Aella

"Find me! Find me!"

Little Kyon shouts as I finally open my eyes, our game of hide and seek having gone on for about an hour now. We've been playing outside in the woods behind the pack house alone for almost the entire time, after I convinced Apollo that I'd be perfectly fine by myself while he went back to the training grounds. I know the territory like the back of my hand now, considering he's been exploring it with me for the past month after the first time he showed me around.

"Alright, here I come!"

I call out as I start my search for the little cutie, walking softly across the cold ground as I search for signs of his whereabouts. The snow is mostly gone now, but the air is still cold as it blows through the trees. Thankfully I'm wearing another one of Apollo's hoodies to keep warm, the fabric hanging past my hips.

The sound of soft giggling perks my attention to a large tree in front of me. I smile and creep towards it quietly, my powers picking up on the energy created by his tiny heartbeat. It's not technically cheating, since he has a stronger sense of smell and better hearing than me. So we're on equal ground.

I go to run a hand through my hair, only to remember that Apollo's mom put the long part of my hair that now hangs past my shoulders in a French braid this morning. She said she always wanted a daughter, but after three boys she put her foot down and hoped for a daughter in law and a granddaughter. When she realized that I didn't remember how to braid my hair, considering Zercon kept mine in a buzz cut for over ten years, she was more than delighted to teach and show me how.

"I wonder where he is? He such a good hider."

I call out to Kyon as I stop right in front of the tree he's hiding behind, grinning widely at the sound of his muffled laughter. Taking advantage of the fact he thinks I can't find him, I quickly jump around the tree and scoop him up in my arms, which makes him squeal in surprise as I begin an onslaught of tickling.

"I gotcha!"

"Noooo!" He cries out while laughing, and I laugh with him.

After a couple of minutes of teasing, I let him down so he can catch his breath. Just as I'm about to start a new game with him, the sound of a twig snapping makes us both snap to attention. I can suddenly feel the energy of multiple heartbeats, at least a dozen or so.

This isn't good.

"Kyon, what do you smell? Can you pick up a scent?"

He inhales deeply, tilting his little nose up into the air to take in the scents.

"Humans...lots of them. Too many."

My heart drops as the familiar sound of booted feet reaches my sensitive ears, and I stand quickly, pushing Kyon behind me instinctively.

"Kyon, go find your parents and big brothers. Tell them that we have unwelcome guests."

He tugs on my pants leg nervously. With neither of us having a mindlink, we can't really call out for help.

"What about you Ella?"

My eyes catch movement in the distance, and I look down at his dark brown eyes filled with worry. I am not letting them anywhere near him, I'll die first.

"I'll be okay. Just go, now. Run Kyon."

I look up to see the soldiers in the distance, and my heart begins speed up.

"But-"

"Run, now!"

I say loud enough for only him to hear, and he finally takes off running towards the house. I brace myself as they get closer, knowing they can see who I am. There's no point in using surprise to my advantage now, it's all full frontal assault.

They begin running towards me, guns up and ready to fire. I take off towards them in a dead sprint, the electricity crackling loudly around my hands. Less than ten feet from them, I launch myself in the air from a nearby boulder, jumping over them before letting a string of electricity loose at the ground in the middle of them. Effectively scattering the group from their formation.

I land on the ground and throw another jolt at the three closest soldiers, knocking them all unconscious before they hit the ground. I turn my attention to one running up behind me, tuning out the shouts of the others as I swipe a leg out and hit him in the knee before hitting him with a ball of energy that knocks him back a couple of feet as he falls.

Four down, eight to go.

Two more, one on my right and the other on my left, they aim their guns, and I move out of the way as they fire. The tranquilizer darts hit each other's arms, and they fall to the ground at its quick effect. Three more rush at me, and I take out two with one shot as one flies back into the other. The third goes for a shot only to have his gun forcefully misfired by me grabbing the metal barrel and sending a surge of electricity through it and him. He tremors from the shock and drops to the ground, and I swing the gun behind me to knock out a soldier trying to ambush me from behind.

I turn to face the last two, both of them beginning to circle around me slowly. I drop the useless device in my hand and wait for them to make a move, wanting to preserve my powers in case there are more of them.

Suddenly, one jumps forward, and I quickly respond with a close range shot to his chest. As he drops to the ground a stinging pain hits my side, a knife flying from the last one standing. I turn and hit him with an electrified uppercut, knocking him unconscious.

"Shit." I mutter as I press a hand to the wound on my side.

The blood is already seeping through the gray fabric, which means it's a deep cut. I apply pressure to it as I double check for anymore retrievers, relieved that there aren't any.

"Aella!"

The sound of Apollo's voice reaches me before the sound of footsteps does. And I turn to see his worried face as he sprints towards me, with Alpha Darin, Beta Coran, and Apollo's father just behind him.

"Are you alright love?" He asks worriedly as he hugs me to his chest before gazing down at my bloodied side, a growl rumbling from his chest as he sees the injury.

"You're hurt." He says angrily, no doubt at the men who hurt me.

"I'm fine, they got the worst of it."

I motion at the unconscious men on the ground, and he glares at them before returning his focus to me.

"Are these guys working with that bastard Zercon?" Coran asks as he removes the guns from their hands, Apollo's father helping as well.

"Yes. They're called the Retrievers. They're in charge of finding superhumans and recapturing any prisoners who escape the lab." I reply, grunting as I apply more pressure to the wound.

"I'm taking you to the pack doctor, you are bleeding too much."

As he begins walking me home, a flicker of movement behind Coran catches my eye. I pull from Apollo's hold and step forward hastily.

"Look out!!" I yell before firing a jolt of lightning at the soldier behind him, the crackling sound making Coran jump back as the bolt pierces through the retriever's heart...killing him immediately.

Everyone is silent as they stare at me, gazing wide eyed at the crackling energy around my hand. Then, a sudden dizziness and blurry vision sends me stumbling backwards, the blood loss finally getting to me.

"Come on, we need to go now." Apollo murmurs as he picks me up, cradling me in his arms as he begins running towards the pack house.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He almost skids into the infirmary, and the female doctor I've seen before jumps in surprise. Noticing the bloody sweatshirt and my no doubt pale expression, she jumps into action.

"Sit her down right here!" She orders as she immediately grabs a box of some kind, moving beside me as my anxious werewolf sits me down on the hospital bed.

She yanks off the sweatshirt as carefully as she can, following suit with the shirt under it that leaves me with just a sports bra covering my chest. This exposes the heavily bleeding cut on my right side, and it's just as deep as I thought.

As Dr. Anderson cleans the wound, Apollo sits beside me, running his hands up and down the length of my arm to soothe me. The sparks that dance across my skin ease any pain that I normally would've felt from having it cleaned and then stitched together, which was more than likely his reason for doing it.

"That should do it." She murmurs after wrapping an ace bandage around my waist to hold the cotton gauze over my stitches. She gets up to put her things back, but the sound of her slight intake of breath suddenly reminds me of what else is exposed.

My scars.

The marks that cover the entirety of my back, the faded pink lines are almost invisible to human eyes, but they are completely obvious to werewolf ones.

"Aella...what happened here?" She asks.

"What do you mean Sar-" Apollo starts as he goes to her, but pauses at the sight of my back. The feeling of his fingers brushing softly over an old burn mark makes me shiver, and the softest of whines escapes his throat.

"Sarah, could you give us a moment?"

She leaves without a word, shutting the door behind her, and the silence of the room is almost deafening. His hand moves down to scar I had gotten from whip that they used for beatings, the scar curved like a crescent moon.

"Aella...are these from...him?"

His forced question has anger in it, as if he already knows the answer and is pissed off about it.

"...yes." I answer quietly.

He doesn't say anything, but instead wraps his arms around me, pressing his face against my battered skin. The feeling of something warm and wet against my skin shocks me, and so does the slight sob that is muffled against my back.

He is...crying...

"I'm so sorry my love, I'm so sorry..."

"Apollo..." I murmur softly, the sting of tears reaching my own eyes. I've never seen, or heard, a man cry before...it pulls at my heart in a painful way.

"I promise you, you will never have to go through that again. Ever. I will make sure of it."

He presses his lips to my back softly, and the familiar sparks flair up across my skin again. I take advantage of his loosened hold to turn towards him on the bed, cupping his tear stained cheeks in my hands. I brush the tears away with my thumbs, his large hands holding my wrists.

"Do not cry darling, please." I whisper.

He closes his eyes for a moment, and when he opens them, a soft smile graces his lips.

"Could you say that again? Please?"

A slight blush appears on my cheeks, and he smiles wider, the tears starting to dissipate.

"Darling ..."

He's practically beaming now, and my blush darkens in embarrassment. Tears forgotten, he chuckles and presses his forehead to mine.

"I quite like it."

Staring into his eyes, a warm feeling radiates through my chest. Hesitantly, I lean forward, my lips pressing against his faintly as I close my eyes, listening to the purr like sound he makes in response.

His eyes are just as warm as I pull away, staring at me with that same intensity he had the first time we kissed. Stroking his jaw, the warm feeling returns, stronger and even more overwhelming...like his energy and mine are syncing, my magic almost singing.

Could this be...a Soul Resounding?

My mother always described it as what happened between a Magical Being and their soulmate. Their souls connect through the magic, and they become bound to each other as they share each other's gaze, tying them together forever...

This means...

"Apollo, I-"

He cups my cheek, and I can feel myself wavering. Is it really fair to do this? To tie myself to him when everything I've been running from is catching back up to me?

"Sweetheart, you can tell me anything."

I take in a deep breath, my mind a jumbled mess.

Zercon is back on my trail, his men have discovered where I've been hiding out. As much fun as I've had pretending that being his mate is my only concern, I can't pretend it away. Bonding with him like this is dangerous enough, but asking for more would be condemning him to my problems permanently...

"Sweetheart?"

But, I know that I'll never be able to separate from him, no matter how much I try. He's tied to me now, and a werewolf for Goddesses sake, the only separation for us now would be death. Besides, the best way to protect him now is to be fully bonded.

"Aella, please talk to me."

I sigh, looking at him as I make my decision.

"Mark me Apollo."