Bound by Pride Ch. 03

"Yes, but they will accept it."

Electra chuckled then took a deep breath, "She almost chucked a fit when I told her I was going to have to leave her for a while. I've been trying to leave her with Nathanael and Vivian, trying to get her to trust someone else."

"If I remember correctly, you didn't start to trust me until after your mother's funeral." Amy pointed out.

She nodded, "It was the words you wrote... so much insight into my mother's life yet you hardly knew her but you did. How could I not trust you?"

Amy smiled and together they went to the incident room where Vivian and Nathanael were. Mayhem was eating slowly and sipping water, she was already beginning to improve. Electra sat next to her as Amy pulled up a chair.

"Mayhem... I need you to go with my ma."

She shook her head, "No... and you can't make me."

Electra took a deep breath and wrapped her arms around Mayhem.

I think there is more to what is going on then simple mistrust of anything new; she can't stop clinging to Electra as if she's afraid Electra will vanish on her. Vivian told Amy, she was good at watching people and reading into their body language.

It's fear of the unknown. Amy told her silently.

I don't think so... Vivian argued knowingly, but we'll see.

"Do you trust me?" Electra asked gently.

Mayhem nodded, Electra had freed her, had been everything she needed so far. Her tiger, however, had other ideas. She considered Electra as being hers; she feared being away from her and that fear compounded her human's fear of the unknown but she also knew Electra and trusted her and her judgement.

"Trust me... I know how to keep you safe. I won't be able to protect as well as I would want to over the next twenty-four hours, I have to work. My ma, on the other hand, can keep you safe... and Nathanael will be there to keep tending to your wounds and making sure you're eating enough food as often as he wants." She encouraged gently.

Mayhem shook her head, "No, I'm safer with you." She argued.

Electra sighed, "Mayhem... my ma is an Alpha... I am merely an investigator and sometimes enforcer."

Mayhem turned to Amy and looked her over; she didn't look big enough or strong enough to be an Alpha... or at least an Alpha who could protect her. She knew wolf Alpha's were different to tiger Alpha's where strength was the main defining quality.

Amy grinned, "I know I don't look it, but I am much stronger than I look."

Mayhem didn't believe her, "I will always be safer with an immortal." She said hoping that this point would win her the argument and keep her with Electra.

Amy chuckled, "Okay... we're doing it that way. I'm going to introduce you to my beast." She didn't bother to strip knowing she would make the humans in the room embarrassed. She called her Sabre forward and let it have full rein in the shift and to grow to its full size. She had learnt that she could temper her change, make herself more in tune with Wolfgang's size than her true mammoth size. Her body started to grow and change, bones crunched and cracked as they reformed, she dropped to all fours as her clothes tore and fur erupted all over her body. Still she grew, becoming almost as tall as a horse at the shoulder but with a long body; her tail sprouted from her spine as her hands and feet morphed into massive paws with deadly claws. Her neck expanded to support her rapidly growing head. As her head finished growing, she opened her mouth as her names sake teeth grew in. Amy shook her body and stretched as she yawned.

Mayhem stared in complete shock: never had she seen such a massive Were. The Were before her could easily weigh eight or nine hundred pounds, possibly more. She was also berating herself, she had assumed that since Electra was a wolf then her mother would also be a wolf as she had no experience with mixed packs or prides as her own pride had been purely tigers. Amy's diminutive size hid a wealth of strength and power that made people underestimate her or not even consider her a possibility and that was exactly what she had done.

Mayhem couldn't help herself. She crawled out Electra's arms and was instantly a tiger. She approached Amy carefully, with the respect reserved for a much larger and unfamiliar predator. Amy leant down and rubbed her face against Mayhem. Mayhem tilted her head up to butt against Amy's, it had been years since she had been with another cat, it was why she couldn't help herself, she just had to rub against another tiger no matter how big she was.

Amy gently pushed her down and started to groom her, letting the soothing repetitive motions have their effect on Mayhem's will to stay with Electra. Mayhem quickly started to purr, all her muscles went to mush. Being groomed by someone else was a truly pleasurable experience, something that made her entire body tingle, like someone with nails scratching your back in just the right way getting all of those places, which were hard to get at.

Electra smiled, she could see Mayhem relaxing around her mother. She may not like it completely but she wouldn't mind too badly going with her if it meant more one on one time with Amy's beast.

I can keep you safe. Better than anyone other than Electra. Amy told her confidently. You'll get to sleep in Electra's room, her scent all around you.

Mayhem butted her head up and rubbed her face against Amy's then across her neck.

Time to shift back; we're making the humans' edgy. Amy told her.

Mayhem sighed and reluctantly slid back into her human form, Amy following suit. Vivian made screens appear around them to keep the human's from being embarrassed, she personally had no problem nudity, she was ancient who now spent a considerable amount of time with Were but humans had weird ideas when it came to nudity. She handed clothes into the screens and waited for them to change. They stepped out of screens, Amy in a pair of tailored pants and a blouse, Mayhem in a new set of pyjamas and dark glasses. Vivian handed Amy a pair of boots and Mayhem a pair of slippers. Amy slipped on socks then her new boots.

Amy glanced to Vivian ready to get going but Vivian smiled, "I'm going to stick around and see what I can do? If your mother makes an appearance send her along, I feel that she will be useful."

Amy nodded, "Okay, let's get out of here." She wrapped an arm around Mayhem and she tensed.

"Where are we going?" She asked nervous.

"Harrisburg Pennsylvania." Amy answered happily, "More than two thousand miles away." Amy didn't give her a chance to protest, as Mayhem opened her eyes from a blink her whole world had changed, gone was the drab grey walls of the FBI Building and in it's place was a warm room filled with natural light. Her eyes took in quickly the wall covered with bookshelves that were crammed with books, the heavy Jarrah desk and the soft couches. Her eyes then took in the sheer amount of people in the room.

She quivered and tried to hide behind the much smaller Amy.

Alanna took in Mayhem's body language and got to her feet. "Everyone not family out." The FBI started to filter out, she started pointing at the few lingering people, "That includes you, you, you and you... you're not needed go wait in the lobby." Everyone obeyed and soon the room was almost empty.

"Thanks, Alanna." Amy stepped aside and wrapped an arm around Mayhem. Nathanael put his bag down and walked to the small kitchen Amy insisted in having as it saved her the hassle of ordering in food every two hours. He pulled out a bowl of fruit salad and walked back to Mayhem offering it to her, which she took. "Mayhem, this is Alanna and Sage. They are Electra's sisters and the man with the wings is Alanna's mate, Tarval." She introduced.

Tarval didn't stand; he just stayed where he was and waved in greeting. He had seen her defensiveness and having coaxed that out of Alanna, he knew vaguely what had happened to her. He didn't want to make her uncomfortable with him so he would keep his distance.

"Where is your father?"

"Took the tiddly-peeks home." Sage answered and went to raid the small fridge.

"Hmm... we will have to go to the manor." She urged Mayhem to sit in the soft chair before Tarval and went to Joe to clear her schedule.

Just as she came back into the room Guinevere, Cleopatra and Boadicea appeared carrying bags, they all looked excited to be here. Rhiannon appeared sensing that something was up, "Hey, why wasn't I invited to the party?" She complained playfully but became serious when she sensed her daughter's dark mood.

It was hard to place Rhiannon next to Amy and call them mother and daughter. For starters, Rhiannon didn't look old enough to be Amy's mother as she was perpetually stuck as she looked at age twenty-five and Amy herself was perpetually stuck as she looked at twenty-three... well almost. Amy had more defined muscles and the three jagged scars that lined her back had finally vanished altogether. Rhiannon's hair was chocolate brown while Amy's hair was midnight black, Rhiannon's eyes were dark while Amy's eyes were blue, and Rhiannon was tall while Amy was short. They were contradictions but they had both come to assume that Amy took more after her other mother in looks. A woman both wanted to meet and ask some serious questions to. However, both had resigned themselves to the wait, they would have to wait for the loop to seal before actively searching out this woman, a mystery that will elude them for nine hundred years. The loop had to be sealed first, Amy had made far too many alterations to the time line and one mistake like searching out this other woman could very well undo everything Amy had done.

"Grandma asked me to send you along to her, she thinks you'll be useful there and she'll explain everything." Amy suggested. Rhiannon shrugged off Amy's dark mood and focused on her mother, when Amy was in alpha mode she had a tendency to be abrupt but having been with her for a couple of years she understood.

"Okay. You three, in two hours there is a meeting with the Alphas' and you'll learn about what I would like you to do then." Amy explained, "Until then there is food in the fridge and plenty of room to relax."

"I don't care what you ask of me but I want a duel with you... soon." Boadicea said as she sat on the plush carpet and lay back stretching; she loved napping on plush carpet as it reminded her of sleeping on fur, of her life before becoming Ancient.

Cleopatra moved to the bookshelves and Guinevere flopped into a chair as she waited. She smiled at Tarval as he pulled Alanna into his lap. "I heard that congratulations are in order, Tarval." She said with a smile.

He smiled, "I am the luckiest man in the world." He told her before turning his head into his mate's neck and gently biting.

Guinevere turned to Mayhem, "and who are you?"

Mayhem quickly chewed and swallowed the piece of melon she had put in her mouth, "Mayhem."

"I'm Guinevere, the red head is Cleopatra and the one stretching out on Amy's carpet is Boadicea. Don't mind us... we're Ancient." She smiled and stretched out in her chair.