Oh For Mates Sake
Chapter 50

I could hear the muffled sounds of fighting above me growing fainter as it moved away. I stared at the hole above me until I couldn't hear the sounds anymore. I didn't want to keep calling out to Sion and distracting him. I had to find a way out of here. "Stilts, do you know the way out?" I turned and listened as the little man chuckled at me.

"I am not a walking map."

I glanced around, assessing the area. It was all dirt and stone with three paths. I guess I would just have to choose one and hope for the best. I had just started walking towards the middle path when I could hear the soft sound of footsteps approaching. I froze as the sound got closer. I glanced over at Stilts only to find the little bastard was no where to be seen again. I was beginning to wonder what his purpose even was.

The sounds got closer, and I took up a fighting stance, ready to shift if I needed to.

A moment later, a young woman appeared from the tunnel running her fingers through her blonde-colored hair. Her blue eyes lifted up and met with mine. For a moment, she stood there looking at me before a crooked grin reached her l!ps.

"Air shaft?" She said quickly and raised her brows. "Did you fall through the air shaft too?" I nodded my head slowly and she started to laugh. "Thank goodness I am not the only one that sort of thing happens to. I mean, one minute I was talking with my cousin and the next down I went." The girl bounded up to me and then leaned forward, bending her neck to look in my face.

"My name is Gia, what is your name?"

Her blue eyes were piercing into mine with such a vibrant intensity, but she seemed very friendly.

"It is Clover" I said and she smiled brightly at me.

"Well, Clover, I know that path leads to nowhere," She pointed behind her as she looked at the other openings. "So, let's hope one of these two leads to the way out.

Knowing my cousin, he is probably about to give himself a hernia destroying things trying to get to me. Men... as if us Women aren't capable." She giggled and I smiled back at her. I liked this woman. She wasn't suspicious or cautious of me at all. Which told me she was confident in her fighting skills and that she didn't deem me as a threat.

"What pack are you from?" I noticed her trying to smell for my scent as I shrugged and furrowed my brows.

"It is a bit complicated. I am, I guess, in between packs right now. It is a long story.

How about yourself?" I knew I recognized the scent but couldn't quite place it.

"The Diamond pack. My cousin went out on a mission, and I decided to tag along. Well.. without telling him until he was far enough away." She gave me a sheepish grin. "I left my parents a note. The funny thing is I came to be of assistance to my cousin and I gave him more work now."

She began to giggle as I stared at her. She was from the Diamond pack, that was who we needed to talk to.

"I was actually on my way to speak with someone from the Diamond pack..."

She instantly stopped laughing and her eyes became serious. "I had spoken with the Beta of the Diamond pack Sam before and"

"That is my uncle.. I can take you back to the Diamond pack with me once we find our way out." I paused and glanced up at the hole above us.

"I am with others. We ran into Seekers... a band of rogue werewolves. I fell into the hole, and I could hear the fighting. I need to find them and-"

"Well, woman, what are you waiting for? We can talk and run at the same time.

Standing here talking isn't going to get to them faster." Gia said as she began to trot towards one of the tunnels. "It is a guess either way." She said, pausing for a moment before choosing the one in the middle. "Well, keep up. You must prove the men wrong. We are capable badass women who can kickass and find our way out of a mine." She then turned to look at me. "You can fight, right? You aren't one of those prefer not to fight type of woman, are you?"

I laughed as I raced along beside her. "I used to be the Delta of my pack before I left."

"Yes, atta girl!" Gia grinned over at me.

"Aiden has yet to choose a future delta... that is, the future Alpha King of the Diamond pack. Maybe I should put my bid in on the position." She glanced over at me, and I could see her looking at the mark on my neck. "You have a mate? How is it?" "He is perfect for me." I looked over at her and she smiled. I could feel my cheeks heat up slightly, but she was looking straight ahead again.

"I feel like I am related to most of the stronger wolves in my pack." She laughed and shrugged. "I haven't found my mate yet, but I hope when I do find him, he is strong and confident... and maybe someone who absolutely adores and swoons over me. That isn't a tall order, right?" This was how my Sion was. He was strong, confident, and doted on me completely. "And hopefully not too possessive or overly protective. Like my cousin..." She said in annoyance.

"I'm sure your perfect partner is out there somewhere." I watched as she grinned, looking at me.

"I'm sure he is out there. I am just curious if he will come already trained or not. Although, according to my mother, my father was completely different after they discovered they were mates. She said he suddenly became everything she ever wanted in an instant." Gia's eyes focused forward and she moved her hand out protectively in front of me as we both stopped. I watched as her expression changed and her eyes glazed over. Her arm dropped back to her side as she let out a sigh. "Well, show yourself already?" I watched as a tall, muscular young man stepped into view. He had sandy colored hair as well as deep brown eyes that were focused on me. He stared at me for a moment longer before he looked back at Gia.

"We need to hurry; she has pack members fighting against rogues." Gia clicked her tongue as he shook his head.

"No, there is some weird beast up there fighting. I have never seen the likes of it before and we aren't going anywhere near it."

"That is my Sion," I said, looking at him anxiously. He looked at me cautiously and then arched his brow. "That weird monster wolf is with you?"

He then shrugged. "Then you don't have anything to worry about. He is destroying everything up there."

"You aren't mated to a werewolf?" Gia asked, looking at me.

"It's a long story..." I paused, remembering that the prince and princess of the Diamond pack were lycans. "He was a lycan.. but because of a deity he is another creature called a lupine." They both accepted this answer with ease. Which told me one of two things. One, they were very easy-going wolves, or two, t hey had experience with weird things like this before.

"In either case, whatever he is, he is fine." The man said, extending me his hand.

"My name is Jamie; I am the cousin of this idiot." He then began to snicker as he shook my hand. "Can you imagine? It takes a special type of idiot to fall into an air vent. mean what type of werewolf falls into a hole." He began to cackle loudly as I stared at him blankly.

"She fell in the air shaft too," Gia said, looking at him blankly. I watched as his eyes widened and he pursed his lips together. His face began to change into different shades of red before he belted out a rolling roar of a laugh. Gia and I stared at him blankly while he wiped the tears from his eyes.

"You see, Gia..." Jamie straightened up and placed his hand on top of her head."

This is why I am protective over you. It has nothing to do with your gender but that you are accident-prone. I just can't believe another shewolf fell too." He smirked at me to which I rolled my eyes.

"It's Clover," I sighed. "I was busy running from rogues and the hole was hidden in bushes. If I was bigger, I wouldn't have fallen all the way through."

"Yeah! It isn't our fault we have small, beautiful fiqures." Gia raised both her eyebrows and swatted his hand away from her head.

"Well, maybe if you didn't snack so much, Gia. You are getting soft in the belly."

Jamie grinned mischievously.

"Gosh, you are so annoying. This is why you don't have a girlfriend." Gia clicked her tongue as he chuckled.

"And what is your excuse?"

"I'm just being picky," Gia replied, simply shrugging her shoulders.

"Uh huh.." He chuckled and then looked over at me. "So are you accident prone too?"

"I wouldn't exactly say that..." He began to laugh as I stared at him quietly.

"Which means that you are. It is even better you have a lucky name-" He snorted and wiped his eyes. "The irony of it."

"No wonder you came along to help him out." I said, giving Gia a sympathetic smile.

"I know... he is tough to live with." Gia giggled.

"Hey! I am the future Gamma of the Diamond pack. I am more than capable little miss Gia." Jamie raised his finger and tapped Gia on the middle of her forehead.

My eyes were wide as I realized he said he was the future gamma. This wasn't just any pack... this was the Diamond pack. The Diamond pack was the ultimate authority of all the other packs because of the Alpha King and Luna Queen. If you were one of their officers, you also had a power that was a cut above the rest. I couldn't underestimate this goofy young man. If he was their future gamma, he was a fierce warrior.

"Clover here, was the delta of her pack." Gia said proudly, making Jamie arch his brow as he looked me over.

"Tiny here?" He said with almost a laugh.

"Yeah, that's right." I was rather annoyed with his tone. He caught on to it rather quickly as he instantly raised his hands and shook his head.

"No offense. Your wolf must be a fierce fighter. It is just appearances can be deceiving."

"Funny, I was thinking the same thing.

My triumphant smirk rested on my face as Gia howled.

"00000HHHHH BURNED! Take that, Jamie!" Gia smiled widely as Jamie chuckled.

"Okay okay. I deserved that. Truce?" He said, tilting his head to me.

"Truce."

"Are we going to stay in this mine all day or are we getting out of here?" Stilts appeared in front of us. I looked up at the others to see their less than shocked faces.

Okay, they must experience a lot of weird things

"Well, aren't you a pushy little man. Jamie said, looking down at Stilts. "What are you doing out here in a mine?"

"Making sure the little lady here doesn't get into too much trouble." Stilts snorted, glaring up at me.

"Why would you be watching over her..." Gia began to study me again this time intensely. "I don't sense anything..."

"You wouldn't be able to." Stilts scoffed and shook his head. "She thinks because she has some wee fairy blood in her, she can recognize everything."

"You are part fairy?" I asked, watching Gia shrug.

"I have some fairy blood in me, but it isn't very strong. How about you? Why do you have Rumpelstiltskin with you?" Gia asked as Stilts scoffed loudly.

I looked down at Stilts, not sure what I could say. He was remarkably able to understand what I was thinking. He sighed and nodded his head. "These folks here are okay. They are close with the fairy royals. Really you should have ended up in the Diamond pack, but understandably they wanted you hidden." I could see that Jamie and Gia were intrigued and I was going to have to briefly explain myself to them.

"I am part sheya-"I didn't even get to finish talking.

"Oh yeah, the one Sam was talking about," Jamie said thoughtfully. "He was wondering if we would be hearing from you.

"My group and I have something we wanted to discuss with the Diamond pack, but if you are one of the officers you could just relay the message." I glanced behind Jamie and chewed on my inner l!p. "I need to wait and see if this is what the others want to do too." I continued to look behind him. I know he said that Sion was okay, but what about the others? Plus, I needed to see if Sion was okay for myself.

SKAAAAA

A loud sound hissed from deep in the mine. We all turned our heads to look down the path Gia and I had just come from.

"Shit.." Jamie said, moving to stand in front. "Sounds like a nauc has picked up your trail." He looked back at Gia and then to me. "Let's get moving. We can outrun it." SKAAAAA

The noise hissed out louder as two yellow eyes started to glow down the dark tunnel.

"Quick, RUN!" Stilts yelled as a roar followed from the eyes.

I don't know what this sound was, but it didn't sound like a nauc. Whatever it was... I could see real fear in Stilt's eyes. I took a hesitant step backwards before the three of us took off at a sprint. I could feel the malice in the air, and I didn't want to stick around to see what it was.

I glanced back once to see Stilts had stayed there, holding his cane in the air, waiting to hold off whatever was approaching. The ground began to tremble as the sound of thundering feet echoed behind us.

Then a bright light illuminated from behind us and there was an ear-piercing screech followed by a yell. My heart raced as the sound of the thundering feet began to pick up again. Whatever it was... it was after us.