A Winters Memory

Chapter Thirty-Five

Once again, Amelia woke to her having her bed stained in blood. She choked back a sob as all of Dahlia's tonics had failed her. There was nothing else that they could do to help her try and conceive. They had tried every single option that could be thought of and still nothing. Something had to be wrong with her and her womb that was the only thing she could think of.

She knew there was nothing wrong with Alec since he had been able to impregnate Ara without having to take anything or do anything other than the act alone. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she sat there, her face in her hands as she cried. All she ever wanted in life was to be a mother and each time she was left with nothing but an empty wound and disappointment.

There was a knock on the door bringing her attention towards the shut door. "Come in..." She took in a deep breath as Laurel stepped in, her face matching the same disappointment Amelia felt. "Oh, honey, I'm so sorry." She walked over to Amelia and hugged her tightly. Amelia wrapped her arms around Laurel as she allowed herself to cry.

Laurel rubbed at her back to soothe her. "Why isn't it working? We've tried everything!" She cried out, her body shaking as she sobbed. "I don't know sweetheart, I wish I could tell you." Amelia shut her eyes holding on to Laurel tighter. "It's not fair... How could that slave girl get what belongs to me and now she's carrying his unborn child! It's not fair!" Laurel sighed trying her best to soothe Amelia.

"How about I go and call the redhead and have her put you some new sheets and we'll get you into a nice warm bath, Hm?" Amelia sniffled and wiped at her nose. "Yeah..." She sniffled again and stood up from her bed and peeled off her stained night dress and tossed it aside as she wrapped some fabric around her body and left her room to head off for her bath while Laurel fetched Dahlia.

"I need you to put some clean sheets in Amelia's room. It didn't work, she bled." Dahlia sighed and nodded. "Alright, I'll be there in a moment. How is she doing?" Laurel shook her head. "She's distraught as expected." Dahlia nodded her head. Somehow, she knew that the tonic would not work this time either just as all the others had not worked in the past.

Amelia needed to come to terms with the fact that her womb was not capable of carrying a child and that she was indeed barren. Dahlia didn't know how she would be able to explain this to the Alpha or Amelia herself; but she knew someone had to tell them and if anyone were to do it, it should be her since she had been the one giving Amelia the tonics to help her.

They were very strong and with how many Amelia had ingested, she should have been pregnant long since before but not once did she show any signs as Ara had done or the other women in the pack.

Dahlia removed the sheets from Amelia's bed and replaced them with fresh sheets, she lifted up the nightdress that had been discarded on the floor and wrapped it up with the stained sheets and left the room to go and wash them. Later she would speak with both Amelia and the Alpha and let them know that there was nothing else that they could do to help Amelia with fertility and that it was just not meant to be.

Ara made her way to where Dahlia was to help her with the laundry. "Morning." Dahlia looked over at Ara and smiled sadly. Ara's brows furrowed. "What's the matter?" Dahlia sighed as she showed Ara the stained sheets, her lips twisting as Ara's eyes dropped to the bright red stain. "We need to talk..." Ara's eyes looked up to Dahlia as she sighed. "Alright, I'll stop by your room later, okay?" Ara nodded her head and began to grab her own load to do.

After they finished the laundry Dahlia set off to do her other chores while Ara left back to her room to rest for a while. When she entered Amelia was sitting on the edge of the bed, her hands on her lap. Hearing the door open she looked up thinking it had been Alec who entered the room, a look of sheer anger contorted her features seeing that it was Ara instead.

"Amelia, how are you feeling?" Amelia snorted. "I don't need your pity." She growled as she stood up and stormed towards the door.

"I bet you're really happy that I couldn't get pregnant. I bet you're glad you're the only one who can carry my brother's child." Ara shook her head walking towards her. "No, I don't pity you, Amelia. I really did hope that it would work. I truly hoped that you would conceive. I can't begin to imagine what you must be feeling."

Amelia growled again and shoved Ara with enough force to knock her off balance and making her fall to the ground.

Ara quickly threw her hands out to protect herself and twisted her body so that she would not fall on her stomach but on her side instead. Amelia stormed out of the bedroom slamming the door shut behind her. Tears spilled down her cheeks as she placed her arms around her belly. Not a moment too soon Alec entered to see Ara on the ground sobbing. He quickly ran to her side looking her over "what happened? Are you okay? Did you fall?"

Ara nodded her head wiping the tears away. "I'm okay; I just slipped is all..." Alec looked at her unconvinced. "Ara, our bond works both ways. I know you're lying to me so please tell me what really happened." She sighed and began to stand up with the help of Alec.

"When I came in, Amelia was sitting on the bed, I assume she was waiting for you but when she saw me, she got upset. I told her how sorry I was about what happened, and she got even angrier and then she shoved me before storming off."

Alec growled clenching his fists till his knuckles turned white. "She had no right!" Ara placed her hands on his shoulders and shook her head. "Alec, shh... It's okay, I'm okay, and the baby is okay. She was just upset is all; she didn't mean anything by it. Okay?" Alec shook his head. "No, Ara. She could have seriously hurt you or the baby. I won't let this go. She needs to apologize, and she needs to realize that you are mine and that I will never be hers!"

Ara sighed utterly defeated. She knew he wouldn't listen to reason, not after all that he has been through lately and she had after all endangered the life of his child. Every wolf was protective of their young and their mate, she couldn't blame Alec for his reaction, but she didn't want him to go and do something he would later regret when he was no longer angry.

"Before you do anything, we need to talk with Dahlia about what we've decided to do when it didn't work again." Alec nodded his head. "We should start preparing our things to leave immediately. I'm pretty sure Michael won't be too happy about this." Ara nodded her head in agreement. "I'll start packing our things and once Dahlia comes in, I'll tell her to do the same. When do you want to leave?"

"I'm not sure all I know is that it needs to be soon. I can't take any more of this and I know you can't always be okay with this. If our roles had been the opposite, I would be losing my mind." Ara gave him a small smile. "I just might if we continue to stay here." He agreed. "Then we leave in two day's time. We can't waste any time." Ara nodded. "Two days it is."