the Blind Bond

Chapter 11

AMELIA

I couldn't stop thinking about the wolf with light silver fur and sky-blue eyes. He wasn't a regular-sized wolf, he was truly huge. He could have eaten me in just two bites. I chuckled at that. He would never have done that, of course. My wolf was sweet and loved me. I met him regularly in my dreams. I couldn't explain how it was possible that I dreamt about him every night but I was glad. We always met in my favorite places – Italian beach, Toronto’s city park, the campground near Lake Labage. We talked, laughed, or just sat next to each other. Last time he let me climb him and we ran. He could run super-fast, like a wolf version of Flash. It brought me joy.

I called Erin to meet me at Beth’s. I have hardly seen her since she started the new job. Moreover, she was dating the Beta guy and I must have admitted he was a nice person. The way he spoke to her showed how much he adored her. I’d never seen Nate after the night in a pub. He walked me home and just disappeared. It was a shame because I was hoping to make more friends in this little town.

Beth somehow found out about my lost passion for sculptures and recommended me to a local ceramics group. It was not the same and mostly just kids attended it, but it was a start. I created horrible tea mugs and flower vases which couldn't hold any water, but Beth called it abstract art and decorated the whole café with it. I appreciated her support, but I felt sorry for all the customers who came to her café and had to see the so-called art.

“You are very hard on yourself. Your artwork enlightens my little café. I like it.” Beth objected whenever I expressed my opinion about the deformed plate which I had created a few days ago. “It’s perfect for the muffins.” She placed the plate with freshly baked coconut muffins in front of me and I was immediately drooling.

“Coconut. Yummy!” Erin ate one of them in a single bite.

“How’s the dating life, Er? Is the Beta guy treating you nicely?” I asked and she chuckled. The nickname somehow stayed with him, although I knew his real name was Zian.

“There are no words that can describe how I feel around him. He’s such a gentleman, treats me like a queen and the things he does in bed, hmmm…”

“Enough, enough. I don’t want to picture my pup doing naughty stuff.” Beth called her daughter a pup. It was cute. It somehow demonstrated that she was a vet. At least that was how I understood it.

“And where is he now? I can barely find you alone.” I poked her with my elbow and she returned the favor.

“He’s joining his boss on some business matter. They should both be back tomorrow morning.”

I nodded understandingly. I knew very well who Zian’s boss was.

~*~

NATE

We were headed to Northwest Crescent pack to visit Alpha Dorian and his daughter Felicity. Zian arranged that meeting many days ago and I couldn’t postpone it anymore. It would be rude to Alpha Dorian and he was our biggest ally. From a political perspective, it was the right move to make his daughter the Luna of my pack and unite our clans. We could even merge. Alpha Dorian was old and had no other heirs except for Felicity. His two sons died in a war.

To be honest, I was not thrilled to meet with another female. My mind was occupied by one particular human.

“She is the fire that melts your stone-cold heart. I don’t understand why we are doing this. We should turn back home and dream about my sweet Emerald.” Nero was having one of his moments again, but this time I did not have any comments. I wanted to see Amelia too, but it was not the real her. It was just a dream, an imaginary vision of our crazy heads. And Nero started to be obsessed with all those dreams. He didn’t want to do anything else, just sleep. And we couldn't be like that. We couldn't live in delusions. The pack was our number one responsibility.

“I have a solution. Let’s meet her in person and dreaming won’t be needed anymore.” This wolf... I rolled my eyes.

“No. We are meeting with Felicity. Please understand what is necessary and what is not. Why am I the only one willing to compromise?”

“OK. I have a proposition for you. I’ll give it a try with this Felicity chick. I will observe and provide an objective opinion later on. But you will let me meet Amelia, in the fur and in the flesh.” That sly piece of wolf. I swallowed my ego and we made a hand/paw-shake, a sign of agreement.

“We are here. The mansion looks nice. It’s bigger than your villa, but we have a better view.” Zian checked the surroundings and I agreed with him. We drove through security check without any problems and parked the car in front of the mansion. Two omegas were waiting outside, one of them holding a big jug of water, two glasses and some napkins. They both stared at the ground as their position did not allow them to look the high-ranked wolves in the eyes.

“Sirs, welcome to the Northwest Crescent pack. Our Alpha awaits you in the main living room. Please follow me.” The empty-handed omega said and turned around. The other omega remained outside. We went to the living room filled with light grey furniture, vanilla-yellow and snow-white decorations. The room looked clean and open spaced. This Alpha had a great designer.

“All the decorations were done by my lovely Felicity. She studied interior design at IED Barcelona Design School.” Alpha Dorian announced proudly as he entered the room. He must have noticed how we were observing the place in amazement.

“Your daughter is indeed talented, Alpha,” Zian said in a kiss-ass way. Nero rolled his eyes but kept his promise, not spitting out anything sarcastic.

“Thank you for inviting us, Alpha Dorian. It’s been some time since we’ve seen each other. How is everything in the pack running?” It was my time to show some politeness and I offered my hand to him. He shook it firmly with a smile on his face.

“Business as usual. Some rouges tried to attack us last week but without any success. My pack has a strong security system. We won’t let a single rouge slip through.”

“Perhaps you could share some tips with us. My pack would definitely need some innovation in the security area. We’re having quite a hard time with rouges.”

“Of course. But that is not what we should primarily discuss today. I understood from the call with your Beta that you’d like to ask me for my daughter. That you want to make her your Luna and merge our packs.” I swallowed those words hard and Nero jumped up, biting his tongue, trying hard not to deviate our mental agreement. I growled at Zian in our mind-link because this was not what we aligned on. But he pretended not to hear me and took a chocolate chip cookie from a serving plate on the table.

“Well, as a starting point, I’d love to get to know her, if you allow it.”

“Certainly. I’ll call her right away.”

It took less than a minute when an elegant, tall lady entered the room having a decent smile on her face. She was a pretty female. Curly black hair which touched her tanned shoulders, big dark blue eyes just like her father’s, thin lips with raspberry lipstick and a slim figure. She was very stylish, wearing a white blouse with a salmon pink blazer and tight navy-blue trousers, and her taste in clothing just mirrored her talents in interior design. She walked in Louboutin heels with the confidence of royalty, not taking her eyes off me.

“Hello, Alpha Nathaniel. Pleased to meet you.”