The Rise of an Omega ✓

13.

"You need to concentrate." She heard Ethan's voice coming somewhere at her right, making her head turn to that direction. "Where am I, Amelia?" He whispered, his voice now coming from another direction, letting her know he was moving, not helping the uncomfortable feeling she had since he blindfolded her.

Amelia focused on the sounds she could hear. The top of the big trees shaking with the wind, Henry and George cursing each other while playing a video game in the living room... But none of this was what Amelia needed to hear, so she focused on what was further from her.

A small animal was breaking nuts near the house, focusing more she could hear a deer that was running near the lake, in the middle of the forest. Ethan was not moving now, there were no footsteps for her to listen. No, the phase to hear footsteps was over, now Amelia needed to go further.

That was when she heard it, a deeper breath coming from behind her. Amelia didn't waste any time, knowing that if Ethan noticed that she knew where he was he would run, and she didn't want to chase him blindfolded. The last time was a mess.

She turned her body in one fluid motion in the direction of the sound and begun to run. She heard when Ethan started to run away from her, but she succeeded in surprising him so his reflexes were too late. Now, with the high sounds of his feet banging on the floor it was easier to know where he was, and with the advantage seconds she won, it didn't last long until she reached him and jumped on his back, making both of them fall on the floor.

Not caring about the 'ouch' that came out of Ethan's mouth, Amelia took off her blindfold and yelled excitedly at him. "I surprised you and you didn't even react fast enough. I got you!" And she laughed, happy for the win, still on top of Ethan, who was lying on the floor beneath her.

Ethan playfully rolled his eyes, faking an annoyed face to her, but he couldn't stop the proud smile spreading in his lips. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. You got me in..." He paused looking at the stopwatch. "One minute and two seconds. Congratulations, that's a new record." But this time he wasn't trying to hide, and his wide smile was making Amelia feel proud of herself.

"Now, get off me and let's go eat something. George better not have spent all his time with that game and forgot the dinner." He said in a false angry tone holding her waist and playfully tossing her to the side. Amelia fake gasped looking shocked at him. "You got me only because I was surprised. I bet you can't get me now." Standing up he started running to the house, with Amelia not far behind him screaming that it was not fair.

When Ethan stopped to open the front door Amelia jumped on his back, this time not making them fall, and between laughs and smiles, Ethan took her inside and threw her on the sofa making the others laugh. Amelia pretended to be hurt, but she couldn't hide her happiness to be having fun with her new family.

***

After communicating to the pack her decision to stay - which was received with commemorations - Amelia imposed one condition: they needed to let her help with the house and stop doing everything for her. That way she wouldn't feel useless and could feel more a part of the team. They agreed.

But she was not the only one with conditions. Ethan - using his 'I am the Alpha' tone that Amelia already knew, but had never been directed to her - said that she would have to be trained. A werewolf that doesn't use their senses or shift is only a human, he said, Amelia needed to learn to use them to her advantage.

The whole pack agreed with Ethan and instantly everyone offered to help with the training. Even if Ethan asked if it was okay for her, she didn't feel like she had much choice in that matter.

As the days passed, Amelia was feeling happier than ever. She would help George cook, learn about wolves with Taylor, mess around with Matthew - that not only accepted her but became her friend. And because she was the one that was always home, Amelia helped Henry by reminding him to eat when he got too engrossed studying, bringing tea to help him relax or coffee when he needed a few more hours to understand a subject.

They fell into a routine that worked for all of them, and Amelia was beyond relieved to know that her presence there had made things flow easier to the pack. The fear of being a burden was still somewhere in the back of her mind, but seeing that things were going amazing for them all kept her more comfortable.

The training lessons started soon. Every day Ethan would train with her for half an hour, and at the weekends they would train for two or three hours until Amelia was laying on the floor trying to catch her breath begging Ethan to call it a day.

Even if she was beyond exhausted and feeling pain in places she didn't know existed, Amelia was happy to see that the hard training had had its good side.

Amelia now could use her hearing to anticipate when someone was arriving by the sound of the car a mile away. This was an inside joke between her and Henry. He, obviously, could hear the car further than her, but he would wait for her to yell "Ethan's coming" or "It's Lilly". She would feel proud every time she was right, and the distance of the car would be a little longer every day, showing the effects of the training.

Speaking of Lilly, Amelia had met the human girl the day she told the pack she wanted to be one of them. Taylor ran away yelling that she would "go and get Lilian" because she was "dying for the two of them to meet".

It was nice to be around a human for once, and Lilly was a great girl who Amelia would love to be friends with, even if, when Taylor introduced her mate to Amelia, the first thing the human said was "oh, you are the girl that has Ethan acting like a lost puppy!". Amelia could not describe how red her whole face turned, and she avoided eye contact with the alpha for the rest of the night.

Things were going great. It was Amelia's first month as a werewolf - at least it was her first month being aware of the fact - and she was feeling at home, with people she could trust and less and less she thought of her old house.

Things were going great, except for the feeling that all this peacefulness was only the prelude to the storm that was to come, and the worst part was that Amelia knew she was not the only one in the pack with this impression. But no one talked about it, they all brushed the feeling off and focused on what they had at the moment. Happiness.