CHAPTER 6

Iwoke up from an extremely restful sleep after our less than appropriate activities earlier in the night. I turned in the bed to find the soft linen cream sheets empty. It was 4am now and I could see the darkness outside was lifting a little. River would be out patrolling.

I got out of bed and stretched before heading to the bathroom to pee. I was also parched. With all our fun last night, I forgot to bring myself a glass of water before bed. My robe was tossed on the floor so I threw it on as a pair of headlights from outside cast a warm glow into the dim room. Curious, I walked over to the window. When the headlights faded, I saw that the full moon radiated almost silver, the light illuminating the night in an ethereal way. I hadn't noticed that earlier at the pack run but it was beautiful.

Then I saw River carrying a lifeless body.

That was never a good sign.

My heart rate spiked as I thought of all my friends in this pack and the possibility that one of them could have been injured—or worse. I knew I was only human but I loved them all and didn't want anything to happen to them. I hated that they patrolled every night and I detested the danger they put themselves in. Even if they were wolves and said they could handle it.

I threw myself out of the room and down the stairs, taking two at a time. Once I found myself in the kitchen, I was hit with this overwhelming sense of despair. I ran towards his office.

Something wasn't right.

From down the hall I could hear River talking to someone, most likely the boys. "I can't believe I did this." His voice was muffled but he sounded dismayed and slightly stunned.

I threw the door open. "Riv is everything—" my words stopped dead in their tracks as my eyes took in the figure Axel was now lowering onto the couch. River was behind his desk, head in his hands, Zander by his side, one hand cupped on his shoulder. All three of them were accounted for. All three of them were also covered in blood.

The young girl's body lay still now—her life cut short. Her limp arm sprawled off the side of the couch.

She had pale skin with a scattering of freckles and her soft ginger hair was mid length and tousled. It was matted with blood now, blending in with the red hues. I tried not to stare at the bloody, gruesome bite marks littering her body, chunks of flesh missing like they had been ripped off in a greedy frenzy. Steel blue eyes gazed blankly at the ceiling as her soft pout was slightly gaped. A horrible pit in my stomach grew as recognition set in. She looked too familiar.

It was Amelia.

She was from school and was one of the sweetest girls I knew. We weren't best friends, but that was mainly due to the fact that I was initiated into the wolf clique from a young age. The same wolf clique that now brought death to her door. We grew up together and outside my close-knit group, she was one of the people in town that I spoke to the most. She was kind, smart and loved. And most of all, she would never hurt a fly.

Innocent. She was innocent.

River looked up at me in shock. What he'd been saying before I walked in came back to me, the last few words echoing in my head now: ‘I did this'.

Guilt radiated from him as his gaze darted to my friend and then back to me—his eyes locking with mine, his body trembling. He seemed unable to speak, taken by surprise that I'd even been awake, let alone had caught them. Because that is what I had done, I had caught them.

Fear and adrenaline tore through me as I ran.

"Vee wait—" he attempted but I was too far gone. He had lost me.

I ran. I ran as fast as I could away from him, out of the house and down the paved path onto the street. I kept running and as I did, power coursed through me. I could have sworn I was running at superhuman speeds but obviously that was not possible.

My heart pounded in my chest so hard that I was sure it was going to break through my rib cage and limply fall to the floor. At this point, it would be welcome. My whole life was crumbling before me. He was a lie. His whole nice guy act—a lie. The whole hero thing—a lie. River was a killer. I mean he was a wolf for crying out loud, I should have known better—obviously he was a killer!

"Fuck", I breathed out.

"FUCK!"

I screamed with absolute pain, not caring who I woke up in this fucked up town. A girl was dead. My wolf boyfriend killed her and I was the coward who left her there with her murderers.

???

"MUM", I shrieked. "MUM!"

I stumbled with the key in our old front door and when I finally managed to throw myself into the house I ran upstairs to her room, hurling the door open without a single shred of concern for her privacy. I didn't give myself a second to catch my breath. Didn't care that I just ran all the way here. The adrenaline fueled my run and in my current state I hardly felt the tiredness that should have been consuming me.

Mum was already out of bed and had a pocketknife in her hand ready to harm whatever threat had me in hysterics. That was my mother, a true badass.

Even in my current state, that thought crossed my mind.

When she saw my tear-stricken face combined with my robe and slippers, she lowered the knife. Concern painted her face. I threw myself into her arms as I dropped to the floor, she caught me and lowered herself down too, cradling me as the tears spilled down my face in uncontrollable streams. My body heaved and she patted my back, waiting for me to explain. I couldn't speak, words escaping me.

"Venus", she urged. "What is it?"

I choked on a sob.

"Is it River? Did he do something?" she cautiously continued. I nodded, my eyes wide as the tears slowed to just a trickle. I took a deep breath, deciding I needed to be strong for Amelia's sake. As my mum stroked my hair and wiped the tears off my face I filled my lungs with all the air I could muster up and divulged everything I had witnessed.

???

I fell asleep in mum"s bed that night as she comforted me. She let me cry until sleep overtook me. The way I felt, I thought I'd never sleep again. But I cried so much that I dozed off with the tears still wet on my cheeks. My nightmares and reality all blurred into one as I dreamt about River holding Amelia's dead body over and over again until eventually it just stopped and darkness was all I saw. Darkness, until I was awoken by my mother and the bitter smell of coffee.

She got into the bed, handing me a steaming cup. I wouldn't drink it until it was at least lukewarm so I placed it on the bedside table and wiped at my groggy eyes, my face sticky from the dried tears. Celeste followed her into the room and jumped into the bed on the other side of me and I was sandwiched in warmth and love by two females that meant the world to me—we were just missing one.

Mum stroked my hair as Celeste threw her arm around me and pulled me into her. We sat like that for what felt like hours, silently mourning my friend. I didn't know which loss was harder to take, Amelia or River. Because I'd lost him too. I'd lost years of sweet memories with my best friend that would now be tainted by what he'd done. ‘I did this.' Tainted by who he actually was. Tainted by all the deceit.

"I hope there's room for me in that bed."

I knew that sweet, husky voice anywhere but even so I was shocked when I swung my head towards the door and saw Xari leaning on the frame, her lithe body clothed in dark jeans and a black tank, her tattooed arms crossed. She was stunning. Stunning and scary and fierce—just as I remembered her.

Her smirk turned into a soft smile and then she walked to the bed before plopping herself right in the middle, half on top of me. I hugged her like someone clinging for life, and the tears started once more.

I wanted to look tough the first time I saw Xari again, wanted to prove I was like her, but once again my stupid eyes and incessant tears betrayed me. But the way Xari held me—tight and ever so lovingly—proved that I had every right to feel this way at this moment. To break down. To feel everything.

It did not make me weak.

Mum broke the silence first, "We have a lot to discuss, Venus."

"Maybe we should do this in the kitchen and get some energy in us first," Xari insisted.

They left the room to get breakfast started and urged me to shower. How they expected me to get through a whole shower and breakfast before telling me what was going on was beyond me. Normally my mind would run wild imagining every scenario that could possibly exist, but after the events of last night, I realised I was oblivious to too much. So I did not bother trying to guess what they had to tell me. My mind would not allow it. Instead I silently, impassively showered, letting the hot, hot water wash over me.