Hello my beautiful people! I hope your Christmas has gone well! I hope you all have had a fantastic time with your families! Make sure you guys listen to the track above with this chapter! That's enough of my babbling, on to the chapter!

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

The past couple of days are filled with tension again as the Silver Falls pack came back to our castle reporting that they also have had sightings of the beasts along with other packs in the surrounding areas. And Amongst this the Prince was coming of age officially of age to take over for his father if need be the case if something ever happened to him.

It's also around the time that he and a lot of other people would find their mates. So, you could say that a lot of apprehension was in the air for that. It could even be someone from another pack, there would be a lot of claiming going on. But hopefully not a lot of fights among males, things get a tiny bit aggressive about mates.

Also we still hadn't heard anything from Winston had been gone for almost two weeks. I just hoped he hadn't gotten him into too much trouble.

Also Amelia's trial date had been set since the whole council was going to be here for the prince. It was going to be two days before the celebration. This would decide the rest of her life.

 I was working with Orion on a plan for the guard set up and rotation for the next week or two. Making sure that all of our important guests would remain safe during their stay. Not that most of them needed it, they'd been fighting and shifting long before I'd even thought about having my first shift.

"Arabella, do you think that we'll have enough weapons to supply the regular guard with?" asks Orion.

She nods. "We should, as long as they don't break any of my weapons." She looks over at me. "They are qualified to handle weapons right?"

"Ara..." I say warningly. 

She throws her hands up in defense. "I didn't mean anything of it. I just didn't want them handling weapons that they don't know how to use. Getting some reforged would be a pain in the ass and would take time. Not exactly what we can afford right now with those beasts hanging around outside." She then looks over at Amelia. "Isn't that right Amelia?"

But she doesn't answer Ara, her attention is fixed on another point in the room. She'd been distracted like this the whole time we were meeting and it made me wonder if it was the idea of her trial coming up soon that had her preoccupied. It probably did because she had no idea what her fate was to be, they could banish or kill her if they wanted.

And I'm sure the second option has crossed her mind as much as it had mine.

"Milla are you alright?" Asks Orion.

She jumps slightly, looking at all of us. "Hmm, yeah? I-I'm fine, just thinking about somethings. I'm sorry I haven't been putting my input in." She chuckles darkly. "I probably shouldn't be here hearing your plans for the guard any how, if anything goes wrong they could use that fact to blame me."

Ara goes over to her and throws her arm around her shoulder shaking her slightly. "Stop being so pessimistic, they won't do anything too drastic seeing as you've got the-" she stops mid sentence as Milla gives her a look. "The whole pack on your side, they know your skills and what you're capable of. There's no way they'd be foolish enough to cut you."

She slightly scoffs. "What you see as my strengths is exactly another reason to cut me loose. I'm a threat if they let me go free and they know that." Then she looks at me. "But Erik this a strong plan, your strategy skills are even better than I remember. The regular guard should to okay with the rest of the pack as long as they don't antagonize each other. just make sure the pack knows there are repercussions if they do decide to act out." Her eyes sparkle a little mischievously, "Even if it is this time of year..."

A shiver goes through me when she meets my eyes, a moment later she seems to have the same feeling and looks away from me quickly.

She clears her throat. "I'll be taking my leave, if that's okay with you Erik."

"Of course go ahead."

She slightly smiles placing her hand on my shoulder before leaving the room, sending a spark of electricity up my arm.

It still remains even after she's long since left the room.

***

After I've run over the plans with the king, I head out to start my training session with Bridge since he seemed to be next in line possibly as the next Alpha of this pack. Something about Bridge told me this, like how Amelia had told me that she saw something in me extra as well which is why she made me her Beta as well as her subordinate.

"Erik!"

I stop and see the prince heading in my direction. "Your highness, what can I help you with?"

"Have you seen Amelia?" he asks, though there is something off about his entire demeanor, if I wasn't mistaken he almost seemed a little anxious.

"No, not since this morning... Is everything alright? You seem a little unsettled."

"Nothing is wrong... I just-" without finishing his sentence he just walks off hurriedly towards his living quarters.

What's got his fur ruffled?

I shake off the Prince's strange behavior and then head down towards the library going to see if there are possibly more books on the strange creatures that seemed to be plaguing all of the packs.

I reach the wooden door and before I can open it, it swings open nearly hitting me in the face and revealing Amelia coming out with a thick leather book that looked very old. I could see that some of the pages were yellowed from age and the old leather was beginning to fade in some places, what ever designs that were on the cover barely visible.

"Oh, Erik, sorry..." She says closing the door behind her.

"Doing a little light reading?" I ask gesturing to the book.

She looks a little startled and clutches the book tighter to her. "Uh, yeah, something like that... It's just something personal of mine that I would like to check out before they decide to do with me and I'm not able to come to this library again..."

The air becomes heavy, the silence palpable.

 I have to look away from her.

But then her hand comes to my cheek, guiding head to look at her. There is an electric tingling going through my face where she was holding it, her face extremely close to mine.

She's so close that our breaths are mixing and I have no choice but to look her in the eye.

"Fear not for me, whatever they decide I deserve... If they grant mercy then it is a second chance for me to truly redeem myself." she slightly smiles. "The goddess may smile down upon me... but if not... I want you to know that you are great. You are a great leader and I couldn't be prouder of you."

"Stop it." I tell her. "Stop saying all of this, I don't want to hear it."

She smiles a little wider. "You are the Alpha you were always meant to be, with or without me. Never forget that."

"Stop. It."

She sighs and moves her hand from my cheek to my neck and brings my forehead to meet mine our noses touching, our eyes completely locked her expression turns sad, although the light shines into her eyes through the open windows they still darken a little the light coming through them being sucked away.

"Perhaps you are the one... Were always the one..."  She says to me softly, her words brushing across my mind like a feather. 

A feeling comes over me one I thought I had pushed away, time seems to still and all of my senses seem to hyper focus on her.

Freund! My wolf stirs excitedly.

"Mate?" I whisper.

She doesn't say anything and simply kisses my forehead before backing away.

I felt breathless like I was drowning, I wanted to reach out and stop her, my instincts telling me to stop her and make sure that she would be secure in my arms where no one else could take her.

Or that she could make herself disappear again.

But I can't force myself to move as she goes farther down the hall, something dangling in her hands, glittering in the light.

When she's finally out of sight, I fall to my knees.

"Damn it!" I shout angrily, punching the floor with full force leaving spider web looking cracks in the stone.

I raise my hand and see the blood running down it.

Damn it...

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Hope everyone enjoyed this chapter! Please leave a comment below and don't forget to share I really appreciate it! Until the next time! ^_^/

The song above is called Saying Goodbye by John McClung. 

-Flowereader230