Chapter 2 - Why?

Amelie POV

Everyone gasps at seeing me in my wolf form.  I tiredly smile.  My wolf must be a beautiful white wolf.  I try to stand but am unable to.  I mind like Colby and Kate, “Take me to the water so I can see myself,” I ask.  Kate and Colby look to one another before Kate replies, “Just rest Amelie.  It is important that you do not struggle with your wolf too much,” she says.  I frown at both of them.  Seeing yourself in wolf form is the first thing you do.

 “Jaxon?” I say reaching out to him.  He has a block up and I cannot reach him.  What is wrong?  Why is he not answering me?  Trying to move I still cannot.  I try to look down my body, but I cannot.  The first thing I notice are my paws.  My dingy white furless paws.  I feel tears fill my eyes.  “Why are my paws without fur?” I ask Kate.  “I do not know baby girl, but we will figure it out,” Kate replies with confidence.  

“Take me to the water now,” I demand.  I still have not enough strength to get up myself.  I hear Colby sigh as Kate looks away.  Colby gently lifts my broken body to carry me to the lake where I would see myself for the first time.  Helping me stand on my legs, Colby stays there in the event I fall.

 Holding my breath, I look down to see my beautiful wolf.  I look and close my eyes before I look again.  I feel tears welling up in my eyes.  I look like an abused wolf.  Very thin with bones showing through my skin.  My dingy white fur is matted in spots, hairless in others and looks almost like a rogue would look only worse.

I fall to the ground sobbing at the look of my wolf.  What had happened?  Why did she look so abused?  What had happened to her in her previous life to carry over into this state?  Sitting down beside me Kate gently lifts my wolf’s head and places it in her lap.  I can feel everyone dispersing in the crowd murmuring quietly.  I cannot hear what they have to say.  It is like my hearing is muted.  What was wrong with me?  As a wolf I should have stronger hearing, but it seems worse now.  

“What is your wolf’s name?” Colby asks me quietly.  I shake my head realizing my wolf had not spoken to me yet.  “Hello?” I say inside my mind.  I am met with silence.  My wolf is not responding to me.  I repeat hello once again louder, but nobody responds to me.  “I do not know,” I reply.  “What do you mean?” Kate asks.  “She is not responding to me,” I say while tears choked my throat.

Colby and Kate look to one another.  I can tell they are communicating something between them.  Like they know something I do not know.  “What?” I ask them.  They both look away from me as if they are communicating through their private mind link.  “What?” I demand again from them both.  They knew something.  I could see it in their faces.  Kate’s eyes fill with tears as Colby pulls her towards us taking her under his arm.

“Amelie do not panic,” Colby says quietly.  I notice nobody is left in the field with us, including Jaxon.  Colby must have mind-linked them all to leave.  Because I was an Alpha, I had been able to mind-link with the Pack before my first shift.  I had no idea what that meant.  Why was this happening to me?  I had not realized I had voiced that question until Colby sighed, and Kate moved to put her arms around me.  I cringe inside.  I did not want to be consoled.  I wanted answers.

“Shift back to your human self and we will discuss it then,” Colby says.  I am frustrated but agree it would be better than laying in the wet grass.  I put the image of myself in my mind, having been taught that this is how we shift back into our human form.  Nothing happens.  “Okay Amelie, you can shift anytime,” Kate adds.  “I cannot shift,” I whisper to them.  Standing both Colby and Kate step back.  “I cannot shift back!” I yell at them.

Colby is forced once again to Alpha command me to shift into my human form.  I scream in pain as the shift takes a lot out of me.  It takes me ten minutes to shift back into my human form.  Colby is looking away as Kate helps me dress.  I am exhausted and sweating from the exertion of shifting.  “Let’s go back to the Pack house and we can discuss everything there,” Colby suggests.  Kate nods and they start to turn away from me.  “Now!” I scream at them both now that I am finally standing on my own two feet.  My life has been turned upside down and they knew why.  They would tell me now.  Colby looks at me and I see a wave of anger flash in his eyes.

“You will treat us both with respect.  We are your parents, Amelie,” he says to me.  “You are not my parents,” I reply trying to hurt them.  The gasp I hear from Kate lets me know I hit my mark; however, I feel no joy in knowing I hurt them both.  I wanted to take it back, but it was already out there, and I was hurting.  I needed them to be hurting as much as I was.

“Be that as it may, Amelie, you will treat us both with the respect we deserve as your Alphas,” Colby says to me harshly.  Happy shifting to me, I think with sarcasm.  “The way you have respected me?” I ask seriously.  “Amelie, you were just a child.  You still are,” Colby starts to say when I scoff at him.

“You were six when everything happened, Amelie,” Kate starts.  I stare at her waiting for her to continue.  “What happened?” I ask quietly, impatiently waiting for the answers.  “There were rogues after us at the time,” Colby starts when Kate interrupts him, “There was a rogue after me, Amelie,” she clarifies.

 “And?” I ask.  “You got caught in the middle.  You were poisoned with wolfsbane,” Kate says in a rush.  I take a step back, “Wolfsbane? But why?” I ask.  I had never heard of a child having to endure taking wolfsbane.  “You were intended to be a distraction for Colby and me,” Kate replies.

“Why?” I ask.  I needed to hear all of it.  “The woman who coordinated the attack was my half-sister.  She wanted to punish me because I had a better life than she did,” Kate says quietly.  “Why me?” I questioned.  “Because she knew how much you meant to me,” Kate replies.