Wolf #2: The Beast Within [COMPLETED]

Chapter 11

Mature themes include violence.

Chapter 11

Her cheek shatters under the force of my fist.

"Amelia! Stop!"

I have Natalia by the collar of her shirt and slam her into the ground before anyone can stop me. Despite the outrageous pain she's in, she uses my momentum to flip us. My back hits the ground and my gut takes the brunt of her fists.

But rage drives me forward. I reach up and grab her face, clawing and gouging at her eyes until she falters. The moment she does, I'm on top of her again.

She still smells like him.

Her eyes are wide as my teeth sharpen. The beast inside me wants to show this female who is dealing with. There's no mercy, no humanity in this Wolf that lurks inside me. She knows pain—she knows how to inflict it too.

I wrench Natalia's neck back and go in to Mark the bitch myself—

Jace's body crashes into mine. He quickly pins me down. Only he has the power to quell my Wolf in this moment, though he barely manages it.

"Bring her to my office, now," Mira's bellow echoes.

He tries but I slip through his grasps again. Natalia is barely on her feet before I go for her again, wrapping my arms around her and dragging her to the ground again. She yells loudly and scratches my face, gurgling as I wrap my hands around her and begin to squeeze the life from her.

"Amelia!" She splutters, "Amelia—I'm sorry—"

"I'm going to kil—"

Mira's drags me off her by the neck of my neck. Before I can even blink, Mallory rushes my silver bracelet onto me.

Iphigenia becomes quiet.

I blink slowly. Dazed, like coming down from a high. I spit at Natalia and kick dust at her, but the murderous fury has seeped from my body.

"My office. Now." Mira demands. She bristles as I reach for the clasp on my bracelet, "Leave it. That Wolf needs a moment to calm down. You can take it off later."

I stand up and follow Mira and Jace to the packhouse. I had been on my way there initially, since she had called me there after the funeral. But the moment I saw Natalia, I snapped.

"I don't expect that kind of behavior from you, Amelia. You should have better control on you Wolf."

"I don't," I murmur quietly. She narrows her eyes at me for backchatting her, and I'm wise to avoid her gaze.

She walks through her office doors and I follow her. But I stop when I see who is standing in the center.

"Hello, little wolf," Adrian's gentle smile soothes my bruised soul. He surprises me when he bows his head, "I'm very sorry for your loss. Their funeral service was touching, but I understand that it does very little for comfort."

Jace stiffens beside me. I flinch away from him as he pulls me into his side. He draws his fingers back as I try to snatch them up and wrench his hand back. Mira and Adrian remain quiet as they witness our awkward exchange. Eventually, Jace chooses to just stand beside me.

I'll break his fingers if he tries to touch me.

"Thanks for coming," I respond automatically, just like did to everyone else who went. I honestly didn't even notice him there. Who else from Diurnal had been there?

"Mallory came to me this morning with a message from the Goddesses. She doesn't get them often but I suspected they had no other way to communicate to us," Mira looks uncomfortable as Adrian continues to look at me and not her, "You were given a message too."

"Alaska..." I whisper, "Hekate had sent my sister—"

"Yes, she had sent Stephanie to tell Mallory as well."

Adrian steps forward now, "You'll be coming back with me, little wolf. I have everything ready. All there is to do is for you to get into the car."

"What about my home—"

Mira cuts in, "We've taken care of it all. Your home, your records. Even your father's business. We have a couple Breccians in the state government, and they'll do what they can to help keep everything going until you return."

"That could be years," I murmur quietly. I'm most likely going to The Order and won't be back in a long time. But I've never worried about what would become of my family's belongings while I was gone...because I had always assumed my parents would be alive.

"Breccia...is no longer safe for you," It pains Mira to admit this, and she glares at Adrian as she adds, "But Diurnal has a large enough territory that it will be easy to hide you. From Leon and from The Order."

"I understand."

"Rachel has agreed to come with you. And Jace will as well—"

"No."

Jace looks down at his feet when I spit out the refusal. I only narrow my eyes at him and dare him to object. I want him to—the wolf inside me is egging for a fight.

Mira's chest rumbles at my interruption, "What?"

I shake my head, "Jace isn't coming. I don't want him to—"

"He's your mate. He has a right to be by your side."

"Even if that were true...he's still in school. He needs to stay here." His eyes meet mine as I say this, and I shrug. I may be furious with Jace, but I don't want to jeopardize his future. And right now, I preferably don't want to be in his future.

"Amelia—"

"I don't want him there, Mira," I narrow my eyes at her. The bracelet feels like thorns against my skin. The Wolf wants out.

Mira is faster and stronger than any Wolf I have come across. Natalia, Jace, or Aiden pale in comparison to her brute force. I learn this quickly as she picks me up with one hand and slams me against the wall. Jace grunts and begins towards us. But he stops dead in his track when his Alpha gives him the order to do so.

"Don't disrespect me, Amelia," She growls. Her eyes glances down to the bracelet on my wrist. It's still clasped tightly, but my Wolf breaks free and meets my Alpha's noise with her own.

Those big, nasty canines bared down in my face used to frighten me. But I have seen worse than her—I know what actual danger looks and feels like.

He lives within me. Some part of me...is Orion. Iphigenia, too, has slowly sunken into a dark insanity after the centuries of her soul being tortured. I know what real madness and death looks like because it is me.

Her Wolf is nothing to the one inside me.

"What will you do?" I ask her. Jace looks half-ready to faint. She pauses, not expecting the calm that washes over me, "What will you do, Mira? Hurt me? Kill me? Do it."

"Amelia, you—"

"Put me through your worse," My nails press into her hands, baring my own teeth at her, "Do it, Mira!"

Beads of her blood bleed from her skin and under my nails. She snarls and throws me away. As I catch my balance, she curtly turns around and takes a seat at her desk. Her eyes are shut, knuckles pressed against her mouth as she clasps her hands. The Wolf inside her wants to tear me to shreds and put me through unimaginable pain for disrespecting her in front of her rival. But they both know it would do nothing.

"Pack your things...you're leaving first thing tomorrow morning," She sighs tiredly. "Jace won't go."

I nod. Jace begins to usher me out of the room when Adrian adds, "We'll get going tonight—if it isn't a problem, Mira."

She meets Adrian's gaze, and after a moment of contest between them, she nods.