His Prowl

Part 20

Chapter 20

Sydney glanced at the two as they ran into the woods and winced.  This was not going to be good.  She knew from her brother that when a shifter was pregnant, their mates were overbearing.  They couldn’t handle it if their mate was out of sight, and as soon as Sebastian found out that Ally was gone, he would go crazy.

“You think she’ll be okay?”

She glanced over at Isaac who had a worried expression on his face as he gazed into the woods.  Sydney frowned at him.  The man had only met the Leopard Queen for a few minutes, what could have happened to instill this sense of protectiveness he displayed.  “She’ll be fine,” Sydney mumbled.  “She is used to fighting all her battles alone.  Being pregnant isn’t going to change anything.”

“She has a large belly that gets in the way.  Plus, it makes her weaker.  People can point out what her weakness is and go after it.”

“Isaac,” she said while glancing towards the woods herself.  “Maybe we should follow after them.”

“You think?” he replied sarcastically. 

Sydney ignored the tone he was using and nodded.  “We may not be part of her group, we may be lions, but I still don’t think the two of them are safe in those woods alone.”

Isaac didn’t reply to her as he took off towards the woods.  His steps were quiet, and Sydney knew she should follow in his lead.  This wasn’t a time to see who could outdo who; this was a time to protect one of their allies.  They had an agreement, and no matter how much Sydney wanted to turn her back on it, she had to follow through.  She had to find Ally and Blake.  She had to protect their backs.

Branches snapped to their left, but she didn’t have to turn to identify the intruder; by the scent, it was just a deer.  She ran further into the woods, following in Isaac’s footsteps, but the smell of deer stayed with her.  No matter how fast she ran or how far she got from the animal, she could still smell it.

Halting, she watched as Isaac ran through the woods, disappearing from sight.  Her eyes scanned the nearby trees.  Something was wrong, the air felt wrong, the birds were not as loud as usual.  Something did not sit over well with her.  She saw nothing though, there was no shifter hiding in the woods, no enemy waiting for her to let her guard down.  Still, she smelt the deer.

Was this some kind of magic?  Was someone playing mind tricks on her?  Her brother, Leo, had magic, but she had none.  To her, magic was foreign.  She did not know how it felt or what it looked like.  Even though it had been used on her only days before, she still could not identify it. 

Shaking her head, she dismissed her thoughts.  She was being paranoid; she was letting her mind run wild.  Taking a step forward, she wished she would have trusted her instincts as a large white form landed in front of her.  The leopard growled low in its throat, barred its teeth, and then took a step back.

Maybe she should have paid more attention when her brother was dealing with other species, because she had no idea what the thing was saying.  She motioned with her hands.  “I’m looking for Alexandria.  She may be in trouble, and I don’t want her out her alone.”

Its head tilted sideways as if it were listening to her every word.  Without warning, it spun, giving her its back.  Taking off running into the forest, it paused when she did not follow. 

“You want me to come with you?”

It nodded, but she still hesitated.  What if she followed it into a trap?  What if this was just a plan to start a war between the species?  What if the leopard was just trying to take her to Ally?  Taking a deep breath, she made her decision.  Running after the leopard, she followed it as it ran through the forest. 

Soon, they were standing in an open plain.  It was not as large as some she had seen, but this one was more interesting.  In the middle, Ally stood there.  Shifters were attacking her from all angles, but she blocked them.  She did not attempt to fight back, nor did she move an inch.  Sydney glanced around for Blake and found him nowhere.  Glancing back at the group, Sydney watched as a shifter came behind Ally with a knife.

Before she could even think of what she was doing, Sydney jumped forward.  Grabbing the knife from the white haired man, she used its momentum to swing it away from Ally and into his chest.  With wide eyes, the man fell to the grassy floor.  Instead of the fight she expected, Sydney was met with total silence as the man laid there with blood flowing from his chest.

She glanced over her shoulder, only to see tears running down Ally’s face.  Dropping to her knees, the Leopard Queen gripped the handle of the knife and pulled.  The weapon freed itself easily, but the action caused more blood to flow from the wound. 

“Do not die on me, Jones.  I promise you that if you die, I’ll tell Jasmine.”

“What did I do?” Sydney whispered.

Ally glanced up at her.  Instead of the anger she expected, all she saw was sadness in the woman’s eyes.  “You stabbed one of my guards.”

“He was going to kill you.”

“No,” Ally said while shaking her head.  “We were sparring.  He was teaching me how to block until someone could come along and do the fighting for me.  It’s something Zeke has been making me do.”

Sydney dropped down to her knees beside the two.  Placing her hand on the man’s cut; she pushed down, attempting to keep the blood in his chest.  “I didn’t mean too.”

“I know,” Ally whispered.  “I don’t blame you, but you know what it looks like.  I’m sorry, Sydney, but if you can’t find someone to save him, we may have a war on our hands.  You stabbed one of my men.  Not only was he part of my personal guard, but he’s also mated.  If nothing else, his mate will challenge you.  I don’t want more dead people on my hands.”

Sydney looked down at the innocent blood on her hands and nodded.  “I’ll go get help.”  She stood, reading to run towards the woods.  Shock kept her from feeling anything, but she knew that once it wore off, the guilt would hit her.

“Sydney,” Ally called out, making her hesitate and look back.  Ally sent her a tiny smile.  “I told Seb.  He’ll help you, but you have to be quick, okay?  You got his heart.  Shifters can heal almost anything, but I don’t want to take any chances.  Find a snow leopard with enough magic to bring him back.”

Sydney nodded before taking off through the woods.  No matter how hard Ally tried to make the situation seem minor, Sydney knew that this could be a problem.  She could have started a war, because she didn’t do what her brother always told her to do, stop and think.