"Wait for me, mate."
Right after he sighed upon her ear, Amelia suddenly opened her eyes.
She found herself lying in her teenage bedroom back in her old packhouse. And familiar noises of chatting and laughing were coming from outside the door.
The light in the room was off, but the ceiling could vaguely be seen by the dim light that leaked through the gap under the door.
She laid there on her bed motionlessly, feeling her heart pounding violently like a drum.
Her marriage with Ian and the hellish tor/ture in the wheelchair was now flashing back in front of her eyes like the most horrifying nightmares. But Amelia knew it wasn't nightmares but the most realistic life she had just lived in person.
Then what happened?
Why did she suddenly wake up in her teenage bedroom in her old packhouse? And why was she suddenly able to move?
It may sound crazy, but Amelia now indeed felt her fingers. She curled the fingers of both her hands into fists without much effort. And then she slowly propped herself up from the bed, and surprisingly found that she was back to normal.
"Mom! Dad!" She shouted in ecstasy, jumped off her bed, and then rushed out of the door.
The packhouse was exactly as she remembered, filled with the warm smell of fresh cedars. Those pictures hanging in the hallway, and scratched doors leading to different rooms were exactly the same as in her memories. Even the creaking noises coming from the worn-out floor under her feet were the same.
Amelia rushed into the pack's kitchen on the second floor. She knew her family would gather there at this hour of the night.
"What happened, Amy? Why are you running so hastily?"
The people currently in the kitchen were all surprised by Amelia's sudden appearance. They turned their heads and stared at her with confusion in their eyes.
The pack's Luna, Amelia's mother Doris, was the first who reacted. She stood up from the chair beside the huge long wooden table in the middle of the kitchen, and then walked towards Amelia with an impatient frown, "You looked pale and sweating. Are you ill?" She then placed the back of her hand on Amelia's forehead to test the temperature.
Amelia was about to speak before she suddenly got a glimpse of a horrifying figure sitting at another side of the table.
It was an extremely handsome male wolf with a pair of deep grey eyes and a head of short black hair. He was smiling at her, looking charming and polite, but Amelia’s heart got wrested under his soulful stare.
It was her gruesome husband, Ian.
He was right there with her family with a perfectly deceptive smile on his face. His seat was right beside her father because he was the pack's best warrior. Along with him, there was Amalia’s big sister Donna, the Beta couple, and many other important grown-ups of the pack.
This scene somehow was familiar to Amelia like she had seen it before, but Amelia now was too shocked to think deeper about it. The unpredicted appearance of Ian had struck her thrilled heart back to despair. She felt that she was suddenly dropped from heaven down into the most appalling hell.
What’s going on here?
Surely her sudden recovery was strange. But why did Ian appear again in front of her? And why was he here with all of her family, even her already-married big sister?
Was this another evil plot designed by him? Or was this the beginning of another round of cruel and endless tor/ture?
Amelia felt she was on the verge of meltdown.
"What happened, Amy? You are shaking."
Noticing Amelia’s weird reaction, Doris asked her daughter with another deep frown. Amelia was a beautiful girl but she couldn't be counted as a real wolf. Doris's patience and love for her were never much. That's why Amelia flinched on telling on Ian.
Ian was an orphan but he had always been Amelia’s father's favorite wolf. Even without marriage with Amelia, he would certainly be the next Alpha. If Amelia accused Ian of drugging her, it wouldn't be convincing without solid evidence, and she was too scared to tell right in front of him.
"Are you okay, Amy?"
Noticing she was in an unusual mood from the fear in her eyes, Ian stood up from the chair and then walked towards her.
He pulled her hands into his and then kissed her beautiful slender fingers. There were genuine worries in his intoxicating deep grey eyes.
Amelia totally froze under his concerned gaze like she was targeted by a vulture.
She knew clearly Ian was faking, but still, she had no idea why he was doing it. Her body couldn't help but shake seeing his fraudulent smile. She was afraid to find out what Ian would do to her this time.
"Amy must have been worn out because of the preparations for her wedding. It happens to a bride."
Suddenly, another familiar voice came from beside the table, and it was Amelia's big sister, Donna. She folded her arms on the back of her chair, smiling at Amelia with a wicked wink of her beautiful left eye.
She was younger than Amelia remembered, as before she had her child.
Out of the blue, Amelia recalled, these people, the scene around the table, had already happened once in her life. Amelia remembered clearly it happened on one of the tense nights before her wedding with Ian.
And she also recalled. At this time, the pack hadn't been attacked by the rogues yet.
So what was happening here? Did she suddenly return to the past? Or was this simply a weird dream, a disgusting, lowly joke?
"Baby, are you tired? Do you need more sleep?" Her facial expression was mixed with fear and confusion, which made her husband-to-be start to worry. Ian whispered to her softly, gently stroking her hair.
That familiar touch of his hand aroused goosebumps all over Amelia's body. She couldn't help but pull away from him. It took all her courage to look at him, and then she asked him with a frightened voice, "We are not married yet?" She was on the verge of collapsing but her question triggered a string of loud laughter in the kitchen.
The audiences were amused by her.
"The bride can't wait!"
"What a lovely couple!"
"They would be so happy together."
Each sentence was like a sharp knife cut right into Amelia's heart. To her surprise, Ian was amused too.
"I have never known you are so eager for me," he bent over, whispering, cold lips brushing through the skin of her delicate ear, "I am eager for you, too, baby. I can't wait for you to be my wife. And then I will do so many unspeakable things…only to you."
Normally, his whisper like that would burn Amelia up with shyness and some ridiculous expectations. But this time, there were only fears creeping into her heart. Tears welled up to the rims of her eyes. Amelia was totally stunned at this unexpected situation.
She was somehow sent back to her 19 to one of those horrifying nights before she married Ian. It may seem like the Moon Goddess had given her a second chance to change her fate, but Amelia knew it wasn’t like that.
It might only be one of her ridiculous dreams that emerged from her deepest desperation. And even in her dreams, she still feared Ian.
"Let's take you back to your room. It's only three days away from our wedding. I promise the time will pass soon."
Brushing a lock of her hair gently to the back of her ear, Ian held her trembling hand to his and then escorted her back to her bedroom.
The light in the hallway was dim. Amelia kept her head lowered all the way. She saw their shadows overlapping into the most intimate one on the floor. When they arrived at her bedroom door, Ian bent his neck to kiss her lips like he always did when they said goodnight to each other.
Amelia dodged him this time and it was a surprise to her.
She had never had the courage to go against Ian.
Ian was surprised for the same reason. He lifted his brows with displeasure, "What's going on, baby?" He placed his arms beside Amelia's ears, completely locking her into his territory.
Amelia was in a fluster. She was the weakest in the pack and wasn't even a real wolf. Before tonight, she didn’t even dare to think about defying Ian. Still, she somehow mustered her courage this time.
"What if…" She looked up into his deep grey eyes under his intimidating gaze. Tears filled her beautiful brown eyes, "What if…we don't get married?"
When she said that, her face was pale and her lips were trembling. Tears rolled down from the corners of her eyes. And her voice was shaking with fear. Ian knew instantly there was something wrong with his future wife, but he was too proud to care.
"There is never an if, baby." He brushed his thumb across her beautiful cheek to wipe off her tears, "You're the love of my life. We are fated to each other. I swear you will never find another husband except for me."
He printed a passionate kiss on her trembling lips and then sent her into the bedroom.
Before closing the door in front of her, he mouthed “good night” to her with a satisfied smile.
Amelia decided to escape.Though she hadn't figured out what was happening to her or was this a dream or not, she wasn't going to marry Ian and let him manipulate her again.To tell on him to her parents was impossible, as Ian had always been the perfect guy in her parents' eyes. Compared with wolfless Amelia, it was Ian who got more trust from her parents and her whole pack.To accuse him of drugging her without evidence would be like setting herself on fire. Amelia was a timid girl, but she wasn't a stupid one.She remembered the rogues would attack the pack tomorrow night. Amelia left a note to her parents to explain her disappearance and warned them about the attack. And then she packed herself a packsack for escape.She was a wolfless wolf, except for school, her parents rarely allowed her to go too far from the packhouse. She had never worked before and only got some pocket money saved. Which could only support her for about a week.But she had learned enough about humans from h
Darren didn't leave after sending off Amelia. He stayed in that grove and watched until Amelia’s figure vanished into the station’s building. He waited for a while in the woods and then shifted into his human form. Rogues who live in the woods can only survive in their wolf forms. It had been years since the last time he transformed into a human. His hair was long and untrimmed, as well as his overgrown beard, plus his disabled right eye, which made him look like a scary homeless man. He didn't want Amelia to see him like that. It may scare her. But she was too fragile for him not to worry.When he looked at her, he saw a delicate flower that could be broken off even by a gust of slightly stronger wind. Her voice was soft. Her facial expressions were always timid. Though she had the most beautiful smile in the world, whenever Darren looked at her, he saw a fragile soul which might collapse at any moment.To be honest, she wasn't the strong Luna he was looking for. She had nothing ev
Once Darren faded out of her eyeshot, Amelia surprisingly found that she started to hesitate.She was hesitating about the destination of her trip.The big city was too much for her to handle. She had never been with too many people before and she was a little afraid of doing so. When she left the packhouse, she had planned to go to one of those little towns far away. But Darren told her to go to the city. She obeyed out of instinct.Throughout her whole life, there was always someone to tell her what to do. Even if she disagreed, she wouldn't be listened to. To live under others' instructions had become her living habit. Facing Darren, she still did it out of habit.But now Darren was gone, so did the pressure that had been messing up with her head. Now she was able to think clearly. For the first time in her life, Amelia found that she was totally free from wolves now and completely belonged to her own. She suddenly had this strong impulse to cut off her connection with all the wol
Amelia was thrilled by her achievement on her first day in this big scary city.Not only did she find a job successfully, but she also got a huge paycheck which was much bigger than she could ever imagine.Hey, who said she was a useless trash who could never live on her own? See, she had a job now and she could afford her food. After leaving the coffee shop, Amelia took time to find a place to live. She was unaccustomed to noises and was afraid of crowds. In the end, she found an old tall building in the middle of a dark alley.The smell of the alley was stinky and it was completely hidden in the shadow like the sun would never come to this place. But Amelia liked it because it made her feel hidden and safe.Within the cold stone building, it was smelly and dark too. Amelia stepped into it and saw nothing but an old male clerk sitting in the reception hall. He was skinny, half bald without any hair on the top of his head. The rest hair around his head was white and messy. He attenti
Ian felt something off.Yesterday, when he received that alarm reminding him someone broke into his apartment, he was in his office. He quickly turned on the surveillance that he installed to watch Amelia and then saw a big scary wolf barge into the living room.“Fuck!!!” He cursed, and quickly rushed out of the office.The moment he pushed open the door, he found himself going into a different place or world.In front of him was a big living room under dim yellow lights. There were sofas, TVs, and teenage boys and girls, laughing and making fun with each other. Seeing him walk into the door, a young male wolf seemed about 17 or 18 walked towards him. He had curly brown hair and a pair of kind blue eyes. When he spoke to Ian, he wore this big, lively smile, “Where have you been, Ian?” He patted Ian’s shoulder, “The Alpha and Luna are looking for you for your wedding with Amelia. They are waiting on the second floor.” His voice and gesture were as familiar as his appearance. Ian reco
Someone is trying to help Amelia.Ian had no idea who it was, but he knew Amelia well to assert that she had no nerve or talent to plot all of these to go against him.She was weak, timid, pathetic, and doomed to be his favorite human-shaped toy. But someone had noticed her and decided to offer her a hand, a chance to change her fate, an opportunity to escape from him.Ian was enraged at first, but he soon tasted joy. The help that someone offered to Amelia must be conditional. That was why he himself was sent back with her. That meant his target here was clear. He was here to hunt, to capture, to stop her from getting away from him.A toy who knew to run and hide was so much better than the one who can just sit in a wheelchair. Ian now felt satisfied.He looked around Amelia’s bedroom and went through all her stuff to search for information about that someone.Suddenly, he just recalled, before he was sent back, he saw Darren break into his apartment.Darren was the leader of the ro
“Where do you think you are going, sweetheart?”The man standing in front of her was short, skinny, and wore a dirty and disgusting smile. There were uncovered lusts and crude desire beaming from his slender eyes. It took Amelia some time to recall who he was—One of the many customers she served in the coffee shop. She remembered his name was Scott. She met Scott on the second day of her work. Vernonia once warned her about him. “He is one of the gang members who ran the unlicensed taxis in this area. Be careful and don’t cross him.”Amelia nodded her head and greeted Scott with her beautiful smile as she did to others. She didn’t know much about gangsters and their illegal business, and she had no intention to cross anyone. That’s why she was able to serve him without any bias.Her innocent smile and her fragile beauty somehow impressed the rough man. From that day, he came to the coffee shop frequently and asked her out a few times.Amelia declined him politely of course. She didn
“Can you take the shower on your own?”After going back to the hotel, Carlie didn’t take Amelia to the fourth, but back to her own room on the second floor. She put Amelia on her bed and then turned on the tap to put hot water in the bathtub.Amelia kept mute all the time, but gradually she gained back her sense. The rotten smell of the hotel, the pungent odor of Carlie’s cheap cosmetics, and the annoyingly loud noises coming from the hallway just reminded her that she was currently in the human world, which was a place big, strange but warm, and far far away from her scary wolf pack.There were no wolves around her anymore and there was no Ian. She had escaped from him and he would never find her ever again. Never.Amelie wiped off the water drops on her face with the backs of her hands. It’s hard to tell whether they were tears or just raindrops.She lifted her head and saw Carlie changing her clothes. Noticing she had back to her sense, Carlie quickly threw her a bath towel and