Chapter 78
AMELIA
Ryden divided us into a three-person team. Walker and Emil were stuck with me, while he, Zeph, and Zarah were preparing for the shield upgrade. Ren and Theia were our backups.
Before sundown, we made it to the woods, south of the property. I didn’t know how much I missed this place until I was there. It was supposed to be our sanctuary from other werewolves and rogues. Instead, we were fighting against our own demonic entities.
Deep inside, I felt guilty, and I couldn’t get rid of the thought that I was one of the reasons why things happened here. If I hadn’t come back, the wraiths and Alec’s evil plan might not have been implemented today.
“You okay?” Walker came.
“Yeah. I caught human scents.”
“Me too. Could these be Alec’s men?”
“Yeah, probably.” I connected our link to Ryden. “Did you make it to the pack house?”
“Yes. We’re here. Completely trashed and we’re scanning for explosives as we speak. You know Alec likes to blow things up.”
“Be careful.”
“You, too, Amelia. And he might be the one who blew us up in the apartment.”
“Why am I not surprised anymore?”
“Me, too. Anyway, everyone is accounted for. Good luck.”
“We should find a place to camouflage,” Emil suggested. “So we can scout without detection.
“Good idea,” Walker agreed. The two barely spoke and looked at each other in the eye.
I sighed deeply before I spoke. “Look, I know this is awkward, but since I chose you two to be with me, might as well make this easy for the all of us.”
“I’m good.” Emil raised his fist for a fist bump with Walker. “Are you?”
“Absolutely.” Walker bumped his fist against Emil’s.
“Good. Now we set aside what happened in the past—” I hadn’t finished my words, I heard gunshots. My heartbeat raced, and I felt their fear in the air.
The three of us froze and looked at each other.
“It’s coming from the east,” Emil said, “Jeong Lee’s group. What do we do? Should we go help?”
“And leave this area unprotected?”
“I’ll call Ren.” I dialed Ren.
Luckily, he picked up right away. “We heard it, we’re on our way.”
“You two be careful.” I hung up and stuffed my phone into my jacket packet.
“Emil, can you shift and sniff around? Just go straight and don’t go too far.”
“What about me?” Walker asked.
“Go left, and I will go right. We meet here in ten minutes.”
“Got it.” Emil went behind the tree, stripped off, and shifted. His light brown wolf snarled and ran straight away from us.
I watched Walker walk to the left, and I went right.
“Amelia?” Ryden came through our link.
“Is everyone okay?”
“Yes, we are,” I replied as I walked away from the hiking trails. “Aside from gunshots at Jeong Lee’s location, I haven’t heard a report so far. Ren and Theia are on their way there. How’s the search for explosives going?”
“We’re almost done. I’ll see you soon.” The link went offline.
While strolling, a human scent became strong carried by the wind. My senses heightened. I heard a faint shuffling of leaves, but I couldn’t find movements in the bushes or the ground.
My heart hammered in my chest. Dread slithered over my skin as I sensed an imminent danger.
I sniffed again and realized it didn’t come from the ground. I scanned the trees, and in a second, gunfire erupted. My wolf took over into a self-defense mode. I shifted and still took a hit on my shoulder.
I instantly felt the silver and poison seeping through my flesh and my veins. I smelled blood dripping from the wound, dropping on the ground.
I ran in circles at full speed even though I was shot, and the man on the tree still firing at me, following my movement until he finished the rounds in his automatic rifle.
It would only take less than ten seconds to change the magazine and the only chance I got. I let the fire out in me.
The downside was, that it would take too much strength, and knowing the bullet was still inside my flesh, it wouldn’t help quicken the healing.
Growling, my wolf climbed into the tree, jumping branch from a branch and the man up there started firing again. At this time, I sensed a lot of fear, and it only fed my wolf like a fresh meat offering.
As the rage and anger rushed through me, my wolf jumped in his direction, lunging into him. With wide eyes, his fear took the best of him, and went panicking. He was caught before he could fall. His gun fell on the ground first.
I managed to grab him by his military gear and took him down. I howled in both pain and our signal before the silver and poison blacked me out.
I felt my body on fire, melting my internal organs. Everything was painful. My bone felt like breaking as if I was run over by the truck.
I could feel the sweat all over my body, and I was shivering against the hard flat metal under my skin, which reminded me of a lab table. They were not planning on cutting me open, were they? But what it felt like right now, was the same feeling of what it felt like coming out from the fire years ago, and also one way of finding out that I was still alive, which was a good sign.
A strong smell of chemicals and deaths, so many deaths flooded my senses, activating the power inside me.
And it all vanished— the pain was gone, the fever that melted my organs was over. I didn’t shiver anymore. But I heard yelping and screaming fire.
“Shit.” I breathed deeply and exhaled out to calm my emotions.
“Extinguisher, please!” It was Ren, and I knew he was joking.
“Bring her something to cover herself,” Theia ordered whoever was around. Then I smelled my mother and Zarah, but they both hadn’t spoken yet.
I curled into a ball until I felt the blanket on my skin. Then I cracked my eyes open, and I was indeed in the mortuary, lying on a cadaver table.
I wrapped the white sheet around me and sat down, glaring at everyone. “Seriously, guys?”
“You were shot by a silver bullet.” Theia shrugged her shoulders and tipped her head.
“Hey, mom.” She still looked shocked, pale, and barely blinking. “Honey?”
“Yeah. It’s me. I just brought hell into this place.”
She ran towards me and hugged me tight. “Honey, what I just saw—” Those were the only words that came from her mouth. Then she pulled away and kissed me on the forehead.
“Are you okay?”
“You’re asking me if I’m okay? I just saw you light up in fire and wake up unscathed, not even a single strand is burned. I think that wasn’t hell. You did not sell your soul to the devil. You’re awesome and powerful, and I’ve never been so proud of you, Amelia.” She stepped back and checked my shoulder. “Not even a scar.”
“Yeah, but I’m also vulnerable as humans and werewolves.” I looked at Zarah. “Where’s Zeph and Ryden?”
“I got a call from Emil and Walker. I had to portal you here to your mom because the infirmary in the pack house is destroyed.”
“So you brought me to the morgue, intead?”
She scoffed and rolled her eyes. “You’re welcome.”
I couldn’t help but smile. “I’m immensely grateful.”
“Save it. Zeph and Ryden have the guy who shot you. I’m going back.” Just like that, she was gone. This time, no portal, she just snapped her fingers and she vanished. Amazing.
“I’ll take my scrubs so you can change.”
“Thank you, Mom.”
When Mom left, Ren and Theia came, and I remembered the gunshot.
“Are Jeong Lee and the others okay?”
“Kalel was wounded, but he’s healing. The arrow went through and through,” Ren explained.
“An arrow? Wow. What’s next? The Holy Lance?”
“You’re not even remotely funny.” Ren just rolled his eyes at me.
“He’s worried, best friend. Give him a break.”
“I’m sorry, but can I get a hug now.”
“You smell like dead.” Ren snorted and whispered, “Go shower then you get a hug from me. And Amelia, you got a new assignment. You can say no if you don’t like it.”
“Seriously, Ren? I almost died,” I said while he and Theia were walking towards the door. “Hey, don’t leave me here with the dead, guys!” I almost tripped as I slid off the table and they were gone.
The door opened again, and the person who came in just doubled my racing heartbeat and the sheet fell off my grip.