AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter 3
Amelia
“Great job, Amelia. Not only did you get yourself lost, but now, you’re injured on top of it.” I had been able to scoot myself enough to lean against a tree. There were rocks and sticks under my ass, but that was nothing compared to the pain radiating up my leg.
“Molly, girl, I hope you are either hiding well or made it back home. I pray you got your Uncle Tito’s tracking skills.” My worry over where she was increased by the minute. The fact that I had no chance of finding her just sitting here with my ankle twisted and broken elevated my anxious feeling of failure.
My tigress had curled up in a corner of my mind, succumbing to the pain. Now, she was docile and unresponsive. I tried to force a shift, thinking that might help, but the pain kept me from focusing on coaxing her to come forward. I didn’t blame her. If I could curl up and remove myself from the mess I got myself into, I would. The past year had done wonders to help us heal, but it was going to take a lot more to heal her and build her strength and confidence back up. She had been broken for so long that she didn’t even trust her own instincts anymore and reverted to hiding in the background.
The saying, “You can only get back up so many times before you just give in,” could explain my life up to this point. I didn’t know if that was an actual saying, but it sounded good in my head.
As nomads, my parents moved a lot, my dad always trying to find the next greatest scheme and having no problem using his family to get what he wanted. This kept us from settling with any one pride at any one time. If we refused to do as he said, we were punished. At first, it was not getting a meal, or playtime, or not being allowed to go on their trips to town. Things escalated the older I got. When I refused to shift and let him use my tigress as the center of his little pony show, I almost didn’t survive the punishment. I didn’t care how much he beat me. It didn’t take long after that for him to realize hurting my sister, or even my baby brother, motivated me to do his bidding. I hated my mother for just sitting back and allowing him to treat us that way. I never understood why she didn’t stand up for her children. I swore to myself I would never treat anyone I loved that way. Which led me to search an unfamiliar jungle, close to dark, for a little girl who had stolen my heart.
The darkness had wrapped itself around me, and with my tigress out of commission, I didn’t get a boost from her night vision to fall back on. Even though my human senses were heightened due to my shifter DNA, it still wasn’t enough to see beyond the hand in front of my face in this jungle. I sat as still as possible and listened to the jungle around me, waiting for anything to seem out of the ordinary.
Logically, I knew that if I removed the mental block to the pride bond, they could find me in no time, but my stubborn ass wasn’t ready for the chastising that would come with it. Especially from Niko after his last comment. If I knew how to open the connection to one member, I’d contact Miguel, but I hadn’t learned the art of singling out specific bonds. I hadn’t felt the need to until now.
A rustling to my left brought me on high alert. I took a couple of slow deep breaths, hoping to catch the smell of whatever was out there, but they were downwind of me, and all I could scent was the decay of things on the jungle floor around me. The rustling came again, closer this time. I shrank down into myself as I felt around for something to use as a weapon. Leaves, small sticks, and fern fronds weren’t going to help me. My fingers landed on something hard with jagged edges. The surface was smooth, and it fit into my palm. It might not do much, but I would have the element of surprise. I adjusted myself, broken ankle beneath me, and breathed through the pain as I prepared to fight or run.
“Amelia?” a soft voice whispered.
“Molly?” My heart stuttered in relief, recognizing her little voice.
She emerged from the foliage on the side of the tree. “Amelia, I’m scared.”
My mama bear instincts kicked in. “Why did you leave the compound? You know that rule is there to protect you!” She rushed over and curled up in my lap. I hissed as the movement caused renewed pain in my ankle and foot. I wrapped my arms around her and breathed through the pain.
“Oh no, are you hurt?” Molly tried to pull away, but I held strong.
“It’s nothing to worry about.”
“Can we go home now?” Molly whined. I could tell she was as exhausted as I was. Her face and arms were filthy, sticks and leaves were matted in her hair, and I was sure her clothes were a complete loss.
“I wish we could, but I don’t know the way back.” I tried to blink back the tears that were welling in my eyes.
“Don’t cry. We’ll just wait here and let Uncle Niko and Uncle Miguel find us.” Her confidence in our pride mates and their ability to track us down was strong.
“I hope they do,” I replied, wiping the tears from my face.
“Of course, they will. They have Uncle Tito to help.” She tapped the side of her temple. “Plus, the bonds will lead them to us.” She snuggled back into my chest; all eight years of knowledge confident that a rescue would be simple.
“How do you know that?” I questioned.
“Uncle Diego taught me. He told me if I ever got lost to leave the bond open. Even though I am small, and my connection is weak, it will grow stronger the closer someone gets to me.”
This little girl was proving to be more knowledgeable about how everything pride-related worked than I was. I felt a pang of guilt knowing that I was making our rescue harder, but my stubborn ass couldn’t admit that and take down the mental wall. Everyone I had ever trusted to help me in my life had let me down, and even though I’d been with the pride for over a year, I was always prepared for them to let me down, too.
Molly and I relaxed enough to get a couple hours of restless sleep before the sunrise began to crest and peak through the jungle canopy. The sharp snap of branches nearby startled me awake. The need to protect Molly brought my tigress out of hiding. She gave me a boost to my senses as I took in a deep breath. The tang of metal, grease, and mud, and the distinct human odor hit the back of my tongue.
“Molly, hide,” I whispered into her ear as I shook her awake. My eyes scanned around me for a safe place where she could curl up.
“Why?”
“Because someone is coming, and I don’t recognize their scent. Now, hurry! The third tree over has a hollow trunk. Squeeze into it and hide as best you can.”
She rubbed her eyes and then perked up when the heavy sound of boots crunching on things came closer.
“Wha....” I put my hand over her mouth to silence her and motioned for her to hurry and hide. She made her way over and had just ducked out of sight when two men came into view. I couldn’t make out their faces just yet, but their words were clear as they chatted, turning in the opposite direction down the path.
“I don’t think these damn traps are working. Four empties so far this morning. If this one is empty, too, then I’m done. You can check the rest of them on your own,” the one on the left said.
“Stop whining, asshole. If we had baited them like I told you, then I’m sure we’d have found the mother lode this morning,” the one on the right responded. His voice sounded very familiar, but I couldn’t quite place it.
They were so intent on their conversation that they hadn’t become aware of us. I took the opportunity to move to Molly and push her farther behind me into the tree. Shifting would quicken the healing process, but the bone had already begun to mend wrong. It would need to be re-broken and set properly to heal. Even so, my tiger could outrun whoever was out there if I knew the way home.
“Well, well, well, what do we have here?” He leaned down to a sprung trap I hadn’t seen, pulling out a large chunk of fur. The breeze brought the scent of the animal, and the scent of this human hit me at the same time his words were spoken. My body reacted as my mind caught up. This was the right-hand guy of Ricardo Puentes, the man who had captured and held me hostage over a year ago. This man was supposed to be in jail for the next fifty years minimum. He had his partner turn around and walk down the path toward us. They stopped just feet from where we hid. Jeff Sandoval was holding a patch of pelt from the panther I’d seen earlier.
