Chapter 6

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Amara had been unusually quiet for herself, the next day. There was a distant look in her eyes and something was clearly troubling her. I knew she hadn't slept well, and but I wasn't sure if that was from discomfort of being in a new place, or from pain from her stab wound but she had been up and down all night long pacing back and forth every time she would wake up, I would wake up and silently listen to her walk back and forth in her small corner of the room.

I knew that Amara was far from ready to accept my pack as hers, but I couldn't let her return home. Not after what I had seen while in her pack's territory.

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"What are we doing here?" Rob asked me as we came to the river.

"I am going to find the she-wolf that attacked Amara." I replied. "I need you and Connor to stand at the territory line and look out while I cross over."

"Why do you care about the outsider so much? Any other pack I'd understand, but one from his pack?" Rob asked. 

"Hey. I came from his pack." Connor said.

"A wolf in my territory, under my charge, was violently attacked and damn near murdered. My reasons are my own, don't question them." I snapped.

Rob nodded and bowed his head.

"We'll stand guard." He spoke.

I made my way up to Alexander's mansion; it was very late, so I knew they'd all be inside. I crept quietly around to a large window and peeked inside. There appeared to be some sort of meeting.

I sank down into the grass, listening to the conversation through the window.

"What do you mean she's gone?" Alexander asked.

"I tracked her scent to a small clearing in the middle of the forest, but when I got there, she was outnumbered by hunters." Jacqueline lied with mock fear in her voice. "I. Wanted to stop them but there were too many of them. They took her down with little struggle and left her there. I tried to help but they came back, and I had to get out of there."

I felt rage boil in me. There wasn't a damn hunter around that area. She did this.

"I'm so sorry sir." Jamie said solemnly.

I peeked back in the window reading Alexander's expression, he looked sad, and full of remorse at the news that his only child was gone.

"If only I pushed her to mate sooner, she wouldn't have run off. This wouldn't have happened. My bloodline. Gone in an instant." Alexander sighed.

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. The man was just told his daughter was dead and the only thing he cared about was that she wouldn't be around for him to breed out and keep his blood in the pack. It was nauseating.

"If I may...be excused I'd like to be alone." Jamie said, as if she truly needed time to be alone.

"Go on." Alexander said. "I think I'd like to be alone too. Tonight, we mourn, tomorrow we move on." He said firmly and left the room.

I watched Colt follow Jamie up a set of stairs and I walked around to the back of the house. There was a large balcony, on the ground in front of me was a small moon garden of Jasmine flowers and I just somehow knew I was outside Amara's window.

I effortlessly climbed up the siding of the house and up onto the balcony, getting a look inside the bedroom. There was a large bookshelf in the room and a desk with papers scattered about. A pile of laundry sat directly in front of the hamper. This was definitely Amara's room. It was chaotic much like she was. I smiled.

The door to the bedroom opened and I dropped down a bit, hanging onto the balcony but still able to hear as Jamie was giggling with Colt behind her.

"How did it feel?" He asked.

"What? Gutting the little bitch like a fish? It was amazing." Jamie cackled.

"So she's out of the way?" Colt asked.

"There's no way she survived that. Now we are free to do what we want and you don't have to mate with the runt of the pack."

"Oh I don't know, it might have been fun." Colt snickered.

I tried my best to keep from climbing up the balcony and bursting in the room and killing them both. It was disgusting the way they spoke of her. The way he spoke of her.

"Oh yea?" Jamie asked.

"It would have been nice to just once put her in her place and knock her off the pedestal." Colt purred.

"She is in her place baby, she's dead." Jamie laughed. "And if by some reason she survived and she comes back, I'll let you have your fun and then we'll get rid of her for good."

I let go of the balcony dropping to the ground below. I couldn't listen to it any longer. I'd get the bitch back for the things she did and spoke. I wasn't normally for killing another wolf and I wasn't sure why, but I felt like for Amara, I'd kill this whole pack if it was for her wellbeing. There was absolutely no way she would return here.

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"Maybe, if you stop staring at her and just go talk to her things will be easier for you." Sable sassed as she came up behind Me.

"I don't expect she's much for conversation today, Sable, she was up and down all bloody night pacing the floor."

"Well, then maybe she has something to talk about after all?" Sable suggested.

"I'm sure she'd rather talk to a tree, than talk to me." I shrugged.

"Excuse me, is Kieran Quinn. Pack Alpha and God's gift to women backing down from a challenge?" Sable asked with a smirk.

"Tread carefully Sable." I huffed and pushed myself off the wall I was leaning on to approach Amara.

"You're quiet today." I said.

"I just have nothing to say." Amara shrugged.

"I find that hard to believe in love." I smirked. She turned to look at me, there were dark circles under her amber eyes and her face was pale.

"Don't call me love." She sighed and stood up to walk away.

"Where are you going?" I asked.

"I'm going to see Jake, to see if I'm in the clear to leave." Amara replied and her words hit me in the chest like a sack of bricks.

"Jake doesn't decide when you leave. I do." I said following her.

"Well technically, you don't. I've not sworn allegiance to you or your pack and If I'm well enough to be on my way, then I'd like to go home to my pack."

"Why the hell would you go back there?" I demanded.

"Because, I have a plan to reason with my father about all this mating nonsense." She shrugged and walked into the infirmary where Jake was counting supplies.

"There is no reasoning with him, Amara, and they think you are dead!"

"Well then it will be a fun surprise when I show up now won't it?" She asked with a sly smile. I hated that I wanted to smile back. I hated that I found what she said funny.

"What can I do for you?" Jake asked.

"Amara thinks she's well enough to leave." I grumbled and rolled my eyes.

"Well, just by looking at you, I can tell you, you aren't." Jake shrugged.

"Hah!" I couldn't stop myself. Amara glared at me.

"Look, I'm sorry but you look like absolute hell and it's only been a day." Jake said.

"I'm only tired because I couldn't sleep last night. I just want to go home."

"Not going to happen." I mumbled.

"You really think you are going to stop me?" Amara challenged.

"There is no think about it." I shrugged. She held her glare and I could sense Jake was becoming uncomfortable with the tension in the room.

"Do I need to leave?" Jake asked.

"No, I need you to look at my wound, and tell me how much longer you think it will be before I can shift." Amara said and lifted her shirt.

Jake winced.

"This isn't looking good at all actually."

"What do you mean?" I asked pushing my way around so I could see. The stab wound was red, and puffy with bits of green.

"What's wrong with it?" Amara asked looking down and then scrunching her face. "It wasn't that bad this morning."

"This is definitely infected, I told you this would happen if you didn't let me treat it." Jake sighed "And if you continue to not let me treat it, this could become fatal. You're going to need antibiotics. Not just honey and flowers."

"Well, I can look into it. I'm sure there's something else that will work." Amara shrugged.

"Oh no, I didn't save your life just so your own stubbornness could kill you." I said and turned to Jake. "Start her on antibiotics."

Jake nodded and started looking around the room for what he needed.

"Really, I actually have a book at home that has-"

"You aren't going home!" I snapped cutting Amara off. She turned and looked at me, and if looks could kill, I would have dropped dead on the spot.

"Well, I'm not staying here." She argued and crossed her arms.

"Why would you even want to go home? You ran away!"

"I shouldn't have, I should have tried to reason with my father."

"As I said before there is no reasoning with him." I scoffed. "You want to go be forced to mate with someone you don't love?"

"As opposed to staying here, whereas you said anyone of your boys will do?" She asked.

"I was only trying to get under his skin Amara. I'd never force anyone on you! If you go back home, they will kill you!" I shouted.

"My father would never kill me." Amara shook her head.

"I wasn't talking about him. You don't know what I heard."

"Well then, enlighten-OW!" She yelped as Jake stuck her in the hip with an antibiotic shot. "That hurt!" She whined at him. "I didn't like that at all."

"I didn't figure you would, which is why I didn't show you the needle." Jake shrugged.

"It burns!" Amara frowned.

"That just means it's working." I sighed, and by the look on her face that wasn't the answer she wanted.

Jake shoved a tube of antibiotic cream in her hands

"Use this. Twice a day."

"This would heal faster if I could just shift." Amara sighed.

"If you shift, you risk tearing your stitches and you are in no condition to run anyways. When's the last time you ate?" Jake asked.

"Last night." She said and rolled her eyes.

"You're going to want to eat, or that antibiotic I just gave you will make you sick."

"Why the bloody hell would you give me something to make me sick??" She demanded. "What kind of Doctor are you?" She scoffed.

Jake looked at me, obviously offended, truthfully Jake was a great doctor. Amara just wasn't used to his ways. Alexander's pack did things very differently than mine."

"You're excused Jake." I said. "You'll have to forgive the pup; her pack is almost another species entirely."

She glared at me.

"How rude!" She snapped.

"You offended a member of my pack, excuse me if I don't care that I hurt your feelings." I spat, returning her glare as Jake walked out of the room.

"You are such an asshole." She mumbled.

"I'm an asshole? I've saved your life twice now without so much of a thank you from you." I said.

"Technically Jake saved my life, and I did thank him. Yesterday." Amara shrugged and walked out of the room.

I tried hard to bite back my temper as I followed her out of the room.

"Is there a particular reason you are so damn hateful with me?" I asked.

"Well let's see, you kidnapped me, you've hit me, and you are only using me as a pawn in this stupid war you have with my father."

"I saved you; I explained why I hit you, and I've apologized, and perhaps at first you were, but you aren't anymore." I sighed.

"It's been like 4 days, what's changed?" She scoffed.

"You know what's changed, you're just too stubborn to admit it." I replied.

"Or, I'm just not reading into things that aren't there." She spoke. "There are plenty of other she-wolves for you to play with."

"You honestly think that if you go back home, you will be able to reason with your father? No. What's going to happen is, you are going to be forced into something you don't want!"

"Like I am right now?" Amara asked.

I growled and backed her into the wall. The palm of my hand hit the wall with a thud right beside her head making her jump.

"I am keeping you here for your own good! The only thing your father cares about is keeping his bloodline going by any means necessary and if that means subjecting his own daughter to mating. with someone against her will then so be it!" I snarled at her.

Her eyes widened at the harshness of my tone, and words and she tried to push me away, but I wouldn't budge.

"Kieran. Please." She said, Her voice shook.

"You should have heard the vile things that Colt said about you to other members of your pack and you should have heard the way they laughed." I kept on. "The only one who wants you back is your father and it's for the wrong reasons!" I shouted, blinded by rage.

"Stop!" She screamed at me, snapping me out of it.

It was only then that I noticed the tears rolling down her cheeks and the hurt in her eyes. I backed up, and away from her.

"Amara. I..." I went to apologize but she shook her head and ran away from me.