“It’s ok baby. You don’t have to worry about that anymore.” Blake leaned forward and kissed her lips softly, then pulled her into his arms.
Amber felt his chest rise against her cheek as he inhaled. He always seemed so calm. He was solid and she leaned into him while he continued. “If a member decides to leave the pack, they are never really free. They are still bonded by blood and have their mental connections. We learn from a young age to build mental walls to keep their thoughts from being sent out to the pack. If someone leaves the pack, they build a strong mental barrier to block their connection to and from the pack. Once they have been gone a while and made no contact, the connection are weakened and fade away, but they are never truly severed.”
“So they will always have that connection.” Amber stated. “And I take it they can be a part of more than one pack?”
“Yes, there are members that are part of more than one pack. If they are mentally strong enough, they can openly communicate and allow other packs to connect with each other using their connection as a conduit. I know it’s a lot to take in and yes, the council requires that all pack leaders bond with them. There is a lot to all of this and I promise to tell you more, but later, for now, we have people waiting for us.” Blake saw Amber nod her head in agreement as they walked towards Adam and the group waiting for them in the other room. Blake couldn’t help but wonder just how special she really was. They had performed the informal blood ritual, which connected them. She should not have been able to hear Adam connecting with him in the Jeep, or hear the group’s thoughts.
At their approach, Amber heard the group asking Blake how she had connected with them. I’m not your typical female werewolf, she informed them, hiding her smug smile while she walked on past. The men stared at her and then back to Blake.
Amber stopped when she didn't hear movement behind her. Turning back, she kept her face devoid of emotions other than a slightly arched brow. “So, are we going to do this or am I on my own?”
Blake heard the soft laughter she projected into his mind while her chocolate brown eyes searched his face.
“Let’s do this,” he replied, sharing her laughter through their connection, and started forward. The group didn’t need much encouragement and sent up a whoop and followed their leader and his mate.
∞∞∞
Blake held his fist rigidly to the side when Amber’s clear form surrounded him. He fought his own emotions when she enveloped Adam and Marcello in the warm essence that was her. His wolf ranted and raved that another man was feeling the soft caressing touch when she surrounded them. In his mind, he felt her brush of tenderness.
I cannot concentrate if your wolf continues to rage. He is raising my wolf and I don’t want to lose control. I have not done this enough to know what will happen if my wolf were to emerge when I am like this; Amber soothed as she continued to flow around him.
His heart swelled with the purity of her essence, his emotions almost overwhelming him. Blake looked at the faces of his pack members, saw and felt the emotions that ran through them at the feel of Amber surrounding them. His wolf growled, a deep menacing sound, when he sensed the physical and mental reactions his mate was causing his close friends to feel for her. She was not controlling her thoughts and was projecting her feelings onto them all.
You have to control your emotions, as well Amber. Everyone is feeling what you feel. Amber heard his agitated response. She had thought momentarily of the lovemaking earlier and realized that he was right. They could sense and feel everything she did while she surrounded them. A little embarrassed for letting her mind wander, she concentrated and closed the mental pathway to Adam and Marcello, leaving only her connection to Blake.
Adam and Marcello both stared at Blake with a frown when her mind left theirs. They were enjoying the peep show they had seen in her mind. Everyone’s emotions were raw and on edge. When Blake glared at them, they fought to get them under control with an apologetic look.
Amber slipped back into her true form beside Blake, her hand immediately going to his face. In her clear form she affected everyone around her. She felt their emotions as her thoughts and feelings absorbed into them. She stared up into his yes, lifted herself up on her toes, and kissed his lips. He stared in agitated wonder down into her face.
For a moment longer, Blake and Amber continued to feel the waves of emotions from the two men. Intentionally, Amber kept Blake’s attention on her face, so he would not react to the rush of physical attraction the men clearly showed for her.
Adam and Marcello stepped quickly away from Amber, visibly shaking from the effort it took to rid them of the effects that her momentary lack of control had caused them.
After a minute, Adam spoke, his voice held rigidly under control. “I’m glad we tested this before we went in,” he said, shuffling his feet, looking down at his boots. His body still hummed with excitement and he gave himself a mental shake. This was his best friend’s woman, for God’s sake!
Marcello kept quiet, standing stiffly with his back to them. His eyes stared hard out into the woods, his face a hard grim mask, refusing to turn around and face the crowd of men that gathered closely around. He was irritated with himself for enjoying that way too much. He had spent enough time in the military that he was not one to lose control, especially not with his leader’s mate! He admonished himself for allowing her to affect him that way. He was adamant that he would not lose his tight control again.
The small group had been connected and had felt the waves of emotions and physical reactions from each other when they had disappeared.
“No offense, ma’am, but can I have some of that?” Jonathan asked from within the circle. The men laughed, but quickly became silent when they saw Blake whip his head around, his swirling caramel eyes reflecting the turmoil he was under trying to control his still raging wolf.
Amber walked away from the group of men. She ran her hand through her long black hair in frustration. Blake today was the first time I ever surrounded anyone like that. I'm finding it’s hard for me to control the emotions when I do that. I'm sorry I lost control, but I can't hold on if I'm being bombarded with everyone’s emotions too. You're all three strong and I just can't handle it from all of you.
I know, babe. I just didn’t expect that kind of reaction from my men. When you surrounded me in the study it was less intense than it was this time. What made it different?
The first time Amber had held the wall in place that hid the sensations she had felt when she had surrounded Blake. The first time had been before she had lost herself in the mind-blowing lovemaking they had had on the couch. She realized the more she was around him the more she felt his strong pull on her being, the more she wanted to be with him, around him, him inside her. Amber closed the connection between them, but felt Blake’s mind nudging hers, searching.
“Amber?” Blake touched her shoulder with a worried look on his face, staring into her eyes. They were more yellow than chocolate brown and the black ring around her irises seemed to be growing thicker.
Amber blinked quickly and the yellow glow began to fade. She inhaled deeply, and then held her breath a moment before allowing it to slowly escape.
“I’m good,” she assured him. She straightened her shoulders and turned back to everyone watching them. “OK, now you know what to expect. I can keep you hidden, but it’s going to be up to you.” She said looking pointedly from Blake to Adam to Marcello. “You have to remain in control of your emotions. I'll control my thoughts, too. I'll get you as close to the house as I can.”
“Will they be able to smell us?” Marcello asked when he turned back around, staring intently at her.
A sly smile slid across her face. “No, as long as they can't see me, they can't smell me. That means they can't see, hear, or smell you, either.” She turned to the other men in the group. “I’m guessing about now that you can’t smell us right now either.” At the looks on their face after the sniffed the air and couldn’t smell the
m made her laugh.
The eager faces of the men grinned back at her.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Charles stood quietly watching and listening while Blake took over the discussion and mapped out the plans on how they would go in to get the kids and the woman out. He resented the fact that Blake had not included him in the little group that would be shrouded in the mist that was his mate’s essence. He had felt the emotions from Adam and Marcello when she touched their minds in that form. Feeling her momentary touch in the study had left him wanting more, just like the rest of the pack. They had all wanted to step into the mist and feel that touch. But, no, he was to remain with the rest of the group. He was not part of the elite team that would be going in. He was being forced to wait at the territory’s boundary for them to bring him his son.
Of course he was emotional they had his son. Charles knew how to handle himself just as well, if not better, than the small group Blake had hand picked. He should have been among them. Making sure to keep his mental connection to the pack, Charles kept his most inner thoughts well hidden from the rest of them.
Lightly fingering the knife he always carried at his side, physically reassuring himself that it was there, he picked up his nine millimeter, along with some extra cartridges, and merged with the group who had begun to make their way to the Bloodsworth territory.
∞∞∞
Amber took a deep breath, looking out through the trees towards the large farmhouse that stood in a clearing of the thick forest. It was dark, but her eyes could see clearly, as if it were daylight.
Blake’s pulse was steady when he crouched down beside her. She could hear the echoing of heartbeats from the group that crouched low behind them. Amber's senses reached out farther and found the sounds of six others who were scattered throughout the forest. She could distinguish between the three human heartbeats and the faster rhythm of the three werewolves who had been sent out to stand guard for Bloodsworth.
Blake, there are three humans and three werewolves. I can’t tell how many are in the house. I have to be closer. Amber motioned silently in the direction each of the men were located.
Their group was downwind so the Bloodsworth pack could not smell their invading numbers. Blake hoped the other pack was not scanning the woods like they were, listening for signs of others by hearing their heartbeats.
Blake nodded, grabbed her shoulder, pulling Amber into a tight embrace. I don’t like the idea that you are doing this on your own. He felt her tense and before she could formulate her response, he kissed her. But I know you can do this. Doesn’t mean I have to like it.
Looking at each other for a moment, his hand suddenly dropped from her shoulder, passing through the clear mist into nothingness. She was gone.
Amber silently moved through the trees to her first target. The first man was just that, a man. She could hear his steady heartbeat from where he leaned against the tree smoking a cigarette. Her senses could feel the foul smell that filtered through the air while she floated above him.
The man suddenly stood, sensing a slight shift in the air. Preparing his lungs to yell, the man’s breath was cut off before he could take a deep breath. Amber's molecules enveloped him into nothingness.
He struggled for a brief moment before she was able to push through the thin wall of his consciousness, invading his thoughts, his mind, and then Amber took control.
First man down, Amber reported to Blake, moving to the next. One by one, Amber floated effortlessly through the night sky, surrounding each one, taking each of the humans into dark oblivion.
Having never tried controlling a werewolf and knocking them out as she had the human’s she wondered if maybe she should have practiced first on one of Blake's pack members. Oops, our pack members, she corrected herself before Blake reminded her.
The first werewolf leaning against the tree was watching the backside of the house. Approaching more carefully than she had the human, Amber floated silently above the wolf. Tentatively reaching out with her mind, she sought entrance into the werewolf’s subconscious. Without surrounding him, she couldn’t breach the wall non-pack members found when trying to reach another pack’s member. Making up her mind, it was now or never, Amber swiftly allowed her form to envelope the wolf while at the same instant reaching for his mind. Surrounding him, she was able to get past his first block. It was tougher than she'd anticipated, but she managed to slip past and take control. When she approached the second wolf, she knew what to expect and was able to quickly gain access to his mind, then just as quickly, that of the final werewolf. All three were rendered unconscious.
Blake tracked Amber's progress through their bond. He was happy that their connection was growing stronger the more they were together. He could feel what she was feeling. Standing still when he felt her anxiety over the first werewolf, then how she became more confident, taking out each of her targets with growing ease. Suddenly, the connection to her mind was lost, as if the transmission had been interrupted, just as quickly resuming. Shaking his head slightly at the oddity, Blake was happy that Amber was on her way back to where he and the group anxiously waited. That's all that mattered. A relieved smile appeared on his face when she rematerialized next to him, her own smile spread across her face.
Amber reached Blake’s side and felt the warmth of his embrace when he pulled her tightly into his arms. He had hidden his anxiety from her, but felt his muscles released some of the tension he had felt. She was back to safety and back in his arms.
Amber looked away from his face, turned, and stepped away. Refusing to meet his eyes, she informed the group, there are eleven more inside.
How do you know how many are inside? Blake questioned with a frown, trying to pull her around to face him. With his hands gripping her shoulders, he demanded. How did I not see you going inside? I was tracking you.
She saw the moment he realized what she had done. The momentary lapse in their connection had been her pushing the thoughts into his head that she wanted him to see. His anger was strong and so was his grip on her shoulders. She quickly moved on, trying to ignore his question and the steel bite of fingers digging into her shoulder muscles.
Marcello, are you a twin?
No, Ma'am, Marcello responded with a hint of laughter in his voice. He was used to that question when people saw his brother. That would be my little brother.
Little? I don't think there is anything little about you or your brother! She exclaimed and was rewarded with a round of quiet laughter from the rest of the small group.
He's in the kitchen grumbling about washing dishes when the woman, or the maid as he keeps referring to her, sits there staring at them, doing nothing.
Adam snickered and nudged Marcello, who shook his head with a grin. That sounds about right when your brother’s involved.
Are you chauvinistic like he is? Amber couldn't help but ask.
Marcello frowned and shook his head no. Can we move on? He all but growled in her head. His brother had a lot to learn about manners, dealing with women. He got the girls, but none of them ever stuck around to make it a relationship. Werewolf men were controlling and dominating. Combine that with his brother’s attitude, it was a wonder the women even went out with him at all.
Amber's tinkling laugh brought Marcello out of his thoughts, listening when she continued. The children are in the upstairs room at the back. The woman’s in the kitchen sitting on a chair, but unrestrained. The old man is drinking and is in there stomping around.
She continued to ignore the fingers that clung to her while Blake fought to control his anger. You were not supposed to go in there alone! He growled into her mind.
Geez, Blake, get over it! I had to! If I took us in there like originally planned, then one or all of us could have been injured or killed. They have guns all over the place. You know they are expecting us to do something.
Amber’s anger resonated in his mind. The rest of the pack heard it, too. They stood watching, waiting to see if Blake was
going to explode. They had to give the woman credit for standing her ground. She had spunk.
Blake took a deep breath, letting it out slowly in total frustration. He was not used to being disobeyed by members of his pack and for some reason had expected her to obey him.
Amber glanced up at him with her eyebrow arched, reading the thoughts he didn’t bother hiding from her or the pack. She pulled out of his bruising grip, stepped away from him and continued.
There are three boys in the room at the top of the stairs, only one is human and he's asleep on the couch. I don't know who is who, but I think a Bloodsworth's pup is up there playing with the other boy. I'm sure he'll alert his pack if we go in. We need to really think this out. Amber's determined eyes met Blake's still angry ones. I won't have any of the children getting hurt over this.
Surprising everyone, Blake gave in with a nod. We need to figure this out and quick. Those wolves you knocked out are going to wake up soon, pissed, with one hell of a headache, and they won’t stay quiet about it.
I’ve got another idea. Amber gave him a conniving smile.
Blake, Adam, and Marcello stood huddled in a group, shoulder to shoulder. They were all muscular and very big men. Amber had to concentrate harder with the added effort it took to become the invisible mist and envelope their bulking size. But she succeeded in enclosing them into nothingness. The men could see and hear clearly, but the rest of the group could not see or hear them at all. Amber felt her form falter when waves of emotions coming from the three men assaulted her.
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