《A Girl Adopted》 Chapter 1- Amara Chapter 1- Amara Wondering through the woods I remembered the first time I ran in here. That was the worst and the best day of my life. I am Amara Cross and I am sixteen years old. I am an 11th grader. My hair are reddish brown in colour and eyes, chocte brown. I have pale skin and I am 5 foot 3 inches tall. I skipped a grade, so I am in the same grade with my sister, Elena. Elena and I moved in with our father Robert Cross this year and by that I mean Elena moved in with our dad and I moved to a cabin in the woods. Robert lives in Greycoast. I know weird name right. It''s a small town surrounded by thick woods and you can barely see the sun due to the clouds covering the sky almost every day. Ironic, isn¡¯t it. But I love it here. I have my own little heaven in the woods waiting for me, so I was quite excited to move here. Elena and I lived with our mother Emma Cross till now in Esterden. This ce is a total opposite of Greycoast. It''s hot there most of the time through the year. I love the warmth in Esterden though. We used to spend our summer in Greycoast every year, which never felt like summer due to the weather. My parents got divorced when I was barely a month old. They got married when they were just out of school i.e. at the age of eighteen. Teen love and all that shit. My mom was pregnant with Elena at that time. They used to live in Esterden, a warm ce with lots of beach. Almost eight months after marriage my sister was born. One kid is not that much of a problem for a low ie family right. They managed pretty well. But after about three months, my mom got pregnant with me and that''s when things started going downhill. They were not ready for a second child. They were barely managing with the first one. When I was born the situation got far worse. With so less money and two kids to raise, their rtionship snapped. They were not ready to handle the pressure. They started fighting a lot and eventually ended up getting divorced. That¡¯s what everyone tells me. I was too little to know anything then. My father moved to Greycoast and my mother stayed in Esterden. I for the part, became a bitter memory for them. But that was just the start of the problems. My mother wouldn''t look at me and father, he did not even consider me as his daughter. Elena, she hated me for breaking her perfect family. I was a kid back then, barely a month old at that time and can''t take care of myself. That''s when Uncle Dale and Aunt ire stepped in. Uncle Dale is father''s older brother. He is eight years older than father. Aunt ir is his wife. They took me in. They have a son named Alec. We are two months apart. Alec is two months older than me. So, we practically grew up as twins. If it wasn''t for uncle, aunt and Alec, I wouldn''t be here. My mother, father and Elena are just my family on papers but my real family is uncle, aunt and Alec. My parents refused to let Uncle and Aunt officially adopt me. Nobody knows the reason why. Maybe they wanted to see me suffer more. Who knows! But the summer ritual waspulsory for Elena and me from when we turned five and four. I didn''t want to go there as father practically ignored my existence whenever I was there. I always felt lonely and unwanted in that house. I never understood though why they would send me there if they don¡¯t want to see me. I mean I was happy being away from their scowling, loathing faces. I used to take care This is from N?velDrama.Org. of myself. Dad used to smile at Elena and would never pay attention to me. He would take her to eat outside, to the movies and I would be home alone starving or eating anything I can find in the kitchen, which they made sure not to leave much. But I would still wait for them in hope to be noticed just once maybe. I studied hard and got good grades so that mom and dad would praise me. I made myself perfect in extracurricr too but, still no avail. The year I turned ten, we went to Greycoast as usual for the summer break. It was almost the end of the summer break. On that particr night my father came home early from work. Elena was staying at her summer friends Leah and Mia Butler''s house. Dad went in the kitchen and started drinking. I was watching him from the small storage room door which I would get as a bedroom over the summer every year. After an hour or so he stood up and starteding towards me. That was the first time he looked me in the eye. The emotions in his eyes were not what I wanted to see though. His eyes were full of hate and that hate was directed towards me. He stood right in front of me and started shouting at me, "Because of you my family broke. Because of you Jessica left me. I wish you were never born, then we would have been one happy family. I will make you suffer for everything you put us through." And with that said he mmed his fist on the wall, an inch beside my head and went in his room. I started crying. I didn''t knew he hated me so much. I always used to think he is just mad at me about something but hate, it was a whole different level. And I did the most rational thing a scared ten year old could think of. I ran out of the house and into the woods that were surrounding it. It was raining at that time as the summer break was about to end. I ran aimlessly in the woods, tears streaming down my face. After sometime it got harder to see as it was getting dark and the woods were dense. Only little light passed through. I tripped on a tree root and fell face first and hit my head on a rock. Everything became woozy after that. My head hurt like hell and I was in and out of consciousness. I thought I would die here with nobody to look for me. Even if they did try to find me, what was the possibility that some wild animal wouldn¡¯t eat me up first? I mean it¡¯s a freaking jungle for crying out loud. I thought I was done for. Chapter 2- Amara Chapter 2- Amara Age ten:- Iid on my back to let my sight get clear. I don''t want to faint in the middle of a jungle where no one can find me. Well no one is going to search for me in this town anyway. Oh god this is bad. I don''t want to die this early and definitely not like this in middle of a jungle being a snack to the wild animals. Why did I even came in here? Obviously because I am stupid but as that I am already in this situation, what should I do? Wow, now I am talking to myself. Am I going crazy now? That hit seriously messed up with my head I guess. Oh no ck spots, I am going to faint. I don¡¯t want to pass out right now. Am I seriously going to die? Goodbye world. Finally dad''s wish will be granted. Just as I was about to lose consciousness, I saw a ball of lighting towards me. Am I hallucinating? Off course I am hallucinating. Haha. If I ever get out of here, I should go get myself checked with a shrink. Huh it changed its shape into a wolf. This can¡¯t be a hallucination. So, now am going to get eaten when I am still alive. Great. Well thank you mister wolf, put me out of my misery. Holly hell, the wolf''s huge. Does this sized wolves even exists or am I going crazy? I think thetter might be the case. It came and put its paw on me like checking if I am still breathing or not. Huh, this is weird. And that''s howdies and gentlemen I fainted, with the wolf spirit''s paw on my chest and its muzzle right in front of my face. Whoa! Where am I? It''s dark in here and there is something on my chest. I can feel its weight. It does not have much weight but I can feel it and it''s warm. I amying on something soft. Why is it so dark in here? Somebody please switch on the lights. Oh, silly me, my eyes are closed. Then everything came back rushing to me. Oh hell no. Am I dead? I can still feel the pain in my head. I should probably open my eyes first. Well, here goes nothing. I opened my eyes and saw the same wolf sleeping beside me, with its head on my chest. Shit my head hurts. If I am still alive then that means it does not want to kill me or I hope that¡¯s the case here. It is not going to harm me now right or was it saving me forter? I feel paranoid. I took a look around to find out where I was. It looks like I am in an old cabin like thing in the woods. The wolf might have brought me here when I was passed out. I should get the hell out of here without waking the wolfee in case it changes its mind. I should try getting up without waking it up. Oh no, the wolf opened its eyes. It looked at me with its head tilted to one side. There is no running away now I guess. So, let''s find out if it''s still keen on granting me my life. It stood on all four legs and licked my face. E. That was gross. There was no saliva on his tongue, but it¡¯s still gross. And then it spoke. Do the wolves speaks or am I seriously losing my mind? Holly mother of Jesus it is transparent. Great. I am at an unknown ce with a wolf ghost. Could this situation get any worse? It said, "You are finally awake. You were out for a while now." Ahh, it is a he then and he definitely saved my life. "Where am I?" I asked looking in his eyes as that¡¯s the only part of him through which I can¡¯t see objects behind him. This is giving me a headache. "You are at an abandoned cabin. I found you barely conscious in the woods. So I brought you here to heal. And you were out for almost the entire night. Its dawn now." And truly I can see a bit of the light of the rising sun through the window. "Thank you so much for helping me. I am Amara. What is your name? Are you a wolf ghost or something?" I fired away. The wolf ghost blinked, bewildered I think. What? I am a curious person. "You are most wee.¡± He said atst. ¡°And as for your other questions, my kind does not have names. And I am not a ghost. I am a wolf spirit. As you are awake now, my father wants to see you. He is the leader here. I brought you here without his permission. You weren''t supposed to see me. He can be intimidating at first but don''t worry he won''t bite. Okay?" Did I imagine it or I saw a bit of a wolfee N?velDrama.Org ? 2024. smirk on his face or muzzle or whatever it is. I feel nervous suddenly. "Wolf spirit ey. Cool.¡± I said keeping up the cool front. Don¡¯t want toe out as sacredly cat, do I now. ¡°What do you mean you don''t have a name? Everyone has names. Just like my aunt named me Amara. Can I call you Ryder?" "Sure. But why Ryder?" he asked tilting his head a bit. "Because it suits you.¡± Then something clicked in my brain. ¡°Wait a minute. You said your kind. Does that mean there are more of you? What do you mean by your father wants to see me? And why am I not supposed to see you?" "Yes, there is an entire pack of us and don''t worry papa won''t hurt you. He just wants to talk to you that¡¯s all. Being a wolf spirit, we are not visible to humans. I don¡¯t know how you saw me earlier though and even now when I am trying to make myself invisible.¡± He said with a bit of irritation which made me giggle. ¡°Well, if you are good enough to walk, we can get finished with this and you can rest afterwards." He nodded his head towards the door. "Yeah I feel fine now. Let''s get this over with." I said trying not to look scared but I am scared as hell. If it would have been possible to measure fear, mine would have sted off the scale. He started walking and I followed him. The cabin was quiet big. Not huge but big enough for two humans to livefortably. We stepped out of the front door and there was a river flowing at least fifty feet away from the cabin and the area was cleared a bit with some overgrown grass and no trees. With some work, this cabin can be a perfect ce to live. It is so beautiful and calm here. How did I not hear the rushing of the flowing water before? And at the shore of the river were sitting a bunch of see through wolves. I mean a pack of wolf spirits. Hehe. They were all different colors and their sizes were different too. All of them were smaller than Ryder, except for one. He was biggest of the lot. He might be the leader and hell he looked intimidating. Ryder bowed his head in front of him and stood beside him. So now I was standing in front of eight - nine huge see through wolves. All eyes on me. Not so frightening at all right. Note the sarcasm. Wow, things can''t get any weirder. ¡°What were you doing in the woods all alone? Do you even understand the consequences if my son wouldn''t have found you? You would have been dead by now.¡± The leader said in an almost grumpy and deep voice. Nice to meet to too sir. His voice was full of authority, powerful but still a warmth to it, like a fatherly edge. Is he worried about me? Well that¡¯s new. "Well no one cares if am alive or not so it would be a win win situation for them. No worries." I said shrugging, though it hurt a lot to say that but truth can¡¯t be changed, can it? You got to get over it sometimes. His voice softened a bit after hearing this. "What do you mean by that?" he asked. I told them everything from the beginning. At the end I can''t stop myself from crying. Ryder came by my side tofort me. The leader was looking at me with sadness and pity in his eyes. Chapter 3- Amara Chapter 3- Amara Age ten continuation:- The big wolf and the others were still quiet. After my crying episode, the big wolf started talking and he said something I never expected him to say. "I would like to adopt you as one of mine. Only if you are good with that arrangement." He added the I froze. He wants to adopt me. That means I will have a family too. I mean uncle and aunt are my family too but I have a feeling this will be different. I will have a ce to call home. I can''t help the grin that stretched on my face. I ran towards him and hugged him. He went stiff the very moment and then I realized what I did. I shifted back a bit due to embarrassment. My face must have been redder than a ripened tomato. He cleared his throat. "So I will take that as a yes." He said a bit amused and d. I was too embarrassed to speak so I just nodded. He continued, "You are too young toe and live here. Move into the cabin when you are eighteen after you are done with your school. Till then you will have to stay with your birth parents. You can spend your summer with us here. As Esterden is not a problem. You can live with your uncle and aunt there. You see wolf spirits are all males. So it will be a good change I think." He finished almost what looked to be This content provided by N(o)velDrama].[Org. smiling at me. Wow! I am speechless. I have a family now. I have a ce to call home. I started bombarding him with questions. "Thank you soooo much.¡± I squealed ¡°What should I call you? Ryder told me your kind does not have names. Can I give all of you guys'' names? It will be easy formunication right. Wait, if there are no females, who gives birth to the pups? I mean that¡¯s what the younger wolves are called right? Or do you call them babies like human kids?" "Easy there tiger. One question at a time. And who is Ryder?" He asked chuckling, making me blush. I pointed towards Ryder and told him," He is. I gave him that name earlier when we were talking in the cabin. It suits him right." I said, hyper with excitement. Everyone startedughing except for Ryder. He looked like he was embarrassed or something. The big wolf started talking, "You named my son Ryder ey. What would be my name then? What would you call me?" "Hercules. Because you are so huge and strong." I said jumping up and down in pure joy. Everyone startedughing again except for Hercules. What did I do now? I stared at them confused. Hercules cleared his throat again. "Isn''t Hercules a weird name for me?¡± I pouted at him. ¡°But if you like that name, I will ept it dly. You will not use my name though. You will call me papa just like Ryder and my other pup do." Papa added with warmth in his eyes. "Okay papa." I said beaming widely. Papa''s eyes softened. "Wow! I have a sister now. Wee to the family baby sister." Ryder said excited. "Thank you brother." I squealed. Papa said," You should go to your birth father''s ce now so you can look through the situation there. Come back here tomorrow. I will answer your questions then." "I don''t want to go papa. I haven''t even met others yet. Besides I don''t know my way around here anyway." I said sadly. I don¡¯t want to go somewhere where I am not needed and hated by anyone who "I don''t want you to go either, but its important princess. And Ryder will pick you up tomorrow morning near your house and he will drop you now as well. But you can''t tell about all this to even a single soul. Okay?" papa said in a stern voice. "Okay." I said sulking openly. I am in a full on pout mode. "But how will I know he is there?" "About that. Come here I will ept you in the pack now so you can hear and feel us all the time. I will have to bite you on your shoulder as you are human, to ept you in the pack. I haven''t done this before. So I don''t know the extent of the pain it will cause. Are you sure you want to do this? That''s the only way though." He asked a bit concerned. I want this. It will hurt for few minutes that¡¯s all, but then I will be a part of this amazing family. I can do this. "I want this." I said smiling. Papa came in front of me and I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. I felt him opening his mouth and then it closed around my shoulder. It felt like many needles were stabbed in my shoulder at once. A scream left my mouth and tears started pouring out of my eyes. But all of a sudden the pain vanished and there were various voices in my head. I looked at my shoulder to see my wound but it was already healing and a tattoo like symbol started appearing over there. Then there came a chorus, "Wee to the pack." If I die now, I would die a happy girl. I never felt this happy before other than being with aunt, uncle and Alec. Ryder came near me and crouched a bit, "Hop on baby sister. I will drop you off and don''t worry you will be back before you know it. You are not alone now." I climbed on his back. "Hold on tight princess." He said standing up straight. I held on to his neck hair as tight as I can without pulling his hair out, if those were really hair and he started running like the sh. I buried my face in his neck. In no time we were at the clearing behind my father''s house. I hopped off of his back. "Go princess. I will pick you up tomorrow. I will call in the mind link when I get here. Okay? Bye sis." Ryder said to me. "Bye big brother. See you tomorrow." And off he went. I turned towards the house. Did dad knew I was out for the entire night? The more important question is did he care? Did he look for me? Anyways I will find out when I get inside. I started walking towards dad''s house. I opened the door and went inside. Dad is not home. He might have went to his job. Elena has not came back either. So I am alone I guess. I should take a bath. I am covered in dirt and that''s what I did. Then after eating I went to bed thinking, will Ryder reallye to pick me up and I heard his voice in my head, "I will princess. Sleep now". I closed my eyes with a smile on my face and I was out like a light. I think I was dead tired. I woke up to some noises in kitchen. I opened my door to look who it is. Elena and dad were home. They looked at me, then to the wound on my head and then continued eating dinner. So we are back to normal. No drunken episode ey. I closed the door of my room, curled up in my bed and closed my eyes thinking about tomorrow. It is going to be a wonderful day. I can feel it. I went to dreamnd again. Chapter 4- Amara Chapter 4- Amara Ryder dide to pick me up that day and as usual dad and Elena didn''t pay attention to what I was doing. Ryder took me back to the cabin near the river. Papa answered every question of mine. "Wolf spirits are the wolf part of the shifter¡¯s soul. They are like jig saw puzzle. When the human part and the wolf partes together, the shifters soul besplete.¡± He had started in his deep and potential enemy is living on ournd to protect humans and our mates from getting harmed. Two generation before me that is my great grandfather''s generation was the first generation of the wolf shifters. My father was the first born and the alpha of the spirit wolves. The second born son of my grandfather became the Alpha of the shifters. But when we merge with our humans, our memories in the spirit form are lost. We be an entirely new person and wolf. The first born is never the shifter alpha, he bes the alpha of the spirit wolves. The first born produces the next generation. The generations of the wolf spirits are rted to the shifters. As many heir the human shifters has, as many will be the wolf spirits. There are six shifter families in our pack. The female born in these families are never a shifter, which is why there are no female wolf spirit. Every shifter has a mate. Mate is like his other half, a soul mate. The wolf spiritpletes the soul of the shifter but his matepletes the existence of the shifters. Their mates are everything to them. The shifters are always possessive of their mates. Every wolf spirit does not merge with their humans. Only the numbers needed to defend their people and mate from the enemy or to defeat the enemy merges. The spirit alpha decides the number. The Content held by N?velDrama.Org. spirit alpha also looks over the shifters. My generation of shifters and the generation before me that is my father¡¯s generation, did not need to shift as the vampire family that lived on ournd moved somewhere else. The new spirit wolf is born by splitting from its parent in my generation''s case or from splitting from the alpha like the other generations when the shifter is born. The other spirits of my generation died when the new generation was born. The first born spirit wolf that is the spirit wolf alpha remains to give birth to next generation. There are total of seven in the pack for now, excluding Ryder. If the vampires moves here then, the spirits will start merging with their human. When the process starts, the human starts growing in size to make space for the wolf spirits. His strength, senses and body temperature advances and the transformation takes ce. It''s painful at first but afterwards it bes easier." He had exined that day. After that year, I came every summer to Greycoast to meet my wolf family. I named every one of them. The second born or the human alpha is honey brown in colour just like Ryder. I gave him the name Tyler. The beta is pitch ck in colour, so I named him Raven. Third inmand''s fur is dirty blonde. I named him Hunter. The other four are abination of grey, ck and white with varied patterns. They are Logan, Max, Jack and Eric. This is my wolf family. Last year my mom married a guy named David. Few months ago, he got transferred to a new ce due to his job. So Elena suggested on moving in with dad. I was going to move in with uncle and aunt for two years. I practically lived there anyways. I never lived with Mom and Elena. Mom and dad would pay my school fees, with bitter feelings may I add, but they still paid for it. Mom and Dad said they would pay for my school only if I moved to Greycoast. Uncle and aunt were ready to pay my school fees but that would be too much to ask from them. They already did so much for me, it would feel wrong to ask them for money as well. Alec was mad at me for moving out of the house. But I had to leave. I don''t want to be a burden on anyone. They already did a lot for me. So I moved to Greycoast but not with my father and sister. I moved in the cabin. Dad had no say in this one and for safe keeping I didn¡¯t tell anybody where I am living. I took a part time job as a waitress in a cafe. I work from Monday to Saturday. Sunday is the training day. Papa is training me in fighting and some sort of healing thing since the summer I was eleven. I am doing well in fighting but in healing, I am still on point zero. Papa said I have to keep practicing. He told me that the vampire family moved back here this year. So the wolf spirits are going to merge with their humans. Raven was the first. He merged with the oldest boy of this generation named Stanley Smith. He is from the beta family. We don''t know yet who is going to be next. But I am going to miss them all. I moved here yesterday and have been cleaning this ce since then. The cabin is finally clean. School starts day after tomorrow. I am going to rest for now. Elena and I are going to go to the same school. We even have few sses together. We never talked in the old school. Elena is not a bitch or anything like earlier. She is a really nice girl, shy, smart, helpful and all that. She never did anything bad to me ever ept when we were kids. It was like I was invisible to her after fourth grade. She never considered me a part of her family or life. It is better that, than getting bullied. Let''s see what happens in this school. I hope everything goes fine tomorrow. Chapter 5- Amara Chapter 5- Amara On the Monday morning, I woke up early so I can reach the school on time, as I live in the middle of the nowhere. School starts at eight in the morning. Papa gave me a day off yesterday on training to rest. Thank the heavens for that. God I don''t want to walk all the way there. I should just ask Ryder or Tyler to drop me off somewhere near the school. I heard a quick ''Gotcha sis'' from Tyler. This mind link thing sucks sometimes. Your most embarrassing secrets are also broadcasted without your consent to everybody in the pack. Well, I got a ride to the school so I won''tin about it now. I got ready and walked out of the door. Tyler was already waiting for me there. I climbed on his back and he dropped me off in the forest area near the school. From there it''s only a five minute walk. Greycoast high is a medium sized school. As the town is small, everyone knows each other from diapers. I hope there won¡¯t be a lot of staring. As I was about to enter the school building I saw Elena get out of her car. Dad bought a car for her as a wee home gift for traveling to the school. Everybody was staring at her and that got me to sneak into the building without being noticed. Elena is gorgeous with pale skin, strawberry blonde hair and blue eyes. She got her hair from our mother and eyes from our father. While for me it''s the opposite. No one can tell that we are sisters and I don¡¯t think she wants it to be known that I am rted to her in anyways possible. Yes, I still address them as mother and father. It would be disrespectful not to. They did gave birth to me. I wouldn''t be here if they would have decided otherwise. I am grateful to them for bringing me in this world. I hurried towards the office to get my schedule and to start with the day. Papa told me that the shifters go to the other school on the outskirts of Greycoast as they can''t stand the vampires presence. The vampires are enrolled in this school. Papa never told me who they are but I will find out eventually. Well if I spot some illegally gorgeous people walking anywhere, I will know it¡¯s them. Right? It is a family of five. Three kids, a mother and a father. They are not actually rted though. They just roll together as a family. He said it¡¯s more convenient for them to blend in. They don''t drink blood directly from humans. They opt for the blood banks. Enough with the vampires. I should go to my ss or I will bete on the first freaking day here. I collected my schedule from the officedy and was about to leave when the door opened and in came Elena. Well, this isn''t awkward. We were staring at each other when the bell rang. She went to collect her schedule and I set out towards my first ss. My schedule was Biology, Calculus, Lunch, Spanish, History and English. So biology it is. I didn''t have time for the locker as the bell has already rang so I made a mad dash towards biology ss. As I entered the ss, every eyes were on me. I swallowed the lump in my throat and went towards the teacher. I gave him the slip to be signed. Mr. Bush gave me my book and told me to introduce myself. "I am Amara Cross. I am from Esterden. I love to hike." I said in a monotone. "Take the seat next to Mr. Miller. He will be yourb partner this semester. Aaron raise your hand please." Mr. Bush said. Aaron raised his hand and I started walking towards my seat. Aaron looked like a kind person. He is cute with light brown hair, pale skin and those cute dimples when he smiled. Most people were pale skinned here. Maybe due tock of exposure to the sun. I sat down on my assigned seat. "Hey. I am Aaron Miller. Nice to meet you." Aaron said. "Amara Cross. Nice to meet you too." I replied. The door opened and Elena entered the ss. This is like Deja vu. But why do we have the same first period? Someone kill me now. I don''t hate her or anything. It''s just I don''t want things to be awkward for her or me. She went to Mr. Bush and gave him her slip to sign. He gave her a book and told her to introduce herself. "I am Elena Cross. I am from Esterden. I like reading." She said with a smile. Mr. Bush told her to take the seat in front of me were a guy was sitting. He had unruly coper brown hair, ck eyes and as usual pale skin. But his skin was too pale. Mr. Bush said his name is Alexander Knight. Elena took her sit, throwing a quick nce towards me. Well this is new. Aaron nudged me on the side and asked, "Are you two sisters or rted in any way?" "Yeah! Sort of. I mean¡­ she is my cousin." I lied. But we have lived our entire lives as cousins so this isn¡¯t exactly a lie. "You two don''t look even slightly alike. What do you mean by sort of?" he asked. "It''s a long story. I am not quitefortable with sharing that. Sorry." I said with finality in my voice telling the conversation is over. "It''s okay. You don''t have to apologize for that." He said smiling. Now I feel like a cruel person. I smiled at him and focused on what the teacher was jabbering. Time went by pretty quickly and the bell rang. I got up and was shoving my things in my book bag when Aaron asked me which ss I had next. I told him calculus. He had the same ss. So we set off. Calculus ended and it was already lunch. Aaron and I wrapped our things and set off towards the cafeteria. We were making small talks about each other. Just as we opened the cafeteria door someone tripped Aaron and startedughing. He was about tond face first on the floor but I caught him by the back of his cor. Thanks to papa''s training, I have fast reflexes. I saw three guysughing their ass off. But they stoppedughing as I caught Aaron and pulled him up. They looked like senior bullies that every school has. The Guy in the middle started walking towards me. He must be the leader then. I stood my ground giving him a dead look. There was nothing to be afraid of anyways. I didn¡¯t do anything wrong. "Well, well, well, who do we have here? I haven''t seen you before. Are you new in the school?" He asked smirking. "Yes I am." I replied innocently. Aaron was standing beside me. I saw Elena looking at me from the corner of my eye. She was sitting with a bunch of girls and guys. She looked worried. That¡¯s new. Why is she worried about me again? She basically never shows any amount of concern for me ever. But she knows I am good at fighting. I got into a few fights at myst school as well and came out unharmed. But the person on the receiving end would always be pretty bruised up. This is getting weird with every passing moment. They started talking again, "Just a free advice for you. Don''t hang out with that loser. You don''t want to be bullied do you now." "I am fairly capable of choosing my friends. Thank you for the advice though." I said giving a sarcastic This content provided by N(o)velDrama].[Org. smile. I heard gasps from all around the cafeteria. His two friends came by his side as well. Maybe to intimidate me or something along the way but it wasn''t working. I took Aaron''s hand and started walking in the cafeteria. The guy in middle pulled him back and was about to punch him in the face. And that''s howdies and gentleman shit got bad because nobody hurts my people. They will regret this forever. Chapter 6- Amara Chapter 6- Amara As the middle bully was about to punch Aaron I sped in front of him and caught his punch in my right hand and demanded, "What are you doing?" He tried to free his hand but didn''t say anything. I squeezed his hand harder. He tried to punch me with his other hand but I blocked it before he could make any contact with my face. I am getting angrier by every passing second. I will probably end up redesigning his entire face. I don''t want to fight on the first freaking day, but people just won¡¯t let me be in peace. As I am adopted in the pack by the alpha himself, I am an alpha female and hold the same power as Ryder and Tyler. Normal humans can get intimidated by me when I am angry. They can feel the power radiating off of me but can''t understand what it is. Their mind starts screaming danger so they get scared. That¡¯s what papa told me, happens when I asked why people get so intimidated by me when I am angry. Some backs off after feeling that and some ends up ruining their faces. The other two backed off. Smart move. As I got sure the leader won''t attack, I let go of his hands. He backed off and went out of the cafeteria with his minions on his tail. I don''t like doing this to people, but it just happens. I turned towards Aaron. "If you want to stay away from me, you can leave now. If not, let''s eat. I am starving." I said to him. "I choose eating." He said grinning. I smiled at him and started walking towards an empty table. I never thought I would make friends here. All the friends I had back at Esterden were through Alec. I miss him so much. As we were eating my phone went off. It was Aunt ir. I picked it up. "Hey Aunt ir. What''s up?" I said. "Hi honey. How are things there? Did you settle in properly? Anyone bullying you? Did you made any friends?" She fired away. Yeah I got that quality from her. I startedughing. She starts bbering whenever she is worried or nervous or excited. Yeah she is one hyper aunt I got there. But I love her to bits. "Things are going great here. School is good too and no one is bullying me. I did make a friend. His name is Aaron. We have every ss together. Its lunch right now and it is about to end so I can''t talk too long. I will call you back after school." I replied chuckling. "Oh thank god.¡± She said sighing loudly. I love that women so much. ¡°I was so worried about you. It''s okay honey we will talkter. Don¡¯t forget to call me though.¡± I hummed in reply ¡°Would you pass your phone to Elena, Emma wants to talk to her. She is leaving today. Elena''s phone is unreachable. I don''t N?velDrama.Org ? 2024. know why." she said in a cold voice. I can sense a cat fight. Aunt ir was mad at mother and father about the current arrangements. I hope they won¡¯t fight over me. "Sure. Wait a second." I replied. Aunt ir does not like how my mother treats me but she was happy at the same time because she got to keep me. Now, with me living here her anger seems to overpower the happiness. I got up and walked towards Elena. Every head on the table turned towards me and started staring at me. What did I do now? Elena turned to face me and I gave her my phone. "Mother wants to talk to you. I am sitting over there. Return it to me when you are done." I said awkwardly. She said," Okay." I went back to my table and she started talking to mother. Aaron and I were having small talks and I was stealing his fries. As the bell rang, Elena came to me and returned my phone. I was about to turn around when she called me, "Amara" "Yes" I said surprised. My face must have given it away. "Do you have a ride home?" she asked awkwardly. That depends on my brothers. "No. I walk home." Lie "Why did you ask?" "Well I can drop you off. Where do you live?" She said blushing ferociously. Okay, what''s going on? I stared at her wide eyed and mouth hanging open. That was the longest civil conversation I ever had with her. The girl who I am rted to by blood, who never talked properly to me in my sixteen years of life, is asking me if I needed a ride home. I mean what the hell girl? Am I in a parallel dimension or something? I think the weather might have messed up with her brain. Think something Amara. I can''t tell her I live in the middle of the jungle. "No its okay. I live on the other side of the town anyways. So I take a short cut through the jungle. Thanks for asking though." I said smiling awkwardly. "Okay. Bye" She said. "Bye" What just happened? Is my sister trying to make up with me? I will find outter anyways. I totally forgot about Aaron, who was standing right beside me through this whole bag of awkwardness. I smiled at him apologetically and we started walking towards our next ss. The day went by pretty fast and the final bell rang. I submitted my slip in the office. Aaron and I started walking towards the parking. He got in his car and went home. I went towards the backside of the school, entered the woods and started my journey towards my home. It feels good to have a ce you can call home. I reached at the cabin after 45 minutes. I went inside, took a bath and plopped on my bed. This was a pretty weird day. My shift at the cafe starts at five pm. It will take me fifteen minutes to get ready and 30-45 minutes to get there. I still have two hours to sleep. I set an rm on my phone and curled up on the bed. I closed my eyes and was out like a light. Chapter 7- Amara Chapter 7- Amara The week went by pretty quickly and it was already Friday. This past week was a very interesting one. Elena made small conversations with me, which went quiet good I must say. We are somewhat on a talking terms now and I can actually call us casual friends. She invited me and Aaron to her lunch table yesterday. All of us including her, her friends, Aaron and I got along pretty well. I am at the diner working my shift right now. School ended few hours ago. The diner is almost packed, today being Friday. The town peoplee here with their family to have dinner sometimes on Fridays and the weekends. The bell chimed signalling that someone came and sat on one of the tables assigned to me as others were already upied. I finished serving the family I was currently attending to and started walking towards the customer that just arrived. Their backs were towards me. It was a man and a girl. I stopped beside their table and took my notepad out without looking at their faces. I put my best smile and looked up from the notepad and asked them, "Good evening. I am Amara and I will be serving you today. What can I get you?" The smile slowly slipped off of my face. Holly shit. I stood there in shock. They were father and Elena. Father looked up from the menu and he was shocked as well but he recovered from it quickly and a stony look settled on his face. "I would like a Hamburger and a cappino." he said in a hard voice. I wrote it down, turned my attention towards Elena and asked her what she would like. She said, "A medium rare stake and hot chocte." I gave her a smile and wrote it down. "Your order will be here in fifteen minutes." "You work here Amy?" Elena asked. No shit Sherlock. I am serving you, aren''t I? But we were finally getting on good terms and I don''t want to ruin that. So I answered nicely. "Yeah. Except for Sundays." This is from N?velDrama.Org. "But why do you need to work anyway?" she asked confused. Well don''t you know anything about medy? Or you are being oblivious on purpose? "Well I need to feed myself and pay the rent and I don''t have anyone to do that for me. So I got to take care of myself.¡± The words came out of my mouth quiet harshly and I saw Elena wince. ¡°Living alone in this world is not that easy you know. Some people are so cruel that they can¡¯t stand people being happy and they do anything they can to ruin their lives.¡± I said quite pointedly and they knew who I was talking about. ¡°Everyone does not have rainbows and unicorns for a life. I would like to get going so you can get your food real quick. I will be back with your order." I finished giving them a tight lipped smile. Father was sitting their stiff throughout our conversation. He looked ufortable. Well you had that something like that. I mean you know what I have been through. You were a part of it sometime back. I know I lied a bit about living alone to try to make them feel guilty, but still she started it. Anyways, after fifteen minutes I took their order to them and ced the contents of the tray on their table. I gave them the best fake smile I can muster and turned around to attend to another customer. After 45 minutes they were done. They paid their bill at the counter and left. Elena gave me a small wave and I returned her gesture and then resumed my work. After my shift was over, I started walking home. This is getting really tiring. My feet will disintegrate someday by all the walking I do. After reaching home, I took a quick shower and curled up on my bed thinking about the events of this week. I already ate at the cafe, so no need for cooking dinner. I didn''t even get much time with papa and Ryder or for my homework which is piled in heaps. Why do the teachers give homework in the first week of school? My family got smaller in size. It is just me, Ryder and papa now. Everyone merged with their humans already in merely a time period of one week. First Raven then Tyler and others followed suit. It''s because the vampires moved back here. Papa said I will meet the shifters soon. I am looking forward to seeing them. I miss my family already. They live in the southern part of the town near the Greycoast beach. This town got its name from there. I heard the beach is always gloomy due to the weather that is why the name and there is a cliff too. I will ask Aaron to take me there someday. I don''t want to walk all the way there. I know I am sounding like a brat but, I just can''t. Walking to school and work is more than enough. I said good night in the mind link and heard two replies. I love them so much. A smile formed on my lips as I closed my eyes and went to the dreand. Chapter 8- Amara Chapter 8- Amara After my shift at the diner, I am walking by the river. My shift at the diner on Saturday starts at 8 in the morning and ends at two in the afternoon. I came back home after that and took a nap. At five I started walking by the river shore, thinking about papa''s words. Papa is trying to teach me to heal for almost four years now. But I haven''t even been sessful in being one with my spirit. Papa says once I know how to do that I can heal anyone physically as well as emotionally. I can calm a person down and can even mend bones if I really focus. The aura of every living being is different. Once I learn how to use spiritual energy, I will be able to do all this. But, I can''t at this moment. Let''s just hope I can do this someday. Well, it''s getting dark, I should get back home. I started walking back home but I heard some voices that made me stop in my tracks. It sounds like an animal in pain or something like that. Some animal must be injured. Should I go check? Off course I should. I started walking towards the noise slowly not to scare the animal even more. But what I saw was not what I was expecting at all. Alexander and some other guy were tearing a deer into pieces with their teeth and hands. The guy had ck hairs and pale skin. I can''t see his eyes clearly from where I was standing. He has this scowl on his face. He is hot, not as hot as Alexander though, but still qualifies the test. What the hell am I thinking? Hot or not they are killing an innocent animal with an inhuman animosity. Their hands, cloths and mouth were covered in the blood of the poor animal. They were so busy mauling that deer that they didn''t even notice that their murder has a witness. If that counts as a murder. It should right. It is a This content belongs to N?/velDra/ma.Org . living thing after all. Well, seeing a vampire hunt was definitely not on my bucket list. Do I even have a bucket list? Who cares? So these are the vampires papa were talking about. Why the hell am I still standing here talking to myself? I should get the hell out of here, before they realize they have an audience. If they found me here, they will kill me before papa or Ryder even gets here for my rescue. Still a message to them will at least have a 10% chance of saving my ass. So I sent a quick message of help in the mind link. They are usually at the south of the woods looking over the shifters. They will take time to reach here. Till then I have to protect myself. I started walking slowly backwards. I am so lucky aren''t I? No, I didn''t escape from there, I tripped on a big fat root with a loud udy like shriek. Ironic right. Their heads snapped towards me. Oops! Busted. What should I say ¡®sorry for ruining your dinner¡¯? But don''t they use blood from the blood banks? Well that''s not the primary concern I should be having right now. The main point to be considered should be what is going to happen to me. They were not actually drinking blood, just taking their anger on it. At least that¡¯s what it looked like. They looked at each other and exchanged some looks that I didn''t understand. There was barely any light, just the moon light shining a bit through the dense trees. Human eyes can''t see that clearly in these situations and mine seems to be the only human eyes present in this ce. Alexander said something to the other guy who looked fully in a dinosaur mode. But he ignored it. He is staring at me like I am some piece of meat he wants to eat. Oh no! This is turning dirty really fast. This is the moment. I should focus and try to be one with my spirit. Alexander is holding him back. But he is trying to get free. Close your eyes Amara and focus. I tried to remember papa''s words," Find the inner you. Be one with the nature and be one with yourself. That is the key to possessing the spirit energy." I am seeing light in the darkness. I followed it. Theirs a girl. She looks like she is made of light. She is holding her hand out. I extended my hand to touch hers. As soon as I touched her hand she disappeared. I opened my eyes. All I can see were lights in the shape of trees and two human figures. They looked cold though. One trying to restrain the other. Maybe this is what papa said about the aura of the living beings. I am hearing a voice saying," Run quickly. I will hold him down." I want to run but I am walking towards them. I was standing right in front of the unknown guy. He is struggling to get out of Alexander''s grip baring his teeth at me. I ced my hand on his cheek and said," Calm down. You don''t want to do this." There is a yellowish golden glow at my palm. His face started to rx and finally he stopped struggling. I dropped my hand to my side and smiled at him. He returned my smile. I turned my head to look at Alexander. He was standing there with his jaw almost hitting the floor. Not literally though. Did I do something wrong? The unknown guy started talking, "Hi I am Oliver Knight. And this is my brother Alexander. I didn''t mean to scare you........." His voice started to fade away slowly. I am feeling numb. Why does it feel like I am going to faint? Oh my god! The famous ck dots. Not with the vampires. They will probably suck me dry before I even wake up. But I just want to take a long nap and I can go back home to tell papa about my little adventure. That''s what I am going to do. I closed my eyes and drifted into the darkness. I hope papa and Ryder finds me before these two kill me. Chapter 9- Amara Chapter 9- Amara I am in the woods, running away from something. It''s dark here. I can''t see clearly and obviously being the clumsy me, I fell down. I tripped on something. Wow! Great timing isn¡¯t it. I looked for what I tripped on. I almost screamed in fright. It''s a dead deer ripped into pieces and I tripped on its head. The sound of footsteps is increasing. The thing I am running from is gaining on me. Where am I? I haven''t seen this part of the woods before. What am I running from? I tried to get up but my legs feels like they have heavy weight tied to them. Shit I can''t move. How the hell am I supposed to run now? I was looking down at my legs when suddenly a figure appeared in front of me. Pale feet that is all I see. His feet looks luminescent. The moon light was reflecting on his skin. I don''t have the guts to look up. His hand griped my hairs and pulled my head backwards, so now I was looking straight at him. It''s that guy with Alexander in the woods. What''s his name? Oliver I think. His mouth is covered with blood. The blood is dripping from his chin, over his bare chest. Then everything came rushing to me. The encounter in the woods, the spirit power and me fainting. I woke up with a jolt and looked around. The first thing I noticed is that this is not my cabin. I shuddered in fright. The room is definitely bigger than mine and white, all white with ck furniture. That¡¯s kind of spooky and in a way, too clean to be true. I am lying in a bed. Did those vampires bring me here after I passed out? The room is beautiful but still gives those creepy vibes. But that''s not what I should be thinking about right now. I should just get out of here before they find out that I am awake. The moment I put my foot on the carpeted floor, the door opened and in came a man. He looked to be in his early thirties. He has brownish ck hair and light moss green eyes. I must say, he is incredibly handsome. He walked towards me and stood right in front of me, smiling politely or maybe trying not to scare me. Not working buddy. "William Knight.", he said extending his hand towards me. "Amara Cross.", I said shaking his hand. His hand is freezing cold. Oh yes, Knight. He is a vampire too. I am definitely going to end up as their dessert. "Where am I?" I wanted to ask this in a firm voice but the words came out of my mouth in a form of strangled screech. "You are at my house. How are you feeling? You fainted in the jungle. Alex and Oliver brought you here. Do you remember anything?¡± He asked with concern. "If you are asking if I remember them mauling a poor deer and taking a bath in its blood. Yup, I do." I said angry and disgusted at the same time. I am a bit scared as well for my fate though. He grimaced, "Well there is no denying in what you saw. But what are you going to do about it?" "What do you mean?" I asked a bit taken back by his abrupt question and confused at the same time. Is he for real? "Are you going to expose us?" He asked with a nk face. "Why the hell would I do that? Just keep your distance from me and I will be good." I said firmly. Well as firmly as I can manage. They are freaking vampires. Anybody will be scared shitless. Content held by N?velDrama.Org. "Aren''t you afraid we will kill you right now?" he asked tilting his head to the side like trying to know what I was thinking. Time to y it smart. "Nahhh. If you really wanted to kill me, we wouldn''t be chatting with each other right now." I said with an awkward smile. I hoping that it is the truth though or I am so dead. Nicely done Amy. You can¡¯t even act to save your own life. The real reason though is that I know you don''t drink human blood directly. You use blood from the blood bank. But I am not going to tell him that. I know your family dude. "True. Let''s meet the others.", he stood up and started walking towards the door. Can¡¯t I just go home? Why the hell does he want me to meet everyone else? I mean it''s only two members left, both females. But I am just going to y dumb. Hehehe. They must be thinking about intimidating me, so I won''t rat them out to someone. We walked down the stairs and reached a living room. It has a television and furniture to sit around. I saw Alexander and Oliver sitting on the sofa in front of the t screen watching a football match, their backs to me. We walked further and there is kitchen on the left. Why is there a kitchen? I mean they just need a fridge to store blood right. Out of nowhere two females came in front of me. A squeal escaped my mouth because of the sudden arrival. Human here people. Stop giving me mini heart attacks. One of the females looked like a high schooler. She is gorgeous with icy blue eyes, tinum blonde hair that flowed to her waist and pale skin. The other one looked like to be in her mid orte twenties. She has a cute baby face with brown hairs and green eyes. William motioned me to sit. Iplied and sat on the farthest end from the two guys, not so far for them though. They can catch me in blink of an eye if I tried to make a run for it. Oliver switched the t screen off and everyone sat down, all eyes on me. I blinked nervously and looked at Oliver. I remembered his image from my dream and shuddered a bit. He saw that and started apologizing. "I am so sorry if I scared you.¡± ¡®If¡¯ he has got to be kidding me. ¡°I was not myself at that time. I can''t control myself when I am like that. " I nodded at him. He looked genuinely guilty. I didn''t mean to hurt his feelings, but the damage is done. The blue eyed girl got up and sat on hispforting him. They must be together. "This is my wife Grace." William said pointing at the green eyed women. Then he pointed towards the blue eyed one and said," This is Natalie, Oliver''s girlfriend and my daughter. You have met the other two idiots already." They both smiled at me and I returned their gesture with a nod. Stop shaking you idiot. Why does my body betray me in situations like these? They don¡¯t look too different from the humans. The only difference about them seems to be their unusually pale skin and unrealistic beauty. They look too perfect to be true like sculpted by the god himself. "You know what we are right?" I nodded and he continued," I want you to keep this all secret." "I wasn''t going to say anything to anyone. Who would believe me anyway?" I replied. Keep ying dumb. You are doing a really good job. "That''s good." William said satisfied. "If we are done here, can I leave?" I asked quite boldly. I just want to get out of here. Papa must be hyperventting with worry. "It''s past midnight. You should go in the morning." said Grace smiling. I need to get back and tell my papa and Ryder that I am okay. They must be worried sick as I asked for help from them before fainting. "I need to go now. My family must be worried about me. I won''t tell a single soul about our little encounter." I said getting up from the couch. "It''s okay. But are you sure you want to go now. I mean it''s quitete. You can go back to your house tomorrow morning." Grace said with a worried expression. Yesdy I can take care of myself and I am absolutely fine. The one thing I am worried about is my papa and brother bursting into your house or them skinning me alive. Am I being too rude? "Yes, I need to go." I said as politely as I can manage. "Okay then, I will drop you off." Alexander said to me. "No its okay. I will walk there. It''s not that far." Besides papa won''t like it if I showed up at my house with a vampire after my dramatic disappearance. "Okay then, I won''t force you to stay. Will you be alright?" He asked again. "Yup. I will just take a short cut through the forest. And thank you for taking care of me." I said smiling and walked out of the house. And off I went into the forest. I had to stop myself from sprinting all the way to the cabin. Thank god! Oliver or Alexander did not mention about my calming stunt or there would have been more questioning and my secret would have got spilled. Papa is going to turn into an inferno. I should probably just get ready for the wrath of the Hercules. Chapter 10- Amara Chapter 10- Amara While walking back home, I started thinking about the whole vampire episode. It was too easy to get out of their house. Too easy to believe. The most important thing is Alexander nor Oliver asked or even mentioned about what I did to Oliver in the woods. Did they just forgot or I fainted from shock and dreamed about it? Most important thing is how did they believe me so easily that I won''t expose them? Oh my god! Are they keeping an eye on me or what? I looked around the woods in fear but there wasn¡¯t even a single movement. I am just over reacting, I think. But I won¡¯t be able to see them follow me anyways. They are way faster and better, them being hunters and all. If that''s the reason though then I am so busted. Should I try using spirit power to look if they are following me or not? Let''s try doing this. I closed my eyes and focused on my inner self. I focused really hard but¡­ nothing. I think it triggers when I am in danger or maybe I was lucky at that time or maybe I just dreamed about it. Uhhh I am so confused. I should just get back home. I don''t want to go home right now. Papa will grill me alive, not literally and Ryder will most likely give me the silent treatment after checking if any of my body parts are missing. Hmm I love those two to death. After thirty minutes of walking, I can hear the sound of the river water. I am close and I am dead tired. My body is groaning in protest. I don''t know why I am feeling like someone drained every single ounce of energy out of me. I can see my cabin in the dim moon light now. Finally there. I just want to flop on the bed, curl up under the nket and wee the abyss of darkness. The door was just twenty feet away from me, but before I can reach their, a huge fat whale pped on me. I went down on the ground with an omhff. When I looked up, it was none other than Ryder. A groan escaped my mouth from exhaustion and from his weight as this said whale is sitting on me in his full glory. Only my head is out and the rest of my body is under him. I looked at his face. He looked pissed and worried at the same time. I can feel low growlsing from his chest. Gosh dude stop growling in my face. If he is like this, I don''t know how papa is going to be and to tell you the truth I don''t even want to know. He opened his mouth and was about to say something when we heard a loud growl. Thank god! He is a spirit and no one can hear him or someone would havee to check here. At least the super naturals would have. I turned my head towards papa as I can''t move any of my other body parts. Thanks to some ogre. Papa looked beyond pissed. Oh my! I don¡¯t think I am going to get out of this alive. Goodbye world. Here Ie oh mighty Kamisama. "Who hurt you?" he asked looking me up and down but was obstructed by his beloved son. "Why is your energy lower than normal? What happened? Are you alright princess?" He sounded worried now. He is not angry with me for disappearing on him like that? I breathed out a sigh of relief. I didn''t even realize I was holding my breath. I turned my head towards Ryder and said, "Do you mind?" gesturing him to get off of me with my eyes. He smiled sheepishly and got off of me. I got up in the sitting position, with a bit of an effort I may add. I feel like a demon sucked my entire energy out of me. Ryder sat behind me. I leaned by back on him facing papa and exined them everything that happened with the vampires. Papa didn''t say anything at first. For some time it went dead silent. "So you are saying you tried to calm him down before he can attack you and it actually worked?" Papa asked. "Yes. I tried to use it again but it didn''t work." I said in a tired voice. "Okay. I think you need a trigger to use these powers or it was just by luck. But I root for trigger." Papa eximed. Someone looks happy. "Mmhmm. You think I will be able to do it again?" I said with a loud yawn. "Of course. Why not? You look like you can use a long nap. This was your first time using spirit powers. It must have drained you out. But why didn''t the Knights bring it up. I mean it is nearly impossible to N?velDrama.Org ? 2024. calm a vampire down when he is on a blood lust. This is really confusing." I let out another yawn "Go sleep. We will talk about this in the morning. Take a day off tomorrow on training. You look exhausted." "Papa, why aren''t you mad at me?" I asked confused. "Why would I be mad at you? You almost got killed. We can''t find you after your message. I was worried sick. My pup was missing. We were not able to feel you in the link. I almost had a heart attack. I mean I don¡¯t have a heart but you got the feeling right. I was on my way to get the shifters¡¯ help to find you, when we felt you again. We made a mad dash towards you and here we are now." Papa exined. I got up, ran towards him and hugged him as tightly as I can. He is the best father in the world. "Thank you for caring about me. I love you papa." I said snuggling into him. "You are my pup. Why would you think I don''t care about you?" He asked offended. "I didn''t mean it that way. It''s just....... I don''t know how to say it?" I said letting go of him. "It''s okay princess. Don''t worry. You don''t have to say anything. I understand." He said warmly. "Thank you papa. You are the best father in the whole world." I said with a tired grin. "Hey! What about me?" Ryder asked. "You too Ryder. Thank you so much. You are the best big brother in the world." I chimed ¡°A bit fat as well.¡± I teased. ¡°I am not fat.¡± He grumbled. "And about your punishment." Papa continued "Whaaaaaaaaat? I thought you were not going to punish me." I said horrified. Ryder snickered behind me and I red at him. "Well I changed my mind." Papa said giving me a wolfy smirk. "You cruel old wolf." I grumbled under my breath. "I heard that." He said in a sing song voice. "Were meant to." I said stomping my foot. Papa''s punishments are really weird. When I was fourteen, I was running around with the others. I tripped on a fallen log because I wasn''t paying attention and I sprained my ankle. Papa made every wolf to stay still for six hours. If anyone even blinked of moved even slightly they had to start over. He also punished me. He made me sit with water bowls in both my hands, straight out with no support, for two hours. When we asked him why he punished us, he shrugged and said ''You guys were too loud and I needed some peace.'' This old wolf. "So about your punishment, you will not wonder into the forest alone. You will have Ryder or me with you all the time until we know that you are safe from the vampires. We will also be around the cottage for few days to make sure they haven''t followed you or keeping an eye on you, which they might. In in English you are grounded. Okay?" Papa said sternly. It sounds more like under arrest but that¡¯s an easy punishment. At least I don¡¯t have to do the water bowl thing again. "Okay." I said nodding. "Go to sleep then. Good night." He said nodding towards the cabin. "Why don''t you sleep inside? Pretty please." I gave them my best puppy dog eyes. I know with my appearance right now, I must have looked like a baboon or something, with all the different leaves and branches sticking in my hairs and the dirt on my face and clothes. But he still caved in. "Fine. Let''s go." He said sighing in defeat. We got inside. Ryder curled up on the upper side of the bed and papa curled up at the other end. I slept in the middle, their warmth seeping into me. With all the warmth andfort, I slipped into a