Ami

Chapter 16 End, Manos Saves the Day

Ty was about damn tired of getting hit with needles and darts. He was once again locked in the cell with guards on the inside was well as the outside patrolling the perimeter. The lion that had come in with a tray a food for Ty the previous evening had been taken to the infirmary on the Pride Grounds. Ty had not seriously injured the lion but he knew from now on the he would be more cautious of a captive playing possum.

Last night Ty had been enraged now he as just furious. He didn’t know if Ami had awakened and wanted desperately to know if she was alright. Seeing her like that, a small shell of the person she was put a lot of things into perspective for him. He knew he had to fight Roman to keep his pride, but he wondered to himself, would letting the pride go be such a bad idea. Thinking of Ami, the sacrifice she had taken onto her own shoulders had really made him think about the life she that would have with him. Could he really subject her to his own pride? He wanted to say yes, that he would do it because he was Pride Leader and he was not about to give her up on anyone’s accord. He suddenly realized that just a couple of days ago he had called her selfish, but wasn’t he now doing the same thing she had been doing? Of course, it was only human nature to think of resolutions to ones issues that best satisfied all areas but he couldn’t well do that because now that she was in his life Ty presumed that she would need to be considered as well.

But what the hell could I do? Throw the fight? Ty thought. His beast balked at the idea. Lions were natural killers it was a fact. They couldn’t go too long without killing something for them to survive. And Ty’s beast was no better. It had been too long since Ty had shifted and let his beast exercise his control. Now thinking on it, the fight last night had been just a warm up session for the fight that was to come. In the past Ty had never been one to worry about a coming challenge but today was a different.

&

Slowly sipping the water that Mattea offered. Ami tried to wrap her head around what had actually gone on while she was away. “And he did what?”

“He attacked Samil,” Mattea said with as much hurt as she had pain. She couldn’t believe that Ami had put herself in so much danger. But knowing that it was all planned by Samil and the Elders and quite possibly the rest of the Augustine Pride, she could see the cause for the risk.

Jackson, Ami’s father, looked relieved yet still tired. He was done with the Augustine Pride, possibly the entire were-lion race. He knew he shouldn’t fault the entire race because of what one pride had done to his family, but as long as the present Elders had rule of the Were-Lion Community then he would not be apart of their world. While Ami was unconscious a wide range of emotion played inside him. He knew he would never get the image of his daughter body floating in mid air or the scream that was wrenched from her. He’d have started to cry all over again if not for his daughter quietly staring at him from the couch she had managed to sit up on.

“Dad?” She asked, wanting to know if he was alright.

“Ami. My Yammy-Ami,” he said with tears in his eyes, referring to her original nickname. When she had begun to talk she couldn’t pronounce her name so she began simply calling herself yammy-ami, so her father shortened it to Ami, and it caught on. No one knew about these little things between him and her, because it was just them and he wanted it to be that way until the day he died. Never, did he dream that it would have been his daughter’s death that would have end their close relationship so soon. He stood and crossed the room as Ami stood as well and they embraced each other. Ami laying her head on her father’s shoulders trying hard not to break down completely. “Daddy I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay. I understand now,” He said trying to hold back his tears. He wanted to appear strong, even if he didn’t feel like he was.

Pulling back from each other, Jackson said, “Sweetie, we need to go.”