I couldn’t stop myself. I knew what my mother and uncle Nik intended to do. In some respects I even knew that it was the right thing to do, but I couldn't let them. My beloved might be a monster that needs to die but he is my beloved. I can't possibly let anyone harm him. I needed to stop them before they took my beloved’s life away. I never wanted to do anything but take care of my family and now when I needed them more than I ever have, I felt like they were turning their back on me. Desperate times call for desperate measures. I had to make sure that I could get my beloved out of here.
I was going to have to knock out my mom and Uncle Nik before they realized my intentions. I was very careful to use as little force as necessary to incapacitate them. It didn’t take much, just a small tap at the base of their necks. I looked down at their unconscious bodies and was consumed by guilt. I looked around and started to panic that an unfriendly would find them and hurt them while they were unconscious. I hated that I'd felt forced to do this. I looked at my beloved and could see his breath was still coming in labored gasps. I ran my hand across his hair stubble face. I opened and peered down my beloved’s throat to see if he had started to heal even a little. I didn’t think he looked like he was healing, but unlike my sister Leona I am not a doctor.
I cringed again thinking about what I was doing. I wasn’t just taking my beloved. I was taking the Bastet Leo that was responsible for violating Rena. I was doing something that would hurt my family. None of them would understand or support me. I was going against my entire family. By not ending his life I was effectively cutting myself off from the rest of my family. I was born one of seven children to a hybrid wolf-vampire and an alpha Lycan wolf. We had a happy childhood and were a close family. Three of my siblings were pure Lycan wolves; Nathan, Natalie and Noah. Four of us were born hybrids Me, Leona, Linda and our brother Liam. Nathan, Natalie and Noah all died so young. They had a normal wolf’s lifespan of about one hundred and fifty years then they grew old and died in less than two hundred years. When my siblings died my mom, dad and even my uncle Nik started falling apart. We were torn by grief and had become despondent and life had become a challenge. Parents shouldn’t outlive their children they said. I agreed.
I became the family matriarch. I pushed myself into situations and forced my family to heal and move past our loss. When my father died several hundred years later, I again took the lead and helped my mom; siblings and my uncle find the better things in life. I have always embraced life and made sure that everyone remembered to look on the bright side. I realized my mom and uncle Nik were starting to come around and I also knew that it was time for me to start running. Thank god I was a strong hybrid. I picked up my beloved and tossed him over my shoulder. I actually groaned at his weight. He had to be a solid two hundred and fifty pounds of pure muscle. I looked back at my mom and uncle Nik and felt a tear slide down my cheek at the thought of having to do this on my own.
I need and want my family to help me now, but we are on opposite sides of a very dangerous river. The Bastet Leo is my beloved; I can’t let him die without having some type of closure. Hell, if he is going to die it will be at my hands or not at all. I had to get him away and give myself some time to sort this all out in my head. I was so confused and just needed a little time. I ran at my top speed which was just over a hundred and ten miles per hour towards the private airstrip that I had parked the rented jet in. I'd flown commercial to England then rented a private jet to fly into Africa. I used the private plan so that I would go unnoticed by the locals. I'd wanted to keep a very low profile so that the kidnappers were unaware of my presence. Now the jet would help me in a different way. I could fly back to England under the radar then smuggle my beloved out from there.
I would never have thought when this all started that this is how I would be leaving Africa. Just few hours ago, my only thoughts were how I could help my nephew Micah find and rescue his kidnapped babies. Now, I find my beloved and he's wrapped up in this whole mess. The really sad part is, now I wouldn't be able to help recover the innocent little cubs. They deserved to have so many champions. I was sure however that even without my help the rest of my family would be able to recover them. To some degree it was better that I didn’t see the cubs. After all, my beloved is their birth father and his part in their conception wasn't something to be proud of.
Thinking about how my beloved was responsible for harming Rena got me all worked up again. Why would he force himself on a woman? Any woman! My beloved was hands down the best looking man I had ever laid eyes on. I would think women would trip over themselves to fall at his feet with desire for him. Why in god’s name did he do it? I could recall how beautiful he was even on the videos I saw earlier this month. When I first came to Africa I managed to get videos of both Jeremy and Grier. Of course at the time I knew Grier was the man that was keeping Jeremy hostage, I just didn’t know Jeremy was my beloved. Even then however, I could remember thinking about how Jeremy has the brightest green eyes I've ever seen. His face is and was pure perfection! He has such wonderful and attractive bone structure and chiseled chin. With his looks and absolutely perfect body no sane woman would have denied Jeremy if he just used a little charm.
I found myself slowing and needed to push the thoughts out of my mind and concentrate on getting to the airfield. Besides, I wasn’t going to find the answers now, and I needed to get out of Africa. I was going to go to my little safe haven and just keep him out of the way until I was ready. Ready for what was the question? I just didn't know what I thought I was going to do with him. My beloved Jeremy was the Leo that was blood bonded to my nephews mate Rena and that bond needed to be severed. To my knowledge Jeremy would need to die for that to happen and I wasn’t ready to let that happen. Right now I felt damned if I did and damned if I didn’t. I saw the jet and breathed a sigh of relief. Just a few more minutes and I would be headed out of Africa.
I climbed in the cockpit with my beloved still hanging over my shoulder. I strapped Jeremy’s limp body into the co-pilot seat and ran through all the checks for takeoff. I could feel Jeremy starting to regain consciousness so I reached in and used my powers to calm him enough to go back into a deep sleep. I talked to the tower and managed to get cleared for takeoff. My flight path would take me into Spain and from there I would have to take a commercial flight back to Canada. Then I could rent a small plane and fly us into my sanctuary. I would need to walk the final length of the journey. The part that sunk was I would have to do it with my unconscious and very heavy Bastet beloved dangling over my shoulder.
Just ten minutes into the flight I knew that what I didn’t know about Bastet was probably going to get him or I killed. Who would have thought that Bastet where no good at being in airplanes. Micah told me they chose to take cargo planes but he failed to tell me that it was because Bastet shift in midair. Thank god I was the only person on the private jet when Jeremy shifted from a gorgeous male into a huge tiger. Now I was trapped in a very small cockpit with a very large tiger. The only good thing was that the tiger was still in a deep healing sleep. Keeping him that way however, was taking every bit of my mental manipulation powers to keep him that way. Now that I knew Jeremy would be unable to fly commercial without shifting I was going to have to change my plans. No way could we fly commercial back to Canada. I took a deep breath and tried not to panic. I wasn’t sure that I could possibly do this on my own. I was going to need help. I just wasn't sure who I could trust to be my ally.