A Rebellious Moon

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Amanda found herself slowly return to consciousness. The world remained black and she couldn't move, but she began to hear voices around her. Some were too quiet to discern, while others she could pick out sometimes. Jade's voice came through the most, asking people not to bother Amanda and responding that obviously she's not awake yet. Amanda figured she was the one watching over her.

At one point, Amanda heard Nina's smooth, lilting speech, but couldn't pick out the words. A few minutes later she heard a door gently shut. Jade hummed softly a tuneless song and Amanda felt a light breeze across her face. Concentrating a little more, she could begin to feel Jade's fingers stroking through her hair. With all her effort, Amanda pushed her eyelids opened. They fluttered a couple times against the strain before she could see light. Gaining control over her body, she blinked slowly to refocus her eyes.

The ceiling came into view first and Amanda slowly turned her head from left to right to judge her surroundings. She was not quite ready to test the rest of her body. Quickly, she noted that she was in her room, on her bed. Jade hovered over her, a worried expression clouding her face.

"Oh, thank God! Are you okay?" Jade yelled in her face.

Amanda opened her mouth to respond, but she coughed instead. After swallowing a couple times to clear her throat, she answered, "I think so. What happened?"

"Apparently you walked two steps outside and then just passed out. Dominic and Chase grabbed you before you hit the ground, fortunately. Then Chase carried you up here," Jade explained.

"How long was I out for?" Amanda asked.

"About two hours. Not too long, but long enough for everyone to freak out." Jade gave a forced laugh. "Actually, we should go tell everyone you're awake."

Amanda tried to sit up causing stars to dance in front of eyes. She groaned and covered her eyes with a hand. Jade reached around to hold her shoulders.

"Slowly, slowly. They can wait. They've been waiting this long anyway," said Jade.

Feeling like she had been hit by a bulldozer, Amanda rose from her bed at a snail's pace leaning more heavily on Jade than she was willing to admit. Sorting out her thoughts, she decided that she should wait until she was steady on her feet before attempting the stairs. Jade helped her sit on the side of the bed and handed her a cup of water that had been sitting on the table.

A few minutes later, Amanda nodded resolutely at Jade and pushed herself to her feet. Moving slowly with Jade holding her elbow, she made her way down the stairs successfully. As she reached the bottom, she could hear raised voices coming from the kitchen. Jade and her exchanged a look and hurried towards the sounds. As they approached, they could begin to understand the words.

"Who...to speak...our alpha..." said a voice that sounded like Dominic.

"...stop it!" yelled Nina, surprising Jade and Amanda. Clearly everyone else was just as surprised, as the yelling seemed to stop for a moment.

Jade quietly pushed open the kitchen doors and the two women peered inside to assess the scene. In the kitchen, Devon leaned against the counter with his arms across his chest. Dominic stood across from him, red faced and panting. He was looking at Nina who was holding his arm. Although her body was positioned towards Dominic, her gaze rested across the room where Chase stood. Unlike the others, his face betrayed no emotion. His arms hung loose at his side and his stance was wide. If they were humans, Amanda would have thought Chase was an innocent bystander, but being a werewolf, she could see that he was ready to transition at any moment. A look at Chase's eyes showed that he was the most fired up of them all.