You Rejected Me. Remember?

“You are almost done. Yes….yes!” Amelia cheered when Ava finally succeeded in making the third potion she had planned to teach her during her stay. She had stayed in the pack for more than two weeks, teaching Ava spells and potions she didn’t know about.

“Great! I finally got it right!” Ava’s face brightened with a radiant smile. She was excited about learning more about magic.

“Now you can go back to your family! I’ve held you back long enough,” Ava exclaimed, her eyes focused on the cauldron in front of her. She wasn’t used to making potions and learning it has taken longer than she anticipated.

Amelia’s smile faltered. Yes, it was time for her to go back. She had dearly missed her people. Especially her family members. However, she didn’t feel like returning to the wizard realm. At least not before she got to speak with Elijah in private.

Ever since that day, Elijah seemed to be avoiding her. Whenever she went to look for him, he would have already left to attend some duty. She had observed him work from a distance and with each passing day, she felt her heart yearn for him.

If only he wouldn’t avoid her….

“But please do return. I want to learn more from you. Or should I visit you in the wizard kingdom?” Ava’s voice interrupted her thoughts.

“Visit?” She muttered. Smiling, she shook her head. “I’ll come back. You all have become close to my heart now. You guys are like my second family,” she replied. She hid the other reason she would rather come back to the Dark Howl pack. And that was, seeing Elijah.

Holding back a sigh, she longingly glanced out of the window. She knew the wolves were most probably training in the open ground outside. Every day as they practised the spells in the room of the packhouse, they trained themselves. Amelia used to look out of the window from time to time. It was mesmerising to watch the movements of the skilled warriors. Their movements were so precise.

The real reason why Amelia liked to watch them was that Elijah was recently allowed to join the training sessions. He had been extraordinary and since he too was a wolf, Miles didn’t want to deprive him of regular pack runs and the training, so that he and his wolf would be still strong.

She pursed her lips. If only she could talk to him just once…..

“You want him,” Ava smirked, as she studied Amelia’s countenance.

Startled at her statement, Amelia snapped her head towards Ava who was now staring at her intently.

“Huh?” Amelia gasped.

Chuckling, “come on. It’s obvious,” Ava commented. “You want him. And it’s okay. You guys are mates,” she mentioned.

Amelia waved her hands, smiling sadly. Her heart ached. She didn’t know what to say.

“Are you having problems trusting him after what has happened in the past?” Ava asked and Amelia chuckled humourlessly.

“Trust me, our alpha was one of the worst assholes. But he too redeemed and look at him now,” Ava stepped forward to speak with Amelia.

“What I’m saying is, people, do deserve second chances if they are trying to redeem themselves. Elijah isn’t that bad. Philip has told us everything. He was young and misinformed. As soon as he realised that he was wrong, he tried to do the right thing. Give him a chance, Amelia,” Ava told her. “Try to talk,” she urged.

Sighing, “I know…. I understand what you are saying. I want to try….but….I think he is avoiding me. I think he is hesitant to face me because I have once tried to reject him,” she puckered her lips. “Philip gave a lesson about that. He was right. It was brave of him to accept that he was wrong and apologize,” pursing her lips, she glanced at Ava.

“I wish I could talk to him before I leave. I don’t know when I’ll be able to come back…” she trailed off.

“Girl, you are always welcome here. And you can stay for as long as you like,” Ava smiled. “Maybe I can learn how to make that potion you made for Celeste. I know we most probably wouldn’t be dealing with the vampires. But if I could learn something new that would be great!” Ava expressed her enthusiasm.

Amelia chuckled. Vampires. She thought. She hoped that she would never have to deal with those night crawlers ever again. She was wrong to have helped them back then. Although she was lied to and misguided, she felt bad that she made that potion for those rogue vampires.

The memories of how the rogues hastily drank the potion flooded back to her. Her eyes widened.

s**t!

Gasping, she grabbed Ava’s hands.

“Ava! I’ve made a huge mistake!” She exclaimed. “Remember how I helped Baron? They tricked me into making the potion for those rogues so that they would make a deal with them….. the rogue vampires….Draven….”

Ava froze.

“You mean….. they will be immune to sunlight, now?” She carefully asked.

Frantically nodding her head Amelia bit her inner cheeks. Her heart thudded in her chest.

“We must…. We should warn them…. Maybe give the King and his men the same potion? I don’t know…. We must do something,” Amelia gasped.

“Wait….Draven is captured, right? He won’t be able to do anything on his own…. We should talk with the others,” Ava marched out of the room with Amelia following her closely.

Amelia was worried. It was her fault that the vampire rogues were having that advantage. Yes, she was taken advantage of, yet she felt that it was an obligation on her shoulders to make things better.

Miles, Calli and the others listened to what she had to say and agreed that they should contact the vampire kingdom.

Monica and Cade entered the alpha office while they were in the middle of the discussion.

“Should we inform our Queen first?” Calli inquired.

“Let’s just call them. We must not bother Her Majesty if it is something we can handle ourselves,” Miles replied and picked the phone to call them. The phone was answered by someone they weren’t familiar with. Not the one who usually answered official calls.

Thinking that a new worker must have been hired, Miles simply requested to speak with the king. He was surprised when he was told that the king doesn’t speak with outsiders. As far as Miles knew, the vampire king didn’t mind answering calls, especially if it is from another government – be it a Royal or an alpha of a werewolf pack.

“Okay. I’d like to speak to a representative then,” he replied, feeling a little suspicious. The line was transferred. Miles’ eyebrows knitted together when another unfamiliar voice answered the call.

“Polanski speaking,” said a deep baritone voice.

“Uh…I’d like to speak to King Vlad or his representative,” Miles replied formally.

He heard a muffled snicker.

“Vlad….” He trailed off. “He is no longer the king. A new king has risen to the throne and I am his representative. I am King Draven’s advisor. Tell me what you need.”

Polanski’s words felt like thunder to Miles. He felt as though a bucket of ice was poured on his chest.

Ignoring his thumping heart, he cleared his throat. Clutching onto the handle of the phone, he pressed the receiver against his ear.

“Excuse me?” His forehead creased. “We weren’t informed that the vampire kingdom has a new king already,” he replied. He didn’t want to let them know that hearing about Draven becoming king had caused his anxiety to skyrocket.

The so-called representative of the new king sounded rather unprofessional to Miles. He heard chuckles and snickers on the other end of the call as Polanski spoke.

“Right,” Polanski sniggered.

“Draven is our king now. The kingdom suddenly changed…” he trailed off. “The circumstances caused our government to change.”

Miles gulped. His face was void, yet his brain was trying to analyse what might have happened.

“Thank you for the information. I’ll call sometime later,” Miles ended the call and remained in his stunned state staring off into space.

Everyone in the office instantly understood that something had gone wrong. Calli hastened to her mate’s side and wrapped her arms around him. His discomfort was evident on his face and Calli could feel his unrest through their link. Miles was undoubtedly in anguish.

He was quick to take his luna in his arms and sniff into her hair. Her scent always helped him calm his nerves. He remained like that until his laboured breathing soothed.

Ava frowned and glanced at Nolan, who seemed to be equally anxious. Amara and Castor held hands. All of them knew the news that awaited them wasn’t good. A sudden change in a government never was a good one.

Amelia chewed on her lower l*p. Never in her life had she been so nervous. Her heart thumped like crazy and beads of sweat formed on her forehead.

She glanced at Monica who had her gaze fixed on the alpha couple. Cade too looked worried.

“What is it?” Calli’s soothing voice broke the silence in the atmosphere. She ran her fingers through Miles’ hair, trying to comfort him.

Inhaling deeply, Miles looked at his friends.

“Bad news. Remember Draven? He is the king now,” he informed them and Monica felt as though the ground shook underneath her.

Amelia froze on her spot.

No! Her breathing hitched. Shaking her head, she grabbed onto the nearest piece of furniture she could lay her hands on. She needed support. She couldn’t help but wonder if they had taken advantage of the potion.

“Wha…..what happened?” She gasped.

“I don’t know,” he mumbled.

“I…. I made a potion for them…. The one I gave to Celeste,” Amelia gulped.

“What?” They exclaimed in unison.

“I… that was why Baron and Elijah captured me in the first place. The potion was the reason why the vampires agreed to help them. I….” Amelia felt her throat tighten. “I…it is my fault….”

The last part of her sentence reduced into a mere whisper as her heart grew heavy with the burden of the destroyed peace of a nation. She feared for the safety of innocent civilians.

What if he had already shed a lot of b***d? The colour drained from her face. Her heart skipped a beat as fear gripped her chest. She felt her knees go weak. Fighting against the tears that stung her eyes, she sat down on the seat beside her.

“I shouldn’t have….”

Her voice quivered as she struggled to form words. Ava and Monica quickly rushed to her side and held her hand. They didn’t know what to tell her. Draven was crazy, and they knew he might do anything.

“Maybe we should talk with Elijah…” Miles glanced at Monica, who was apparently fighting against her anger. “And we must inform our Queen,” he added and hastened to call Her Majesty.