Amelia’s Awakening

Chapter 8 - Leaving

Amelia’s POV

I decided to take my parents out to lunch with some of the bonus money Mark gave me when we got back from the beach house. I wanted to do something special just the three of us before I left.

“So how are you feeling honey?” Mom asks as we are looking over the menus.

I think for a minute, it’s hard to put so many conflicting thoughts and feelings into words, “I don’t know, a little of everything. Excited, scared, worried, guilty”

Mom cuts me off with a sharp look and a voice of surprise, “guilt, what do you have to feel guilty about?”

I look down, “I’m leaving you” I say softly.

“Well, what did you expect to be living with us until you were fifty” she chuckles lightly.

I look up, “no, but both of you have always done everything for me and here I am leaving you”

“You aren’t leaving us, you’re having your own adventures as you should. Your Dad and I never want to hold you back from your dreams” she pauses, “besides we have been planning a surprise” she looks at my Dad and he gives a small nod. “We have been putting aside money for a long time for your schooling, but since you got a full scholarship we have made arrangements to come visit you for the holidays”

I shake my head to make sure I heard correctly while I am smiling from ear to ear, “What” I jump up from my seat to hug them both, “you did that for me!” I have silent, happy tears sliding down my cheeks with absolutely no control over them. I am simply so overwhelmed with emotion.

My Dad chuckled with his own unshed tears in his eyes, “oh, Ames. We didn’t want to overwhelm you. We were planning on surprising you once you were there but…” he left the rest hanging and he rubbed the back of his neck.

My Mom looks at me meekly, “sorry, seemed like you needed to know now and we didn’t do it for you, we did it for all of us” she shrugs.

I am beaming,”honestly, knowing now sure makes leaving tonight easier.”

My Mom looks at me and says, “I was thinking we could do our own mother daughter book club while you were gone”

“Absolutely” I reply. My Mom and I have always been avid readers.

“I thought it may help us feel more connected. One new book a month since I know you will be busy with school and exploring. We can rotate who picks our book every other month” she reaches into her purse and handed me a book, “thought we could start with this one. It is about a girl starting a new adventure and she ends up discovering herself,” she says with a wink and she gives me a smile.

I hug my Mom, she is so thoughtful, I don’t deserve her not even my own parents wanted me. Sh*t, there go my dark thoughts again. I smile to mask my inner turmoil.

“So let me make sure I understand, the next month I choose the book we read?” I look at mom expectantly.

She smiles, “that is what I was thinking, but I’m open to whatever. Thought it may fun.”

“Yes, it does sound fun and the plan works for me. We can always change things up if we want to,” she nods in agreement.

My Dad interjects, “ and don’t think you are getting rid of me either. We are going to be video calling all the time and you can text or call anytime day or night. I know the time difference will take some adjusting to, but we can always text each other anytime and just respond when we wake up if either of us are sleeping,” my Dadsays and smiles softly with a little mischief, “I plan on bugging you ALL the time.” I laugh and hug him.

We finish up eating and head home where we sit around absorbing each other as much as we can before I need to go to the airport.

Jorah’s POV

Today is the day we leave, my mom and Abigail put together a surprise BBQ send off last night. It was a lot of fun, there was swimming, music, dancing and great food. Everyone from the pack came and Amelia and her parents were able to join us too.

Later at night after Amelia’s family left, my brother had me lead a pack run. It was just what Convel and I needed. I was honored he let me lead, that must have been hard on his alpha wolf to give Convel control. We ran around for an hour or so and then sat by the lake and enjoyed the night air before heading to bed.

Here I am, laughing with all my family as we eat lunch. It is nice to have all of us together, it doesn’t happen as often now that Ronan is Alpha and has started his own family. His girl and boy twins, Ari and Atlas, are running around being silly, entertaining the rest of us.

As right as being here feels, I have always struggled to feel like I had a place in the pack where I made an impact. My brother has talked with me about becoming a second beta, it seems like a good fit but, I still get the feeling he is just creating a job because I don’t fit anywhere.

Maybe it will feel different when I get back. For now, I just have to enjoy this time with everyone. I didn’t get to talk to Ronan much last night, so it is nice to have him in our house where pack members don’t interrupt us. I know an Alpha’s job is to protect and be of service to the pack, but sometimes pack members need to back off and let him live his life too.

I wonder how Alpha Matteo balances his life. I heard he became Alpha when he was just twenty two, that is only one year older than me, s**t that is a lot. He became alpha after his Dad’s chosen mate cheated on him. I cannot even imagine having so much responsibility at such a young age. I hear he still hasn’t found his mate either and he is already twenty six, I thought I had it rough. Three years of waiting has been enough for me, he has waited eight years, that is brutal. I wonder how he manages a pack as big as ours all on his own, I have a feeling that I will learn a lot from him.

Matteo’s POV

Our guests arrive early tomorrow morning and will likely want to eat and crash as they are coming on a red-eye. With the time difference they will get here around sunrise. My Alpha team (beta, gamma and I) and I have come up with a pretty good plan for ensuing we stay hidden while still giving our wolves what they need.

We had a mandatory pack meeting earlier today out on our expansive training grounds, where else can 10,000+ wolves meet. We have a stadium where we have sparing competitions, feats of strength, agility competitions and sporting events in as part of our training ground. That is where we hold our whole pack mandatory meetings, it is the only place large enough that is mic’d up so everyone gets the message. Only other option is pack wide mind-link, but I like gatherings more so we see each other and connect. Plus, a pack link with a message longer than a quick message will give me a headache.

We got positive feedback for our plan and many members thanked us through our pack mind-link letting us know how much they appreciated that we found ways to allow shifting while we had a human among us.

Today Isabella and I are taking a run around our pack territory boarder. We personally make sure the two of us do a full territory run at least once a week. I am big on delegating, you have to be with a pack this big, but I also make sure that I don’t delegate without overseeing things. I never want to give another wolf the chance to think they can get away with doing anything that goes against the pack or me.

Doing random full territory runs keeps my warriors in check and allows me to see where any holes in our security may lie. I also can sense the warriors auras as we run and can sense if any are likely to be traitors. So far, I have only had a few that were and I made an example of every one of them. That happened when I first took over, and I haven’t had any issues in the last two year and I’m not letting my guard down now.

Izzy and I catch up as our wolves run. I love my baby sister to death. I do worry about her never opening up enough to others though. She used to be so full of life and had a big group of friends. Unfortunately, she still feels guilty for our Mama’s death. She seems to feel like she doesn’t deserve to hang out with friends anymore since that was what she was doing instead of being with Mama when she died.

Izzy pulled away from her friends and even though she still talks to them it isn’t the same. I see the sadness in Sophie’s eyes, she used to be her best friend and still is, but their relationship isn’t the same anymore. My only hope is that time will heal.

Third person POV

Amelia and Jorah arrive at the airport with both of their families giving them hugs and kisses. There are many tears and promises of staying in touch and then they were off.

Amelia was surprised when she found out Uncle Michael had switched her plane ticket to a first class ticket. Jorah just shrugged his shoulders and pointed out it was that or he would have made them go on the private jet. Jorah knew she wouldn’t feel comfortable with that, so a compromise had to be made.

As much as Amelia didn’t want to admit it, she was happy with the change to first class. It made sleeping much easier and the food was excellent, she wouldn’t have been able to enjoy either in coach.

The flight went by surprisingly fast and before either of them knew it, they were preparing for their decent.

Amelia’s breath was taken away as she gazed out the window and saw the landscape coming into view. With the sunrise casting a soft glow on the landscape, it definitely looked better than all of those travel poster in her room. Butterflies swarmed in her stomach as her excitement came to its peak. She was finally going to be able to fulfill her ten year dream.

Jorah had many of his own feelings swimming around inside. He didn’t realize how much he needed this trip to discover what he truly wanted out of life. They both sat in comfortable silence as their thoughts ran wild with possibilities.