Chapter 19

Arlo;

I opened my eyes and shielded them from the stream of light that was blasting through a crack in the curtains. I sat up and rolled my neck on my shoulders, loosening up my muscles and preparing myself to face the day ahead. What the fuck happened yesterday? Where did everyone go? I closed my eyes once more and tried to ignore the dull ache that had formed behind them.

I hadn't slept very well at all, not only was all the usual alpha duties playing on my mind, but so was the fact that there were four members of my pack missing at both mealtimes, and that never happened. What the fuck had happened after I asked Amelia if I could speak to Matt and Piper in private? She had seemed absolutely fine with it and after I spoke to them, they went to find her. I expected to spend the whole of Christmas day with them all, but they all disappeared, including Eddie and to make things worse; I couldn't go to find them as I had to stay with the Elders and Elites.

This Christmas was certainly not what I expected it to be and that disappointed me. This was going to be the last time that I had to spend a Christmas with her, with Amelia. I just couldn't shake that feeling that there was something wrong, like a niggling at the base of my spine. Everything would be fine and then out of nowhere, there was an awful feeling that came over me which I couldn't get rid of, no matter what I did. Was this all a part of the imprinting process? As much as that was all new to me, I thought that I had learnt most of what I needed to know prior to it happening. I felt sick and clammy; I imagined that, that was one of the feelings that a human suffered, when they caught a common cold, but us werewolves do not get ill like humans do, we are immune to most diseases and this feeling disappeared after an hour. It was so strange, I had never felt like this before, I thought that it was just in my head, but even my mother noticed something was wrong. She commented on the beads of sweat that had formed on my forehead and was concerned at my sudden pale complexion. Although I told her that I was fine, I still noticed her worried stares, not only on me but out of the window, what was she thinking?

I was abruptly broken out of my thoughts by the high trill of my phone ringing, making the dull ache in my head hurt even more and a sharp pain shoot through my ears. I looked at the bright screen; it was Charlie. I let out a deflated sigh, what now? I touched the green phone symbol and swiped up.

'Hello?' I said sitting on my bed, rubbing the stiffness of my neck.

'Arlo, we need you now. It's happened again!' Charlie cried, fear in this voice.

I hung up the phone and jumped up, diving over the bed to grab some clothes out of my bedside table. Another killing. Will this ever end? We let our guard down for one day and it happened again.

I arrived in my office with panicked force, slamming the door wide open, I felt sick. Three, three more dead, this time it looked as though they were all poisoned. Their faces were purple and white foam had built up around their mouths. Deep red blood had trickled from their eyes, noses and ears. Staring down at those bodies this time made me shake, it wasn't just two adults that were dead, it was two adults and one child. I slumped back on my chair and stared at the ceiling, wondering how I would find the words to tell my pack that the killer had changed his/hers normal (….) and had murdered an innocent child. The bodies had been there; in the same place as the others since yesterday, murdered on Christmas day. I had requested the bodies to be taken to Benjamin and autopsies be performed immediately, I needed to know what was used to kill them, although it would take at least 24 hours before the toxicity results would come back. I walked to the library deciding I needed to do some research on the poisons that could kill a werewolf, the only two things I could think of were; Belladonna and wolfsbane, two plants that were not easy to come across. Just the slight touch of both these plants could burn a werewolf's skin and could cause extreme pain, I shook my head sadly, the weight of the world was on my shoulders, I was supposed to protect my pack and now the body count was up to 6.

I opened the library door, the large room looked empty, but I could smell her; Amelia, she was in here somewhere, but I had work to do, I had to find these books. I gazed around at the large wooden bookshelves which went from the floor to the ceiling and wondered where the hell I should start looking. I closed the door behind me and cracked my knuckles, taking in a large breath before breathing out. I walked over to the lines of books, looking for the letter 'B'.

After finding the two books I needed I noticed Amelia walking towards the library door, she hadn't even acknowledged me, had I done something wrong? Before she put her hand on the door handle, she glanced around jumping at the sight of me, I watched amused as she pulled the earphones out of her ears, that explained why she didn't know I was in here. She blushed and started to walk towards me. 'I am so sorry, I had no idea you were in here, I feel so rude.'

I smiled and tilted my head to the side, as usual she looked stunning, wearing her usual skinny jeans and converses with an off shoulder baggy jumper. Her hair was in one big platt and rested over one of her shoulders. 'Where did you go yesterday?' I asked placing the books down on the table I was leaning against.

'Just for a walk, I wanted to see Pretty Girl.' She smiled sweetly. 'I am sorry I never came back, I got really tired and went to bed.' She bit her lip nervously and turned her music off.

'It's okay I understand.' I said running my hands through my loose curls, Amelia's eyes fell to my arms and I noticed her eyes widen and a familiar feeling washed over her face, I felt it too.

'I guess I had better go.' She blushed obviously trying to fight the sexual chemistry we had between us. We were like magnets to each other, we both knew we couldn't be together the way we truly wanted to be, but this was the next best thing and we both eagerly accepted it, I would take anything if it meant I could be with her, showing her my feelings through intimacy. I grabbed her hands and pulled her up against me, feeling her breasts against my chest caused a heat to spread over my body. We locked eyes and she dropped her phone and book on the floor, she too couldn't fight this any longer. I pulled her jumper over her head and allowed my eyes to fall to her pink lacey bra, I pulled down the straps and watched as her breasts fell out of the laced material that had covered them. Amelia undid the button and zip to her jeans and took a step back as I put my hands on her hips, gripping ea`ch side and gently pulling the down. I picked her up and gently placed her on the carpeted floor, being sure to hold the back of her head as I did. She wriggled nervously as I slowly pulled down her underwear, admiring the view that was right in front of me, I gently opened her legs and kissed her thighs, leading myself up, she shook as my tongue touched her and she desperately tried to grab hold of something opening her legs a little more for me to completely divulge her. I placed two fingers inside her, moving in rhythm with her hips, the sounds of her pleasure turning me on even more. 'Please.' She panted, wrapping her legs around my neck. 'Please.' I pulled my fingers out and slowly worked my way up her body before pulling myself free from my jogging bottoms. Listening to her beg me to make love to her drove me insane, but I fought the urge, watching her desperately trying to grab my hard shaft

Amelia;

I made my way up the stairs, heading back to my room for the first time in what had felt like forever. It was strange being back here. So much had happened since that night. In some way, I felt as though I was a changed person, grown into something new and stronger. I smiled weakly to myself. I knew that there was no way that I would be here without my friends, and my brother; Eddie. They had been my rock through all my tough times. But now, it felt as though everything was starting to fall into place. I jumped up the last two steps and rounded the corner. Something was wrong. I could sense it. I strained my eyes and looked into the darkened hall and noticed that my bedroom door was opened slightly. I could just about make out shadows dancing across the walls as whoever the intruder was passed by my light. Anger boiled in the pit of my stomach. How dare someone break into my private space. It shouldn't have mattered if I was staying there or not.

I put all my practicing with Matt to the front of my mind, and moved silently down the hall, getting closer to my room. I slowed my breathing and tried to make as little noise as possible. With all these murders happening, I didn't know who it was that I was about to bust in on. I clenched my fists in attempt to quell there trembling and carried on.

The strong scent of bleach stung my nose, and I could still faintly smell an undernote of blood. My blood. My heart pounded in my chest as I continued forward, until I paused outside my bedroom door. I paused and wrinkled my nose, trying my hardest to pick up any other scent, but the bleach was too strong. I closed my eyes, gulped down a deep breath and threw the door open, my fists raised to my eyes just as Matt had taught me. But I was not expecting what I saw.

'A-Arlo. What are you doing in here?' I asked, glancing around the room in confusion. He never moved, just stared down at something in his hands. 'Seriously, you are starting to freak me out, what the hell is going on?'

'Amelia… what the fuck are you doing with this?' he asked, turning his golden eyes to me with a look in them that I couldn't quite place. Was that disappointment? I turned my stare from his golden eyes, down to the glass vial that was pinched between his thumb and forefinger. I tilted my head to the side slightly as I tried to figure out what the hell it was. But I had never seen it before.

'I-I don't-'

'Don't fucking lie to me Amelia!' Arlo roared, so loud that it caused me to flinch. I stepped back, surprised by his tone and shook my head. As much as I didn't understand what was going on, there was no way that I was just going to stand back and let him speak to me this way.

'Excuse me? Just because you are my alpha does not give you the right to speak to me this way.' I snapped, narrowing my eyes and focusing all my attention on controlling my anger.

'This isn't a fucking joke Lia. Why do you have this in your fucking bedside table?' He turned to me once more, this time with a fire in his eyes that sent a shiver of fear racing over my skin. I had never seen him look so… alpha-like. I drew in a deep breath through my nose and took a step closer to him, causing him to take a hesitant step away from me.

'How the hell am I supposed to tell you what it is if you keep moving away?' I snapped, reaching out with lightning speed and snatching the vial from him. Arlo paused for a moment, staring at his now empty hand, almost as if he was still trying to figure out how I had managed to take it, before stepping towards me and balling his fists.

I held the little jar up to the light and looked inside. A strange powdered herb shimmered a deep purple under the light. I had never seen anything quite like it. It was almost hypnotic. I brought the vial back down to my level and prepared to pull the cork from the top of the bottle, when Arlo snatched it back from me. 'What are you doing?' he snapped.

'I am trying to see what it is!' I cried angrily. 'What is going on with you; Arlo?'

'What is going on with you; Amelia. What happened to you?' he grumbled, his eyes darkening.

'What the hell are you talking about? I don't understand what is going on with you right now?' It was only this morning that he held me in his arms, and I felt so safe and so cared about and now he is snooping through my room and I did not feel safe, he was frightening me.

'Where were you yesterday; Amelia.' His voice was low, and he refused to look me in the eyes.

'I..I... went for a walk.' I lied knowing full well that he didn't believe me, somehow, he always knew when I was lying.

'Don't fucking lie to me.' He said through clenched teeth as he took a menacing step towards me. I nervously lipped my lips and gulped as I took a step back.

'I needed to get away from everyone, I am not lying.' I whispered as tears built in my eyes.

'Why? Why could you possibly need to get away? It was fucking Christmas day; Amelia.' Arlo took another step towards me, getting angrier and angrier. My heart slammed against my chest as an awful feeling came over me, I had never seen him like this before.

'Arlo what is going on? What have I done that's angered you so much?' Tears started to stream down my cheeks as I looked into his black eyes, this wasn't my Arlo, my Arlo would never be like this towards me, he would never accuse me of lying and he would never hurt me, but this one was going to hurt me. I stepped back, hitting myself against the wall, whilst the man I loved was standing right in front of me, he looked furious, sad and hurt and I could not work out why. He slammed his hand into the wall next to my head and held it there, his other one balled into a fist by his leg.

'Do not act like you don't know what you have done. I was so fucking blind not to see it before, they were all telling me, and I refused to listen. You have had us all fooled.' he roared slamming his fist into the wall next to my head, at that moment I was scared for my life but fear had me frozen on the spot and then it clicked and rage took over from the anxiety that riddled me.

'What are you accusing me of; Alpha.' I said slowly looking up at his face. Our eyes locked and I refused to be intimidated. 'Spit it out.' I mumbled.

'You did it. You killed them all.' He said and my heart sank to the floor with a crash. I closed my eyes as he said those words. Charlie had succeeded, he had finally persuaded the man I loved that I was capable of killing my fellow pack members. I opened my eyes once more.

'How fucking dare, you.' A rage like nothing I felt before shot through my body and I exploded, barging into him with a force I didn't know was possible. Arlo staggered back, shocked at what I had just done. 'You seriously think it was me?' I shook my head in utter disbelief. 'I thought you knew me; Arlo.'

'I thought I knew you too, but you are a murderous, calculated bitch.' He bellowed slamming my bedroom door closed so I had no escape route. His words stung me to the core, I had been called a lot of things in my life, but this was by far the worst.

'I did not kill anyone; you fucking idiot.' I screamed, 'How could you even think that?'

'Then what the hell is that?!' Arlo roared pointing to the vial that he had placed on my bed moments before he punched my bedroom wall.

I don't know. How many times do I need to tell you that?!' I pushed my hands against his chest in frustration. ''If I was going to kill any members of this pack, it would not have been the Mutts, it would have been the Elites.' I started sobbing and fell to the floor, the anger seized to exist and the pain and heartbreak of the whole situation that I had found myself in, swept over my body like a disease. My sobs filled the silent bedroom, I had never cried like this in my life but Arlo thinking that I was a monster did that to me, he didn't know me at all.

Arlo;

I stood frozen on the spot realising what I had just done, I had broken the one thing that meant the most to me in this world, I was just like them; Charlie and Jake. The realisation of what I had actually accused Amelia of hit me like a tonne of bricks, she was right, she would never hurt the Mutt's, she defended them day in and day out, no matter the consequences she had to face in doing so. And she certainly would never hurt an innocent child. I thought back to blank and confused expression on her face when she looked at the vial of Wolfsbane, she did not know what it was, but if she didn't know what it was, then why was it in her drawers? Did that mean someone had placed them there so I would think it was her?

I dropped down onto my knees in front of her heaped over body, she was still uncontrollably crying, trying to catch her breath every now and then and it was me that had done this to her.

'Amelia…I am so sor-'

'Do..not..touch…me' she said in between breaths as she sat up and backed away from me, I could see the pain in her beautiful green eyes, something had snapped in her, she looked almost different.

'I..am really sor-' I tried to apologise but she cut me off again, this time with a pained scream, but it wasn't the shrill of physical pain. She stood up and slammed the door open and then stopped, turning ever so slightly towards me. 'Do not ever talk to me again.' I watched helplessly as she walked out of the room, disappearing into the darkness of the hallway.