Chapter 10

‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾ A ☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙

When I woke up the next morning, I was made instantly aware of the throbbing headache I had. I tried to sit up, and the sudden movement made me feel like I would vomit. I opened my eyes, looking around the room drowsily. The room was pretty dark as the curtains were closed. I stretched my legs and curled my toes against the cool satin of the bedsheets, suddenly realizing I was not on my side of the screen that divided the room. I was not in what had become my bed. I lazily rolled my head to the side, Kieran was not next to me, memories of last night came back to me in flashes. I raked my fingers through my hair before grabbing the pillow beside me and throwing it over my face groaning into it.

Bloody rum! I cursed mentally. But I knew it wasn't just the rum that led to me kissing Kieran. No, it was these Goddamn feelings that had a death grip on me.

"Ah, you're awake, Good." I heard Kieran say as he walked into the room. My nose became filled with the aroma of maple, butter...and blueberries? How did he know blueberry waffles were my favorite? Why was the smell both heavenly and nausea inducing? Why did I still have the pillow over my face?

"You are awake right?" Kieran chuckled.

She's dead. Amara. Is. Dead.

If I was dead, this would be a lot less awkward.

I lowered the pillow just enough to where I was peeking out over the top of it to see him.

"Awake... But alive? I'm not so sure." I mumbled.

"You will live. I promise." Kieran smirked. "I tried to keep this room darkened, but you'll want these if you venture out to the rest of the house At least for a couple hours." He said and put a pair of sunglasses on the nightstand beside me before he pulled the pillow out of my hands and tossed it aside.

I sat up and he put a tray in my lap with a bottle of yellow Gatorade, a couple of aspirin, and a plate of delicious looking blueberry waffles. I didn't normally like to take pills, I preferred natural remedies but if it would get rid of this bloody headache, I would take a dozen aspirin. I quickly popped the aspirin into my mouth and washed them down with the Gatorade. I looked down at the waffles wanting to dig in but afraid that if I did, I would be sick.

"If you need to wait for your stomach to settle a bit, you won't hurt my feelings." Kieran smiled and sat on the bed by my feet.

"Thank you..." I said softly, trying not to look at him.

"I... suppose we should talk about last night." He said.

Straight to business are we, Quinn? Give a girl a few hours to have an existential crisis will Ya? Think Amara. Think.

I cleared my throat.

"Remind me. What happened last night?" I asked, and instantly regretted it when I looked up to see the look of pure disappointment in his eyes.

Why? Why are you like this Mara?

He looked like he was thinking about something for a few moments before he spoke.

"Oh. it wasn't anything too important, you just said you were going to take care of dishes for the rest of the week, I tend to hold people to their word, even if they're drunk when they say it." Kieran said and tried his best to give me some sort of smile.

"Anyways I have some things to tend to so I will let you eat and get ready for the day." He said and patted my leg before he stood up and walked out of the room, leaving me alone, and guilty as hell.

After I ate, I damn near lifelessly carried myself to the kitchen to tend to the dishes that I had now been guilted into doing. The sunglasses Kieran left for me did help as the rest of the house was bright because of the snow outside.

"Hey, she lives!" Sable greeted me, she was working on some sort of dough. Throwing it on the counter and kneading it.

"Must you shout?" I asked as I cringed. "And why the hell are you slamming stuff around?"

She laughed and shook her head.

"I'm not shouting, and I'm making beignets. You'll think they were well worth the headache once you have one."

I took my plate to the sink, but the dishes were already done.

"Kieran said I was supposed to do these." I said.

"Weird, he did them right after he made waffles."

He made the waffles. Gods Amara you heartless banshee.

‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾　K　☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙

I stood in the den watching the children in the pack look out the window in awe at the snow. Rob walked up beside me.

"The kids want to play in the snow so badly they can't see straight, but they're all too intimidated to ask you." He chuckled.

I smirked. They were all quite young, so it didn't surprise me that they were intimidated but they really didn't have to be. Riley, Rob's son took his eyes off the window for a moment to look back at me and his father.

"You may go outside, remember your boundaries, stay together and listen to Rob. He's in charge." I said and looked to Rob.

"I took care of the hunter from yesterday but keep your eyes and your ears open." I said. "Any sign of a hunter, get them inside and come find me immediately."

Rob nodded.

"Will do. Come, pups." He said smiling at the kids as they all lined up at the door. "Today may be a good day to run while they have this much energy." Rob suggested.

"Aye." I smirked. "I was thinking to myself maybe in a few hours once the rest of the pack is up and ready."

Rob nodded again and ushered the excited children out the door.

I was walking towards the kitchen, on my way to my library when I heard Sable and Amara speaking in the kitchen. I knew I shouldn't have stopped to listen in, but something had seemed a little off with Amara this morning, and well...girls talked so maybe she would reveal something that would give me a clue as to what was going on in that head of hers. I stood far enough away to where Amara wouldn't be able to tell I was around and listened.

"Everything alright Mar? Well besides the hangover I mean?" Sable asked.

"Yeah, why?" Amara asked.

"Well...it's just you've been rinsing your plate for the last 15 minutes and staring at the wall." Sable said. The water to the kitchen sink shut off suddenly.

"Oh. Yeah... I'm just tired I guess." Amara replied.

"Really, it's amusing when you lie, knowing full well I can tell you are." Sable said, and it was as if I could hear her putting her hands on her hips and giving Amara that mother bear stare that made me tremble sometimes.

"What's going on?" She asked.

Amara sighed heavily and I could hear her begin pacing anxiously on the tiled floor.

"I did something. Well actually Kieran did something. But I mean I didn't really stop him so..." She rambled.

"Okay, slow down and tell me what he did before I go and smack him." Sable said.

Smack me? What the hell Sable??

"We talked last night... About some things... About us and then... He kissed me and I kissed him back and I'm quite sure I tried to ravish him in a drunken haze, but he stopped me before that happened. Thankfully." Amara mumbled.

"Well, it's about time!" Sable said. "The tension between the two of you was driving everyone nuts...so why are you upset?" She asked.

Because she's a bloody liar! I felt anger boiling within me.

"Because this morning, I acted like I didn't remember it happened." Amara admitted and with that I walked away. I had to before I went into the kitchen and exploded. Why the hell would she lie about this? I thought she was finally ready to open up to me. I should have known better. At first, I was upset that she didn't remember, but I understood because she'd never drank before, and it was likely things would be hazy and she would remember eventually. But she Did remember, and she lied to me about it.  I walked back to the den and out the front door, slamming it behind me, startling the children who were chasing each other around the yard.

"Whoa. What's the problem?" Rob asked. I just put my hand up and walked away from him not wanting to discuss it with him, or anyone. I walked to the shed towards the back of the house and picked up my ax and walked to the stack of firewood. I picked up a log and put it on the chopping block and swung the ax, splitting the log in half with ease before lashing out and hacking the log to splinters.