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Chapter 1
Amelia
“Molly!” I listened for a reply, but there were too many noises to filter through. “Damnit, Molly! You know you aren’t supposed to leave the compound,” I grumbled as I stumbled my way through the jungle. Branches seemed to lunge out to grab my hair; hidden thorn-covered bushes snagged my clothes. “Fucking jungle.” A low growl stopped me in my tracks.
I looked to the branch above me when I heard the swishing of a tail. The birds and bugs had gone silent around us. “Hey, big guy,” I whispered as my mind whirred with every possible scenario, all of them ending with my graphic and bloody death. His fangs glinted in a ray of sunlight as the rest of his midnight black body absorbed every stray particle of light around it.
I held still as my eyes searched all around him and me for something, anything I could use as a weapon. A broken tree branch would do me no good, and I didn’t see any rocks hefty enough to do any damage. Shifting was out of the question; I wouldn’t be fast enough, and that moment between forms would be just long enough to get myself killed. “Damnit, the first time I leave the damn walls, and it will be my last.” I looked back up into the glowing yellow eyes still trained on me. His tail thumping the branch in time with my heartbeat. “Hey, big guy, if you’ll just look the other way, I’ll be on my way. You see, I’m searching for a little girl. A silly little girl who thought it would be fun to run and play in a jungle she’s not familiar with without adult supervision.” I took a deep breath and babbled on, “You see, this little girl has become the apple of everyone’s eye back home. She’s endured so much in her short life, more than most grown adults, and yet, she still smiles, and laughs, and loves with her whole heart. Now, I fear she’s lost, scared, or hurt, and I need to find her and bring her home.”
Something rustled to my left, grabbing the large panther’s attention. He sniffed the breeze at the same time I did, smelling the stench of dirty humans close by. Their scent tasted of metal, mud, and a hint of blood beneath the reek of body odor. He launched himself from his perch to the tree next to it and vanished into the leaves and branches on silent paws. I crouched down, my body going into fight or flight mode, memories of being captured freezing me in place. Listening as they stomped their way down the path, I breathed a sigh of relief as the sound of their movement got quieter, and my muscles released so I could stand.
“Amelia, that was a close one. You need to get ahold of yourself and pay better attention to your surroundings.” I scanned the jungle as I turned in a circle. “Fuck, every damn tree looks the same.” Deep green and light green leaves spread across the branches; large ferns were scattered on the ground around the exposed tree roots. Spots of color dotted the jungle floor as small flowers reached for the sun in between the decaying leaves and branches. The air was cooler than I had expected but still heavy with humidity.
Everything looked the same, but I kept moving, kept looking, kept trying to think like a little girl who was excited to explore. It felt like hours had passed, and I was so lost that I tried to backtrack and find my way to the compound. I looked to the sky, trying to remember where the sun had been when I left. My tracking skills were mediocre at best, but with all the scents around me, I had lost the ability to separate them a while ago. I should ask for help, but I couldn’t bring myself to open up to the pack bonds.
“Molly,” I tried yelling again, my voice cracking with fatigue. “Where the hell are you?”
I scoured every nook and cranny I came across. Every place a girl of eight could fit in, scanning the branches of trees that I thought she might climb. The light was dimming beneath the jungle canopy as the sun began to set. I still hadn’t found any sign of Molly as I continued back in the direction I thought the compound should be. A child’s giggle stopped me. “Molly?” I stood still, waiting for a response. The giggle came again from my right, I thought.
I followed the sound, calling out for her periodically and only getting a giggle in return. “Molly Ann, stay where you are. It’s Auntie ‘Melia, and I can’t find you if you keep moving.” The giggle came from my left, so I turned toward it. It was the one clue I had, and desperation had me stumbling, not paying attention to where I was going. Any exposed skin I had was scratched up thanks to low branches and brambles, but I ignored the small pain they brought. I’d heal before we got home tonight…if we got home tonight.
The giggle came again, this time from behind me. I pivoted and tried to follow it. “Molly, I told you to stop. Now, you’re pissing me off.” My words echoed around me, followed by that damn giggle. This time it sounded like it was all around me. I stopped to catch my breath and closed my eyes, trying to focus on the voice, the sound.
As I stood and centered myself, I felt a tug on the pride bonds. The web of connection had been established when I pledged myself to Leo, our Alpha, and his pride. This web allowed him to contact us, provided us with strength or calm, or boosted our shifter powers. It also allowed those within the pride who were close in proximity to talk to each other in their heads, a magical telepathy. Our Alpha and his inner circle had the ability to reach all of us almost anywhere we were. I didn’t want to admit I needed help, so I reinforced the mental block that I had honed when I needed to escape reality. I’d gotten myself into this mess, and I was determined to get myself out.
That was one pledge I’d made to myself after DJ and his team, along with the human police, found and rescued us from our wretched prison. I never wanted to see the inside of a shipping container again. I promised myself and my tiger to learn to better protect and take care of ourselves because we never knew who would turn on us. Being captured, held, and prepared for sale by the son of a cartel boss changed the fabric of my being permanently. I never wanted to be that vulnerable or stupid again. Thanks to Kat, the Alpha’s mate, and a few of her therapist friends, I was learning to heal and face the trauma head-on. It would always be with me, but I was learning to not let it control me.
The sun set behind the horizon, plunging the jungle into darkness. I was lost, and without the position of the sun, I had no chance of finding my way home. As much as I hated to, I realized I would have to open the pride bond and ask for help. Niko and Miguel would be pissed; I didn’t know if facing them was better than a night alone in a jungle.
As soon as I removed the block, voices filled my head. “Amelia, where the fuck are you?” I still couldn’t determine whose voice was whose, over the bond yet.
“Lost,” I replied, hating to admit I couldn’t find my way back.
“Fuck, you are in so much trouble. Niko has been looking for you all day. He just got off the phone with DJ and is calling in help to find you and Molly. Is she with you?” Through those few words, I deduced it was Miguel talking and was relieved.
“No, I still haven’t found her,” I admitted. Talking mentally was still weird to me. It was not something I had ever done in my life. Having never been part of a true pride, the dynamics were foreign to me. My parents moved us around a lot, never settling for long, which in turn meant that I never really learned how to live in a pride.
“Stay put. Stop looking. We’ll come to you, and then we will all search for Molly.” Miguel’s mental voice held a no questions tone. My tiger perked up at his demanding attitude.
I had been walking the way I thought the compound might be, away from where I saw the last rays of the sun. My tiger forced me to stop after Miguel’s comment, but I was not going to just do what he said. I wasn’t taking orders from any male.
“Amelia, if you don’t stay where you are and let us find you, I will take you over my knee when we get you back.” That voice sent shivers of desire down my spine. That was the one voice I would recognize anywhere. Only one male in my life could make me wet with just his words. Niko could go fly a kite. Fuck that! Now I was determined to find my way home. I was not going to be the damsel in distress, not now, not ever again.
I blocked the pride bond once again and continued weaving my way through the foliage toward home. Niko could shove his words and his attitude up his ass if he thought he could treat me like a child. I was a grown-ass woman who could figure out how to take care of herself and find her way home.
I ducked beneath a low-hanging branch, putting my hands up to protect my face from any sharp objects, just as my left foot stumbled into a hole and twisted sharply. Pain shot through my leg, eliciting a gasp of shock as I realized it was more than just twisted. My damn ankle, and possibly my whole foot, was broken.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” I whispered as I panted through the waves of agony. I wanted to yell, but without knowing who or what might be in the trees with me, I held it in. “Good going, Amelia. Now, you are screwed.” I could only hope someone besides Niko or Miguel would find me or that dawn would hit, and I could figure my own way out of this mess.
