Chapter 17

There was unusual activity around the borders of the Silver Lake pack. Multiple motion detectors had been set off throughout the exterior of their borders, but none of the security cameras had picked up what had set the detectors off.

Jason had spent the early morning inspecting the entire length of the boundary fencing that bordered their pack lands. The fences were fifteen feet tall and were electrified so it would have been difficult but not impossible for a wolf to scale the fence. However, the alarm system that they had installed would have spotted them before they got over the fence, sending warriors to the location before they could get anywhere near the town.

There were no signs of breaches in their borders, so Jason was confident that whoever had been setting off their motion detectors had failed multiple times to gain entry. Satisfied with his inspection, he instructed the guards with him to continue to keep him informed before he took off running back toward the town. He hadn’t shifted into his wolf form on his journey back because he liked to run as his human self occasionally. Most people were unaware of just how fast he was in his human form, so he only did this when no one was around so that he could let loose and enjoy the run.

He slowed down to a jog when he got to the town and headed for the training grounds to rejoin his group of warriors. Silver Lake had multiple groups of warriors that trained at locations scattered around the town and he could train with any one of them, but he preferred that group because they were the least scared of him.

As soon as Jason arrived at the training grounds, he noticed that there seemed to be an exciting sparring match that everyone seemed thrilled to watch. It was when he was standing next to the Beta that he saw Amelia climb up Mateo before hitting him in the face and throwing him to the ground.

He knew that she had been trained but he didn’t know just how efficient she was in a fight. He couldn’t help the immense pride that filled him knowing that she had become strong enough to take on one of their best warriors.

His pride turned to anxiety when he heard Mateo’s growl as he charged towards Amelia. In a split second, he saw Amelia spin around and reach under her running jacket before throwing a punch in Mateo’s direction.

This was bad. He had to stop this before it turned into a situation they couldn't manage.

“STOP!” he screamed, projecting his Alpha’s authority as fast and as far as he could.

Everyone on the training ground froze on the spot. No one moved a muscle and it sounded like they all held their breath at the same time they heard his command. What surprised him was that Amelia had frozen mid-attack as well. As far as he knew, humans didn’t respond to the Alpha’s authority, but he was glad that she did at this time.

Jason walked through the group of spectators until he was standing next to Amelia and Mateo who seemed locked where they stood. Amelia looked confused and he guessed that she was also trying to figure out why his command had affected her as well. He then reached towards Mateo’s neck and he could see the fear spread on the young wolf’s face. Mateo was scared that the Alpha was about to break his neck for attacking someone precious to him. However, Jason held onto Amelia’s wrist and pulled it away from Mateo’s neck revealing a silver-coated knife.

Jason stopped projecting his authority when he was sure that the danger had passed. This released everyone from their trance, including Mateo who immediately grabbed his neck and noticed some drops of blood from a scratch that Amelia’s blade had made. The young wolf may have thought that the Alpha was saving her from him, but he now realized that it was the other way around.

“Amelia…”, he called to her when she still looked confused at his hand holding onto her wrist. “We do not use lethal force when we spar.”

The puzzled yet desperate look never left her face as she looked up at him. So he reached into her jacket and pulled out the holder for her knife and sheathed it before prying it from her fingers.

“I need that!” she protested, the look on her face turning hostile.

“Why do you need this knife, Amelia?”, he asked trying to maintain a calm tone.

“I need it to stop the rogues!” she said, growing more hostile.

“There are no rogues here. Look around you, there are only Silver Lake wolves here. And none of us would ever hurt you. Look around you, Amelia.”

Amelia slowly looked around her at the concerned faces of the other wolves. The gravity of what she had just done seemed to finally hit her as she began to desperately look around the group until her eyes fell on Mateo who still had blood trickling down his neck.

“Oh my God! I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!” she pleaded desperately.

Stumbling backward, she clasped both hands to her face and covered her mouth as tears began to stream down her face. Jason was glad that he had glimpsed the look of fear and desperation on her face before she had attacked Mateo. Anyone who watched closely would have noticed that at that moment when she heard Mateo growl and charge at her, she had reverted to a time when she had to fight for her life every day.

Seeing her cry so desperately pulled at his heartstrings so hard that he couldn’t help but pull her into a hug and hold her head against his chest. He handed the knife to his Beta who had made his way towards them and pulled Amelia with him to sit at a bench. When she was seated, he knelt in front of her and held her hand as she continued to cry “It’s okay Lia, you’re going to be okay”, he tried to reassure her as he patted her hand and then pulled the hair away from her face and tucked it behind her ears.

Jason didn’t know if it would help, but he started releasing calming pheromones hoping it would help ease her distress. It seemed to do the trick as she started to calm down and slowly stop crying. When she finally managed to look up at him, he offered her a comforting smile while wiping away a stray tear with his thumb.

“Are those… pheromones?”, she asked with her eyes never leaving his.

Her question was a welcome surprise to Jason and he couldn’t help his smile getting wider when he realized that she could smell him. It would seem that a slightly enhanced sense of smell was another thing she inherited from being half-wolf.

“Yes. I thought it would help you calm down. How do you feel?”, he asked as he gently ran his fingers along her jawline and then to her neck to feel her heart rate before cupping her face.

“I’m fine…” she said as she dropped her face.

Jason began to worry again when she wouldn’t look at him. But when he angled his face to get a better look at her, he noticed that she had gone noticeably red in her cheeks. He couldn’t help feeling elated that he was having such an effect on her. She seemed to manage to calm herself before she looked back at him again.

“I don’t know what happened… why I did that...”, she said with a little fear returning to her face.

“It’s okay, we’ll figure it out later”, he said. “You should probably go home and get some rest, okay?”

He stared at her while waiting for her to nod in agreement and he noticed that her cheeks had reddened again as she looked away. He could feel that even his wolf spirit was overjoyed at seeing Amelia respond in such a cute way to their interaction.

The other wolves had resumed their training but he saw them stealing glances at the both of them when he looked back at the group. He called Pete over to them and asked him to walk Amelia back home to make sure she got home okay because he was still concerned that she would still be shaken from what had just happened. Pete wrapped his arm around her shoulders helping to steady her as they walked away from the training grounds. Although he felt the familiar pang of jealousy at another wolf touching her, he buried any protest he might have made and allowed Pete to walk her home.

He made his way to his Beta’s side as he watched them leave, reconsidering his decision to not walk her home himself.

“I’m sorry”, Michael said as he stood next to him. “I thought she could handle it.”

“Well she can’t, not yet”, he said, annoyed with his Beta for allowing things to get that far. “You should have known better Mike.”

“I know…”

“I don’t think you do. We are wolves and this is the world we were born into. But she’s a human who has spent years fighting rogues. We will never fully understand what that kind of trauma has done to her”, Jason said with a sign placing his hands on his hips. “Doc Miller said she’s confident that Amelia could recover in time, all we have to do is give her a stable environment. Maybe she can learn to be a normal human being again.”

“I’m sorry Jace, but there’s nothing ‘normal’ about Amelia”, Michael said with a concerned look.

“What are you talking about?”, he asked.

“I don’t know how much of that you caught, but her training was anything but normal. Every single one of her moves was the quickest or most efficient way to ‘eliminate’ a target. Mateo was fighting to win the spar, but she was fighting to take him out. He never stood a chance.”

Jason thought for a moment and concluded that his Beta was accurate in his assessment of the situation. Both of them slowly turned to see Pete and Amelia make the corner around the school building and out of their sight.

“Lily created a weapon”, Michael finally said as he looked back at his Alpha again.

“But to use against whom?”, Jason asked.