Split in Time Ch. 14

Author's note: All characters and companies mentioned in this story have no existence outside the imagination of the author, and have no relation whatsoever to anyone or anything bearing the same name or names. Events portrayed in this story are pure invention and have not been based on any events that have happen in real life. All the characters involved in any sexual acts if their ages are not mentioned beforehand; are over 18 years of age. Enjoy.

Hi everyone

Here you go the second last chapter of Split in Time, I hope you enjoy it. However I am probably going to get a heap of angry emails about the end of this chapter, I am warning you beforehand that yes there is a cliff hanger at the end of this chapter. I will not say sorry, it was just the perfect place to end the chapter. But it's still isn't going to stop you being angry.

My editor and I are almost finished editing chapter 15 (which is the reason why I didn't post this chapter sooner.) I will submit that chapter as soon as it is done.

Thanks goes as normal to my editor, she rocks.

Have fun

Chapter 14

The merks had entered the settlement around midmorning and ordered everyone out of their homes. They searched every room making sure no one was hiding. "She's sick," Michel said when they came across Ashley.

"Everyone out," the man demanded and pulled the blanket from Ashley exposing her bound leg. He didn't ask what happened to her leg, he just dragged Ashley from the bed using her hair to control her. Once they were outside Ashley was thrown to the ground, jarring her wounds, she stifled the cry of pain as she lay huddled on the hard cold ground. She didn't move, she just stayed down and tried to make herself small. She shivered in both fear and cold as she wasn't dressed to be outside.

"It was a mountain lion..." Michel stated watching Ashley intently, "I killed it myself, it didn't turn human so it was a true lion not a Were."

"Shut up." The leader growled and slammed the butt of his rifle into Michel's stomach. Michel curled over and was shoved onto his side. "We can't take the risk." He glanced around the villagers were watching intently. "We don't know if Were haven't figured out a way to hide that they are Were when they die. She could turn and kill you all." He said, rationalising why he was going to kill Ashley although he knew someone was going to die today, to cow the group and make them easier to manipulate.

Michel glanced around trying not to be noticed, hoping beyond hope that Amy would come, that the pack would come and protect them.

"We found these..." A new group of merks said as they walked Piper and the children forward. They held baskets in which had the foraged items they had found on the way here. Piper was glad they had picked more of the special plants which masked Were scent and covered the more important bottles of cough syrup Ghan had taught Eva to make.

"Why were you out in the forest?" The leader asked.

"Foraging..." Piper said as she limped over to hug a little girl in her group who was shaking, the cold made her leg ache in a way like no other.

"What were you foraging?" The leader asked.

"Some plants that the herb woman said would help ease coughs, she also stitched Ashley up before she moved on." Piper said firmly mixing fact and lie together to weave a believable story.

"Do you know which way she went?" The leader asked seriously, as people who knew plant medicine were becoming more important now that they were down to the last of the pharmaceuticals.

Piper shook her head, "left in the middle of the night."

"Piper?" A man said as he approached a little hesitantly.

Piper tensed as she came face to face with her brother, shit... she thought to herself, she was fucked and not only that but the whole village now was fucked because of her. She didn't answer, she didn't know how to, did she pretend or did she acknowledge.

"I was told..." He began before he realised what he had done, not only to his sister but to the people of this village, he had consigned them all to death. His sister for being alive when everyone knew the caravan she was in was attacked by Were, and the entire village would be slaughtered for harbouring her.

"You were killed." the leader said lifting his gun. "By Were." He finished as he cocked his gun, he was going to kill her before she had a chance to blurt out that it was humans who had attacked her caravan. The village was tainted, they would know what happened to Piper and he could not allow her or them to tell her story to his team and more so to his second, her brother. The villagers were going to be killed.

Piper closed her eyes, waiting for death and hoped that the pack would get here soon enough to protect the children.

"NO." Jasper, Piper's brother, said.

Piper jumped as a gun fired, her eyes snapped open to watch the man who had been pointing a gun at her turn to Jasper, stunned, and then fell to the ground. Jasper lifted his gun and glanced at the others in the team, wondering which would lift their gun to kill him.

No one moved, no one dared to, the only sound to break the silence was the rhythmic sound of air passing over wings, a sound which only got louder with each passing moment. When the sound was too loud to be ignored, people started to look for its source. Sage swooped and landed on a roof followed closely by Tarval, Dominic, Gabrielle and Michelle. While everyone stared at them it gave the pack time to filter in and take their positions.

"Jasper don't..." Piper told her brother, "they won't hurt you, if you don't give them a reason to."

It was only then that Jasper noticed the new people, he didn't know where they had come from or what their intentions were but they had placed themselves before the villagers, protecting them.

Sage jumped down and went to start disarming the merks.

"Leave them..." Amy said as she walked over to Piper, the cubs reacted instinctively and raced at Amy. Amy knelt and let them hug her and get comfort from the fact that the pack's Alpha pair were there.

Sage handed back the gun she had already taken and stepped back, the man she had taken the gun from just watched her confused. She had rearmed him, given him possible means of killing her.

Keira approached and gestured for the cubs to come to her and free up Amy. Keira let them cling to her, they had done as their instincts had told them, they had stayed still until they were safe and now they were. The Alphas were here as were the Betas who guided their group and a whole heap of strong warriors.

"How did that happen?" Amy asked as she pointed at the dead body.

"He was going to kill me." Piper answered. "My brother Jasper killed him instead."

"And so now we have a Mexican standoff." Amy stated. "How about everyone just relax, we aren't going to hurt you. We just want to talk."

"You're Were." A young man said as he trembled, his gun was still up, he was terrified.

Amy nodded, "Were or Non-human, but we don't want to hurt you."

"Bull shit... you started this." He argued.

Amy went to speak but Piper was suddenly before her. "Really... I'm not so sure..."

"Shut up Were." He spat as he levelled his gun at Piper.

"I'm not Were... I'm human..." Piper stated firmly.

"You're just saying that." He denied, "we all heard the report, that your caravan was attacked by Were and that all were found dead, that the bodies were buried..."

"The bodies... were burned as per Were tradition." Piper corrected. "But the caravan wasn't attacked by Were." She waited but the man said nothing. "I was there, I lived through it, do you want to hear what happened, what really happened. Not what was glorified?" Again she waited but everyone was hanging on her words.

"Firstly you should know why we left..." Piper said beginning her story.

"To start a new village... that's what they told me." Jasper slid in.

Piper shook her head. "No... every person in that caravan had had enough of being used and abused by the hierarchy and small minded arseholes. I wanted to fall in love, be with one man not used as a whore, constantly pregnant and giving birth, meat for the grinder. We left, we moved as fast as we could but it wasn't fast enough, we were caught in an ambush. For a few moments we thought it was Were, right up until I saw the claws were made from steel, and costumes made from badly matched hides. Humans... merks... they killed almost everyone, and left me and Heather to die in a snowstorm."

Piper glanced around meeting eyes letting them see the truth of her words. She could see people wavering and some had even dropped their guns in disgust. "My leg was crushed by a truck, a snow storm was coming. That's when I saw my first Were, I didn't see her until she accidentally stepped on me and I groaned. She was as white as the snow, her black markings helped to blend her in. I blacked out and the next thing I knew I was being manhandled into a sled by a naked woman. When I woke again I was in a bed, I was warm, at first I was scared but I wasn't in pain. Then a woman walked in and gave me the biggest meal I had ever seen, stew, bread and pie."

Piper went pensive for a moment, "it wasn't until the next day that I learnt just how badly my leg was broken. It was shattered in many places. If I was with merks, they would have cut it off."

"She did beg for it to be cut off, but then Amy came and fixed it, it feels the cold but Eva says that will pass." Keira added.

Piper smiled at Keira, "that's the woman who saved me." she glanced back to the merks, "she didn't have to, but then what would have happened to her had two Were not seen a child left to die in a terror raid, that's what Were call what the merks did to my caravan. Had it not been for Were she wouldn't be here today, and I would be dead." She took a deep breath, "I don't know if they started the war... frankly I don't care anymore who started this, but they are trying to stop this, they are trying to help the people who the merks are hurting."

Piper walked over to Ashley who had been helped to her feet and draped in a blanket to keep warm. "Look at these people, until the pack intervened they were hungry because merks took all their food. Ashley was attacked by a true mountain lion, the pack have given her the medicine she needs to recover. They are here protecting this group because it was the right thing to do. Not because they want something from this village, they aren't offering handouts, but hand ups. They are here teaching these people to be independent, how to live instead of just how to survive."

"You don't live here?" Jasper asked.

Piper shook her head. "My loyalty is to my pack and my Alphas, I may be human, I may not fully grasp the significance of my choice but it is simply that... my choice. I choose them, not because I feel safe with them but because with them I am free to choose, I am free to choose if I want to stay, if I want children, if I want to pick a life partner, what I want to do with my life." She took a deep breath, "knowing this freedom, I wish never to lose it and I wish that same kind of freedom for everyone."

Amy glanced around, many were shivering. "Melanie, perhaps we should all go inside where it's warm." Amy suggested.

Melanie nodded and wondered for a moment if there was enough food to feed everyone.

"Bastion take some men to the nearest couple of dens and steal their stews." Amy ordered and added mentally, just go into the forest for about half an hour I'll make sleds of food appear near you.

Bastion nodded and picked people at random and ran off as the others slowly started to make their way to the communal hall. Those who had put down their guns picked them up and removed the magazines then leant them on the wall or ground before entering the hall, those who hadn't just followed the others.

Jasper lingered as Piper turned to Amy. "I'm sorry... I didn't mean to interrupt you..."

Amy just smiled, "doesn't matter, besides what you said had a far greater impact than anything I was going to say. They knew you, if only through stories Jasper would have told them about you, better to hear something from someone they think they know than from a complete stranger." she clapped Piper on the shoulder, "you did good." She finished and got a bright smile from Piper.

Jasper approached his sister and hugged her, Piper hugged him back for several moments before she released him. "Jasper this is one of my Alphas and the woman who saved my leg."

Amy grinned at Jasper and offered her hand for a shake, he took her hand and shook it firmly without hesitation. "Thank you for helping my sister."

Amy shrugged, "it is the way of the pack Jasper, we always help each other."

Piper smiled as Keira approached, "and this is Keira, she is the woman who rescued me." Keira offered her hand for a shake, what she got was a big hug.

"Thank you a million times over." He told her when he finally let her take her feet.

Keira shrugged as she grinned, "it was the right thing to do, my parents did the same with me, they found me and saved me, that's why I couldn't leave them." She explained, "come on let's head in."

Wolfgang scooped up Ashley, "Crystal, go tell the den to stand down, and get Eva, I think Ashley's torn out some of her stitches." Crystal nodded and was suddenly gone. Wolfgang turned and took Ashley inside, Japer, Piper, Amy and Keira followed. Ghan took several men to gather more wood to get the heat up. Ashley was sat near the fire where the heat would do her good.

Wolfgang rubbed her arms to help warm her. "Better?" He asked and Ashley shrugged.

"I can't feel my toes." She admitted.

Wolfgang went to call out but suddenly felt a tug on his arm, he glanced down and was met with Thais. Ashley blinked in shock as she could have sworn the little boy wasn't there a moment ago.

"I can warm her feet." Thais said before suddenly there was a wolf in his place who was neither black nor grey but some weird kind of roan, where he was grey at one angle but black in another. Thais wrapped his body around Ashley's feet, his coat was thick, warm and would easily warm her feet up slowly and safely.

Wolfgang smiled at his son, surprised at his control, it took years to master the right way to shift as smoothly as Thais just had, in fact he couldn't shift that easily at twenty. "This is Thais, my son." He said introducing the wolf who had just wrapped around her feet. "You wouldn't believe it looking at him in wolf form but he is only five yet he looks half grown, he will however, be over five times larger than he is now."

"Really?" Ashley said surprised.

Wolfgang nodded, "comes with being immortal, we can be two, three, even four times bigger than normal Were." He glanced over at the merks who sat together and who sat warily.

Ash walked in having got the ok from Crystal to go in before she raced to get Eva. He walked over to Amy as he unwrapped his thick scarf from his neck, "I passed Bastion and the others, he was muttering about not having enough people for the food offered." He told her before he sat.

Amy chuckled, she may have gone a little overboard with the food but she wanted the merks to be well fed as most looked just shy of skin and bones.

"I offered to help, he told me to and I quote... fuck off and get Ghan to send more people. I told Ghan before coming in here, he sent a few of the men gathering wood to help him." Ash added.

"Don't let Bastion's manner fool you, he was touched by the offer, however as our fosterling you shouldn't in his mind be doing work that others without the training Wolfgang is providing you, can do." Amy explained.

Ash shrugged, "beta training doesn't make me a beta, besides what kind of person would I be if I let people do something I was more than capable of doing for myself?"

Amy smiled, "that attitude will make you a great beta."

Ash frowned, "Sammy wants to start enforcer training as soon as possible, she wants to train me to eventually replace her as Head Enforcer." He watched Amy for several moments, "but you already knew that." he surmised.

Amy nodded, "we'll talk later." She told him as Bastion walked in, he glared at Amy for a moment before he wedged the door open and the food came in, it was almost a constant stream of food, large pots of stew, baskets full of bread, wheels of cheese. Pies for desert were taken to the kitchen to be kept warm. Bastion supervised the serving once he closed the door. The cheese was cut up into quarters and spread evenly around the tables, the bread rolls were also divided and placed around the tables.

One by one everyone went up to get a big bowl of stew, Bastion made sure everyone got generous helpings. Jasper paused when he saw Ash, "Ash?"

Ash smiled a little and nodded. "Hi Jasper."

"We were told you and all your friends bolted in a fight and your leader was killed in the attack." Jasper said as other merks gathered around.

"Haven't you learnt... that they lie... that they have always lied." Ash said to those who were gathered around him. "For starters Leader Mead... had his neck broken, I was going to shoot him but Amy broke his neck. She then offered us more than the Merks ever have, she offered us homes, food, safety and families, granted all the families are Were but... they don't want us to fight... far from it, they just want us to be kids."

"You know they had plans for you right?" Jasper said, "they were going to let you into the high command."

Ash nodded, "and my new family have plans for me too that are along the same lines but that will happen later, when I am a man to pack standards. Until then I am a cub and they have rules and laws which deal with how cubs are to be treated. Putting them in harm's way, making them fight and kill not in defence... big no no. They accept that things happen and if we fight to defend ourselves so be it but they won't put us in harm's way deliberately." He explained.

Ash snorted, "in most ways the pack is more protective of its young than it is over its territory." He added.

"So you've what... rejected your race simply because..." A spiteful man started to say.

Jasper turned and jerked the bowl out of the other man's hand. "They could have killed us Rowen, they haven't taken our weapons or tied us up, instead they are feeding us, and not just thin gruel either, real food and by the looks of it lots of it." He thrust the bowl back into Rowen's hands. "Listen to everything without bias, there is a room full of people who have chosen to be friends with Were, they must have reasons. Listen to them before you condemn them."

"You just want to protect your sister..." Rowen said angrily.

"Maybe... but I also want to protect these people..." Jasper said honestly. Rowen stormed off to eat in peace.

"What's his problem?" Ash asked.

Jasper sighed, "his sister was out collecting wood, she's vanished." He explained.

"Do you know her name?" Amy asked.

"Miley." he answered.

Amy glanced off, as her mind sent out a request. Wolfgang was surprised that Amy's mind could cover a decent chunk of their territory. She sent out a general request for information.

I have her. A timid female voice answered.

Your mate? Amy asked.

Yes.

Amy stood. "Excuse me I have something to do." She walked out as her mind locked on the timid woman who'd just responded. Is Miley beside you? She asked.

Yes. She said a little confused.

Hold onto her, Amy instructed. I am going to will you here. She added, everyone by now knew that their Alpha female as Ancient and had some interesting powers. Amy focused, she hadn't done anything like this before, oh she had willed people she knew from one place to another but never two people she had never met, but she didn't let the fact she had never done it stop her.