Tangled Roots

Chapter 1

Liz ran, she ran for her life, but they kept coming, her breath came in gasps now, her lungs were burning. They were relentless fueled by the blood of her father they could taste hers. Tears blinded her eyes, her legs were spent, her heart broken. Why had they turned on her, why had her own clan so viciously attacked. Her father wasn’t much of a father, but he had given his life to give her the chance to run and she had, she had run for days, but they had finally found her. Now she felt the pressure in her chest as though her heart would burst.

She staggered and caught hold of a low hanging vine, she was spent, all her strength was gone. So, this was it at eighteen her miserable life would end. She had always been an outcast, always looked down on and made fun of, and she handled that. One day she planned to leave but it hadn’t been soon enough, they came for her and her father fought, he wasn’t strong, and she only had moments to get away. He lay in a pool of blood; it was the first time she had wept for him and when they found she had fled they began tracking her.

Now three days later and they had finally caught up with her, she had used every evasive trick in the book but each one only bought a little time. There were so many of them they soon had her scent and now they would finally catch her. She stared at the first two that came at her from under her long red hair, her head hung low as she gasped for breath. One snatch at her, his sharp fangs slicing a gash in one arm.

She stood her ground, two more wolves appeared, yellow eyes gleaming. Another snatched at her leg, but she had caught her breath somewhat and was quicker kicking him in the teeth, He growled low, gnashing his teeth at her. Liz braced herself for the attack. ‘Hold’ a voice said in their heads, it was Beta Justin. ‘You were told to hold her; Alpha Lance wants this kill.’

Again, Liz searched her mind, ‘What had she done that the new Alpha wanted her blood? It made no sense.’ Her body was tense waiting for the end. Liz was taller than most women, almost as tall as Alpha Lance himself. She wondered if her mother had been tall, she didn’t remember much about her, just the love in her eyes. Her deep blue eyes. Hers were green, her father’s brown, she wondered why hers were different.

The waiting was taking its toll on her, she wondered why she had never changed, why she had no wolf. If she had maybe she would have had someone to be with her in her times of despair, of loneliness. Her life seemed one long string of failures and disappointments. With no wolf to help her she failed at everything, except her voice, that they couldn’t take from her, until now.

A massive black wolf shouldered his way through the pack surrounding the victim. He was beautiful Liz gave him that, he was also angry, spoiled, and abusive. At twenty-four he should have mated and begun his family. He never found one he wanted, or the one fated for him, his mother had tried to pair him up with some of the top bitches, but he rejected them all. Maybe that is why he was so insufferably nasty all the time, he wasn’t getting laid.

‘I told you to hold why is there blood?’ The leader snarled at the others. His anger was typical and most knew their place. One slinked back knowing he would receive a lashing for that taste of the victim before the Alpha had his.

She stared into his huge, golden eyes, they weren’t yellow, they were gold, and they made her heart melt. ‘I am going to die by the teeth of a wolf that makes my heart quiver in my chest. Imagine that.’ She said to herself. Lance’s wolf was named Lassiter and he hesitated staring into her eyes they held him, and he didn’t know why.

Suddenly a flutter of wings and with a soft hoot a small owl landed on a branch above Liz’s head. All the wolves backed up a step. Lassiter shifted his weight from one foot to the other, her eyes had stopped him and now an owl. He stared at the tiny creature. The small round eyes blinked at him from the large white circles. It bobbed its head and hooted softly again then ruffled his feathers. Liz sank to her knees, she knew what an owl meant, what she couldn’t fathom was why this one had protected her.

Lassiter lashed out at the others, ‘LEAVE’ he screamed in mind link. Beta Justin hesitated, ‘Go’ Lassiter said softer, Justin was his only true friend. Justin turned and left obeying his superior. ‘I don’t know what mystical power this is, but I don’t like it.’ Lassiter said. Lance shifted into human form. He stood tall, he was at least two inches taller than Liz and built like a rock mountain, layer upon layer of solid muscle, he had a tattoo of a black panther that wrapped around one arm and a diamond back on the other. His shiny black hair slipped over one very blue eye that seemed to be trying to bore through her. She dropped her eyes in submission but quickly looked back up, she had seen the dark mass of hair in middle of his chest at times, and the trail that always disappeared into his tight-fitting jeans. Now it snaked a path directly into the dark forest of hair that surrounded his very impressive manhood.

He caught her gaze again and once more he was held by a power beyond his understanding. He knew that with the owl’s protection and this invisible force he could not harm her. Confusion raged between them. He remembered his mother’s orders and he knew that any other the others that came across her would never hesitate to kill her. Without a wolf she was defenseless he knew that. He argued with himself. His wolf argued with him.

He calmed somewhat, having made a decision. “I cannot go against powers above me.” He declared he knew his mother was going to be furious, but he didn’t care right now. His mother often did things against protocol and this time he could not appease her. She had never actually given him a reason for killing this girl and for her to be protected by the spirits he decided her reason was not enough.

Liz sat motionless her body having recovered some from the flight. Lance leaned towards her; the owl fluttered its wings. “I cannot hang about protecting you. I have no mate and no prospects so that be damned . . . I can do this.” He grabbed her shoulders and Liz submitted to his iron grip. For a brief moment Liz thought he was going to tear her throat out instead he grabbed her hair and yanked her head to one side. When he put his lips to her bare neck, she felt a surge through her body it was almost electric. He tasted her and then raked his canines across her soft skin. He drew back.

She stared at him still clinging to the vines on either side, her knuckles white from the grip she had. Once more he stared into her eyes, his were still cold and menacing but the hatred had gone and the murder that had consumed him from three days ago. “You have my mark now and no other will touch you.” He let go and it was like cold water poured on a hot fire. She sizzled and quivered all over. She then sank lower fixing her eyes on the ground. His imposing hulk withdrew, and he turned away, a huge black wolf disappeared into the darkness.

Elizabeth Scarlett of the clan of the Rising Moon had been marked by the Alpha of the same clan. She slowly sank to the ground, and the tiny owl fluttered away. Liz touched her finger to the drops of blood that trickled from the shallow slices from his teeth. She touched the blood to her tongue, and it tasted like honey.

Liz grabbed her knees and huddled under the bayberry bush and wept. She would never find a mate with the Alpha’s mark on her. No one would touch her now. Rising Moon was the most powerful clan in all of three states. She was well and truly fated to be alone.

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Lassiter argued with Lance all the way home and when he got there Lance insisted they go to the barn. Once more restored to his human form Lance dressed and found his favorite corner and dug out a bottle of very fine Merlot. He sulked. The killing of Darrron Scarlett was necessary, his mother had said, and killing his daughter would finalize things. Lance had not listened closely before. She had not given him a valid reason for the killing just like she had not told him what had actually happened to his father. He began to wonder at his mother’s motives and reality seeped in, he was nothing but a figurehead, not really in charge. He let her tell him what to do, when to do it and how. Justin had been right all along.

He thought about the encounter with Elizabeth, he began to realize he had protected her but also doomed her to a solitary life. He asked himself just how he justified making that decision without a second thought. Angry now, he threw the glass of wine in his hand and watched the red trail down the wall. It reminded him of the blood on the barn wall when they killed Scarlett. It somehow felt wrong now. He thought back on Liz’s reaction to him, it was like everyone else, submission, and yet he didn’t remember seeing fear. No, she did not fear him, that was new. He laid back in the hay and drifted off to sleep. He needed sleep he decided.