River & Christian: Amber Eyes Series 5

Chapter Four

-Christian POV- 

‘Are you done?’ I ask.

‘Let me be.’ 

I chuckle. Cyprian finishes prancing around in the mud and we walk for another minute. We arrive at the creek near our packhouse and we drink from it.  

‘I like stormy days.’ Cyprian says. 

‘You mean the mud-’ I abruptly stop when we catch a strange scent.  

‘Cyprian... what is that?’ I ask.

‘A rogue?... but... smells different.’ He says tilting his head sideways. 

‘It’s hard to make out because of the rain but now I can hear something is coming this way.’ He says. 

The minute he says that a small wolf runs past the creek opposite from us and behind it, we catch a glimpse of three men running after the wolf, their scent hits me.  

‘Vampires!’ 

We run in the same direction but we are still on the opposite side. We know there is a way to the other side up ahead. We run as fast as we can and we reach the crossing where there are rocks above the water. We cross and when we reach the other side, a curling scream reaches our ears. We rush and get to a slope where we see one of the vampires on top of the rogue while the rogue whines obviously in pain.  

It pisses me off seeing this. (Since when have vampires started attacking rogues?) 

‘These fuckers are in our territory!’ Cyprian growls out. 

I growl as loud as I can, letting my anger out and take full control. 

They all stop and look at us. I start to walk forward and I catch the scent again. 

‘This rogue smells different.’ I say. 

The vampire pushes the rogue to the ground and he whimpers in pain, then starts shifting. 

“This isn't your business... Alpha!” The vampire says. 

‘f*****g Vampires!!’ Cyprian is pissed. 

I don’t stop and continues to walk towards them. The rogue shifts back to human form but it is completely covered in mud. 

The vampire puts a hand on the rogue's neck from the back. “Come any closer and I will kill her.” 

I immediately stop.  

‘Her?’ 

I look at the small figure under him.  

‘Hu?... It is a female.’ Cyprian says. 

The small rogue growls lowly and thrashes under the vampire. The vampire shifts his attention to the rogue and I rush in. I jump on him and wrap my jaws around his neck. I easily take his head off.  

I look at the other vampires ready to give them a warning but one of them is already rushing the girl. I rush back towards the vampire but he hits her first and she rolls through the ground. I bite the vampire from the back of the neck and quickly break it. I quickly look at the other vampire but he is already running away. 

I’d chase after him but my attention is on the little girl. I look back and she starts to get up. She seems a little wobbly. I am about to shift to help her but then she looks back at me and takes me by surprise. Amber eyes peer into my eyes.  

‘Another one.’ Cyprian says. 

She then crawls back and growls at me. 

That kind of annoys both Cyprian and I.

‘We can’t have that.’ Cyprian says. 

I growl lowly at her and she quickly whimpers and curls up in her arms. 

‘s**t! Now we scared her.’ I say.

I internally sigh. I shift as quickly as I can and stay kneeling so that I don’t expose myself to the kid. 

“I won’t hurt you.” I say. I stay in my spot so I don’t scare her. She is completely covered in mud but I can see she has short hair. 

She looks at me and I give her a smile. She seems to relax a little and she comes out a bit. 

That’s when I realize... she is small but her body is not of a child. As I stare at her, I realize that she is about my age and now I panic. 

‘Crap! Where do I look? She is naked in front of me.’ I look away.

Cyprian just chuckles at my panicking state. 

“... Uh... um... what is your name.” I ask. 

I can feel her staring at me for a few seconds before she answers in a small sweet voice. “River.” 

“River.” I whisper back. 

She stays quiet. 

I glimpse at her. “I am Christian.” I say.  

She looks at me still weary but gives me a nod. 

“Are you... a rogue?” I ask.

She looks at me like she doesn’t know how to answer that. 

“I... I guess I am.” She says and that confuses me. 

“Are you alone?” I ask her. 

She nods slowly. 

(A young female rogue won’t make it on her own out here... but why were vampires after her?) 

“Why, where they after you?” I ask. 

‘She is hurt, dummy. We should take her back to the pack.’ Cyprian says. 

“s**t!” I say out loud scaring her. 

I put my hand up. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry...” 

“You are hurt?” I ask seeing her clutch her shoulder and she nods. I see her ankle has a bruise too. 

“Can I check your ankle?” I ask her. She thinks it over and then nods. 

She moves her leg towards me and I carefully grab her foot. My fingers brush over the purple color looking skin. She flinches a little. 

“I don’t think it’s broken.” I say and look up at her. She is staring at me with a puzzled expression. I take a glimpse at her shoulder and I already notice it is broken. It will heal fast because of her age but it needs to be set in place first. 

 I gently put her foot down. “I’ll take you back to my pack and have a doctor look at you.” 

“A doctor?! No, no doctor!” She almost shouts. 

“Okay. Okay, No doctor. What about some food and maybe clothes?” When I say clothes, I remember that she is naked and I have to look away because my eyes automatically avert to her body. Even though she is completely covered in mud, I can still make out the outlines of her body. 

I look back at her and she looks like she is thinking it over.  

“I promise we won’t hurt you.” I say. 

She then nods slowly. “Okay.” 

I give her a smile and then I think for a minute. “Okay. I’ll shift and you can ride on my back.” 

She nods agreeing and we do just that. 

She holds on to me tight as I sprint out.  I can’t deny that I am well aware of the warmth of her body and her legs wrapped around me. It’s the first time that anyone has ever ridden on my back like this. 

I feel guilty. This girl needs help but my body is having other ideas.  

The sun is already setting and after a few minutes, we make it to the packhouse. On the edge of the woods, I tell her to wait there for me so I can go and get her something to cover up. 

I put some pants on and when I get back to her, I put a blanket over her shoulder.  

I give her a smile. “Follow me.” I say. 

She walks slowly behind me so I slide to her side. She looks at the packhouse as if it was the first time seeing one. And maybe it is. 

Pack members stop in their tracks when they see her. They are shocked. I mean this girl right now looks like she came out of a swamp. She doesn’t smell bad though. Her scent puzzles me. 

Once inside, I immediately take her to Marco’s office. I walk in with her behind me.  

“Are you done with your run?” Marco asks still looking at his papers. 

“Yea... and I found a little surprise.” I say. 

He doesn’t look up until he smells her scent. His face scrunches in confusion when he looks our way. 

“What?...” He whispers. 

“This is River. Three vampires were attacking her in our territory.” I say.

He gets up and walks over to her but this scares her and she hides behind me. One of her hands holds my arm as if looking for comfort and safety. I stay there unmoving, not wanting to scare her too. 

Marco stops and takes a step back. 

“River. Hello, I am Marco.” He says with a soft voice.

She glances from behind me. “Hi.” Her voice is small and shy.

“She’s hurt but...” I say before he suggests taking her to Daniel. “She doesn’t like doctors.” 

I give him a pointed look and he understands.  

Marco puts a hand on his chin thinking and mumbles. “Okay... then how about the healer.” 

I glimpse back at her. “Is that okay?” I ask.

She stares at me as she still holds my arm and nods. “Okay.” 

“Good, follow me. I’ll take you to a room and Daniel... the healer will come and see you.” He says and gives a signal to one of the warriors to call Daniel. 

She looks at Marco and then looks at me panicking. She then wraps her hand around my arm looking scared. 

This makes me also panic and look at Marco. He lifts an eyebrow up looking between us and gives a small smirk.  

“Don’t worry River. Your shining knight will come too.” He says and she seems to relax at that. 

(I don’t mind going but does he really have to call me that?) 

We walk up the stairs and into one of the guest rooms.  

“You can stay here tonight. You’ll be safe.” Marco says but she doesn't leave my side.  

“After the do-… healer checks you, you can take a nice warm bath. We’ll get you some clothes and then you can eat.” 

She nods but stays where she is. Thankfully, Daniel arrives and so does a pack member with clean clothes. 

Marco grabs the clothes and then speaks to Daniel telling him to be gentle since she is scared. I then help her over to the love seat where I sit with her.  

Daniel walks up to us. “Hello, I am Daniel... the healer.” He sounds irritated when he says those last words and Marco silently laughs. 

He checks her shoulder. “It is broken but it is already healing. We just need to align it so it heals properly.” He says. 

I hold her other hand while Daniel puts her shoulder in place. She grunts in pain but he does it quickly. 

“There. All done. Now...” He looks her over. “Are you hurt anywhere else? With all the mud I can’t really tell.” 

“Her ankle.” I say. 

He kneels down and takes a look. “It is a little bruised up but it’s fine.” He says. "It's going to heal fast."

After he leaves, I take her to the bathroom. I put the clothes on the counter and start the shower for her.  

“We’ll be right outside.” I say and that’s when she finally lets me go. 

“Thank you.” She says as I walk out. 

When she closes the door, I turn to Marco who starts pacing a little. 

“Tell me what exactly happened.” He says. 

I tell him everything that happened. 

“Her scent is completely different. I mean I can smell the rogue but there is something else as well.” 

"Do you think she is Rowan's too?" I ask him.

"Most likely but I'll have Daniel give her a DNA test to make sure." He says.

"What do you make out of all of this?" He asks me.

I shake my head. "I don't really know. This is just... strange."

After a few more minutes, we hear her finishing her shower and the food also arrives.  

I set up the food and then the door opens and out comes a completely different person.  

‘... blond.’ Cyprian says taken back. 

A girl with bright blond hair and fair beautiful skin walks out.  

I am silently looking at this beautiful girl without knowing what to say. Both me and Marco are shocked. She is small, around five four and is on the skinny side but she is very pretty. 

Marco clears his throat. “You must be tired. Your food is right here. River, you are safe here so please rest well. We’ll all talk tomorrow.” He says walking out the door. 

I give her a smile. “He’s right. I promise you are safe.” 

She gives me a small smile and nods. “Thank you.” 

I nod. “I’ll come back for the tray and to check on you.” 

I leave her to have some time to herself. 

I go to the kitchen and pace a little thinking of everything that happened. 

'I never thought we’d be finding a young girl in the woods today.' I say to Cyprian.

'And a pretty one at that.' He says.

I nod agreeing.

After an hour, I go back up to her room. She doesn’t answer the door but I want to make sure she is okay so I open it. I can see the tray of food is empty but I don’t see her anywhere. 

‘She is still here. Her scent is strong.’ Cyprian says. 

I follow the scent and find her under the table cuddled up on the floor with a blanket over her.  

I don’t know what to make of this. I kneel down and stare at her. I am intrigued by her. 

‘She is cute.’ Cyprian says and I can’t argue with him on that. 

I sigh. I pick her up and she must really be tired because she doesn’t stir at all. I put her on the bed and put a blanket over her.  

“I hope you feel better tomorrow.” I whisper.