For Silence's Sae

Dear Readers,

Here is the penultimate chapter in the series. I should have the last bit posted soon.

Enjoy,

KemMyst

*****

Lyssa ran, taking the most direct route she could, thinking as she ran.

Back in their room, she threw some things in a bag and went to get Emmanuel. Her son was in the kitchen with the other pups, watching Hannah pull cookies from the oven. "C'mon, baby boy."

"Ooky!"

"Hannah, could we get a couple to go?"

"Of course, Madam Beta."

Emmaline edged closer to Emmanuel and his mama. Something was wrong. Emmanuel's mama was sad and mad.

"Air go, mama?"

"Would you like to see Lyria?"

He clapped and nodded. She set him on a hip and walked to the garage. "Paul, I want to start getting Em used to riding in a car. What's available?"

"The grey Prius."

He looked a little puzzled as he held out the keys. He didn't understand why she had a bag in her hands; a first trip shouldn't be that long. "Thank you, Paul."

She hurried to put the car seat in the back seat and strapped Emmanuel in. He squirmed. "You have to stay in the seat, Em."

Emmanuel whined and pulled at the straps.

Gabriela drove in as Lyssa slid into the driver's seat and started the car. Lyssa spent a couple anxious moments waiting for her to park, then pulled out. He could be back at any minute.

She felt relief as she left the gates of the den and turned, heading for the Severn den.

Emmanuel had squirmed out of the car seat and had worked his way to the front, and into his mother's lap. "Lyra?"

"A little while longer, Em."

As she closed on the entrance to the other pack's den, Lyssa called Joanna. Joanna's concern came through the speakers. "Lyssa? Lyssa, what did you do?"

Emmanuel squealed. "Jojo!"

"Can I stay with you for a little while?"

"The Alpha would never allow it. Lyssa, you've run away from the pack and taken the Beta's pup."

"My baby!"

"There'll be a war if I let you stay here. I wish... We can't let you stay here."

She heard another voice in the background. Male. Low. "No. Let her come."

Lyssa hung up the phone.

Think. Think. She couldn't go to Severn and she wasn't going home. Oh, damn, Severn would be looking for her.

She took a left, to get off the main roads. A lot of Severn pack were in the police force. They'd have the license plate and type of car she was driving. And cop cars. And guns.

Damn. Damn. Where could she go?

None of the packs would take them. Her house was gone. Even the house she and Joanna had been held in was gone. Her old friends? No. That would bring up a whole other set of problems.

The phone rang. Emmett. She ignored it.

The next time it rang it was Ariel. Again, she let it ring.

"Mama?"

Lyssa whimpered and sniffled. Where? Where?

And, then, something looked familiar. Wait, that was the gas station where she and Em had stopped. Hm.

Lyssa turned and headed for less populated areas.

The cabin where Emmett had taken her. She thought she knew where it was. She hadn't been driving but it had been snowy then, too. Lyssa took her time now, not wanting to get lost. She was happy to see the turn off into the National Forest. She thought she was far enough away now. Emmanuel was curled up in her lap.

She hoped the cabin was empty. If not, there were others nearby. It was Christmas. They shouldn't all be occupied.

--

Emmett was in a murderous rage.

His mate had run from the pack. And had taken his pup!

Erich and Randall were working out a plan to find them.

Joanna had reported the phone call. But Lyssa hadn't gone to Severn.

Severn wolves had been given instructions to make a discrete search for the car.

No one had been able to contact Lyssa. And, now, her cellphone was going straight to voicemail. It was probably turned off.

The First Beta was pacing around one of the meeting rooms. Ariel was trying to wrest information from him but it was difficult with all the snarling. The healers had been called up.

Emmett turned and lashed out as someone entered the room. Wade quickly interposed himself between his mate and the Beta's claws, shoving Natalie to one side. He took the full force of the blow across his upper arm and chest.

Natalie stumbled, going to one knee, trying to protect the pup in her belly.

Wade snarled, shifting to intermediate form, ready to battle the other male in order to protect his pregnant mate.

"EMMETT FORESTER. Stand down!" Emmett backed away, shaking his head. "Natalie, are you hurt?" Ariel helped her up as Wade, bleeding, stood guard.

Natalie got up, panting. "I think I'm OK. Mate, how bad is the wound?"

Growling, Wade ground out, "Not good."

[Thomas, Wade needs your skill with a needle.] "I'm sorry, healers, he is more volatile than I anticipated. See to your wound."

Emmett, breathing deeply and holding himself tensely, ground out, "I apologize."

Wade, normally very reserved, snarled at the First Beta.

Emmett trembled and his voice was thick with emotion. "Natalie, I'm sorry. I'm glad you're not hurt. I'm sorry I injured your mate without cause."

Ariel took the syringe Natalie had dropped and turned to Emmett as the healers left the room. She looked at him. "Can you calm down enough to discuss your recent interactions with your mate or do I have to call your Alpha in and have you sedated?"

Emmett shook, trying to attain a modicum of control. He ground his teeth and said, "I showed her the cottage and she got mad at me."

"What did she say, Emmett?"

"That I lied to her. That we all lied to her."

"About the cottage? About what you were dong?" Emmett nodded sharply. "She asked me what happened when a pair of wolves grew apart. That there wasn't any divorce."

"What? When?"

Ariel thought briefly. "Just after the last council meeting."

Emmett shuddered out his next breaths. "Joanna. Madeline. Natalie?"

Ariel pulled out her cellphone as Emmett threaded his fingers into his grey hair. "Why is she doing this? Where would she go?"

Ariel put a hand over the phone. "Emmett, do not start down that path again."

Emmett clenched his fists and blew out a breath as he tried to maintain control.

His mate had run.

Had taken his pup.

His nails began to lengthen.

He snarled at the prick of a needle and whirled. Ariel stood, leveling a stare at the Beta. "We need you calm and clear-headed. Think. Reason. Where would she go?"

Emmett howled his distress. "Joanna's. I don't know. There isn't anywhere."

--

She hadn't had much cash on her, so dinner was not lavish. Emmanuel kept asking about Jo and Lyria. Then, after a while, started asking when they were going home. He'd never been outside the den before and was rather cowed when she told him they'd be alone tonight.

She told him a story and, finally, finally, he went to sleep. She sat up. Tense. Nervous. Unable to sleep. Worried.

She hadn't slept without Em in, well, forever, It was quiet here. There was a low level of noise in the den she'd gotten used to.

Pulling the covers around Little Em, she slid out of the bed and padded to one of the windows. Hugging herself, she looked out. The landscape was a contrast of dark and light, dimly lit by a sliver of moon. It shone in a cloudless sky with a bright star beside it. Movement caught her eye. A doe walked quickly out of the trees, followed by a buck. Eight points, nose up, mouth open.

What was she going to do? Where could they go?

They couldn't stay here, not long, anyway. They'd need food and she hadn't had much in the way of cash in her purse. She didn't dare use her credit card. Well, once might be OK but, would they report her to the police?

Cash. Severn pack was closest. Could she get Joanna to bring her some? She didn't think so, not after Jo's reaction to her call.

Cameron? He had helped Emmett when they had run but Emmett was his Beta. Randall or Emmett had probably called and told him not to help. They overruled her.

Was there anyone else? She flipped her phone open.

--

"Stephanie?"

"She doesn't drive. She'd have to send someone. But, we'll put in a call to Ross."

"I don't know, Ariel. She's got no family," he caught himself when she arched an eyebrow at him, "no other family, her old house is gone, her human friends? From years ago? I can't imagine."

"Emmett, you're her mate. You know her better than anyone else."

"If that's true why is she gone? Why didn't I see this?" His skin took on a greyish tint as fur began to erupt.

The voice was low, cool, calm. "Emmett."

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

[Severn reports no sightings of the vehicle. She has not used her credit card and they can't pinpoint her cellphone.]

[Thank you, Erich.]

--

Right, there was no cellphone coverage here. She couldn't call, couldn't text, couldn't get to the internet.

And she couldn't get to the messages that were probably piling up, to either read or delete them.

Emmanuel whimpered and she moved back to check on her little boy. He was probably getting cold without his mother or the pups next to him. As she reached for the bedcovers, a movement outside the window drew her attention again. Four wolves whispered through the area beside the cabin, two larger, two smaller. Shadows on the hunt. Probably after the deer. The doe apparently hadn't caught during the rut and the buck would be distracted.

She wondered if one was the lone male from last time. If so, it looked like he had found a mate and started a pack of his own.

Could she survive, out there, as wolf? She had thought about it last time but, last time she would have been alone. This time she had Little Em. She'd have to hunt for both of them. She wouldn't be able to send to him, talk to him, probably wouldn't be able to keep him in wolf form. And, what if wolves or bears came after them? One she could probably hold off, maybe two, but a pack would probably kill them both.

Plus, she hadn't stayed wolven for more than a few hours before.

Nestled against her little boy she thought that she wasn't going to make it.

It hadn't been planned, so she hadn't been prepared. It was months before spring and wild babies and more prey. There was the option of hunting cabins. Breaking in and hoping there would be food in them. That, also, had its dangers. Moving constantly. Hoping they didn't run into humans. And the reports would undoubtedly bring the police.

And, as emotional exhaustion finally dragged her into sleep, she thought she was only delaying the inevitable.

She was trapped.

--

[Alpha?]

[Yes, Paul. What is it?]

[Ross has an idea on how we can find the Madam Beta.]

Randall looked at Erich. "Say nothing to Emmett unless we find something."

Erich, the Second Beta, dropped his gaze. "Of course, Alpha."

Emmett had gone back to pacing. He glanced briefly at Ariel, who was obviously getting information from someone.

"Emmett." He jerked and looked at her. "We have the location of the car."

He gaped. "They found her."

Red hair shifted as the Alpha female shook her head. "We don't know if they're nearby. They just know where the car is."

Emmett inhaled. "GPS."

"Ross reminded us of the capability. It's in the National Forest." His eyes went wide with recognition. The cabin. Ariel asked, "Who shall we take?"

Emmett thought furiously. "You. Anna. Erich. Alex." A breath. "Thomas."

"The time we went after you, she shot Joanna. Does she have the gun?"

Emmett turned and headed for their suite.

Paul had the two vehicles prepped, ready to carry seven werewolves on a retrieval mission. As Emmett joined the others, Ariel looked at him and he shook his head.

Randall said, "We will bring our pack members back to us. Lyssa is not armed with a weapon, but you are all aware of her capability. Do not rush in at her and be careful of the pup. Our best bet, with the Beta female, is not to startle her, or try to take her by force, but to talk to her."

Anna and Thomas looked a bit confused as to their roles but climbed in as Randall took the wheel of one vehicle and Erich, the other.

--

Lyssa yawned and stretched and Little Em yawned and scratched an ear. Small dark eyes opened and he looked around. Mama looked tired and not happy. "Daddy?"

She exhaled, feeling her son's yearning for father and home. "Not yet, sweetie."

Emmanuel looked at her and mumbled, "K." in a dissatisfied way.

As she moved to the kitchen area, Emmanuel went to the door. "Ouh!"

She walked over, looking down at the dark pup. He wasn't a fuzzy little thing anymore and was approaching his first birthday. "Don't go far. Stay close to the cabin."

Emmanuel yipped and skittered. She opened the door and out he went.

Lyssa made some toast and cooked four eggs. She set them out with two glasses of milk then went to call her son in.

She moved a chair so that it faced the door, then opened it and, not seeing her pup nearby, called out, "Emmanuel, come in now!"

He came around the corner with a pine cone in his mouth. She noticed he had marked a corner of the cabin. He changed and put out his arms. As Lyssa picked him up, Emmanuel declared, "Woofs."

"Yes, sweetie," she said, as she turned. "I saw them last night."

"New woofs."

"Yes, they are."

His face tipped up to look at her as she sat in a chair with him in her lap. "Fends?"

"No, they're not friends."

He looked at the plate. "Doan wann geggs."

"It's all we have, sweetie." At the den, there was an assortment of items to choose from at every meal.

"Wann home. Wann Daddy."

"I know, Em. Here. Eat. Please?"

The sun was full up when Lyssa plunked herself down in the chair. She'd coaxed Emmanuel into eating something, though it wasn't much. She'd cleaned up and turned to see her baby playing with the pine cone.

It wasn't much longer that she saw figures approaching the cabin. No one sent to her as they assembled in front of the door.

There was a minute of silence, of anticipation. She knew they were trying to figure out what to do.

[She knows we're here.]

[She has to.]

[Maybe we should send to her.]

[But she already know we're here.]

Anna had been grilled during the trip, since she had also originally been human, and she had given them some idea of the interactions of human couples and the concept of divorce. Ariel had conveyed Lyssa's mention of couples splitting in the case of illness or of the death of a child. These ideas were foreign to mated wolves.

She finally got sick of the current discussion, grasped the knob, and turned it.

Lyssa was startled to see Anna framed in the doorway. She'd expected to see the males come in first.

The Wyeth wolves were surprised to see Lyssa sitting calmly in a chair, albeit looking rather small and frightened.

Emmanuel looked up at the wash of familiar scents and headed for his father. The others moved aside to allow the reunion and Emmett swept up his son.

Lyssa made no move, said nothing. But she watched as, without a word, the others turned and left. She wondered what the discussion had been, how he had convinced them to just turn around and leave instead of grabbing her and hauling her back.

Emmett, holding his son, took two steps into the cabin and swung the door shut behind him. Emmanuel scampered off.

Emmett crouched and regarded his mate.

She sat, silently, worrying a seam on the chair's arm. It didn't take long for tears to begin sliding down her cheeks.

Emmett lasted all of 30 seconds.

He moved closer to her, as close as he could manage without touching her. It took all his restraint.

Lips trembling, she finally looked at him. "Why didn't you just tell me?"

"Sweetheart, you need to explain this to me. I don't know what you think I did that was so wrong. I was trying to surprise you with something I thought you'd like."

"I wasn't feeling very good and you made it worse."

"By building the cottage?"

"No, idiot, by disappearing."

"But, I had to..." Emmett ran a hand through his grey hair. "Start from the beginning cuz that isn't helping me." He gently put a hand on her knee and watched her face. Quietly, he asked, "Was it the pup?" She pursed her lips and the tears fell faster. "Emmanuel's deafness? The council?"

Emmanuel came over and nosed his father and yapped at him, wanting to play. "In a bit, pup, I need to talk to your mama." Emmanuel whined and slunk off.

"All of it, then? Tell me about the council."

"They all blame me. Like it's my fault someone brought up same sex mating. Like I can do something about it."

"We could get someone else to lead it."

"No!"

Emmett closed his eyes, would he ever understand her? He'd never heard of a female werewolf thinking in such a convoluted manner. "OK. OK. So, it's just the pressure right now?" She nodded. "It's likely to happen for some other subject."

"I know."

"OK, then. Um, Emmanuel. I know, Lys. It's a shock. Finding out he's, he's..."

"Different?" Emmett inclined his head. It was as good a word as any. "I think it could be my fault."

"You said something like that before. But you didn't do anything, I mean, you weren't sick or anything while you were pregnant. How do you figure it might be your fault?"

"The yelling I did."

Yelling? Oh, her sending. She was strong, loud, and was able to send for quite a distance. And they had tested her range at knocking people down. The test. Could it be true? Was it possible? Could it have hurt the pup in her belly? Luna, you could drive yourself crazy thinking of that. And there was no way to know. "The tests we wanted you to do."

Lyssa inhaled, exhaled. "OK. Maybe it's your fault."

"Sweetheart, we have no way of knowing if that had anything to do with it. But I was glad to find out you didn't kill Michael Ross."

Her eyes narrowed and she looked at him. "What do you mean?"

Uh oh.

Emmett swallowed. "The night he died I felt the kind of pressure I associate with one of your strong sends. When I heard he was dead, I wondered if you might have killed him in your sleep."

"Did you tell anyone what you thought?"

"I had to tell Randall." She glared at him. "It could have affected the pack."

"What else haven't you told me?"

"Um." Emmett wracked his brain. "Nothing. I think."

"You think?"

"I can't think of anything. I won't remember without some kind of reminder."

She looked at him for a couple of minutes. "I've been feeling shitty for weeks, I, I lose our baby, and you're never around."

"I stayed with you for a couple of days after. And you know why I was gone. I was building your surprise. Something that I hoped would help you feel better."

Emmanuel crawled into his mother's lap. "I'd have felt better, sooner, if you'd have told me."

Emmett blinked. He took one of her hands in both of his. "Dear heart, I never thought of it that way."

--

Alex was confused. They hadn't brought Lyssa and her pup back with them. In fact, they'd left the entire family there. [I thought we were bringing them home.]

Erich answered. [Emmett needs to talk to her. It's better they do it away from pack ears. She won't feel trapped and they can have it all out. He'll bring them back.]

Alex let out a big breath. [Are you sure?]

Erich briefly took his eyes off the road, to look at Alex.

[I'm glad we found them so quickly, Ran. The longer it would be allowed to fester, the worse it would have been.]

[She tries my patience, mate. Anna has never been this much trouble. We, none of us, I think, had any idea of what we were in for.]

Ariel ran her fingers down his arm, laid her hand on his thigh. She smiled at the twitch of his muscles. [She thinks differently. That will be extremely helpful when the humans learn of our existence.]

The phone rang. "Joanna. We need to tell Severn we found them. ... Hello, Jo. We found them..."