Chapter 7 - Something dark

Amara POV

“Don’t worry Amara Bloodstone, I won’t mate with you….not yet.”

A darkness settles upon the already darkly lit hallway, Erik’s eyes turning sultry…and hungry. If

the electricity worked in this house, I would expect the lights to flicker as an eerily cold

atmosphere settles over us…something dark.

His words silence me, my tongue becoming tied under his intense gaze.

“Let’s see if the upstairs fairs better than the downstairs…” He offers out, his hand extending out

to take mine. With a deep breath in he briefly closes his eyes, seemingly forcing his wolf

back...those amber eyes not as red as they had just been.

With hesitation, I place my hand out for his to take, that electric shock between us still as

powerful. I look down at my hand which is now completely covered with his…I hadn’t even

realised how small my hands were until now.

I start to move up the stairs, the side railing rotten through as that smell of damp continues to

linger. Embarrassed, I inhale as the floorboards creak under my step.

Rats live better than this.

“Most of the pack houses have the same standard design. ” I fill this awkward silence between

us, as I maintain a steady climb up the stairs.

“Two bedrooms unless you request for an extra bedroom...” I catch myself from mentioning a

growing family.

“The master bedroom is usually…ah…” I scream out, the floorboards giving way beneath my

feet.

“Watch it!” He reaches out, catching me as the steps vanish…a gap forming as the wood

continues to crumble and hit the ground below.

I’m hanging, his one arm managing to keep me from falling. His strength alone making me gasp.

He slowly pulls me up, his free hand snaking around my slim waist. Adrenaline pumps sharply at

my heart, as my eyes glance to the floor below. I would have broken my legs if he hadn’t of

caught me.

“Thanks…” I gasp out, recognition kicking in. He had snatched at my wrist to catch me. The wrist

that was now bleeding under his hold.

He sniffs the air around us, his eyes following my gaze to my arm only for him to release his hold.

I squeeze the wound to try and stem the blood flow. Panic rising within me, that threat of

infection always just an accident away.

“You’re bleeding.” He grunts out, his eyes burning intensely again.

“I’m fine…”

“No, you’re not, your wrist…” Something dark, something heavy ploughs into me…I would

mistake it for an aura, like Father’s, but that can’t be.

He firmly takes hold of my hand, moving it to his mouth.

“What are you doing?” I flinch my wrist back from his lips.

“Helping you to heal faster.” He pulls my wrist back to his lips, his tongue slowly licking across

the wound, an uncontrollable moan escaping me.

It was euphoric. A sensation I have never experienced before as a burning fire moves from my

wrist and into my stomach. An explosion of tingles erupting as I watch in shock…his tongue

continuing to lick across my wound, lapping up my blood.

I’m frozen, my body stuck between the want to fight and the need for this feeling never to end.

He pretends to not hear my moans of pleasure but it’s all I can hear, yet I can’t stop myself. My

legs give way as a dizziness clouds my eyesight for a moment.

I am lifted, my feet moving from under me as he cradles me in his arms and moves us back

down the stairs. He moves into the living room, gently placing me down on a dust sheet covered

sofa.

“How did you do that?” His abrupt movement waking me from the hypnotising trance I had

seemed to have entered. I look down in awe, the wound is no longer bleeding, the black bruised

skin taking on a lighter shade…it was healing. How on earth…

“Mate saliva…it helps to heal.” He answers back as if it was the most obvious fact and that I

should have already known that. That I was stupid.

I catch him examining me, his scrutinizing stare suddenly making me feel uncomfortable in his

presence.

“Wait here!” He moves away, heading back upstairs.

I rub at my wound, the pain subsiding as it glistens under his prolonging saliva. Did everybody

know that about mate saliva?

My head snaps up when I hear her laughter outside…no…not know.

“Amara?” She calls out to me, stepping in through the front door without invitation, and not

alone.

“What do you want?” I seethe out, did they not get the hint that we were to be left alone.

She walks into the living room, Jason remaining in the hallway…his eyes scanning the pack

house before they fall upon me.

“Well…” Catherine flings herself onto the seat next to me, a cloud of dust rising which she waves

away coughing out loudly.

“I’m feeling dizzy, and I want to drink tonight…so I need your blood.”

She can’t be serious.

“Right now? I’m a little busy. ”

“Yes, right now…how can you continue to be so selfish. I mean look at your house, you live alone

now…but I still need you Amara, what will I do without you at home anymore?” Her hand lands

on her heart, her voice becoming higher as she plays the victim for everything, she has done to

me.

“I’m not feeling well myself right now...” I carefully place my wrist behind my back. One word

from her that I might have an infection and I’ll be placed under hospital arrest.

“Oh no, we must get you to the hospital. What is it, what’s wrong?” She feigns concern for me,

the humour clear in her voice.

“No…no hospital. I just need to rest.”

“Well, you can do that later when Jason and I are at our party.” She stands up, clicking her

fingers at me to follow me.

A foreign feeling of anger washes over me, a feeling that I didn’t think was mine.

“You heard your alpha, up.” A hand grips around at me from behind, forcing me up. Jason’s

hands harshly grip around my wrists…the pain erupting again as I am dragged towards the front

door.

“You know the rules Amara.” Catherine barks out disdainfully as I try to fight Jason off,

pathetically. I just didn’t have the strength in me.

“Jason, you are hurting me.” I seethe out, trying to remove his grip from my wrist, the wound

reopening again.

“Do you want lover boy to get involved?” Catherine threatens, her eyes casting up the stairs. No

this wasn’t Erik’s fight, this had nothing to do with him.

“No…no leave him alone.” I stop fighting, Jason releasing his hold on me as I slowly shut the

front door behind me.

I don’t want to get Erik involved, besides, nobody is meant to know. You wouldn’t think it by

Catherine’s bold approach to fetching me, hardly any attempt to remain discreet.

I follow them all the way to the alpha house, Jason’s gaze not leaving me once. I mean, where

would I run to.

“I won’t be long.” I start to head up the grand staircase only for Catherine to pull me by my

elbow.

“No, I need Jason to watch…”

“Why?” Heavy nausea threatens to overwhelm me as I ponder her demand.

“To know what to do, in case my heart stops again. He will need to know what to do won’t he…”

She moves towards the alpha office, Father’s office, as she clicks her tongue at me. I suppose

this was now her office, or soon very much will be.

“Sit!” She orders out at me, pointing to the couch that is usually only reserved for her and

Stepmother when I had been summoned to this room. As I sit down, she pulls out a small

dagger from the desk drawer, followed by the usual needle and syringe…but panic ensues as

she pulls out an empty blood bag and drops it onto of the desk.

“Now, if you are going to be playing happy families for a while…I need to take a few day’s

worth…you know, bank it. Just for safety precautions, you understand right?” Her piercing blue

eyes penetrate almost through me, her aura only growing in power…it won’t be long until she has

the ability to fully make me submit.

I dread that day. I really will be their puppet.

I suppose a bag isn’t too much, it will give me some peace until she has her next episode. By

which time I will have recovered and gotten to know Erik more. Chip away at that stony exterior.

Jason fumbles under her orders, as he struggles to cut my skin with the knife. My chest feeling

heavy at the idea of the healing wound being cut open again. Erik’s saliva still provided a

glistening coat.

Jason may struggle, but Catherine doesn’t. In fact, she cuts too deep, a wince escaping me as

she grips my wrist aggressively in her hold.

“Hold still…look what you made me do.” She shouts out at me, harshly blaming me for her own

mistake.

“Put the tube in Jason..”

“I can’t…” He takes a step back, suddenly seemingly squeamish with blood. But I know that isn’t

the case, he can’t be, not as the Head Warrior.

Then it clicks, why she wanted to do this now.

She didn’t need my blood, she wanted to further cement her bond with Jason. Make him see

how much of a low status I am within this pack, how I am just a blood giver to her…not even

considered family. She was testing him.

“I think that’s enough.” I exhale deeply, as the bag becomes half full in the space of only a few

seconds. She had cut me too deeply…this was more than a surface wound. She had cut through

to an artery.

“No, it’s not full! I told you I need it full!”

“Catherine….you’ve cut too deep…you should have let…I’m going to faint..” My words become

incoherent, slurred as they leave my mouth as my mind becomes dizzy. A veil of darkness starts

to cover my vision as my hands pathetically reach for my wrist, to stop the blood extraction.

“What do you think you are doing?” A dangerous growl emits in the office, but it isn’t Jason…his

voice isn’t as menacing.

“How dare you. Get out!” I hear Catherine roar only for warm hands to touch at my face, a slap

across the cheek to snap me out of my faintness.

“Amara…” His hands continue to touch me, a gentle moan escaping me from the tingles.

“Release her now or so help me… ” I open my eyes long enough to witness Erik’s hands wrap

around Jason’s throat.

“You’ll do what exactly rogue? You have a lot to learn.” Catherine seethes out as an excruciating

pain shoots up my arm, her fingers wrapping around my wrist in a vice grip.

My own desperate scream rattles through my ears as she tears the cannula from my wrist, blood

squirting me in the face.