



Chapter Two Pt 3 - Amelia POV
âHow is she?â I ask Chris as I turn to face him.
He sighs and rubs his face. âIt was pretty bad; she was screaming so loud I thought sheâd rip her vocal cords apart.â Thereâs so much pain in his voice and on his face. âWhat do I do Amelia? My animai is in pain and I canât stop it,â he says with tears filling his eyes and my heart breaks for him. âSheâs a beautiful person inside and out, she didnât deserve any of this. I want to hunt down every last person who hurt her and make them suffer for the rest of their miserable lives,â he growls, the irises of his hazel-green eyes glowing as his wolf Axel pushes through.
They want to make the people who hurt Mei pay and I donât blame them.
I step forward and calmly squeeze his shoulders. âTake slow breaths, Chris, you and Axel need to breathe,â I try to soothe him. âZara, can you help Axel calm down?â She leaps to attention in my head.
âOn it, Iâll take care of him,â she says confidently.
I lead Chris over to the sofa and sit with him. âChris, you need to listen to me. You are doing everything you need to be doing for Mei. You are giving her sanctuary, comfort, patience and, most importantly, your love. She needs time to heal, but sheâs strong. I felt it the day you brought her to the pack. Sheâll come around when sheâs ready. In the meantime, just be there for her like you are,â I reassure him as I rub his back. He takes slow breaths and nods his head.
âI love her so much, Amelia. I donât care if I never get to mark her. I just want her to be okay,â he says sorrowfully. It kills me to see one of my best friends like this. Seeing your animai in pain is some of the worst torture. âYou know she smiled for me yesterday. A real full-on smile,â he says with an excited twinkle in his eyes. I canât help but grin for him.
âReally? Thatâs great! It means sheâs making progress.â He nods in agreement.
âHer smile is so beautiful I think my heart stopped beating.â His words make me chuckle. The manâs in love.
âYou two are going to have some knock out looking kids, Iâm calling it now.â
He grins at the mention of children. âIf they look anything like their mother, theyâll stop traffic,â he says proudly.
I notice Chris is dressed down today in just some black shorts and a grey tank top. Chris and Evalyn donât look very much alike outside of hair colour. Heâs two years older than Evalyn at twenty-two and has long brown hair that he keeps up in a bun and a short bushy beard. Heâs 6â1â with olive skin, muscles galore and heâs solid as a rock. He has his motherâs hazel-green eyes, whereas Evalyn has sky blue eyes a shade lighter than her fatherâs. Their father has dark olive skin and their mother has ivory skin. Evalyn got her mumâs ivory skin and Chris got a nice blend of the two. Genetics is a crazy thing, but mix Chrisâs genes with Meiâs and damn, no one stands a chance against that genetic combo.
Just as Iâm picturing what their kids would look like, Mei tentatively steps out of her and Chrisâs room. Chris is instantly out of his seat and over to her before I can blink, taking her hands in his in a comforting gesture.
âAre you hungry? Thirsty? Can I get you anything?â He asks in a gentle tone. She shrugs and then spots me, so I give her a gentle wave.
âGood morning, Mei, itâs nice to see you up and about,â I say warmly. She gives me a polite nod and latches onto Chrisâs arm. The man is grinning like a dork, and I just know his wolf is preening in his head.
âCan I have something to eat?â She quietly asks him.
âOf course, anything you want,â he says nodding eagerly; love poured into every word. She bites her lip nervously.
âYou can ask for anything, Mei, Iâll make sure the chefs whip it up,â I encourage her with a smile. I want her to feel safe and welcome in our pack, but I know we need to take baby steps.
âEven congee?â She asks nervously.
Chris and I grin, itâs the first time sheâs suggested something specific that sounds more in keeping with what she likes versus whatâs convenient for us. I quickly link the chefs to whip up three servings of congee. I have no idea what that is, but the chefs seem thrilled at the idea of making it and Iâm still hungry, so, may as well give it a try.
âI think youâve just made our chefsâ day. Theyâre excited that they get to make something new,â I tell her. This makes her frown.
âI donât want to put anyone out,â she says getting anxious and it makes me sad. Chris doesnât hesitate to calm her, damn heâs a good partner.
âMei, please donât worry yourself. Sheâs being honest. If she says the chefs are excited itâs because they are. They love getting to try new recipes,â he says wrapping his arms around her and kissing the top of her head while breathing in her scent. She slightly relaxes and closes her eyes, nodding against his chest.
They are such a cute couple.
Mei is a stunning young woman. She has dark, wavey brown hair down to her waist, cream skin, chocolate brown monolid shaped eyes â very soft feminine features. She kind of looks like Constance Wu, not going to lie. Sheâs 5â1, so a whole foot shorter than Chris. He looks like a giant swallowing her up when they are side by side; itâs rather funny.
Sheâs wearing black sweatpants and a white cotton t-shirt and socks. Sheâs not ready to go shopping for clothes so sheâs been borrowing clothes from Evalyn. Theyâre pretty much the same size so thatâs worked out. Other pack members her size were more than happy to offer clothes if she needed it. I felt so proud the day they did that.
âWould you like to come sit?â I ask gently as I pat the spot next to me. Mei looks at me and then looks up at Chris.
He nods. âGo on,â he encourages gently. She takes his hand, and they walk over and sit on the couch which makes me smile warmly at her progress.
âChris told me you are going to be the Alpha,â she says quietly. Chris looks stunned to see her starting a conversation. Iâm equally stunned but I try not to show it. I want her to have a sense of normalcy, so I nod affirmatively.
âYes, my ceremony is next week. The day after my birthday. I would love for you to attend. I completely understand if the party is too much, but the Alpha ceremony will be more low-key, so maybe if you feel up to it you can stop by for a bit. But thereâs absolutely no pressure. You donât have to come down or meet anyone until youâre ready,â I reassure her. She takes a breath and nods while Chris keeps her hand in his, gently running his thumb over the back of her hand, letting their bond soothe her.
âThank you for letting me come here. Thank you for welcoming me into your pack,â she says with a small nod of her head. I slowly reach out and touch her other hand and wait till she lifts her head so I can look in her eyes.
âYou are family, and we are beyond honoured to have you. I mean that,â I tell her with the utmost sincerity as tears fill her eyes.
Animai of the year Chris is quick on the ball again as he tucks her into his side. He mouths a âthank youâ to me while he comforts her and I give him a smile.
Mei has been here for the past month, and weâve been focusing on helping her with her trauma before initiating her into the pack. Mei has been through absolute hell and itâs hard to not believe that fate brought Chris and Mei together.
Mei was born in a pack in China called the Tian Pack, which I think she said means heaven. Ironic considering there was nothing heavenly about it. See, Mei isnât a mutolupus, sheâs an entirely different creature and a very rare one at that.
In a lot of Asian countries, her kind was once revered as deities by humans. While like us, they were made by the Gods, they are not Gods themselves. They donât have packs and tend to keep to themselves as those who used to worship them now fear them â or so Iâve read.
Her father was a mutolupus, but his pack killed her mother when Mei was five after they found out what she was. They were the kind of pack that donât tolerate other species or mixing of the species. Everything they stand for spits in the eyes of the Gods.
Meiâs father fled here to the United States hoping to find a pack to take them in, since China was no longer safe. But the first pack they encountered thought her father was a cur and chased them into the woods. He was mauled to death in front of her eyes. The pack members had no idea what she was and so they took her in and decided to make her a slave.
For years they beat and tortured her, until the day Chris went to the Albus Mons Pack shadowing his father. They were there on behalf of our pack to get their RSVP to the Vernal Ball since they werenât taking our calls. As soon as they entered the packhouse, Chris was instantly hit with Meiâs scent â which is how we first identify our animais â and when he found her, he and his wolf nearly tore the place apart in retaliation for what was done to her.
His father had to calm things down to prevent a pack war. Ultimately, they agreed to release her to us saying â and I quote â âShe wasnât fun to play with anymore.â Chris didnât hesitate to get her the hell out of there and, safe to say, we rescinded our invitation. We donât want people like that on our lands and we donât want Meiâs abusers anywhere near her. The necessary people were contacted to handle the Albus Mons Pack.
We were so happy Chris found his animai, but we were heartbroken when we saw the state of her. Her physical wounds have since healed; some bones unfortunately had to be reset. Chris was losing his mind when that happened, and I donât blame him. But it helped with her healing. The wounds in her mind and heart will take longer to heal â if they ever will â but weâre all here for her.
We had no idea what she was, we couldnât even tell from the scent. It wasnât until a week ago she trusted Chris enough to tell him what she was and with her permission, he told me. I was beyond shocked. Iâm thrilled to have someone like her in our pack though.
Once we get her on her feet sheâll be the greatest asset this pack has ever had, if she wants to be that is, Iâd never force her. As long as she feels happy and safe, thatâs good enough for me and I know itâs good enough for Chris. I will do everything I can to ensure she feels welcomed into our pack. Anyone messes with her, and theyâll be answering to me. Assuming Chris doesnât rip their heads off first.