Asher's POV

After I made my bold, and possibly stupid, declaration, Alpha Logan, and Samara huddle together in front of me with their heads close together. They seem to be arguing, but I can't hear what they are saying even though they are only about ten feet away. Suddenly the alpha jerks back.

"We are under attack!" He shouts. His expression clears after a moment and he says in a much calmer voice. "It's just the girl. The warriors will stop her. Nothing to worry about."

I snort out a quiet laugh before quickly clearing my face. They don't know my girl. I've watched her train. Ivy can take on any of the warriors in her pack. I always love watching her kick their tails, sometimes four or five at a time, and that is in human form. In wolf form, she is lethal grace. The way she easily outmaneuvers her opponents before bringing them down is particularly amusing because while she is large for a wolf compared to the ones in the wild, she is significantly smaller than the male wolves. So sleek and deadly. In training though, it is really no more than a game. So, that this man thinks my mate can't demolish his pack knowing that they have me is hilarious.

The calm demeanor of the Alpha evaporates when we hear a loud crash from upstairs followed by a furious roar. I didn't even know wolves could make that sound. Soon after, we hear series of screams, whines, banging, and snarls. The sudden silence is unnerving.

"You should really try to run. Maybe if you get away, Ivy won't come after you." I whisper teasingly. There is no way she will let them go. I don't think they are even capable of moving now anyway. They seem to be frozen in place, staring wide-eyed at the door behind me. When I hear the click of claws coming closer, I add, "Too late."

The door slams into the wall as it is violently pushed open. My captors still don't move however when I hear the stairs creak as Ivy slowly descends. When she suddenly flies over my head to stand in front of me, the sight of her covered in blood has me worried. I really hope none of it is hers.

Alpha Logan finally unfreezes and I shake my head as he begs for his life. I almost laugh when Samara starts blaming him for this because she was the one who had taken me. Ivy is clearly in no mood to listen to them though, so as she lunges at them I close my eyes. I might understand that this is necessary in the world of shifters, but that doesn't mean I want to watch my fiance do the terrifying things I know are coming, especially being as the sound of it almost has me puking. Gah, it sounds gruesome. When it is silent again, I open my eyes. Two bodies are on the floor, but they are almost completely destroyed. That isn't what shocks me though.

My eyes widen as Ivy turns and I catch sight of her eyes. They are a strange green color, and they are emanating a slight glow. "Ivy, baby, what happened to your eyes?" I ask her worriedly. She lowers her head before closing her eyes. I think I've upset her until she looks back up to me. Her eyes are back to the beautiful, slightly darker blue of her wolf form. "Ok, that's better. Are you hurt?"

I watch as Ivy walks around behind my chair until I can't see her. Then I hear the tell-tale sounds of her shifting. When it is over, I hear her walking closer before feeling her fingers working on the rope tying my hands.

"No, I'm fine. Just a few scratches and bites but my shift healed most of them. The important question is, Are you ok? DId they hurt you very badly?" She rushes out.

"Well I still feel a bit fuzzy from the hit that knocked me out, and my eye hurts like a son of a baptist preacher, but all in all I am fine." I reassure her. "Thank you for coming for me."

"I'll always come for you, you know that." She says as she finally releases my hands. "Ok, I'm going to finish untying you and then I'm going to go to that bathroom over there and rinse all of this filth off of me. When I am done, I'll shift back and I want you to get on my back. I want to get you out of here. Um.... and when we get upstairs... you might want to keep your eyes closed. It isn't pretty."

I gulp. If she is concerned about me seeing, it must be worse than what she did down here. She releases my feet and I wait until I hear a door close before turning around to notice the door in the corner of the room that I hadn't been able to see before. I hear the water start just as the thunderous sound of footsteps echoes through the house, heading in this direction. I panic, thinking that Alpha Logan must have had back up, and now they are going to kill us. Fortunately, I am able to relax when the first wolf descends the stairs and I recognize Keegan. I try to keep my eyes from lowering when he shifts and comes towards me. I swear I will never get used to these people running around naked all the time.

"Where is Ivy?" He asks quickly.

"She's in there," I say while tilting my head towards the bathroom. " She wanted to clean up."

"She scared the bejeezus out of me. We were following her but she was too fast. I swear I thought she was going to get herself killed. I know she is strong but there were at least twenty wolves here." Keegan tells me as he shakes his head. " Oh well, at least I don't have to worry about these idiots anymore. I had thought that if they just took a little time to think, they would realize what a mistake it would be to continue to provoke our pack."

" She said she is fine. But...", I hesitate,"when she got here, her eyes were weird. Like glowing and a strange shade of green. Is that something I should worry about?" I ask him.

"Not really. It just means that she merged her consciosness with Emersyn's. It is something that we only ever do in dire situations where we need more strength or speed. We try not to abuse this power by using it all the time because it can make us a bit power hungry. It doesn't make us invincible, but we feel like we are. I've only ever done it once when our pack went against another. I was seriously injured and if I hadn't combined myself with Aidan I would have been killed. So as long as it isn't something she starts doing all the time, there is no cause for concern." Keegan explains. When we hear the water shut off in the bathroom, he walks over and softly taps on the door. "Hey killer, are you ok in there?"

I hear a sigh before she says, "Yeah, it's about time you guys got here. Since I've taken care of the real issue, how about you and the others burn this place to the ground for me? I promised Emersyn nothing but ash and I would appreciate you helping me deliver."

"Will do, baby sister, will do. The others are gathering up the remains from outside as we speak." He says with a chuckle.

"Ok, well I'm going to shift and take Asher back with me. I'll see you when you get home." Ivy tells him before I hear the first popping sounds of her shift.

When the sounds die down, Keegan opens the door. Ivy walks straight to me and I drop down to hug her allowing her to nuzzle my neck. When I stand back up, I watch as Ivy's blue eyes shift to Emersyn's golden brown. That's when she lunges forward and starts rubbing herself all over my legs and hips, apparently needing me to smell like her. I laugh as she continues for several minutes before stepping back and letting Ivy regain control. When Ivy lowers herself slightly, I very carefully straddle her back and wrap my arms around her neck. I'm worried for a moment because she is not a horse. She is only about the size of a Great Dane, and I know from experience that you aren't allowed to ride those. Don't ask. My worry vanishes when she raises up, easily lifting me off of my feet.

"Are you sure I'm not too heavy for this?" I ask.

She just huffs at me so I stop questioning her. I consider that I probably could have at least walked out of the house on my own feet until I remember what she said and everything I heard from upstairs. Deciding that this is for the best, I lift my knees to squeeze her sides and tighten my hold on her neck.

"See you back at the house." Keegan says with a salute as Ivy turns to leave.

I nod at him before Ivy starts to ascend the stairs. I feel like I might fall off as I'm suddenly tilted, but I feel better once she reaches the top. When we get through the doorway, I bury my face in her neck. She is right, I have no desire to see what destruction has been done on this level. She seems to be taking careful steps as she makes her way through the house. I almost look up when the night breeze ruffles my hair, but I decide to wait a bit longer because I can only assume that the yard isn't any better than the house as far a being gruesome goes.

When Ivy starts to pick up speed and I think we are far enough away from the house, I lift my head. I accidentally squeeze her too tightly when I see how quickly the trees are flying past. Ivy lets out a strangled grunt causing me to immediately loosen my grip. She huffs before turning her head back and rolling her eyes at me.

"Sorry, but please keep your eyes on the road!" I practically squeal at her. I am not proud of the sound that came from me, but maybe she didn't notice. The snort I hear from her dispells that illusion, but thankfully she turns her head back in the direction we are going.

By the time we make it back to the pack house, I am stiff and sore and my head is feeling even more woozy than before so I stumble as she lowers herself to the ground allowing me to climb off. It's so good to be back on solid ground.