose her soon as she is looking for a teacher to further her healing ability. She's powerful and Blast has taught her all he can."

Amy nodded and reached into her pocket to her globe making a note to remind her when she got back to her world. "Nathanael in Wolfgang's pack is a powerful healer. I'm going there next; however you can ask Wolfgang yourself as I am inviting both of you to a gathering." She explained.

"What's a gathering?" Keira asked as she was unfamiliar with the term. Ghan gave her a shrug when she cast a curious look to him.

"A gathering, in my world, is when all the Alphas get together to talk and create peace and good will. This gathering will be mainly around ending this madness." Amy explained.

Ghan nodded, "it's about time something was done to stop this." He said pleased.

A woman with the cast on her leg hissed as Maddie carefully propped it up. "Sorry," Maddie said as she carefully slid a pad under it to support her injured leg.

"Blast should just cut it off." The woman said pain clearly etched on her face.

"It might still heal." Maddie replied wanting to believe it would heal even though she knew deep down the woman would be crippled for the rest of her life. The bones in her lower leg had been crushed and needed to be pinned together to heal right, and as neither Blast nor herself had that kind of skill they were stuck.

"Bull shit." the woman snapped her brown eyes flashing in anger, "A truck ran over my leg, it's crushed, if I was with humans they would have chopped it off." Her hair was dark almost black and kept short as long hair was too much of a hassle, her face was heart shaped but was strained as she was in pain.

"They could have repaired it." Maddie argued.

"Right," the woman said sarcastically, "and waste resources on a no body." She said hatefully, "No offence Keira, glad you saved me but I don't want to be a burden."

"You will never be a burden Piper," Ghan said firmly, "There are other things that you can do which don't require two good legs."

"Such as?" Piper questioned crossing her arms. She wasn't unhappy with her life, the pack had done everything in their power to help her and Helen and made it plain they could stay or go once spring came. They knew they couldn't leave, with the scent of Were stuck to their skin they would be killed and to be honest being here didn't bother them, not now that they knew it was humans who were attacking humans and making it look like Were. Not that they could speak out about it even though they wished they could.

"You can read... which means you can teach the young ones, you can write which means you can keep inventory, you have two good hands..." Ghan said starting to list her attributes.

"But I will always have to be remembered if something forces us to move quickly..." Piper argued.

"And you will have to be remembered even if you get a fake leg." Amy said intervening. "As a human you can't run as fast as a Were, aren't as strong, but you are important." She turned to Ghan. "Mind telling us what happened?" she asked not realising she had used her subtle unamused voice she employed when getting answers out of people without ordering but still implying it to be an order.

Ghan blinked for a moment but deep down he knew he had to answer. "We were forced from our previous den, when we stopped to rest Keira experienced her first shift..."

"How long ago was this?" Amy asked a little confused.

"Two weeks ago." He answered.

"And you've been mated for?" She asked.

"A little over a week, I only just got permission to mate Keira because she had come into her heat." He explained a little grumpy that Keira's heat had only last a week.

"Pardon..." Amy said wondering why when technically he could have mated Keira months ago. "I don't understand; you could have mated Keira months ago."

Ghan stood very still as his mind raced over that information, he could have had Keira the moment she stumbled into his life! He quickly dismissed that notion, he liked the fact that he had been forced to get to know her and respect her before he bound them together.

Keira was just as shocked but like Ghan she was pleased that they had been forced to delay their mating, that they had gotten a chance to get to know each other. "There was confusion about my age." Keira started to explain. "See when I was very little my biological mother was killed during a terror raid, I was almost killed, I still carry the scars. I was found by my adopted parents, two Were who raised me as their own. But they didn't know how old I was, they guessed I might have been a little under three." She shrugged.

"So what do you shift into?" Amy asked curious.

Keira glanced to Ghan; it was one thing for the pack to know she was some weird mix of two but for this virtual stranger. Ghan nodded for her to tell Amy. "My mother is a Snow leopard, my father a white tiger..." she paused when she saw surprise flick across Amy's face but she continued. "I am a blending of both; I am the size of a white tiger..."

"Immortal white tiger..." Ghan corrected.

Keira sighed, "Fine, immortal white tiger, but I have the body type of a snow leopard and the markings of both."

"Immortal." Amy said surprised and suddenly remembered what Thais had said, that fate had wanted her Were this way, turned by a snow leopard and a white tiger, the same way she had become Were here. Another thing quickly pushed its way forward, his insistence that they use Serenity's blood. Immortals generally didn't get blood transfusions, for starters they didn't really need it, blood loss couldn't kill them and secondly their blood had an adverse reaction to anything that wasn't its own blood or wasn't also immortal. It meant that in Amy's world, Keira hadn't needed the blood to survive her wounds but since Nathanael didn't know that and wanted to transfuse her, Serenity's immortal blood was the perfect match for Keira's.

Thais was right, he had known, he had always known but had also known he couldn't tell her, because knowing something and understanding something are two different things. So now she understood why Thais hadn't tried to stop Keira being scratched as this was how she was meant to be Were. Why he hadn't told them about the attack because that too was meant to happen, he saw things and sadly most of the time he could only watch them unfold and do nothing to stop it. It was still something she hadn't learnt yet, that sadly some things were just meant to happen. Which meant this Wolfgang was meant to meet her, love her and lose her for whatever reason that was.

Amy reached into a pocket and pulled her globe out, she held it between her fingers, it glowed for a moment as she put a large note in it, most of it about Keira and some about her son. She would have to apologise to him when she got home before she jammed it back into her pocket when she was done.

"What was that?" Crystal asked.

"A piece of Atlantian technology that Ancients find useful." Vivian answered.

Amy ignored Crystal and Vivian and approached Piper and knelt. "May I?" She asked and indicated at the splint. Piper nodded. "So I'm guessing Keira had to hunt and stumbled across you guys." she said and got a confirming nod from Keira.

"Are you a healer?" Maddie asked suddenly excited.

"No... not quite, not one who can train you at least." Amy answered as she gently undid the ties which were holding the leg straight. She rested one hand on Piper's ankle the other on her knee and closed her eyes focusing for a few moments. "Piper... this will hurt but it will help." She warned then turned to Maddie, "She's going to want to bite down on something and she is going to have to be restrained."

Maddie nodded and raced to get a wooden spoon for Piper to bite down on.

"So you can fix it?" Keira asked.

"We'll see," Amy answered.

Rhun went to open his mouth but suddenly felt an elbow in his side.

Shut up and watch... then you'll finally understand what the rest of us have been seeing. Taylor told him and got a confirming nod from Vivian. Taylor was slowly losing the blind fear she felt towards Crystal and made a mental note to ask what Crystal was if it didn't come up soon.

Piper was offered hands to hold as Maddie put the spoon handle between her teeth then hugged the woman from behind. Vivian took Piper's ankle and Ghan pressed down on her thigh, Blast looked on from the sidelines as he nibbled on a thumbnail.

Amy closed her eyes and placed her will on the shattered bones, willing them back to where they were meant to be. For long moments nothing happened then slowly the bones started to move. Piper cried out in pain and tried to kick Amy away. Maddie was suddenly in her mind and blocking the pain now that she knew where it was coming from, Piper went limp, she could feel the bones moving but nothing else.

Ten minutes later when all of the bones had moved back into their original positions, Amy changed her focus, willing the bones to fuse, grow and strengthen. Ten minutes later the bones were strong and whole, Amy opened her eyes and smiled pleased with herself. "Okay release her," she turned and grabbed Piper's ankle. "Push against me." Amy prompted and although hesitant at first Piper pushed against Amy.

Amy smiled, "All fixed." She said and stood.

"You said it will help not that it would be healed." Piper said as she stood.

Amy shrugged, "Hedging my bets." She told her. "Either way I couldn't have made it any worse so everything's a bonus." She finished with a smile.

Piper rolled her eyes and tested her leg by putting all her weight on it.

Rhun glared at Amy for a moment then turned to Vivian, "I'm agreeing with Boadicea... that's not fair."

Vivian chuckled.

Amy grinned and turned to Ghan, "Old argument." She explained and he nodded. "Okay so the gathering... are you coming?"

"When and where, I'll be there," he agreed.

Amy smiled, "Four days, in England, you'll be picked up by an Ancient who will transport you there. Pack for a week, bring Keira and I'll get your mating acknowledged."

"And you think you can get all the Alphas to get along for a week?" He shook his head as he wondered how she was going to do that. "I'll bring Keira." He told her, "But I'm bringing Crystal too, to keep Keira safe."

Amy nodded accepting that.

"So... why are you complicated?" Crystal asked.

"It's a long story I would prefer to repeat as little as possible, you'll find out at the gathering, when you hear my story I would love to hear yours." Amy told her.

Crystal frowned for a moment, "Pardon?"

"I think your story would be as interesting as mine..." Amy elaborated a little. "I've never seen a vampire awake during the day and with a heartbeat."

Crystal was gob smacked for a moment but slowly she started to smile, "You have good senses, most people just think I'm dangerous and can't tell what I am."

Amy smiled and stepped forward her focus shifting to Ghan, "Keira to my mind is my niece, if I ever hear of you chaining her up against her will I will come and kick your arse back to the ice age it came from."

"Like I would ever let him chain me up again." Keira stated.

Amy chuckled, "really, it can be exciting if done right," and with that her and her group vanished.

Ghan snorted, "Ancients." He said before he tugged Keira into his arms for a kiss, the thought that Amy had placed in his head of tying Keira down for sex was appealing to his base instincts and desires.

"Get a room!" Crystal complained playfully.





Split in Time Ch. 06



Becky sent along the request to her Alpha. A few moments later she nodded and turned and started to trot off. Everyone followed her; it took them nearly an hour as Becky deliberately took them the long way around to the den as per her orders. Taylor was silently complaining about the cold when they suddenly were before the entrance to the den.

Amy studied it quickly as they walked in, wondering for a moment if it was an old mine or a cave which had been widened. Becky paused before Bastion, she chuffed for a moment then turned and she and her team left to continue their patrols and if possible a hunt.

Amy knew she was staring but she couldn't help herself, Bastion was still himself, except he had no grey hair present as if he hadn't had to put up with Wolfgang and Gillian's mischief it made him look much younger, like he was in his late twenties early thirties. However that didn't have her staring, what had her staring was the fact that Bastion wasn't in his normal three piece suit, he was dressed in jeans and with a simple dark grey sweater! She just couldn't get over this, she had never seen him out of a suit, this was blowing her mind.

Bastion gave her a dry look, "Follow me." he said with a bored tone. He turned and walked them down a long tunnel, the sound tools and rock and industry came from almost everywhere as people worked on making new rooms and enlarging existing natural antechambers. Bastion suddenly took a left and walked them into a large communal hall which was brightly lit.

Wolfgang spotted Bastion and walked forward to greet his guests. He gestured to someone as he came to a stop before Amy. His eyes feasted on the tiny woman, his beast rushed out of the darkness in his mind and was instantly on edge as he saw the woman through his human's eyes. His beast was urging him to get closer to the woman, as if he knew something his human didn't.

"I am Wolfgang, welcome to my territory."

"Amy Wild-heart." Amy replied.

He smiled as a woman came to stand beside him, "Amy Wild-heart this is Garnet, my..."



Split in Time Ch. 07



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 just want to say sorry about the previous chapter, which had everyone calling foul. In my defence when I write I'm not looking for ways to cause my readers to pull their hair out and grind their teeth, it was just the perfect place to stop, a page turner so to speak.

But here we go... the long awaited chapter... I hope it answers some questions, more than likely it will cause more. So feel free to comment and email me, I do try to get back to people if they leave and email address.

Thanks always goes to my editor.

Have fun





Split in Time Ch. 07



Kathryn nodded pleased that this other Wolfgang had lived a good life. Amy turned all her attention to the Wolfgang before her, who stood with his hands on his hips, his eyes on the ground.

"I am here to invite you to a gathering, all the Alphas together to work on a solution to this problem. To end the madness." Amy told him.

"When?" He asked.

"Four days," She answered.

Garnet frowned, "But surely..."

"She's been here a while." Wolfgang said his voice almost dead of emotion but his body shook gently. How long had she been here? He thought to himself. How long had she known he was here and not come to him?

Amy nodded, "Almost a month."

"And what... you decided to come here last?" He grumbled.

Amy took a deep breath, "I was trying to figure out a way to deal with this, with you, without hurting you in the process." She explained.

"Deal with what?" He growled.

"Wolfgang... I can't let anything happen between us..." She told him. "I don't exist in this universe, I never will, to let you know the bond of mates only to take it away will destroy you, trust me I know." She told him.

"You don't know if that is true." He told her. "You don't know if you will never exist here."

She gave him a sad smile, "Yes I do, I am the descendant of a person who sadly can't exist in this world. This is the negative side of a decision made by a god. You see... in my world... Luna has a son." She told him and watched the shock pass over Wolfgang, Kathryn and Garnet's faces.

"A son?" Garnet asked; the mere thought of their beloved goddess having a son was something no one had ever thought possible.

Amy nodded, "A son who has known two lives, one of them immortal. The first life he lived was as a human..."

"What does this have to do with you not existing here?" Wolfgang grumbled.

"Everything." Alanna said, "Let her tell the story."

Amy smiled at her daughter. "His human name was Wild-heart." She said continuing her story.

"That explains your last name." Garnet said surprised.

Amy nodded, "He fell in love with Vivian, but there was a war to fight and he had his duty, he fought and died the day after my mother was conceived. A woman who became known as the goddess of war. After Wild-heart's death his mother wanted him protected so she took his soul and put it in the body of a wolf cub and he was raised as a wolf."

"You are the descendant of this Wild-heart... you are a descendant of Luna." Kathryn surmised.

Amy nodded, "And this universe is the negative side of Luna's choice, here she chose not to create her son. Everything that has happened in this world has happened purely because Lupa doesn't exist here and can never exist here."

"I don't believe you." He stated firmly in denial as he started pacing again.

"Wolfgang... what am I?" Amy asked choosing a different tactic to make him understand.

"My mate." He said firmly.

"Yes but Wolfgang... what am I?" She asked him again. "What race?" She clarified.

He paused in his pacing, his brow furrowed in deep thought. "Were..." he identified.

"What else?" She asked.

"I don't know..." He told her starting to get frustrated.

"Think... what else." She demanded.

"Ancient... I think... and something else." He said still confused.

"I'm actually part Ancient part something else, the Were hint to my scent happened purely by accident, I forced my power into the form of a beast. I can turn someone but I am not Were." She explained, "I'm technically not Ancient either, I can do too much to be considered that. I am something else... no one knows what."

"What does knowing your race have to do with all this?" He asked his beast was foaming at the mouth; it wanted to go to its mate and claim her, to sink its length within her.

"Everything, I am here on Fate's orders, she brought me here for some reason, I believe to fix this world. When I have done whatever she wants of me I will leave, if I let you mate me, I will hurt you. I can't do that." She told him honestly hoping he would believe her.

"Do you and this other me... have children?" he asked a little randomly but he remembered the hearts on the waist-let and wanted to know if the hearts represented children.

Amy nodded, "That is another reason why I am here, I'm here to invite you to the gathering but I am also here to introduce you to your daughters."

He looked at Amy as if she were mad, how could they have daughters if they have never met before.

"We adopted three traditionally by blood, my blood, my soul touched their souls, it reverberated throughout all the universes, they will always feel compelled to come to us. It's the only consolation my being here can give you, three daughters, two of which are here." She explained.

He glanced to those Amy had brought with her wondering which of the women before him were his. Amy stood and walked to her daughters, "This is Electra, and Alanna," she said resting a hand on each shoulder.

Both women stood as Wolfgang approached, Electra fiddled with the visor which protected her eyes and Alanna tugged on her clothes. He paused before them, his eyes scanned over the obviously nervous women. He reached out and tilted Electra's head up by her chin; he gently stroked the visor, "Is something wrong with your eyes?" He asked gently.

Electra shook her head, "No, my eyes work fine but they are badly light sensitive, until Amy came into my life I lived in a lightless cell." She explained.

"Will they ever be able to handle light?" He asked.

She shook her head, "Sadly no, my eyes were forced to change during my formative years, as an immortal my eyes can't change back. But this visor lets me see in any lighting condition without light blindness even when I shift."

He nodded and turned his attention to Alanna, her eyes met his, he reached out with his other hand and stroked her face before pulling both into his arms for a big hug. "Do I want to know your stories?" He asked them both and they both shrugged.

"That's up to you." Alanna said as Wolfgang released them.

Kathryn joined them, "Come, perhaps we should let your parents talk in private." She coaxed and everyone nodded as they followed her out. She was actually interested in getting to know her granddaughters but she also knew that Amy and Wolfgang had some things to hash out and that it would get done better without everyone else watching.

Wolfgang and Amy waited until the door clicked closed before they started talking.

"Amy..." He said reaching out for her.

She dodged his hands and stepped away. He felt pain lance through him as if someone had taken dagger to his heart. If he thought he was in pain it was nothing compared to what she was feeling. Her body just wanted to run into his arms and hold him forever but she knew she couldn't, the pain she felt every moment of every day since coming here would be his for the rest of time if she let him mate her.

"No Wolfgang we can't..." She told him firmly.

"Why?"

She hugged her arms around her body and started to pace. "You don't know..."

"Then make me, why won't you let me know love?" He demanded his eyes watching her as she paced. He began to see cracks in her emotions, even when they were shouting and glaring at each other she was in complete control of her emotions. Now he could see the signs of the great internal struggle she was going through. She wanted him as much as he did but she had a reason to resist the draw.

"Because... knowing love, knowing the bond of mates and having it snatched away from you forever will destroy you. I will not force that fate upon you or your pack." She told him honestly but refusing to meet his eyes.

"That's not fair, you are assuming that knowing love will destroy me, it might but it might just make me a better man, a better Alpha and a more understanding one. You are denying me because of what might happen..." He argued.

"Might?" She questioned as she stopped pacing and turned to him. "Do you know how I spend the first ten minutes of every day in your world since I got here?" She asked not expecting an answer, "I spend that time curled up in a ball, crying and trying to pull myself together." Tears started to well up in her eyes, she quickly dashed them away. "I can't force that on you... I love you too much to let that happen."

Before she could react, pull away or dodge him, he had her wrapped up in his arms, his head resting against the top of hers. She took a deep breath, pressed her face to his chest and cried. All the pain she had felt from the separation from her mate, she let it out, she couldn't have held it back even if she tried, not with his scent in her nose and his arms around her.

He just held her, breathing in her weird scent which had his beast calm; every now and again he would tighten his arms for a few moments before relaxing them and brush his lips against her hair. He didn't know if what he was doing was helping but it felt right to have her in his arms.

After ten minutes she no longer had any more tears to shed. She rested her check against his chest and listened to his heart, it was the most soothing sound she had ever heard. She closed her eyes and listened for long moments; he gently cupped her check and stroked her skin with his thumb.

She opened her eyes as her mind slid back to reality, she went to push out of his arms, but the arm that held her tightly to his body tightened further. "Amy..." he said gently. "Fate works in odd ways, you think she brought you here to fix this world... what if she brought you here for me and that fixing this world is just a side effect of you being here for me. So that I could know love... so that I could have a family... our family..."

"We don't..." She began to say.

"No... we don't do we... we don't know why you are here, you just assume it's to fix this world. You could be here for me." He tilted her head up so that their eyes could meet. "Don't shut me out; do not deny me my one chance of being complete because you fear I will not be able to cope with the pain when you leave."

"I barely cope." She told him.

"But you cope, and something may change between now and when you leave, you might figure out a way to help me cope even when you are gone." He said confidently although he would say almost anything to get her to understand that he didn't care about the possibility of pain later on, he was in pain now, having her close but not being able to have her was just as painful.

He caught her chin to hold her still; he leant down slowly and took her lips with his. His kiss started out gentle, exploring but it changed when she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled her closer to his body. She needed him and couldn't fight herself anymore, what will be will be, and she couldn't continue to fight him. He moaned and pulled her up his body, making his kiss easier; she wrapped her legs around his hips pulling her close. He slid a hand under her sweater and a moment later she broke the kiss and tugged his hand from her clothes.

"Not now..." she told him still slightly panting from the kiss.

"Why not?" he demanded now sounded perfect to him.

She chuckled and rested her forehead against his shoulder for a moment. "I am not going to deny you," she turned and pressed her lips to his throat, he groaned and his knees went weak. "But now is not a good time, we don't have the week you will need to sate your lust, trust me I know." She said gently into his ear. "I am needed back at the temple," she told him before she carefully slid from his arms.

"After the gathering," she promised.

"You just hope that getting the Alphas to agree to a plan of action will send you home." he accused.

She shook her head, "I know it won't be that easy to fix this world."

"How?"

"Because it wasn't that easy to fix my world."

He reached out and caught her jaw, "you aren't going to fight this?"

"I'll try not to... but realise something, and I want you to think about this seriously," she told him holding the hand which cupped her jaw. "This... letting this happen between us... it will hurt us both. When I go back I will know I have left you alone with your pain and it will pain me and it will pain the other you through our bond."

He watched her for a moment, "How deep is our bond?" he asked.

"Deep enough that you can sense my dreams."

He watched her with surprise, sensing dreams was mostly unheard of, as it was only possible in the deepest of bonds.

"Deep enough that I am always aware of your emotions and thoughts even at great distances. I won't be able to protect him from this pain." She finished.

"You aren't afraid that he will be angry with you?" he questioned.

She arched an eyebrow, "Why? It's not like I'm mating a different man, just another version of the same man." She had thought about Taylor's words and Vivian's a lot leading up to this but Rhun's words were the ones which had carried the most weight, this was Wolfgang, he would always be hers.

He smiled and nodded he reached down with his spare hand and caught the exposed waist-let as her sweater had ridden up during their kiss, he stroked the little hearts, "What do these mean?" He asked again, he wanted his suspicions confirmed, that the hearts indicated children.

"One heart for each child," she explained. "Electra, Alanna, Sage, Temperance, Serenity and Thais."

He released the waist-let and sat pulling her into his lap. "Six... three of your body?" he questioned and she nodded.

"Triplets, Temperance and Serenity identical twin girls and Thais a boy." She told him.

"I have a son... with a centaur name." He stated not sure how he felt about that.

She nodded, "It was the name that best fitted him. You let me name the cubs, you were just happy they were healthy and yours. Temperance was loud, outspoken even as a baby, as a toddler she's worse. Serenity is as her name says, calm, always calm, nothing fazes that little girl. Thais... there are no words to describe him."

"Do you miss them?"

She nodded, she missed them so much, "They are only five... but they aren't like normal five year olds."

"Five!" He said surprised and in a little anger. "Fate took you away from young cubs?"

"It's not like that, I'll be returned to the moment I left, they won't miss me although Thais probably will know what happened before I finish materialising." She explained kind of wishing she hadn't told him about the cubs.

"How?" He asked.

She smiled at him, "Because Thais sees... everything."

He frowned at her, "I don't understand."

"Neither do I..." she told him honestly.





Split in Time Ch. 07



Wolfgang slowly glanced around, looking for any more objections to what had happened. No one's eyes met his as he slowly turned his body in a full circle. Slowly the pack went back about their business, most had agreed with what Amy had done, Jessa had been a big note of discord in the pack, by removing her the pack would run more smoothly.

"You weren't lying." Garnet said to the girls.

Wolfgang walked over to Amy and directed her to their family. Bastion quickly put down some more drinks as Amy and Wolfgang sat. Becky plopped into a chair next to Garnet and nudged her, Garnet nudged her back and it became a nudge war between the two women.

"Girls enough!" Kathryn told them.

"Sorry ma." They chorused together.

Amy coughed and spluttered as she had almost inhaled her drink. It took her a couple of moments before she could talk, "Excuse me... Becky did you just call Kathryn ma?"

Becky nodded giving Amy a bemused look, "Yeah, I chose to be adopted and Kathryn adopted me as her daughter, Laura's here too... somewhere? It's how we both became Were although Laura was adopted by a different family."

"See when hell hit the fan they were caught up in one of our evacuations," Garnet started to explain. "Since there were humans in our group no one took much notice and by the time we realised they weren't tied to the pack they had decided that they wanted to be pack. So first order of business was to protect the humans in our group, they were all turned by their mates and that's when we learnt we had two stray humans. They told us they would do anything to join the pack and they did."

Wolfgang turned to Amy, "what happened in your universe?"

"Becky was turned by force and Laura was killed in the same attack." Amy explained simply. "But you became a member of our family, even when you found your mate and left us."

Becky went still, "You know who my mate is?" She asked seriously.

Amy nodded, "a Scottish Alpha named Terri, come with Wolfgang and I'll introduce you."

Becky turned to her mother, "my mate's an Alpha?" She questioned.

"It explains your size and your leadership skills." Kathryn explained a little sad that she was losing her daughter, she had really become attached to Becky.

Everyone nodded agreeing with Kathryn.

"I was wanting to give Amy and the others a tour..." Wolfgang said to the table.

"So you figured everything out?" Garnet asked.

Amy and Wolfgang nodded as they stood. "I was actually going to leave Alanna and Electra with you until the gathering, let you get to know each other."

"Then all we need to know is where the training grounds are." Electra said as she stood.

"You fight?" Kathryn asked as she stood to join the others.

Alanna and Electra nodded, "Yep." Electra said.

"Well Sammy is teaching a group at the moment, may as well slide them in with the others." Garnet said as they took a different tunnel to the area where people worked at their crafts and on their bodies.

"Ah... no..." Amy said firmly. "The girls don't need the training Sammy will put them through." She said firmly as they took several different turns and came to a cavern which was larger than the common room. Sammy stood with a group of young men and women taking them through hunter training which was four ranks below enforcers.

"Hunter training," Alanna said with a little disgust.

"Boring." Electra agreed.

Taylor snorted and pressed her face to Rhun's arm to keep from laughing, the thought of Alanna and Electra being forced to sit in hunter training was laughable.

"Yeah... hunter training is um... well below what they've been learning." Amy said trying to be diplomatic as they approached Sammy and her group.

Sammy crossed her arms and glared a little at Amy. "Hunter training is important." She told Amy firmly, in fact hunter training was now compulsory for all members of this pack.

"I know... I'm not saying it isn't important all I am saying is that Alanna and Electra have been trained for Beta rank." Amy said which caused Sammy to seriously consider both women before her, as head enforcer she could commandeer Beta ranked people if she thought they would be better off protecting the pack, Wolfgang had given her the right and until now she hadn't had the need to use it. However she would since these two didn't have a group to look after.

"Leave them be Sammy, they are my daughters." Wolfgang said firmly knowing where her thoughts were leading her.

Sammy gave him a startled look but bowed her head.

"We haven't been assessed yet." Alanna added.

Garnet put her hand up, "I'll do it." She felt like a real good fight right about now and assessing rank was always a great fight.

"No... I'll do it after the gathering." Amy said; her daughters were trained even above Beta rank in her world so she knew what her daughters were capable of.

"You'll fight your own daughters?" Kathryn said surprised.

Amy nodded, "they are immortal, it's not like I'll kill them."

Wolfgang jerked to Amy, "they are both immortal?" He asked surprised as that was meant to be unheard of, in fact just Electra being immortal had stunned him as it broke the pattern of one immortal every four hundred years.

Amy nodded, "yeah so are their mates and Sage is also immortal."

"So you won't be losing us any time soon." Alanna told him with a nudge. "Although you will lose Electra kind of, her mate is an Alpha..."

Wolfgang was still trying to wrap his mind around the fact he had daughters, now he had to factor in the fact that his daughters had mates. "What about your mate?" He asked.

"He is content to be wherever I am but he does want to take me back to his people every now and again to visit." She explained. "But I'll always come back." She promised.

He turned to Electra, "do I know who you are mating?" He asked.

Electra shrugged, "you've probably heard of her but no you haven't met her."

He gave her a look that clearly meant and her name?

Electra chuckled, "Mayhem Collins."

Everyone who didn't already know this stared at Electra. "Mayhem? She's been found?" Sammy asked.

Electra nodded, "Yep, ma broke her and a bunch of others out of a detention facility the day she got here. The day she went and freed Alanna and me."

"Are we going to fight or are we going to talk?" Alanna asked annoyed as they had come here to fight.

"Fight," Electra said firmly.

"Train..." Amy corrected, "you will be assessed after the gathering." She told them firmly.

They nodded and walked off tugging their winter clothes off and finally their boots. Vivian made two bags appear and offered them to Kathryn. "Some spare clothes," she explained as Kathryn took the bags.

"We must go now, we have a lot of work to do." Amy told Wolfgang.

Wolfgang reached for her and pulled her into his arms. He lowered his head and kissed her deeply, she moaned and surrendered herself to his kiss. His tongue slid between her lips and tasted the inside of her mouth, her tongue duelled with his for long moments. Breaking the kiss he nuzzled at her throat for a few moments before he forced himself to release her and step back. "Go now..." he told her, his body quivered but a moment later she and her group, except for her daughters, was gone.





Split in Time Ch. 07



"Really? Okay... answer me this, why do you want to be Were?" Amy said as she took another sponge to her arms.

"You know my past... do you know why I joined the military instead of going off to med school like my parents wanted?" Susan asked.

"You were a single child, always alone, wanting to be a part of something bigger, the military filled that void and when your time was up the pack did. It helped that your sexual preference was accepted and encouraged by the pack even when your parents rejected you." Amy said. "Although in my world you were taken under Nathanael's wing and started your healer training."

"A healer?" Susan said surprised.

Amy nodded, "It is your ability. Healing I mean, you are particularly good at drawing out foreign objects without causing more damage, it was why in my world the military didn't want you to go when your time was up, you were dead handy to them but your heart missed us so you came home."

"When I am Were I will have this ability, at the moment I am just a medic." Susan said.

"When?"

"Yes when, now to answer your question. I want to be Were because I feel more connected to this life than I do with my old life, being pack will answer everything that has been missing in my life and in your world my sexual preference would have been accepted, here I was tolerated because I was good at patching people up but disliked because of my sexual needs." She moved the sponge putting more gel into it before moving on to the sides of Amy's neck to get at the paint there.

"I will be useful to the pack, I know it will be an adjustment but being turned, it's what I want because deep down, I knew Were were the good guys and I want to make things right." Susan said as Amy finished doing her legs.

Amy quickly washed her face and rinsed the soap away. "Hop in." She ordered.

Susan frowned but stripped and hopped in before Amy. It was Amy's turn to scrub Susan's back.

"Being Were won't be easy Susan, not until this world rights itself." Amy told her after several long minutes of washing.

"Nothing worthwhile having is." Susan answered.

Amy smiled and stood, carefully getting out of the tub, she grabbed a towel and started to dry off. "Come on." She coaxed before she went back to her room. Susan quickly followed using another towel to dry off. Amy was spreading out some plastic sheeting and towels on her bed. "Sit." Susan went to wrap the towel more firmly around herself. "No take it off."

Susan dropped her towel and crawled onto the bed wondering what was going on.

"I will turn you tonight." Amy explained. "I will bite you half a dozen times. I bit you once before and it took you over a year to become fully Were so I am hoping that biting you so many times will turn you quickly. I can't scratch as my Were-ness doesn't work that way. I will also be in hybrid form when I bite you. You must not fear me, I will not harm you." She promised.

"What happens if I do fear you?" Susan asked.

"Your body will act as if it is a forced turn and you will go through the rages. I would rather that not happen, I like my room the way it is." Amy told her with a hint of humour.

Susan chuckled.

"Better." Amy said before she let her beast come forward. Susan watched Amy's change with fascination not fear, she honestly doubted that after everything Amy had done to free her that she would do something to seriously hurt her now. Susan watched everything from the way Amy seemed to get larger to the change of her bone structure until she looked more beast like, white fur erupted all over Amy's body. She watched as hands turned into dangerous paws but again they didn't instil fear. Amy's head was the last to change, becoming more cat like and as usual Amy's teeth were the last thing to grow in. Susan watched as Amy showed off her teeth in all their fierce glory but even knowing that soon those same teeth would be biting into her didn't frighten her.

Susan reached out, she was fascinated by the massive eye teeth that seemed so impractical, how did Amy hunt with those things, she thought to herself. Amy opened her mouth wide and Susan suddenly knew how Amy hunted, she could almost open her mouth to a full one eighty degrees which freed her teeth to do as nature intended and bite down. Her jaws didn't have a strong bite like a wolf or even that of other big cats, but with teeth like hers she didn't need it, her teeth, on their own, almost always ensured death through blood loss.

Susan gently touched one of the displayed eye teeth, near the gum the tooth was almost two inches thick and tapered in a long slight curve to a deadly sharp point. She slid her fingers across the slightly rough surface. Amy let Susan appease her curiosity knowing it was helping her calm down. "I was wondering for a moment how you use these things," Susan said as she removed her fingers. Amy closed her mouth and rumbled a laugh as she licked her nose.

Amy carefully crawled onto the bed and over Susan who lay back. Gently rubbing her face against Susan's body and purring gently to relax her. Susan wrapped her arms around the big head and scratched behind her ears. Amy licked her in reaction to the pleasurable scratching; she moved her tongue across Susan's chest to her left bicep. Before Susan could tense Amy's teeth were biting into the soft flesh, it burned for a moment but she quickly ignored it, relaxing knowing that Amy wouldn't hurt her and that she would survive this.

Amy's teeth pulled out and she licked the wounds closed to keep Susan from losing too much blood, Amy's eyes met Susan's but Susan still looked at her with trust. Amy licked across Susan's chest again, scraping against both nipples causing Susan to moan, Amy bit down again into Susan's right shoulder over the joint. Susan winced as one of those massive eye teeth struck bone but it was the trusting wince of someone who might be getting a wound seen to instead of a wound being inflicted. A third bite quickly followed to her right bicep then Amy gently licked at her bite wounds.

Three down, three to go, Amy thought to herself as she rubbed her face against Susan's chest, desire coursed through her, once she finished turning Susan they were going to play.



Split in Time Ch. 08



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.

Hey guys,

I know... two chapters... one month... shock... 

So as normal thanks goes out to my editor kitty hawk and to you guys the reader. Also as normal all feedback is welcome and if you want me to get back to you please leave an email address, I always feel odd at reading a piece of feedback which has a good question in it only to not be able to answer it.

Have fun

Chapter 8

Amy woke to the feeling of arms around her, it took her a moment to remember the night before and that it was Susan's arms which were wrapped around her. The utter helplessness she had been experiencing at the beginning of each day wasn't there; perhaps having someone there when you woke helped. She carefully slid out of Susan's arms and went to have a shower; she glared at her reflection in the wall length mirror for a moment, seeing flecks of Susan's blood on her skin, that wasn't what was bothering her, what was pissing her off was the fact she now had new permanent markings.Like the markings she received the first time she went to the Kings Men these were made up of symbols, a cross between a rune and a glyph, Cleopatra knew it was a language, could see that the symbols had meanings, she just hadn't figured out what they meant yet.

The new symbols were the same glowing green as her old markings,in fact you couldn't tell what was new and what was old. Some of the new markings started on her feet, gradually wrapping around her legs in a spiral pattern until it joined the old writing that circled her hips, she also had three almost ruler straight lines which were evenly spaced racing up her arms. Although the strings of writing didn't join the old line that went across the back of her shoulders and down her spine but when it came to her shoulder joints the three lines joined into one wide band that went in another straight line across the top of her shoulders, up the length of her neck before it tapered off to nothing on the back of her ears.

Turning she focused on the lines that ran up her arms and recognised several symbols that ran down her spine and a few that circled her hips adding more credence to Cleopatra's insistence that the symbols were in fact writing and that it had to be important as it couldn't be washed off.

She turned away from the mirror and hopped into the shower mentally cursing the little blurs of light who kept doing this to her, as she turned the taps on. How was she going cover these up when she got back to her world, she was a Senator and to the best of her knowledge no other Senator had visible tattoos that glowed! The heavy stream of hot water soothed some of her anger and she didn't remain alone in the shower for very long before Susan joined her.

"How do you feel?" Amy asked.

"Stiff, tender," Susan answered, "But great." She smiled but frowned when Amy turned the water off. "Hey I was enjoying that!"

"You need to keep your scabs as dry as possible, and no scratching." Amy told her sternly as they both left the shower and grabbed towels. Amy helped to dry Susan, being careful of the wounds she had inflicted. She then willed some clothes for Susan to wear, leaving Susan to dress while she dried herself and dressed.

Susan struggled even with the simple sweats Amy had made for her, as Amy dressed herself, in jeans, shirt, sweater, socks and boots, with a simple thought. Amy seeing that Susan was struggling helped her into her clothes, "I'm sorry... my teeth may have struck bone, I did try for flesh only."

"It's not your fault." Susan replied.

"My redeeming quality, strong white teeth," Amy said with a grin as she quickly brushed and plaited her hair.

"Big strong white teeth," Susan corrected as she slid into some slippers, she wrapped her arms around Amy and gently kissed her. "Have fun today, I am staying out of the way." She told Amy before she released her and slid from the room.

Amy rolled her eyes and willed the soiled towels and the protective plastic sheet away. She left her room in search of food because she had a feeling she would be missing lunch; the dining room was full of people who were getting their food before going into the courtyard to eat. "Where are our Vampire guests?" Amy asked Rhun as she joined the waiting line.

"In one of the libraries, I warned them that this room was off limits as that door is almost always open." He told her.

"Why? I spelled the door myself; no UV can enter through it or any door for that matter." She replied as she shuffled forward a little.

"How? We 'spell' the glass to not let UV pass through. You can't 'spell' an empty space." He said confused, he understood what Amy was trying to say, spells were understood by everyone, even if what they did had nothing to do with magic.

"Hello..." Vivian said knocking his head a few times with her knuckles. "This is Amy we are talking about." She said in a condescending tone. "She can do anything."

Rhun rolled his eyes as he glanced away from Amy and scanned the room, "Right, I forgot." Frowning as his scanning eyes landed on Susan who was getting her food, and her stiff movements. "Is something wrong with Susan's arms?"

"I turned her last night." Amy explained as she gave up waiting and just willed a bacon and egg sandwich into her hands, "She'll be tender for a few days but she'll be fine." Taking a big bite of her sandwich she chewed for a moment before groaning.

"Do you want me to scan her?" Rhun asked.

Amy shook her head as she swallowed, "maybe later," she told him glancing back to her breakfast, "We have Alphas to gather."

He nodded. "Susan, if your movement gets any more painful go to the regen room and hop in a pod, it'll activate immediately and repair the wounds but don't worry it will be unable to prevent your turning. The Atlantians could never create any technology that could stop a Were infection, they tried and failed it was one of the few things they failed to achieve."

Susan nodded, Rhun turned as there was a knock on a door near him. He opened it and was met with a gorgeous Vampiress who flinched back into the shadows. Destiny's hair fell in thick brown waves down to the middle of her back, her eyes were a deep brown which seemed to always have a warmth to them. She was long and lean and completely alien in her beauty. She was dressed artfully in a pair of loose black silk pants and a simple white blouse. "Oh don't worry it is quite safe, it seems Amy figured out a way to spell the doors so that they too won't harm you if left open."

Destiny walked into the room cautiously her eyes darting fearfully to the open door. "This takes some getting used to; I watched the sun rise today, for the first time in almost three thousand years." She walked to the door and carefully put her hand in the direct light, there were hisses from other Vampires who had followed her into the room, they watched in fear then disbelief as nothing happened, her hand remained whole. 

A child ran in with a pail full of eggs and only just avoided colliding with Destiny. "Sorry," she said stepping around Destiny before going into the kitchen.

"Amazing." She said and turned to the others before frowning as a delicious scent filled her nose. This blood didn't quite smell human, although she had long ago given up on a diet of human blood, finding that with each mouthful it tasted less and less desirable. She wondered again who had sired her and if they were the reason she was different to the other Master Vampires. Unlike the other Masters who were now testing the open doorway for themselves, she didn't run a tribe, nor have the desire to start one, not in the traditional sense. She was in fact in charge of the conclave of Masters as for some reason she could keep them all from fighting.

Destiny tried to trace the scent but with open containers of blood and so many humans and non-humans about it was hard to trace. Not wanting to be seen as a threat she stopped searching and wentto the table which held pitchers of blood and sniffed each one before settling on the container of horse blood. She poured a glass and went to savour it back in the library.

Don't worry I'll keep an eye on them, Rhun told Amy as her eyes watched the Vampires carefully, although you have nothing to fear from Destiny, she long ago gave up human blood, never did learn why. He explained.

She was scenting the air. Amy said firmly having watched Destiny; she willed a coffee into her hands, adjusting the temperature to make it easier to drink then started to drink it in between bites of her sandwich.

So... you scent the air all the time, she hasn't acted on whatever she could smell so leave it. He told her.

Okay but I wasn't lying last night, I'll kill them all if so much as one of them bites someone. Amy replied firmly, finishing her breakfast she willed the cup away and turned leaving the room with most of the Ancients following her out, it was time to get the Alphas.

****

Amy appeared beside Wolfgang. He had been ready and waiting since dawn but with all the Alphas to get he didn't realise it might be late afternoon before he would be picked up. Alanna and Electra sat with himwhile he waited, Becky and Garnet ran up as Amy appeared. Becky had just finished her last duties and Garnet turned hopeful eyes to Amy. "Can I come please?" Garnet begged, "Ma said she'll keep things running and Sienna will be learning the ropes from Ma while we are away. Trial by fire so to speak."

Amy shrugged, she saw no reason to say no besides she wanted to get to know her sister. "Okay, ground rules though before we go. Rule one, no fighting, rule two, no fighting, can you guess what rule three is?" Amy asked.

"No fighting." Garnet said.

Amy nodded, "and rule number four, don't open any yellow doors."

Garnet, Becky and Wolfgang nodded.

"Okay let's go then." Amy said and suddenly they were before the temple, Garnet kept the exclamation of shock from her lips.

"Okay that freaks me out." Garnet said when she finally composed herself.

"You get used to it." Alanna told her as she bounced up to the front door then waited impatiently for her mother to open it. "Is Tarval back yet?" She asked her mother.

"He should be." Amy said with a smile, opening the door. Before anyone could enter, Vivian appeared with Ghan, Crystal and Keira. Amy was pleased to note that no one was wearing a collar today as it would have undermined Ghan's status with the other Alphas.

"This is it." Vivian told her proudly.

"Wolfgang, Becky and Garnet this is Ghan, Keira and Crystal." Amy introduced them all and watched as people shook hands. Wolfgang hesitated for a moment when he came to Crystal but it was just a moment before he took her hand and gave it a firm shake. Garnet and Becky also barely hesitated when it came to shaking Crystal's hand which pleased Crystal to no end.

"How has everyone settled so far?" Amy asked Vivian, as she hadn't really had a chance to see how everyone was getting along.

"Everyone pretty much sticks to their own groups or people they know, we've encouraged it as if a fight breaks out there is no way one of us would be able to stop it." Vivian answered. "Although Destiny seems quite content to just sit and tell the children stories, but that's about it for mingling."

"Cool, the Were have a few floors, here is a map," Amy said offering them all maps. "Follow me." she told them and took them to the floor their rooms were on. "Here we go, Crystal, Keira and Ghan these rooms are yours. Wolfgang, Garnet your rooms are directly across from theirs."

Becky held up her hand, "and my room is?" She asked in a leading manner.

Amy glanced down the hall just as Terri came from her room. "Terri..."

Becky turned to get the first look at her mate and was not disappointed by what she saw. Terri approached, the first thing anyone noticed was her eyes, the strangeness of them as one was green and the other was blue but not completely blue as it had a little spot of brown beneath the pupil. Then there was her presence, she was a confident woman, used to giving orders and having them obeyed. Her eyes scanned Becky; she hoped that this one was free for a tumble or more if they hit it off.

"Terri this is Becky, Becky, Terri." Amy introduced and got grins from those who knew that these two were mates.

Terri frowned for a moment wondering why Amy was bringing Becky to her attention and not introducing her to the rest of the group. Becky offered her hand to Terri, which Terri took and brought to her nose taking a deep breath. "Oh..." Terri said more to herself as she now understood. "When's dinner?" She asked although food was the last thing on her mind, she wanted to jump Becky's bones but she had obligations, she was here for a gathering not a mate although now that she had Becky she wasn't going to let her go.

"Sadly not far enough away however no one will expect you to linger over your meal." Amy answered, "Becky go and put your things in Terri's room." Amy suggested as the others also took this time to put their things in their room. 

Wolfgang walked out of his room and frowned; he turned and walked back into his room, walked out, took the four steps it took to get to Garnet's room and walked in. He came out again, "Okay... how do they do it, my room is massive and has an en suit yet it is only four steps away from Garnet's room which is just as large."

Amy chuckled, "we're Ancient..." She said as if that explained everything before she turned and started to walk off.

Wolfgang rolled his eyes as the others chuckled and followed Amy.

"Tarval!" Alanna said as she ran and launched herself at her mate. Wolfgang tensed as he watched his daughter run into the arms of a man whose race was considered his enemy. His eyes took in the size of the group that followed Tarval, there were a little under ten in the group, if it came to a fight it would be an even match... if Amy fought beside him.

Tarval laughed and scooped Alanna up to kiss her deeply. Everyone watched the happy reunion, some were pleased others furious. Amy approached and smiled, "I know everyone except one S'ephalim and the two Gephalim." She said seeking a better introduction. Michelle was also here but like Tarval who was not considered a true Gephalim, she was not considered a true S'ephalim.

Tarval released Alanna and let her slide down his body, he blushed, ashamed that he had forgotten his manners and took a deep breath, "this is Joan." He said gesturing to the woman beside Gabrielle.

Amy took her hand and gave it a firm shake.

"And this is Peter and Paul." He said gesturing to the twin Gephalim lords who were only distinguishable by their breast plates. "Everyone this is Amy."

Wolfgang frowned as he saw a wingless woman in their mist that he vaguely recognised as she was still classed as a missing person, "Bianca?"

"Alpha." Bianca said respectfully. Wolfgang tensed, ready to attack the man who had stolen one of his members. Dominic did nothing, he just waited.

"Wolfgang calm down, Dominic stole Bianca because on some level he knew that she was his mate. If I remember correctly stealing women from another pack or pride used to be common practice, so I don't know why you are chucking a fit." Amy told him.

Michelle frowned, "how do you know that?"

Amy grinned a little amused, "I'm Ancient." She said with a little shrug.

Michelle rolled her eyes, "that explains it then. You're nuts."

Amy gave her a big smile and nodded vigorously. "I would have to be to call a complete gathering of every non-human leader I could get my hands on." She said seriously before breaking out in a new wide smile.

"Definitely nuts." Gabrielle agreed. 

"I'm hungry." Sage said.

"When are you not hungry?" Amy teased.

Sage thought for several moments before she shrugged.

"Come on dinner should be ready." Amy said to the group, "Wolfgang go tear your sister and her mate from their room please." She asked. Wolfgang chuckled and he and Garnet went to interrupt their sister. When Terri and Becky walked out they were straightening their clothes and casting angry looks at the group for interrupting them. "Okay let's go eat." Amy said before she walked off forcing everyone to follow.

Robin had decided to keep the meals as informal as possible to encourage mingling so had kept the buffet table, only it was now twice the length and there were two to cater for the numbers. 

Rhun walked up to Amy, "Amy just curious..." he said as she came to a stop. "Would you be able to do the same thing you did to the doors, to the kitchen courtyard?"

"Why?" Amy asked as she grabbed a plate.

"Destiny said it might make the other Masters more... approachable if they can go to most if not all of the communal areas and the courtyard is the most communal of areas we have." He explained.

Amy thought about it, "well since the walls extend above the tallest of the trees and encase the entire courtyard I don't see why the same principals can't apply." She told him as she got in line, already placing her will on the walls the same way she placed it on the doors.

"So you'll do it?" He asked.

"Already done, but you... can ask Destiny to test it." She told him before she focused completely on the food.

****

Amy was doing some last minute checks before she turned in later that night, mainly she was walking the halls and just making sure that no one was out fighting but most seemed to be willing to at least hear her out before they let their grudges come to the surface. 

She smiled when she saw Ghost, who for some reason was also wandering the hall. What are you doing up? She asked him silently as his English was still in its early stages to the best of her knowledge.

"Just making sure all is right." He said hesitantly, his accent thick and completely alien to her. He struggled to say some sounds since they weren't a part of the languages he knew, he swallowed some sounds and growled out others. It was strange but not unpleasant.

"Ah... so that is why I haven't seen you much recently." She said with a smile.

He nodded, "yes, I turned Katie a few days ago and have her in my rooms."

"Good for you." She said with feeling.

He smiled a little hesitantly, "alpha..." he said then paused. "Will Katie be safe at the meeting tomorrow? If a brawl breaks out I will protect her first." He explained honestly.

She nodded respecting his honesty, "she will be safe, I will not let a brawl break out. Keep close to her, this world is still new for both of you; feel free to seek me out to ask questions." She told him.

He bowed, "thank you."

"Good night." She said with a wave as she turned to return to her own room. 

He watched her go with a smile, he was glad she had come into his life as without her he may never had met his Katie. He would do almost anything for Amy as long as it didn't conflict with protecting and loving his mate. He turned to return to his room, walking in, his eyes instantly searched out his mate.

His mate, thunderbird he loved those two words. She was asleep on her stomach, a sheet only partially covering her naked body. He felt his body heat as his eyes feasted on her body, stripping quickly and crawled over her.

She sighed as she stretched beneath him, she had known the moment he walked into the room, had felt his eyes on her body and felt his need through their bond. He pressed his lips to her back as he grabbed at the sheet which only barely covered her behind. His eyes focused on his bite marks as he tossed the sheet away. He rested his body against her, his straining manhood pressed against her behind.




Split in Time Ch. 08



She groaned and squirmed a little under him before she turned her head to capture his lips. He growled gently as he slid one hand under her body to cup one of her breasts. Breaking the kiss he turned his lips to press them against her skin. 

She squirmed against him, rubbing her quickly moistening heat against his straining cock; she needed him within her. He shifted his body just a little and surged home within her. Her eyes rolled up as she felt the pleasure of his body surging into hers and groaned in pleasure. Releasing her breast, he braced his body as he started to thrust; she shifted her legs wider letting him sheath his full length within her core.

Pressing her face to her pillow, she cried out in pleasure as her hands gripped the sheets. His hands fumbled for hers one at a time, gripping them and pinning them to the mattress as he started to speed his thrusts.

"Fuck." She swore as with each thrust of his hips he struck that special spot within her and her pebbled nipples rubbed against the sheets. Grinning he felt his body shift a little, his knot starting to form. She moaned as she felt his knot press against her, moving her hips, trying to get it within her but he kept thrusting against her just enough to press his knot to her opening.

"Please," she begged.

"Please what?" He asked into her ear.

"I want your knot, give it to me." She ordered.

He smiled and gave an extra push, she cried out as his knot forced its way into her body. Pressing her face to her pillow as two thrusts later she came. Bitting the pillow, she quaked beneath him, he didn't give her a moments respite; he kept thrusting through her moment of bliss.

He felt his need growing but he starved it off wanting her to cum a second time before he let release take him. 

Goddess... she thought as her body tightened again.

Pressed his lips to her neck, she tilted her head aside wanting and needing his bite. His thrusts sped up further as he knew he wasn't going to last much longer.

"GHOST." She cried out as she came hard. His teeth bit into her neck as she rippled around him. Thrusting one more time he slammed his hips against her behind. Groaning as he felt his release surge into her body; he released her neck and rested his chest against her back. 

Panting beneath him, her eyes closed in pleasure. She felt his tongue gently licking at her new wound and sighed.

Rolling them gently onto their sides he stroked her body as he held her close. "I love you." He whispered into her ear.

She smiled, she had been a little shocked when Amy told her that the man who spoke no English was her soul mate. She had been hesitant at first but she couldn't resist his eyes. She was only just beginning to understand this world, understand him and his possessive need for her as she was beginning to feel it too.

"I love you too." She told him honestly as she snuggled deeper into his chest. She was glad Amy had rescued her.

****

Rhun approached Destiny the next morning while breakfast was being served, "Morning Destiny." He said pleasantly to Destiny, he had only really met her yesterday and was already warming to the seemingly outgoing woman; oh he knew of her but had never met her as the conclave tended to keep her whereabouts a secret. He turned and bowed his head to the other masters who nodded their heads at the acknowledgement.

Destiny smiled as she glanced up from her book, the other masters were also in the room, distrusting of all the other people here they wanted to stay in a group. They all had glasses of blood near them as they were keeping themselves full to keep temptation at bay. If they anticipated their thirst they wouldn't feel drawn to the humans and elementals here and the synthetic blood the Ancients supplied them with was actually nice and tasted like real blood only it tasted pure as it had never had to fight off diseases nor had drugs run through it. 

"Morning Rhun," she said before she finished the last of the horse blood in her cup, she was really partial to blood of herbivores whereas the other masters when forced to drink animal blood preferred the blood of carnivores. The synthesised blood came in whatever they wanted, different types of animals, human including different races, sex and blood types. The masters were experiencing a very varied diet to what they were used to but were enjoying the experience.

"I talked to Amy last night about your suggestion, she said it was possible and has done it, all that needs to be done is for someone to test it." He explained.

"What suggestion?" Judas asked his voice devoid of almost all emotion, he wasn't curious; five millennia of life had made him impartial to curiosity. However he was wary as Crystal was here, he hadn't factored in that wildcard when Rhun had invited him.

"I thought that it would make us more approachable if we could go into the courtyard." Destiny explained.

Judas was suddenly tense and guarded, his 'daughter' was here and that already had him on edge but he didn't want Destiny and Crystal to get to know each other as he knew they would get along. Several of the other masters had tensed at the same time so Judas's reaction was brushed off. They were more worried about stepping out into direct sunlight and Rhun just assumed that was the reason.

"It should be perfectly safe, Amy is... a force unto herself, if she wills it, it happens." He explained.

"I suggested it so I will test it." Destiny volunteered.

There was instant uproar if you could call tense bodies and flashing eyes uproar but to Vampires that was exactly what it was. No master in the room was under a few thousand years of age and they prided themselves in being emotionless creatures, only the young and new were prone to acts of emotional outbursts which their masters tried to eradicate or if that was useless, take out the troubled one. They also prided themselves in their co-operation but it hadn't been until Destiny joined their ranks almost three thousand years ago, a strange new one with exceptional control and reasoning, with no master or tribe, that she knew of, that the masters finally started to work together and the conclave finally started making head way. She was the glue that kept them together, they believed, and the thought of her in danger was something they were not even willing to consider.

"No." An ancient looking man said.

"What if it is a trap?" Another, a woman, said.

"Why?" Destiny asked. "Why invite us to talk peace if only to kill us? They could kill us simply without the deception." She argued. "You just fear that if something happens to me then the peace between the masters will evaporate, news flash... it won't. Not now, back then maybe but now you are above the petty squabbles... or at least you were."

Rhun watched, he thought he knew vampires, although he had only minimal contact with Destiny, he thought he had them pegged, he was wrong. Destiny wasn't like the other masters who prided themselves on control, of not letting their emotions show too clearly, he thought all vampires were like that or at least that was the image he got from them. Destiny on the other hand had no problems with it, she enjoyed to laugh and make jokes, he wondered what made her different, what made her more human?

Destiny stood, "I am going to trust my allies and walk into the courtyard. Quiver here if you want but how many of you long to feel the sun on your faces as you walk the garden." She finished with a little taunt, knowing more than half of the Masters had spent most of yesterday sitting by windows letting the sun touch their pale bodies for the first time in thousands of years but knowing that was as close as they could get to the dangerous sun which they longed for yet feared.

She turned and strode confidently out of the library, into the serving room and to the door which lead to the courtyard. She heard Rhun and the others following her. She didn't hesitate when she got to the door; she stepped through it, took three paces and paused. She was expecting pain but none came, she opened her eyes and glanced down at her body but her skin hadn't turned to cinder. She smiled and turned only to come face to face with Judas who had been one step behind her. 

He was glaring at her, anger clearly in his eyes, he held her gaze for only a moment before he turned and left. Destiny turned to Arianna, "what is his problem?" She asked the other Vampiress.

Arianna discretely gestured and Destiny turned to see what Arianna had, her eyes came to focus on Crystal who had partially stood and was in the process of sitting, someone's hand firmly on her shoulder encouraging her.

"Oh." Destiny said then went to study what was on the drinks table. That delicious scent from the day before was in the air again only now it smelt even better, which was confusing as she wasn't thirsty; there was something off about the scent as well, like it was trying to make up its mind. She didn't turn to see who the scent was coming from as she knew if Amy caught her she would be killed.

Sally put a new pitcher on the table, "May I help you?" She asked trying not to react with fear, she knew she was safe, that these Vampires had promised not to feed or hunt anyone who was here, but it was still hard to do.

Destiny smiled at Sally, "what type of blood is that?" she asked unnecessarily as she could easily just get a good smell of it and it would tell her everything she needed to know.

"Elk, Crystal's favourite." Sally answered and went to reach for a glass, "would you like to try some?"

Destiny smiled, "I would love to." 

Sally smiled as she went to pour a few mouthfuls into a glass, she winced as she watched the blood move into the glass then she handed it to Destiny.

Destiny lifted the glass swirled it a little and took a deep breath, letting the scent fill her mind, then like a wine taster she brought it to her lips and took a mouthful. She held it in her mouth for a few moments, letting all the different components which made up the blood fill her senses. She smiled and swallowed, although she wasn't in the least bit thirsty, the prangs of desire, which she normally associated with thirst, had her worried that she would do something stupid. She licked her lips as the blood was delightfully tasty, she could understand why it was a favourite of Crystal's. "I think I'll have a glass of that." She said as she handed the glass back to Sally.

"You and your fascination with animal blood," said a Vampire who looked as if he were turned when he was middle aged, as he joined her at the table. 

"Tamor," she replied with a smile as she took her now full glass of blood and turned to him. "Beautiful day isn't it."

"Too bright for my liking." He grumbled, he was one of those people who was perpetually grumpy, he could never see the beauty of the world. "When will this blasted meeting start?" He asked his dark eyes darted around quickly taking note of everyone near him. He was always looking at others with distrust, both his kind and not, but it had saved him quite a few times.

"When it starts... patience Tamor, I think our hosts are hoping that if everyone is full they will be less inclined to kill each other." She said wisely. "But it looks like it is about to start." She said when she spotted the small dark haired woman who was behind all of this.

Amy had hopped onto a table with a microphone in her hand; almost everyone was in the courtyard somewhere. "Morning everyone, please gather near the buffet room and we'll get this meeting on the road." Her voice resounded throughout the courtyard.

Soon there were hundreds of people milling about; the Centaurs however stayed back a little so as not to step on someone.

"Okay, follow me please." Amy said and hopped down from the table. She took them down a different hall way that people had noticed but not taken, preferring to stay to the paths they knew. She walked them down a set of stairs and to a door large enough for three centaurs to walk through side by side.

"Everyone your seats are labelled so find your seat." Amy called back as the doors flew open. She went to her chair. The room was large and circular with tiers, the centaurs all found their spots first as they had been placed on the upper most tier. 

Amy watched as people balked at whom they were sitting next to, she had deliberately placed enemies next to each other; she hoped to get all the grievances out in the open as quickly as possible. It took twenty minutes for everyone to find their seats but Amy waited patiently.

She glanced around and took a deep breath, "thank you for all coming to this gathering." She began.

A dark haired Were jumped to his feet. "I refuse to sit in the same room with those winged freaks." Ari said with spite.

The pale skinned Judas stood, "and I refuse to be in the same room with that thing." He said as he pointed to Crystal, he had been waiting for this, waiting for the opening to get Crystal ejected from these talks.

Crystal was on her feet in a moment. "THING! You did this, how dare you call me a thing." She told him, fury rolled off of her.

The room was suddenly in chaos as people started throwing insults at each other and several even started to get physical. Amy let it go for only a minute before she stood, "SILENCE." She roared as she slammed her hands on the table before her. Her will was placed on the word and the room fell silent. Everyone jerked to Amy.

Amy glared at them as her eyes slowly roamed around the room. "What are you?" she demanded of those in the room, "Are you adults? Leaders of your people? Or are you children? Because that is how you are acting at this moment."

Destiny, Ghan and Wolfgang were the only Alphas who still had use of their voices as they had remained quiet during the chaos. Destiny stood, "sit down." She ordered in a voice which promised pain to those who disobeyed. Suddenly everyone had sat and cast guilty looks at Amy for their behaviour. They didn't understand why but Amy's good opinion mattered to them. Destiny turned to Amy and bowed her head before taking her seat again.

Amy smiled, suddenly liking Destiny. "Okay, let's start with a few rules shall we. How about rule number one, what the chair says goes." She said firmly, "I'm the chair, you want someone ejected, you have to fight me and win... you want to take my place as chair you have to fight me and win." She glared as she spoke, letting her glare go around the room, "understood?" she asked.

Most of the people in the room nodded and Amy removed her will from their voices.

Ari stood again with his arm up. 

"Yes Ari." Amy said a little resigned.

"I challenge you and when I win the winged freaks and leeches will leave." He declared.

"Ari you fool..." Grey-hawk said, "This concerns us all. We ALL have to be here." He finished firmly.

"A challenge has been made." Destiny said above the voices who both agreed with Grey-hawk and those who didn't. Destiny was a lot more confident controlling a room full of angry people than Amy was as she had a lot of experience and knew how to calm this room down, she just hoped Amy was up to the display of strength required to keep control of this meeting. The room went silent as Amy stood, the room suddenly started to grow forming a ring in which Ari and Amy would be able to fight.

"A challenge accepted." Amy declared as she walked down to pit in the middle of the room.

People shifted uneasily, they had come at Amy's request, and if she failed they didn't know what would happen, the only people unconcerned where those who knew her, Wolfgang put his feet up and watched only with mild curiosity. Garnet leant over the table and tapped Crystal on the shoulder as she wanted to get to know her better. Ghan turned his attention to Keira and nuzzled at her throat, he had felt the Alpha within Amy, felt her power, which was surpassed by only one in the room, Wolfgang. Ghan knew they were mates, it was the only way to explain why the alpha within Amy was less than the alpha in Wolfgang, it meant, to his mind, that nothing would be able to stop her, that Amy would be, had to be, more than she appeared.

Crystal was torn between wanting to watch Amy and the openly curious and friendly Garnet. "It'll all be over in moments anyway," Garnet said, "I'm Garnet, pseudo alpha female of Wolf Haven pack." She offered her hand to Crystal.

Crystal smiled and turned her attention to Garnet.

Amy studied Ari, bored, "Ari... don't do this... stand down." Knowing the man she knew that he would never stand down until he was forced to do so. 

"NO." He said fury making him shake, "they are my enemies and you invite them here like they are your friends." He lunged at Amy and changed mid-flight into his hybrid form. Amy dodged him gracefully and before he had a chance to turn she had shifted into her own hybrid form. She chose not to temper her size and allowed herself to grow to her full thirteen and a half feet of height; deadly long claws tipped each finger. Opening her mouth wide, she roared as her teeth grew in.

Ari's ears went down and his tail went between his legs, he suddenly felt very out of his depth and foolish for taking her on. He wasn't the only one who was affected by Amy's presencein this form. Everyone in the room knew without a doubt that Amy was the only one here who could bring them together and keep it that way. Of all the people in the room, she alone had the fear and the respect of everyone there, without exception. They were also curious as to what Amy was, as they had never seen anything like her before.

Destiny grinned impressed; she never would have thought the little dark haired woman was in fact probably the most dangerous thing in this room full of dangerous creatures. Ari rolled onto his back and offered his throat to her. That was one hell of a way to make everyone know just who was in charge here, Destiny thought to herself.

Amy glanced down to Ari and stepped over him and back to the path that led to her chair. She shifted back into her human form as she moved, her shift both times had been so graceful that it made them curious as to how she did it; clothes quickly covered her. "Get up Ari and return to your seat." She told him. He moved at almost light speed once he was back in his human form. He wasn't concerned about his nakedness but when he got to his chair a pair of sweat pants were waiting. He pulled them on and sat; his co-alpha smacked the back of his head and glared at him.

"Any other challenges?" Destiny asked, "Now is the only time you will have a chance, once Amy leaves the ring there will be no more." She added firmly and waited but no one was willing to go up against Amy, not after that display. "Then we will let the matter rest, no one will be kicked out and Amy will chair this gathering." She finished.

Amy grinned at Destiny as she got to her seat; she was really beginning to like Destiny. "Now that is settled I name Destiny as second chair, since you have no problems with her." She said and most had to concede that as Destiny had stamped her authority all over them there was no point in changing now.

"Good," Amy said with a nod. "So let's get down to the real reason I called this meeting." She sat and the room constricted, going back to the way it was before. "I would like to firstly introduce myself as my kin took care of getting some of you to come. I have two names, my true name is Amy Wild-heart, but the common name I go by is Amy Luis."

Everyone turned to Wolfgang.

"Actually I didn't know she existed until four days ago." Wolfgang answered the curious looks. "Honest... the first time I met her was four days ago."

"He is right." Amy told them. "You need to know what I am, I've had most of you ask that question and I promised to answer that question here at the gathering. So... as you all saw I shifted, however I am not Were, not a true Were." She glanced around at the confused looks, "and though I call Ancients my kin I am not Ancient." She took a deep breath, "there is no name for what I am except complicated, however I find it easier to just call myself Ancient."




Split in Time Ch. 08



"So if you only just recently met Wolfgang why do you carry his family name?" Tharon asked, he was a 'young' flight leader at three hundred years old and had only replaced his father recently. He had all the colouration and features of a white Arabian horse, intricate tattoos covered part of his chest, and his entire left arm.

"Because I am from an alternate universe where I am mated to Wolfgang." She told him honestly.

"Bull shit," a vampire said.

"Yeah I wish." Amy said with a slight smile, "Where I am from none of the last twenty years happened. No genocide, in fact the opposite, humans and non-humans are friends. Vampires can go to blood banks and buy blood. Were can shift and humans barely batter an eye lid. Da'Vaila can fly around and no one cares. Centaurs can run tattoo parlours in their true forms and they are busier than ever. Elementals are encouraged to practise their magic in the open. There are non-humans in the FBI and there is a non-human department, there is also a non-human Senator... me." She told them and watched them look at her with disbelief.

"Don't believe me?" Amy asked and got nods. "Okay, I'll show you. I doubt that you will be able to doubt my own memories." She told them. "I need you all to open your minds and let me in."

Everyone glanced around for a few moments but they all eventually closed their eyes and let down whatever mental shields they had going. Amy's awareness was already waiting for them and when the last person opened themselves for her, she drew them all into her mind. 

*

Twenty minutes later Amy opened her eyes as she released the minds of the other leaders, she had left nothing behind. They had seen everything, from the first moments after she woke from the plane crash; her mating; the time hop; everything up until this morning as they already knew what had happened this morning.

Everyone glanced around a little disorientated as Amy's memories were still very strong in their minds. Wolfgang's and Dominic's eyes met as they suddenly knew and understood what Amy had said just yesterday. They then turned their attention to Sage who looked dumbstruck; she was still trying to process the fact that in that other world she had watched her mother die and the strange relationship she had with both of her families. Sage felt arms hold her from behind and knew it was her mother, offering her comfort.

Amy waited and let everyone digest what she had seen. Slowly but surely the focus of everyone turned back to Amy. They couldn't refute her memories, her world was too drastically different to be a thing of fiction, the events she showed them weren't fantastical, some of them were just too... every day and mundane which made it easier to believe that she was in fact from another universe and not insane.

"You want to fix this world?" Destiny asked and wondered why she wasn't in Amy's memories, a few vampires were but she and Crystal weren't.

Amy nodded, "yes."

"What do we need to do?" Terri asked her accent making her a little hard to follow.

"I'm sorry," Tamor said, his paranoid personality coming forward. "But are we believing her?"

Destiny took a deep breath; she was used to pushing this pigheaded paranoid man into action. "Whether we believe her or not her purpose is to end the madness and bring us closer together which will only make us stronger."

"So what do we do?" Garnet asked, she wanted that world, a world of peace and goodwill, if her mate wasn't in her pack then being friendly increased her chances of finding him.

"First we have to fix what aggravated all this." Amy told them.

"I don't understand? What aggravated this?" Ghan asked.

Amy took a deep breath; again she had kept this from her memories as they simply hadn't needed to know that, they had needed to see her world. Now they needed to know about it, "in my universe Luna has a son," the Were in the room gasped in shock. Their beloved goddess, the person they sung to when they ran free, the woman who gave them their powers and ability to shift skins having a child, even the thought of it was beyond imagination. "Who became friends with Ghan and suggested the first ever Alpha gathering. With that gathering more were organised, the Alphas started working together until eventually they signed a treaty, their borders were solidified, raiding was forbidden and the infighting stopped." She said giving them a brief rundown of what happened in her world and an understanding of what was needed to fix this world.

"We've got to stop fighting each other. If we can't get along then how can we expect the humans to get along with us?" Amy told them after letting them digest that for a minute.

"We haven't been fighting each other," Nancy said, "at least not for the last twenty years."

"Because you have been trying to keep your people safe," Amy stated, "that's not good enough, if I fix this world it has to be fixed completely."

"What makes you so sure you can fix this world?" Tamor said sullenly, he hadn't like how Destiny had rebuked him earlier.

Amy rolled her eyes, "forgetting my memories already, I fixed my world, I'm sure I can fix this one. But like in my world I can't do it on my own I need all of you to help."

"And what if this world isn't worth fixing?" Tamor asked.

Destiny turned and hissed at him having had enough of his negative attitude, "there are good people here, good humans who don't want this, who never wanted this. What right do we have to deny them a chance at a free life, free of this madness?" She argued.

"Someone has to start the process of healing," a Fae said, her long wings fluttered a little as she floated mind air. "So we start it, but the humans have to help too, we can't do it all."

"Tamor," Destiny said as she fixed her eyes on him, "same rules as the conclave, if you don't have something constructive to say, don't say it. Keep your paranoid argumentative opinions to yourself." 

Tamor went to open his mouth.

"Can it," Arianna added.

"I was just going to say why invite me if you don't want to hear what I have to say?" Tamor asked.

"Because the rules say the entire conclave has to be here since this is a species decision. Doesn't mean we have to listen to you..." Arianna growled.

Tamor went to open his mouth.

"Do it..." Destiny said rising a little, "open your mouth and say something." She dared, "remember what I did the last time you didn't keep your trap shut?"

Tamor crossed his arms and sat back in his chair like a petulant child who had just been told off, which he had.

Destiny sat and turned her attention back to Amy, "sorry everyone, he has always been like that."

Amy nodded, she understood and decided to ignore Tamor's outburst, "you are right Ariel, but we have to get them to trust us more than they trust the merks."

"Not so hard," Sally said and everyone turned to her. "A lot of groups will be getting annoyed with the merks stomping all over them 'for their own good', taking their women, food and young ones to fight a war that will never end. You will find friends." She said firmly.

"We'll get into that later; right now we have to work through our problems with each other before we even attempt to figure out a plan to deal with the humans." Amy said moving the conversation back to where she wanted it.

****

The first day had been rough on Amy but she had managed to get the Alphas to agree to permanent borders. Ghan was a small note of discord as he wasn't a true Alpha, more like a Beta protecting a small to medium sized family group. But that was quickly brushed aside as Wolfgang offered to take Ghan's entire group, Crystal included, into his own pack if they agreed. They had til the end of the gathering to make a decision. Amy had countered by saying if Ghan wanted to stick it out on his own then he could claim some of the free territory as his own.

Amy rubbed her temples and quickly side stepped into a room. She didn't want to deal with anyone until at least dinner; she went and flopped into a lounge with a grateful sigh she closed her eyes and hoped for a quick nap. She heard the door open and close quietly.

Amy kept her eyes closed hoping that the person would just leave her alone.

"I know you're not asleep." Destiny said with a grin.

Amy opened her eyes and glared at her. "I was hoping to nap."

Destiny shrugged and sat near Amy. "I hope not to be long." She told Amy honestly. "I just wanted to thank you for naming me second chair and ask what will be the agenda for tomorrow?"

"Do I have to think about tomorrow? I'm still trying to wrap my mind around today."

Destiny chuckled, "I can understand your sentiment but if we plan for tomorrow then hopefully we won't have the same problems we had today."

Amy nodded seeing sense in her statement, "how much longer until you succumb to your sleeping pattern?"

Destiny hesitated for a moment, "an hour; two at the most." She answered although that was a lie, she didn't have a sleeping pattern but during the day light hours she rested and read and did other things.

Amy nodded and sat up, "tomorrow I wanted to go about cementing a few laws and getting them to all agree to the bill of rights which was accepted in my world." Amy made a book appear, she flicked through it until she came to the laws, she marked the pages and handed them to Destiny then a small booklet appeared in her hand which she also handed to Destiny.

"If you could read through these it will help, copies will be given to everyone shortly after dinner for them to read before the start of tomorrow's meeting." Amy asked.

Destiny nodded, "do you think there will be any contention with any of the laws or the bill of rights?"

Amy thought for a minute. "Not really, not now... if Roberto hadn't taken out the two Alphas who may have caused a fuss we would have had problems. Most of the Alphas are forward open thinking people, they will see the merit of what is before them and accept it as it will help us grow."

Destiny nodded, "anything I should know about the Alphas, trouble I should be on the lookout for?"

Amy shook her head, "no nothing serious at least, Ari might still be an arse but he is simple to deal with, inform his co-Alpha and she'll smack some sense into him."

Destiny frowned, "co-Alpha?" she shook her head, "I don't understand Were." Amy made a third book appear and offered it to Destiny. "I was asked to write a book about Were culture to help humans gain a little knowledge of our world, to make us more approachable. It should help you as well."

Destiny chuckled, "this reminds me of my first years as a vampire poring over scrolls, leather parchment and slate to learn about being a vampire."

Amy frowned, "surely your creator, your Maker, would be able to teach you that."

Destiny shrugged, "would if I knew who my Maker was, I woke to my new life in a hut, in the middle of nowhere. I didn't know who I was, what I was or what happened to me." She shifted a little, "a Master found me as I struggled, trying to figure out what happened to me, his name was Vlha. He is a strange man, oldest damn Vampire in the world. He claimed he was the first and I don't doubt him. He took me under his wing, although I needed little instruction, I had exceptional control for a new born, Vlha's words not mine. He called me Destiny as he believed that it was destiny that I become a Vampire, as everything came... easily to me."

Destiny paused for a moment, "he then took me to the conclave and that's when I became the chair for the conclave. The strange new born, some of the masters were furious that Vlha had brought me but they came to understand that I wasn't just some ordinary new born. Judas however still distrusts me, although it didn't help that I openly criticised him for what he did to Crystal. Judas was trying to create a super race; fool didn't know it would back fire on him." She finished.

Amy shrugged, "I don't actually know Crystal's story as it hasn't been told to me yet."

Destiny nodded. "I was wondering why Crystal and I aren't in your memories."

"Simple, I have never been to a conclave and Crystal may be a nomad to the best of my knowledge in my universe." Amy answered. "You better go or you'll never get through your reading."

Destiny chuckled as she stood, "preternatural speed and photographic memory, I will have all of these read in minutes."

"Ah but memorising and comprehending are two different things." Amy said as a bell started to be rung. "Dinner time." Amy said as she forced herself up.

"Enjoy the madness." Destiny said with a smile.

"I didn't ever think I would like a Vampire." Amy said, "But I like you, I also like Crystal. You both don't act like normal vampires."

Destiny chuckled, "like I haven't had the masters after me to become more emotionless, to be more like them but since none of them are my maker they can't control me or tell me what to do."

"Do you have a maker? Would you know them when you finally met them?" Amy asked.

"Have to have a maker; someone's blood had to change me." She paused for a moment, "I should feel a draw to my maker but I have no idea what that feeling should be. I've met every vampire old enough to have sired me and have felt nothing beside natural curiosity."

Amy nodded, "I would help you but again, I'm figuratively blind here, I have no idea."

Destiny smiled, "thanks." She turned and left.

Amy sighed as she watched Destiny go, she had hoped for a nap but would just have sleep after dinner. She went to the buffet room and joined the lines. The children were at the front of the line as were the pregnant mates not that anyone would go hungry.

Amy felt arms wrap around her and a face nuzzle into her neck; she tilted her head aside to let Wolfgang kiss her skin. He smiled and nipped at her jaw and pulled her tighter to his body. He moved his lips to her ear, "I want you." he told her.

"Not until after the gathering." She told him firmly.

"I will find your room eventually." He promised.

"Then I won't sleep in my room..." she said simply, "Susan!" She called out and got a hand in the air in reaction, Susan turned to see what Amy wanted as she was further up the line. "I'm sleeping with you tonight."

Susan nodded, "I get the left side and I warn you now I hog the blankets... wait... you found that out last night." She responded and got chuckles from those who were between them.

Wolfgang grumbled and released her knowing that he would have no hope of finding Susan's room. "Not fair." He said into her ear.

"And I told you... after the gathering. Trust me please..." She asked as she turned to him wrapped her arms around his neck. Nodding he leant down to kiss her, he would be patient, she had her reasons for doing it this way. Tip toeing brought her lips to his more firmly, encouraging his kiss with a promise of things to come. Wrapping her up more firmly in his arms, he growled as he devoured her lips, he needed more so he moved his hands down and groped her arse and lifted her a little to ease his neck.

There were good natured chuckles and hints thrown at them until Amy finally broke the kiss. "Trust me." She told him, "after the gathering." She smiled at him, "now put me down... I want food." 

There were roars of laughter from those around her.



Split in Time Ch. 09



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

Hi

This one took a little longer to get out than I like but I did enjoy my week off, didn't get much writing done though. Anyhoo, here is chapter nine I hope you enjoy it. As normal thanks goes to Kitty Hawk my editor for all her hard work and to you the reader who has stuck with me so far.

As normal please vote and all comments both the good and bad are welcome.

Have fun





Split in Time Ch. 09



"I'm not sure, the book..."

"Who wrote it?" Alanna asked, her eyes glancing down to the heavy tome.

"An Ancient by the name of Sage, but he vanished ages ago, he really understood the complexities of time, alternate realities and gods." Amy answered, "He writes that it is rare for an alternate reality to remain disjointed from the main timeline, he says it is possible but unlikely. If an alternate reality remains disjointed to the main time line it destabilizes."

"Then why does it allow these massively different realities?" 

Amy sighed, "Because time has no say in the matter, it just exists, we make choices, time shifts to compensate."

"Can a choice be made here in this reality that would close it off?" Alanna asked.

Amy nodded, "yes, total destruction, if that happens time will close the reality off, it will go back and stop the alternate universe from beginning by blocking the fork."

Alanna watched her mother for a minute, "I think this is the first time you haven't just given me the book and then said ask questions once you've read it."

Amy grinned, "Yeah... well... the book of Ancients has a safeguard on it, a lot of its knowledge is forbidden by Fate to be known by people who aren't Ancient, so the writing is invisible to anyone who isn't Ancient. I could give it to you but you wouldn't see anything."

Alanna nodded, that made sense. Amy went silent as her mind came up with an idea, a possible way of keeping Wolfgang sane when she left but she would have to test it. She rubbed her chin for a moment then let her eyes meet Alanna's.

"Today I am suggesting half day meetings and friendly competitions in the afternoon to allow people to get rid of any excess energy or grievances in a controlled environment." She explained to Alanna who nodded, as that made sense and would calm people down and even get them over some of their problems if they could just duke it out. "I would like to test a theory then if you will let me." Amy asked and again Alanna nodded.

"Of course." Alanna stood, "thanks for not thinking of me as mad."

Amy smiled, "when it comes to my children I consider nothing they feel, see or do to be mad." She told her. "You guys are a bit like me, an unknown."

Alanna smiled and stood, "I'll let the others in... do you want me to stay?"

"You're family; you have the right to be here." Amy answered.

Alanna smiled and went to the door, Electra was leaning on the frame, she had seen Amy and Alanna walk off then Wolfgang, Sage, Bianca and Dominic joined them. She had followed closely, then joined the others waiting to go in if she was allowed. Tarval and Mayhem raced up having both decided to look for their mates.

Alanna stood aside letting everyone enter, if Amy was surprised by the numbers of the people walking in she didn't show it and more chairs were already waiting. Tarval sat and tugged Alanna into his lap, fresh bite wounds were clear against his skin, almost as if he was deliberately displaying them. Mayhem and Electra curled up together at the end of one of the couches; Wolfgang chose to sit at the other end. Sage, Dominic and Bianca were the last to sit and chose to sit separately, Sage to a high backed chair while Dominic and Bianca sat on an ottoman.

"Okay..." Amy said trying to start the ball rolling.

Sage shifted, "you said to Alanna and Electra that when you adopted them with your blood it reverberated, that we will always feel drawn to you." She said referring to the memories Amy had shown them yesterday.

Amy nodded, "do you feel it?"

Sage hesitated for a moment, and then nodded. "I feel myself trusting everything you say as if I've known you forever."

Electra smiled, "that's nothing, I was in a hibernation state, she told me to trust her, that I was free but that I had to keep my eyes closed. If it had been anyone but her I would have had to see for myself, regardless of the pain it would have put me in. Instead I calmly kept my eyes closed." She explained. 

"Ma didn't even say trust me, she just held me and I trusted her. I knew she would cut out her own heart before hurting me." Alanna added, "you aren't the only one with confusing thoughts Sage, I know yours run a little deeper as you now feel you have two sets of parents but Electra and I are just as confused."

"It's okay..." Amy said, "Wolfgang and I expect nothing from you, for now just you knowing you have sisters is what's important, the rest we'll figure out as we go."

Sage smiled a little at Amy glad that she had seen her real problem, she felt like she was caught in a game of emotional tug of war, between those who gave birth to her and those she barely knew but at the same time felt as if she did. If she could just focus on one thing at a time she might be able to unravel all the other confusing and conflicting thoughts and emotions.

"So... how close are we?" Sage asked Alanna and Electra.

Alanna chuckled, "I believe the term is blood sisters, apparently we used it to thwart lord Markus. Blood sisters bound. Also ma swears we finish each other's sentences and generally annoy the crap out of her."

Dominic frowned. "Blood bond?" He sat forward a little, "may I," he asked gesturing for Alanna's hand.

"I don't think it's relevant dear... they bound their blood in that other universe not this one." Bianca said.

"I just want to see." He told Bianca, the way the three acted and reacted to each other was too natural, the bond was too strong to just be in that other universe. Alanna put her hand in his; he focused and felt as well as saw the invisible cord that linked Nephalim kin together, the intangible blood bond. That cord rose out of Alanna's chest and shot straight to Sage, a second cord came from Electra, a third from Wolfgang and perhaps the thickest after his and Bianca's ropes was the one coming from Amy, the same thick ropes that bound Alanna and Electra to Amy and Wolfgang. He tilted his head to the side and saw the chains that tied Alanna and Tarval together, the same kinds of chains bound Amy and Wolfgang, and Electra and Mayhem as well as himself and Bianca.

"We are all connected, blood kin." He told the room a little confused and bewildered because he knew it wasn't possible, Sage hadn't known Alanna and Electra had existed until yesterday.

"Ma's blood is different," Electra began.

Amy shook her head, "no, my blood has nothing to do with the actual bond we all have. All my blood did was make that bond go to all the alternate realities out there." 

Dominic nodded agreeing, "Sage's blood has more to do with it as it is her blood which links us all, the cord that binds us together are all the same purple and green colour. It wouldn't be like that if it was Amy's blood which was forging the bond, hers would be a different colour and only Alanna, Electra and Sage would be blood kin. Besides this is a Nephalim blood bond not a Were adoption bond."

"Which is why I am only a part of it because I am bound to Alanna?" Tarval confirmed. "I am technically not a blood member of Sage's family." Tarval had done exactly what Dominic had done, wondering what had Dominic curious.

"Curious." Amy said and got many nods in return.

"Dominic and I talked last night," Bianca said after a few minutes of silence. "We were hoping to stay for a while, let Sage get an understanding of true Were life. I managed to teach her the laws and the theory of pack hierarchy but none of the actual skills she needs to know to be a whole person." She took a deep breath before continuing. "I was a little enraged with what the other me did, Sage didn't need another family she had one. Until I realised why she told you to raise Sage, she needs to know both sides of her heritage if she is ever going to fully understand herself."

Wolfgang nodded, "as my kin you will always be welcome in my territory." He promised, "We would be glad to have you with us and I am sure your sisters, Bianca, would love to see you and their niece regularly." He added.

Bianca smiled, "Cleopatra has promised the services of herself, Rhun, Vivian and Boadicea to nullify the need for portals which means I would get to see them for the first time since well before Sage's birth."

Amy smiled as they turned their discussion to figuring out the best way to work their odd little family.



Amy smiled as she stood, the mornings talks had gone as smoothly as she thought they would, letting the Alphas do some pre-reading had given them a chance to think and discus, it had been easy to accept everything Amy had put before them after considering it all. "Okay... so I want to set the format for the rest of the talks since we are through the nitty gritty. We will talk in the morning and in the afternoon you can dedicate yourselves to attacking the libraries or making friends or in friendly combat, rules apply."

There were many smiles at Amy's suggestion and she knew it would help foster better ties.

"What type of combat? Magical, physical, both?" An Elf asked.

"All of the above, friendly contests people, although if you wish to fight to settle an argument that too will be allowed but again there are rules." Amy answered. "Anyone breaking those rules, unless both involved are immortal, will get an up close and personal with my teeth." She warned.

"Why do the immortals get to have all the fun?" A man whined before he yelped as someone had clipped the back of his head hard. He glanced behind him but he was on the last tier so there was no one close enough to hit him.

"Stupid American fool... immortals cannot die... you idiot!" A female elemental with a French accent said from across the room, as she had used magic to smack him.

Amy raised her arms and the room went silent. "Lunch is ready." She told them and got claps as people stood, ready to eat. Although this meeting had gone smoothly it had still taken time for all the Alphas to agree and the discussions about the merits for some of the 'new' laws. However, Amy insistence that they worked and had worked for at least a century had those who were hesitant agreeing.

Everyone stood back to allow the centaurs to leave first unless they wanted their feet trampled by heavily shod hooves. Tarval tapped Amy on the shoulder, "so... after lunch are we going to finally duel." He asked knowing that seeing Amy actually fight would add to her standing among the other Alphas and strengthen what she was trying to accomplish here.

Amy nodded, "sure, sword or hand."

"Sword I think, I want to see how you wield that hunk of metal you call a sword." He replied as they both walked from the room leaving bewildered people behind in their wake. Gabrielle threw a startled look to Dominic who simply shrugged just as surprised as she. Tarval rarely duelled people as he had to this day never met his match, and as a sword master that was saying a lot. He had simply given up on fighting weaker opponents and had focused on his art to the point where no one dared to even think about challenging his title. Michelle and Sage just glanced at each other; they weren't going to miss this duel.



Gabrielle nudged Sage over as she took her seat on the bench. The news that Amy and Tarval were going to duel had spread during lunch and almost everyone was here wanting to see an infamous Gephalim warrior take on the woman who was more than she appeared. Destiny glanced around looking for a good seat and sat near Crystal at her prompt.

"So what do you think?" Destiny asked Crystal.

Crystal thought for a moment, "when I first met her I knew she was perhaps the most dangerous creature I've ever met and I have met some dangerous creatures in my journeys." She explained, "getting to know her... hasn't changed my perception."

"Really?" Destiny asked, she took a deep breath and winced, that delicious scent had gotten stronger and had made up its mind, it was now mouth-watering and had her fangs wanting to extend.

"What's wrong?" Crystal asked.

"There is this scent that hits me no matter how much blood I drink, I want that scent. This is strange for me as I have never desired anything like this." She explained to Crystal hoping that the other woman would be able to give her some advice.

"I can't help you; I've never desired anything like that. Just be careful, Amy will kill you if you bite someone." Crystal warned.

"What if they want to be bitten?" Destiny said then frowned wondering where that came from.

"Just don't... if you value your life keep your teeth to yourself." Crystal warned, "Breath through your mouth, the scent shouldn't affect you as much. Do you know who it is coming from?"

Destiny took a deep breath; Crystal grabbed her forearm to hold her just in case Destiny went into hunt mode. Destiny closed her eyes as she focused on the scent, which she kept breathing in and what it was telling her, she had to sort it a little as there were so many people crammed into one space but she finally had a picture of who the scent belonged to. She quivered a little in desire but she hadn't gone into hunt mode which both pleased and puzzled her.

"Female, mid-thirties, Were, some kind of cat, recently turned." She said listing the qualities the scent could tell her. "About ten feet back and to the left of me." 

Crystal turned and spotted the source of the scent, it was easy since there was only one woman in the group who fit the description. Alanna, Maria, Garnet, Becky, Electra, Susan and Mayhem were the group who were laughing and chatting. It meant that Susan was the woman who fitted Destiny's description as she knew all the others were born Were or adopted years ago, as Alanna could be very talkative if she wanted to be.

Crystal frowned as she turned to Destiny, "you really need to tell Amy that Susan's scent is troubling you. If she knows about it she might be able to restrict Susan's movements."

Destiny took a deep breath through her mouth and nodded, "after this I'll tell her."

"I'll be there if you like?" Crystal offered.

Destiny nodded, she wanted the support.

The room went quiet as the two in the ring had stopped stretching. Vivian stood between Amy and Tarval; she had volunteered to be the referee in these challenges. "Combatants will be using swords, rules are yield to win, and first blood is not victory. Since this is immortal battle there are no red zones." Vivian explained and since everyone in the room had some knowledge of fighting they understood Vivian's words. First blood meant simply that, one of the fighters had to draw blood, via the weapon of choice, first or disarm to trigger a yield. Red zones were no go areas for weapons, neck and groin being the most common areas but it also depended on the weapon, if someone attacked a red zone they instantly lost through disqualification. However, since Amy and Tarval were both immortal first blood was taken off the rules for victory, only a yield would make one the victor which meant this could be a very bloody battle.

"MA!" Alanna called, give him a chance, see if he can tap the other Tarval's memories or tap them for him or he will make a complete fool of himself without them. She finished silently.

Amy nodded she had wanted to test this out on her daughters but she may as well start with Tarval, "just want to try something, close your eyes and open your mind to me." She told Tarval who glanced to his mate for a fraction of a second, both put their weapons in a standby position, before they closed their eyes and Amy have her way with his mind. She focused for long moments until she felt something which acted like a one way mirror, although the mirror was 'dirty' it still allowed some things to bleed across from that other life, that other universe.

She focused and cleaned the one way mirror completely allowing all of that other Tarval's memories to flow into this one, she frowned as the mirror only seemed to work one way. She opened her eyes to watch him cock his head as he suddenly started to remember things that he couldn't possibly have experienced.

"Ready?" Amy asked.

He thought for a moment and nodded as he too got his sword into a ready position. Once that was done both turned and nodded to Vivian. "Commence battle." Vivian declared and stepped out of the ring quickly. Amy and Tarval saluted each other by bringing the cross pieces of their swords to their lips.

Gabrielle quivered as she watched Monster in Amy's hands, she had never been afraid of one of her creations but Monster was the exception. When Amy had opened her mouth to say her swords name Gabrielle had been afraid as to what Amy would say. Relief filled her when Amy said Monster and not the swords true name.

Most swords only had one name, but there were some swords that were so powerful that their true name needed to remain known only to the wielder and maker of the blade. Her only thought after she heard the fake name was at least it went to someone who was noble like Amy clearly was as she would hate for THAT particular sword to fall into anyone else's hands. She watched as Amy handled Monster with ease, it would not have been a sword she would have suggested for a woman of Amy's size but having seen Amy in her beast form she understood that Monster was built so that it could be used in that form not this one, but it didn't seem to hinder her.

Tarval watched as Amy stepped back and lowered her sword, pointing the tip towards the ground. He went to lunge.

"NO!" Alanna called out stopping him before he moved; he stepped back from Amy and glanced puzzled to his mate. "Don't let her guard fool you." She warned clearly anxious as she didn't want her mate badly hurt even if he would survive his wounds.

Tarval turned his attention back to Amy, guard? He questioned himself, what guard? Amy grinned at him as if she knew his thoughts; she hadn't moved or taken advantage of Alanna's interruption. He approached and they circled for several moments before he threw out a feeler, a quick jab to test her reaction.

Before he knew it her sword had blocked his and a quick movement later she stepped back and showed her blade to him, one edge had a small smear of blood on it. She smiled as she took back her guard stance and waited. He finally felt the burn of pain from a cut on his check. He stepped back several paces as he reached up and touched his check, he pulled his fingers away to show blood.

The Da'Vaila were as stunned as everyone else in the room, they had not expected that to happen. Muttering broke out among groups, those with any real sword training leant forward and were going to do their best not to blink too much less they miss a movement.

Alanna moved down to the ring. "Use what she did before you started to fight; she's deadly quick when she goes to block you need to counter block her." She coached.

"How the fuck does she move so fast?" He asked a little shaken.

"You can move that fast... don't underestimate her, Monster looks big but to her it's like wielding a pen knife, she doesn't feel the weight." She added. "You can do this, be light on your feet and constantly expect her lightning fast responses."

Everyone watched Alanna coach her mate and wondered why Amy was letting it happen. But since Amy was letting it happen most just accepted it and wondered how Tarval was going to fight Amy. Michelle and Dominic's eyes met, Tarval was the sword master of the Da'Vaila and Amy didn't even appear to try in that little tussle, the others, Paul, Peter, Sage, Gabrielle and Joan were just as concerned.

Tarval watched as Amy bounced lightly smiling. He walked forward, "how do I win?" He asked Alanna as he focused on Amy. Amy chuckled in amusement.

"Um... you can try." Alanna answered which instantly alerted him to the fact that no matter what he did he was going to lose this battle; he just had to work hard enough not to completely disgrace himself. "Oh..." she said suddenly remembering something, "and she's as good with her left as she is with her right."




Split in Time Ch. 09



He went to groan but stopped, he took a deep breath and together he and Amy started a deadly dance. He relaxed and just let his body act purely on instinct. The 'new' memories helped him a lot but Amy always seemed to be several steps ahead of him. She truly was as her sword's name described, a monster. He knew she could have had him whenever she wanted but she didn't, it was as if she was testing him, letting him grow and learn as they fought. Although she was quick, besides the first slice to the face no more blood was shed. She wasn't out to humiliate him only to test his skill.

After twenty minutes of matching wits Tarval's sword was suddenly wrenched from his hand in a quick movement. He panted and held still as Monster touched his chest where his heart was. "Yield." He said and Amy stepped away and sheathed her sword. There was applause and many stood, that had not been an easy duel on Tarval but he had shown just why he was considered the Da'Vaila sword master.

"I watched you and Alanna duel once; it was the most magnificent display I had ever seen." Amy said, "You are evenly matched. We however are not but I still enjoyed that." She said as she offered his sword back to him.

He smiled and took his sword. "As did I. Let me practise all those new techniques you put in my mind and we'll try again. I've never met someone who could beat me before... which means I have work to do and something to work towards."

Amy smiled and nodded. "I think I'll enjoy that." She paused, "just curious, that movement you did with your wrist which caused the reverse butterfly to turn into vertical upward crescent. Was that planned, something you have done before or an accident?"

Tarval shrugged, "I don't know it just kind of happened but it felt right."

Amy nodded and hummed, "what will you call it?"

"Give me a moment," he said thinking carefully, "I think I'll call it the Cross Over, anyone other than you would have met their maker with that move."

Amy nodded, "yes, definitely would have nicked the jugular and if you had turned that crescent into an angled slash after you passed the neck ... off with their head."

Tarval pondered it for a moment then nodded, that would work, one complete dangerous set, if you managed to get around the butterfly the next two moves would have ensured death.

Alanna, Sage and Electra bounced forward and smiled, "That was A-MAZE-ZING." The three women said together. Alanna offered Tarval a water skin which he gulped at gratefully before he handed it to Amy. Amy drank for several moments before handing it back to Tarval who took another couple of mouthfuls.

Amy grinned, "Yes. Come and we'll see about that thing I suggested to Alanna."

"Yes better clear off, a few people want to get into the ring." Tarval said nodding to two men who were glaring at each other.

Vivian stared at the two men as Amy, Tarval and the sisters left the ring. "Unlike immortal battle if I tell you to disengage you will disengage. No choking, eye gouging or groin hits, I want a clean, honourable battle." She warned both men.

Both men nodded agreeing to the terms Vivian had imposed.

"If you decide to go beast the same rules apply." Vivian added, "And do not test my rules, you will regret it."

Amy took her group to a corner and got them to sit. "Now I want to do what I did to Tarval."

Alanna turned to her sisters who looked confused to explain, "See I had this random memory of something I've never done before. So I told ma about it."

"What did you remember?" Sage asked curious.

Alanna blushed, "if you must know, I remembered that a flight feather against Tarval's skin will drive him nuts."

Tarval tensed and felt aroused at the thought of a feather running against his skin, he even knew the memory she was talking about and felt himself harden a little more. Alanna turned and grinned at him before turning back to her sisters. Electra and Sage were grinning as they instantly took that sentence further than what Alanna had implied.

"I know what you guys are doing tonight," Sage said in a teasing tone.

"Sounds interesting, care to donate to the experiment?" Electra asked Sage.

"No way..." Sage said shaking her head. "Having a flight feather plucked is painful, I had to get one removed because it had been damaged and was affecting my ability to fly."

"Don't some just fall out?" Electra asked.

"Nope... magical remember, they stay put until pulled, normal feathers fall out but not flight feathers." Sage explained.

"That sucks; I really wanted to test that on Mayhem." Electra replied.

Amy chuckled, "come to me before you go to bed and I'll make a flight feather for you."

Electra grinned.

"Okay so... you told ma about your 'memory'." Sage asked wanting to get off this subject.

"Yes, ma said a whole bunch of things but she has a theory. She thought she could tap those memories more directly. She did it for Tarval, it was the reason he could stand his own against her." Alanna explained.

Tarval nodded agreeing, "I wouldn't have done half as well without them. In the other universe Alanna has been teaching me what Amy taught her, changing my fighting style. I will need to practise what I have learnt but I know things I didn't before she accessed those memories for me."

Amy nodded, "In my universe you all rank above Beta rank and are pretty equal with normal alphas."

"Normal alphas?" Sage questioned.

"Yeah, normal, as in not immortal, Wolfgang and I have not been defeated." Amy explained.

"So what about you two, if you were to fight who would win?" Alanna asked curiously.

"Sometimes I win, sometimes he wins, we don't really keep score." Amy answered honestly; more often than not when they fought it quickly lead to sex, more so if they started wrestling on the mats. 

"So are we going to do this?" Alanna asked.

Amy nodded, "close your eyes and open your minds," she coaxed.