Fulfillment 09

"Lys, are you hit?"

She shakes her head. "He missed. Anyway, I hit him and he went down. I hauled Emmett out and dragged him towards the woods. I just felt I had to get him, us, away. I watched the other male, uh, Sampson, but all he did was take out his phone and make calls. Michael kept coming toward us, so I kept knocking him down."

"Then the two police cars showed up and Jo and Nathan.. Oh! No, a car stopped to see if we needed help and Sampson told them that he'd got things taken care of. I hoped that they'd just go away because I didn't know what Michael might do to them.."

"Jo got me some clothes. Austin and Nathan got Emmett into the car, and we started back to the den. That's it."

Randall looks at his friend. "Cal? Any questions?"

"No, I believe I understand. Sampson has said essentially the same thing."

Lyssa looks at Calvin Ross, then Randall. "He's gonna get away with it again, isn't he?"

Calvin closes his eyes, looking quite sad. "Perhaps not. Time will tell."

"What do you mean?"

"I'd rather not say until we know more. But, I must say, I'm glad you are both alive and relatively undamaged."

Emmett looks at Ross' former Alpha and asks, "Excuse me, Calvin, but why are you here and not back at the Ross den with your son?"

"I will go back soon enough to speak to him. If I am not Alpha there is little I can do. I did want to make sure you were alright first."

Closing on the Wyeth den, Randall asks the question both he and Calvin wanted an answer to, "Lyssa, how many times did you scream for help?"

"You heard me?"

"Indeed."

"I didn't think anyone would hear me," she mumbles to herself. A pause. "Twice. Once for the two of you and, later, for Nathan, since I thought he'd be closer."

"Your control is considerably improved and your power is more than impressive. Calvin found me shortly after we heard you. In addition, I was with Ariel and Erich and all they were aware of was an effect like a pressure wave. Yes, Madam Beta, we heard your call."

"I didn't think anyone would make it in time." Lyssa says quietly.

The yard holds a large number of Wyeth wolves; others hover in the windows. As the car comes to a stop, Randall says, "The two of you will report to the healers before you go back to your room."

In stereo, the answer is, "Yes, Alpha."

The four wolves exit the car in the garage. Paul approaches to receive the keys for the car and Ariel waits to see the condition of the first Beta pair.

"Well, thank Selene that the two of you are alright."

"Yes, mate, I believe our Betas will be fine. I'm sending them to the Med ward right now." Randall greets his mate with with a squeeze and a kiss.

Stephanie stands to one side of the garage, quietly, waiting for Calvin.

Emmett guides Lyssa through the door, into the house, and they turn toward the infirmary.

Erich meets them there. "You guys OK?"

Emmett looks at his friend, and Wyeth's second Beta. "Looks like. I'm really sick of us being a target, of Ross' willingness to kill anyone and everyone to get to Lyssa. He was the one to blame and he keeps coming after her because she messed up his plan."

"So, I heard, more or less what happened. How did you get away?"

Lyssa looks at him. "He hurt Emmett. My mate was unconscious, I thought he might die." Her voice gets rough. Emmett gives her a squeeze around the waist. "Michael came towards us so I kept hitting him every time he got back up."

Watching Emmett for any adverse reaction, Erich puts a hand on her arm. "Good for you, Lys."

Wade and Natalie hover in the background. "C'mon, sweetheart, let's get this done."

Lyssa looks at the Wyeth healers. "Start with him, if you would, he's the one who was unconscious."

"Beta, if you please," Wade indicates the table and Emmett climbs on.

Emmett is subjected to a minor battery of tests. Memory, sight, range of motion. He was heavily bruised on his left side, broken ribs, and his shoulder was sore. Emmett refused an analgesic. After the examination, he is pronounced fit for light duty. Light duty for a werewolf, however, would be equivalent to hard labor for a human.

Natalie, meanwhile, was checking Lyssa out.

"I've been told you screamed distance twice?"

"Mm, hm." Lyssa responds as Natalie looks at her eyes.

"And, how many times did you hit your attacker with a send?"

"I'm not sure. Maybe 6 or 7 times."

"Any blurring of your vision? Headache? Nosebleed?"

Lyssa shakes her head. "Why the questions?"

"Just making sure you didn't hurt yourself with your sending. That you didn't overextend yourself."

"Oh. I see. That's happened before?"

"There are reports of wolves who had difficulty sending for a period of time after some excessive sending." [Can you hear me?]

Lyssa looks at Natalie. [Yes.]

[Please send to Emmett.]

[Em?]

Emmett turns to look at his mate. "Lyssa? What is it?"

[Natalie just wanted to check my sending.]

"She's coming through just fine, healer."

"Alright, then. Lyssa, let me know if anything changes or you feel anything odd. Other than that you're likely to feel the effects of your struggle to free your mate later."

"Well, Randall, it appears that your Betas are going to be alright. I'll go back to our den and see what's going on with Michael. He was acting oddly."

"Certainly, Cal. We'll see you another time?"

Calvin looks at Stephanie, and smiles. "I will." Lyssa and Emmett are surprised to see Calvin lightly squeeze Stephanie's hand and turn for the garage.

***

Michael Ross has been strangely disoriented on the trip back to the den. Sampson gets nonsensical answers to questions or strange monologues that have little or nothing to do with the subject at hand.

Sampson finally stops asking questions and simply thinks of what this all means for the Ross pack. His Alpha appeared to be currently incapacitated. He was, as a result, Alpha pro tem. Or, temporarily in charge of the Ross pack.

There is no group of wolves awaiting them. Sampson thought it best to return quietly. While he did not intend to say much about what had happened, the rumors would surface. He would give it until overnight and then, if nothing changed, he would talk to the pack. They would be very unsettled. They already were unsettled. This would make it worse.

The pack was fracturing. He had to try to keep things stable. Until..

Until what?

Until his Alpha got better?

Until someone else was named Alpha?

Until something changed for the better?

He could only hope things would get better.

Sampson cleared the route to the Alpha suite and guided Michael to it. He summoned Erica and the pack healer.

Erica was distressed at Michael's condition, trying to get him to recognize her, say something to her.

The healer, Sharilyn, got nothing different from him. There was nothing wrong with his heart, his reflexes. But, he was not acting at all normally.

Erica and Sharilyn look to Sampson. "What do we do? What happens now?"

"At this point, we keep it quiet. Say the Alpha is ill, nothing more. He may recover by tomorrow. If he does not, then something will have to be decided."

Erica looks at him. "What does that mean?"

"Given the current situation, the role of Alpha falls to me at present, you will do as I say. Tomorrow we will reevaluate the situation."

Emmett and Lyssa return to their room and collapse onto the couch. They barely have a second to catch their breaths, when a question comes in. [Em, are you and Lyssa OK?]

"Erich wants to come see if we're OK. Are you up for it?"

"Can't say how long I'll be pleasant about it, but, yeah."

[Hey, Erich, come on over.]

Erich knocks on the door shortly thereafter. "C'mon in, Erich, we don't feel like getting up." Erich walks into the room, with Madeline tucked under his arm.

"Hey, guys, there's all kinds of rumors running around. What happened?"

The soft voice that is Madeline's interrupts. "What Erich means to say is 'Are the two of you alright?' You do kinda look the worse for wear."

Lyssa looks at her and starts laughing, and works up to a little hysterically. Emmett pulls her against him and she stops and pushes away. "No, Em. You're hurt." She then looks up at the other Beta couple. "Um. Sorry. I've had a crazed Alpha try to kill me and my mate, pulled him out of a mangled car, and mangled the car myself. The definition of alright is a bit loose here."

Emmett pulls her to him again. "Please, have a seat, and excuse us if we don't get up."

Erich drops into one of the chairs and pulls his mate into his lap. "OK. Spill."

"Michael rammed us and shoved the car into the ditch. I didn't wake up until we were on the way home. Apparently, Nathan and Austin hauled me up and put me in a car."

"I got Em out of the car and away. Michael told his Beta to kill us but he didn't. So, Michael came for us and I just kept knocking him down."

"He's not dead?"

Lyssa gives them her 'Are you kidding me?' look. "No."

"OK. He tried to kill you, for real, again, and he's not dead?"

Emmett chuckles a bit, and groans in pain. "You do remember who you're talking to?"

Erich chuckles a bit, himself. Lyssa was a werewolf who wouldn't kill unless she was in imminent danger, and, with her ability, more often than not, wouldn't have to.

Madeline pipes up again. "Can we get you anything?"

"Right now I think I just want to curl up with my mate and count my blessings."

Erich rises, Madeline in his arms. "OK. We'll let you settle in and get some rest. I'll make sure Simon has something prepared so that you can eat when you wake up."

"Thank you." Madeline runs her hand down Erich's face and kisses him.

Emmett smiles at his mate and clears his throat. Erich puts his forehead against his mate's and chuckles. "Going."

After the door closes Emmett pulls his clothes off, then pulls Lyssa's shirt over her head. "C'mon, let's get some rest."

He's really bruised up, and would likely be in real pain later. "We should clean up first."

"We'll buy new sheets." The pants come off and she is as naked as he.

He reaches for her, to carry her to the bed. "No. Don't you dare. I hauled you out of the car."

She pulls the covers off the bed and crawls in with Emmett following shortly after. She groans in pain. "Lys?'

"I thought I was going to lose you."

He turns, giving her a light kiss. "You saved us, dear heart. I'm proud of you. Thank you."

A light sob escapes her lips. "I love you, Em."

"Sh, mate. I love you, too. But now, we need to heal."

Emmett rolls over to be closer to his mate, but hisses in pain. Lyssa tries to roll up against him, but she's bruised on her right side. They can't spoon, which would be more comforting to both, because of their injuries. So, they lie there, holding hands. He pulls her hand to his lips, and kisses it, then lays their laced fingers between them.

Nathan drops Joanna off later. While he had planned on taking her to a nice dinner, she was too keyed up over Lyssa and Emmett's return. She couldn't sit still and was distracted. He figured it would be best for her to see her friend and welcome her home. Nathan considers going with her for a visit, but decides it would be best for Jo to see them alone, first.

Joanna runs into Erich first.

"So, where are they?"

"Jo. Jo. Calm down. They're in their room, resting. They were pretty banged up."

"What did they say?"

"Not much. What did you see? You were at the scene, right?"

"The car was really messed up. The whole side was bashed in. Lyssa was in half form and Em was propped up against a tree. Casey and Austin had Alpha Ross in the car with his Beta."

"What did Sampson do?"

"Nothing. Well, not much. Lyssa said Alpha Ross told him to kill them and he refused. So he went after them. He had a gun. Lyssa just kept hitting him until help got there."

"You'd think she'd have killed him."

"He was gonna kill them both, and she still couldn't, wouldn't do it. It's so weird."

"We've just got to recognize she'll never be the wolf the rest of us are. She's different, and she always will be."

"I'm so glad she's back."

"Me, too, Jo. Me, too."

She looks at him, the new Beta, and calms down. "I guess I should wait until they get a chance to talk to each other. Emmett didn't wake up until we were almost here."

"I think that's probably a good idea."

Neither one of them is particularly in the mood for sleep, even though they know they should. So they lie beside each other, holding hands. Their breathing is slow, although Lyssa's heartbeat is a bit faster than normal. And, since neither of them is sleeping, Emmett asks the first question. "I'm sorry to have to ask this, dear heart, but do you think I might have to worry about you again?"

"Wow, Em. Out of left field."

"I think, considering everything that's happened, the question is relevant."

She inhales, and turns her head to look at him. Her dark brown eyes look into the chocolate eyes of her mate and he squeezes her hand. "I hope not. This was, different. When my family died, there wasn't anything I could do. It just happened without me. When Ross took us, I couldn't do anything either. Bound, chained.."

"We've talked about this, Lys. What you did was hard, and wonderful. What you did saved both you and Jo." He kisses her hand again. "And, this time, this time, you pulled me out of the car, you stopped Michael Ross from killing us. You realize, don't you, that if you had been knocked out we might both be dead now? Unless his Beta were able to do something, he would have shot me, made sure I was dead, and then killed you. It's all because of you that we're alive."

"Of course, it was me he was after."

"Yes, mate, but, given how much he's come to hate you and what I've heard about him, I think he would have enjoyed torturing you first. Which means he would have wanted you to know who it was. If he had killed you outright, he couldn't have done that, although you would have been out of his hair."

"OK, I don't think you're making it better."

"I do wish you would have killed him, though. No, wait. I find I'm looking forward to squeezing the life out of him with my own hands."

"Em. Please. Don't do anything to get yourself killed. Don't leave me here without you."

Emmett rolls over, wincing slightly. He strokes her hair, down the side of her face. "No, my mate. I'm not going anywhere. I'm going to be with you for a long time. You and our pups."

"I love you, Emmett."

"I love you, too, Lys."

"We're not gonna get any sleep are we?"

"I don't think so."

"You know everybody's gonna wanna know what happened."

"Of course. And, I'm sure there are things that have happened since we've been gone."

"Did you see Stephanie?"

He smiles. "Yes. Do you feel like getting up?"

"I could eat."

Lyssa and Emmett carefully exit their bed and move into the bathroom. They clean up, moving slowly. She looks over his bruises and he looks at hers. She puts her palm on his chest, gently and asks, "How much does it hurt?"

"Quite a bit, mate, but it'll get better." He pulls her head towards him and kisses her forehead. "We should go downstairs."

Lyssa walks to her closet and pulls a sheath over her head. "Ow, ow, ow, ow."

Emmett's voice is concerned, "Lys?"

"It's my shoulders, Em. They're really, really sore."

Emmett smiles "I guess you need more practice pulling cars apart, mate."

She swings, smacking him on the arm. He grunts. "Oh, Emmett, I'm sorry."

He pulls her into his arms and groans. "OK, I guess I can't do that for a bit longer."

Emmett pulls on some sweatpants and, arms around each other's waists, they limp into the corridor. A couple of the wolves in the hallway smile and greet them. As they head for the stairway, Joanna's voice is heard. "Celia, have you seen Lyssa and Emmett yet?"

[Coming down the stairs, Jo.]

Feet are heard pounding up the stairs. Lyssa asks, "Why aren't you with Nathan?"

"He knew I wanted to come back and see how you were."

"Then why isn't he here with you?"

"It's a pack matter. He figured it would be better if he stayed away until we settled down."

Joanna walks with Lyssa and Emmett to the dining hall. Some of the others they pass trail behind. As the first Beta couple sit at a table, Simon and Hannah leave the kitchen carrying platters. One is set before Emmett, and the other, in front of Lyssa. Both are piled with rare beef and venison, roasted potatoes, and peas. "The healer said you would need a lot of protein to help you heal."

"Thank you, Simon. Hannah."

Hannah blushes. Simon pulls her away. "Come, Hannah, we need to start dinner."

The other wolves wait patiently as the first Beta pair dig in to the food.

Lyssa groans around a mouthful of food. "Why does it taste so much better right now?"

[Because your body needs it, mate.]

Others continue to gather as the Beta pair feed, wanting to hear the story of what happened. Randall and Ariel, recognizing the growing assembly is something they need to manage, come down to the dining hall.

Randall looks at his pack. One of the more brash young males asks, "Can we punish the Ross pack now, Alpha?"

"This was not the pack's doing, only their Alpha's. We will determine the level of reparations later." Ariel looks at the Betas as she calls for the healers.

"You didn't rest for very long. Emmett, you've been injured more seriously than I thought." Emmett's entire left side and arm is a mass of dark bruising.

Randall speaks to his pack. "I understand you are all curious but recognize that our Betas will need rest." The wolves in the vicinity nod.

As Lyssa and Emmett finish their meal, the wolves move a bit, and settle in for a story. With the brashness of youth, the questions are started by the same young male. "Is the Ross Alpha dead?"

"No, he's not."

"Why not?"

Lyssa opens her mouth, closes it, and answers. "I don't know. I couldn't do it."

There is grumbling from various members, mostly males.

"Is it true their Beta was there?"

"Yes. He was ordered to kill us but refused. He called for help."

"Did you rip the car apart?"

Lyssa smiles. "No. Well, some. I bent the car door to pull my mate out."

"Did you see it coming?"

"I saw a truck coming at us. Then we were in the ditch."

"I heard there was a gun."

"There was. He shot it once and never got another chance."

"Do you think he intended to kidnap you again?"

"No. He wanted us dead."

"Beta, what did you see?"

"Nothing. I was knocked out by the accident and woke up on the way back to the den."

"I heard that you were able to call this far for help."

"I felt it."

Lyssa looks at Erich. "What did it feel like?"

"Like my skull was a little too small for my brains."

"Her call did reach this far. I heard her clearly."

"Do you think Calvin Ross has anything to do with it?"

Randall bristles at the question. Lyssa and Emmett both say, "No."

Randall says, "Calvin Ross is an honorable wolf. He had nothing to do with this." He looks around the hall. "Enough questions. Our Betas need their rest to heal."

The pack murmurs but the questions stop. Wade approaches the Betas.

"I see your injuries have progressed. How do you feel?"

"Sore," comes from both of them. Wade looks Emmett over and puts an ear to his back. "Breathe." Wade listens to Emmett's breathing. "Your ribs don't appear to be too badly broken. Good. Now, rest."

Lyssa takes her glass and raises it to her lips. "Ooowwww."

Wade turns to her. "What is it?"

"My shoulders hurt."

"Didn't you just pull the Beta out of the car?"

"Uh, yeah. Bent the door, too."

"And you hurt yourself doing that?"

Natalie walks up. "Ah, mate, you keep forgetting she was human, once."

"Oh. Yes. Of course, dear."

Natalie looks at them. "Rest. Both of you."