The Silverclaw Chronicles: Where will Fear take You?

Party Time

Chapter Seven

Amelia

Walking back down to the party on Aiden's arm is an interesting experience for me. I feel like half of the room is looking at me with jealousy or anger while the other half is gazing at us adoringly. I can't explain why any of them are looking at us like we are a couple, but they are...whether their response is to like it or hate it. I start to feel slightly self- conscious, turning my gaze to my feet and Aiden pauses on the stairs, looking down at me to make eye contact.

He takes my chin in his hand and I look up into his eyes as he says, "Amelia, don't ever let anyone make you look down at the ground again. You are beautiful and should always hold your head up high, okay?"

I smile and reply with a simple, "Okay."

We start back down the stairs and I make sure to keep my eyes up. It feels truly empowering and I appreciate that Aiden took the time to reassure me. Once we are back on the main floor, Jess joins us instantly and grabs my hand.

"Come on. You have to come dance to this with us." She says and I laugh as I release Aiden's arm, following Jess to the dance floor.

I look back and Aiden is smiling at me, but has been joined by the Alpha and Beta and are discussing who knows what. I only hope that he isn't in trouble for stepping away from the party with me. I turn my focus back to Jess and the girls as we have all met on the dance floor. This night is definitely not turning out the way I had envisioned, but I am not complaining at all.

Jessie

Finally, Aims is back at the party where she needs to be. I know that Aiden is excited about her being his mate, but she needs some time to be a teenager and just have some fun with all of us before he whisks her away. Just the thought of this makes me want to laugh. I never saw Aiden as the lovesick type, but he really did seem sincere and head-over-heels for Aims. I also have to admit that having her as my actual sister will be wonderful. I just hope that he can be patient with her and doesn't scare her off.

All of us girls are dancing in a big group and having a blast. We are joined once again by some of the guys that are our classmates and some of Aiden and Kyle's. Everyone is having fun and enjoying getting to know one another while we dance until we are joined by Addy and her crew. I roll my eyes as she comes over and starts dancing in front of some of the guys to get all the wrong attention. She is trying to smash herself between Future Alpha Blake from Wolf Moon and Victor. It is not working out so well, as Blake seems to have little to no patience with her games. Victor, however, doesn't seem to mind the attention until his father walks over and taps him on the shoulder with a stern look on his face. Aims, Jasmine, and I really want to laugh as we see the disappointment on Addy's face when they both turn away from her.

Luckily for her, a slow song starts playing next, so everyone starts pairing up and she somehow gets another of Aiden's classmates to dance with her. We all end up paired up and I look over to see Aims dancing with Lucian from Blue Moon, another Future Alpha. They are talking animatedly about something, but I decide that I better pay attention to my dance partner before I get in trouble. I turn back to Dante from Thunder Moon with a smile. I will say this...there are a lot of handsome future leaders looking for mates still. Aiden better be good to Aims or he may lose her.

Aiden

I watch as the girls go out to dance and keep a close eye on them even while my father is speaking to me. All of the guys join them and I can understand why...our pack is very blessed right now in the eligible she-wolf area! Jessie and all of her friends are very pretty. Anyone would be lucky to have one of them as their mate, but so far no sparks are flying for anyone except Amelia and I.

"Son, you know that you have to be patient in this situation. I know that it will be hard, but things will get easier once she is of age." Dad says, trying to talk to me about Amelia.

"Dad, I know what I need to do. I appreciate your concern, but Amelia and I will figure this out. I know that it is unusual, but I think that she can feel the bond already. It may not be completely and she may not fully understand it yet, but she senses our connection at some level." I try to explain to him as Mom walks up to join us.

"Aiden, you could be right, but we have to make sure that she is given time. I could talk to her too. I am going to need to try to help her understand everything that she has been going through as well as find out more about her family history." Mom says, placing her hand on my shoulder.

A slow song starts to play and I decide that we can all figure this out tomorrow. "Alright Mom. I am going to go dance with Amelia and we can worry about all of this tomorrow."

She nods her head and then I see a concerned look on her face as she turns toward where the girls are dancing. I follow her gaze and see that Amelia is dancing with Lucian. I'm not going to lie and say that I am not jealous, but I can once again see that I have nothing to worry about. Amelia is just dancing with him as if he is a friend, not a love interest.

I turn to my mother and ask, "Would you like to dance, Mom?"

She smiles and has a curious look cross her face. "I would love to," she says as she takes my hand.

I lead her out onto the dance floor and put us within hearing distance of Amelia and Lucian. Mom smirks up at me because, of course, she knows what I am doing. I am not trying to overstep, but I would like to know if I have any serious competition for my little Luna's attention. We come in on the middle of their conversation and I try to figure out what I have missed.

"No really...I do remember you from school. You were always one of the loudest singers during school programs." He tells her and she laughs.

"I guess I was. How are things going at Blue Moon?" She replies.

"We have been working very hard to rebuild after the Vampire attack when you left. The Pack has grown a lot. You know your parents' house is still there for you. You should come back for a visit soon," Lucian offers.

"That would be nice actually. I have been thinking a lot about going back to see all of my former homes and visit my parents' graves. Its something that I have never been old enough to do before now." She says with a slight waver in her voice and then she tries to change her tone. "Jess mentioned that there would be some gatherings at all of the surrounding packs while you are all home. If we are invited, maybe that would be a good time for revisiting everywhere."

"Of course, you are all invited. You know the point of all these events, right?" He says with a teasing tone. "Our mothers are all trying to make sure that we meet every eligible she-wolf in the region. They are all desperate for us to find our fated mates or a really good chosen one." When those words leave his mouth, I can hear the thick desire in his voice and that bothers me, but I try to remain calm.

"Right...of course they all want you to have the best chance at finding your fated mates. It makes sense. It will be nice to come back and see everything that has been done. I will make sure that Jess and I get there a little early if that's okay, so that I can visit my old home and the cemetery. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to do so." She says, trying to stay aloof.

As the song ends and a fast one starts back up, Mom gives me a hug and thanks me for the dance whispering to me. "Aiden, very slick by the way, but don't worry about the others. Just focus on you and Amelia."

I give her a nod and a smile as she walks back over to my dad. Kyle makes his way out to me and we both go to join the now large group of people dancing. I walk right over to Amelia and start dancing by her. She smiles and Lucian, on her other side, nods to me.

"This is a great party, Aiden. Luna Micaela has set the bar high for parties for the season," Lucian says.

"Yeah. I told her that she could be a party planner." I reply trying to keep the mood light.

"When is your party, Lucian?" Jessie asks, joining our conversation.

"Actually ours is next Friday," Robert says as he moves over to join us all. "I hope that all of you ladies will be joining us." He adds as he glances around the group at all of the girls with a smile.

"My Beta and constant wingman!" Lucian says, smirking and all the girls giggle in response, but I catch Amelia just grinning and shaking her head slightly.

"Truth be told, we are all looking forward to every event this break," Dante mentions as he also crowds over by the rest of us.

"Damn straight we are!" agrees Xander, as our dancing circle is now growing exponentially because with each future Alpha and Beta that join us, at least 5 she-wolves from their packs scoot closer too.

Wilson positions himself at Amelia's side and speaks directly to her. "Lucian mentioned that you would like to visit your parents' graves and your old homes. I wanted to make sure to tell you that you are welcome anytime at Snow Moon as our personal guest. Marie and Tim were both good friends of my parents. My mother has even kept the home maintained for you all these years. She has said many times that she wanted you to have a place to return home to if you ever chose to."

"Thank you. That is very kind. I will work out arrangements to visit soon." She replies with a small smile.

"Really...anytime. You don't even have to rush back. You will be welcome for as long as you like." He adds, and now my hair on the back of my neck is starting to stand up.

"I truly appreciate that. I have wanted to get back and rediscover my past better. I really want to honor my parents and visit their resting places." She says with a glistening in her eyes that tells me she could cry if she would allow herself to.

I want to help her with all of this. After reading her files, I can only imagine how hard it will be to travel back to all of her former packs and relive the things she went through there. I don't know how yet, but I will have to figure out how to be with her and help her through all of this.

Amelia

As if sensing that I needed a conversation change, Jess takes care of it for me. "You will all have to make sure to come back for mine and Amelia's birthdays if possible. Knowing Mom, they will be even better than this party." She boasts.

I smile at her and give her a nod of thanks which she understands perfectly. We all dance the night away and I can honestly say that I have never had this much fun. I lose count of how many guys I dance with and they are all such gentlemen. The thing is that the more I dance with others...I realize that I really want to be in Aiden's arms again. As the next slow song comes on, I find Aiden taking my hand and guiding me to the outdoor dancing area as if he read my mind. Between the stars over head and all of the twinkling lights, it is absolutely beautiful out here. We are followed by many other pairs, but I am not even sure who, as I am lost in our own little bubble again.

"Amelia, we really need to talk." Aiden says, looking down at me so seriously.

"Alright." I reply waiting for him to go on, but it is almost like he is frozen just staring into my eyes.

As he snaps out of it, he starts, "I need to tell you that I have feelings for you. I feel very connected to you. Can you sense anything when we are together? Jessie mentioned that you had been feeling off all day. Is that true? What did it feel like and did it change when we danced?" He asks firing questions at me like they are out of a gun.

My mind is racing almost as much as my heart. What did Aiden feel for me? Is it possible that this is more than just a silly crush? All these thoughts keep running through my mind as I finally reply to him. "Aiden, I have never felt like this before, but I have not really interacted with many people before now either. I was always kind of a loner." I admit to him before I go on. "Jess was right. I was feeling quite off and having some trouble today. The strange thing is that when you took my hand earlier, it all stopped. It is a bit embarrassing to admit, but I feel like we are in our own little world when I am with you. I know that I probably sound like some silly school girl with a crush, but this feels stronger than that."

He smiles at me. "I feel the same way. You see all day today, since I first saw you when you left for school, I have felt a racing heartbeat in my chest and pounding in my head. I was having a rough time with it to be honest, but when I took your hand, it all got quiet. I felt at peace. I have never felt this way before. When we were kissing earlier, that was the most amazing thing I have ever experienced. I feel complete..." He says and I can feel myself melting into him with each world, but then someone grabs my arm, yanking me away from him and pushing me to the ground before I can react.

"What the hell?!?!?! You need to stop bothering Aiden like this! You are nothing more than a power-hungry w***e!" Addison yells at me and I feel anger rising within me as a sharp pain grows in my right arm, spreading through me.

"That's enough, Addison!" Booms Aiden's voice and everyone who hadn't already freezes to watch the scene unfolding.

I can sense Jess as she comes over to try to help me up, but she is so blurry. Someone else is helping too, but the room is starting to spin. Then all there is...is darkness.

Jessie

As soon as I heard Addy yelling, I knew something bad was happening. I let go of my dancing partner and ran over to Aims where she sat on the ground. I tried to get her up, but she was really out of it all of the sudden. She was mumbling something about me being blurry and her arm hurting. I tried again to help her up as Wilson joined me, but she was like a limp rag doll at this point. Wilson got her upright only for her to collapse completely. Luckily, he just swept her up in his arms and held her there.

I am ready to hurt Addy myself, but I didn't have to as Aiden handed her over to Kyle.

"Lock her up now!" He demands. "A night in a cell is the least of what she deserves for this outrage."

I turn my attention back to Aims and Mom joins me. This is when I notice that her arm is bleeding and there is a syringe hanging out of it. I pull it out quickly and can smell the Wolfsbane immediately. Mom motions for Wilson to follow her upstairs and this is when Aiden must realize what is happening because he beats us to the stairs, taking her from him.

"Thank you, Wilson. I will take her up." He says as politely as he can.

"Jessie, get Dr. Franklin! I believe he is sitting on the far couches." Mom instructs me as she is leading Aiden upstairs.

When the doctor and I reach them, they are all in Amelia's room with her lying on the bed. Dr. Franklin gets out some of his tools from his bag and starts checking Aims over while Mom is bandaging her arm up. Apparently, Addy's claws dug into her and she injected her with the syringe. Aiden is sitting on the other side of her bed with his eyes glued to her. The panic is evident in his face, which is not a look I have ever seen on him before. Dr. Franklin pulls some blood and by now one of the nurses has joined him. She is taking all of the samples that he is pulling and marking them. He runs some quick test right in her room as I am pacing around the room. He then hooks Aims up to an IV.

"Well, the good news is that it was only a medium dose of Wolfsbane that was injected. This indicator test that we ran only turned light green, so these affects will be temporary. We will run more in depth tests, but it looks like this will just have her out for the night, possibly a part of the morning, and affect her healing ability for now. We will need to change that bandage on her arm a few times tonight with some topicals to keep infection at bay until her healing has kicked back in. I could put in a few stitches as these scratches are rather deep, but I think that the ointments and bandages will handle it for now." Dr. Franklin explains.

"Thank you, Doctor." Aiden says, shaking his hand.

"She will need someone with her all night and we will come back to check on her every 2-3 hours. We could move her to the infirmary, Luna. That might be easier for all of you." He offers, but I know that isn't going to happen.

"We will keep her here. You may have some of your staff come and stay here if they would like." Mom replies, knowing that none of us will want to leave Aims, but especially Aiden. He looks absolutely sick right now.

"Alright, Luna. We will do that." the Doctor tells her as he leaves. "We will get these other tests going to make sure that we don't miss anything."

I turn back to look at Aims with Aiden beside her on the bed. He is pushing her hair back from her face gently. "Aiden, we need to get her changed." I tell him and he nods his head, but doesn't move.

Mom walks to his side and pats him on the shoulder. "Son, you need to step out for a few minutes to let us get her into more comfortable clothes for sleeping. You really should go tell everyone that she is going to be alright and start closing down the party. I promise that I will link you as soon as we are done." She tells him, trying to convince him.

"I can't." is all that he says.

At that moment, there's a knock on the door and Dad comes in. "Son, you need to come with me. We need to give the ladies a few moments and then you can come back, alright?" He says, wrapping his arm around Aiden's shoulder and pulling him up. Once he is standing, Dad turns him to look into his eyes. "We need to go down and give everyone an update, thank them for coming, and tell them we will see them this weekend." Aiden just nods his head in reply as they start to walk out the door. "Run in your room and splash a little cold water on your face. It'll help."

When the door closes, Mom and I get to work quickly. We carefully get her out of her dress and into pajamas. I wash her face and brush her hair some. Mom cleans a few spots where the blood had dripped when she was carried in here. I am sure that someone has already cleaned up any others downstairs and coming up the stairs. I sit in the bed beside Aims and finally try to process what just happened.

"Mom?"

It takes her a minute to respond to me as I am guessing she was linking Aiden that we were done. She turns to me and says, "Yes, dear."

"What is wrong with Addy?" I ask.

"I wish I knew. I know that I didn't really want her with your brother, but I never imagined that she would attack someone else." She replies, sitting down by me.

"What is going to happen to her?"

"I don't know. It is a serious offense to use Wolfsbane on another werewolf. I understand that Addison is full of jealousy and anger, but..." Mom is explaining as the door opens and Aiden walks in, quickly going to Aim's side of the bed to check on her as I am lying on the other side.

Once he is done checking her over, he turns to look at us in the eyes. "There's no excuse for what Addison did! Attacking her future Luna is unforgiveable!" He says in a very stern voice.

"Dear, she didn't know that. There is still no excuse for what she did, but she can't be punished, as if this was a planned attack on the Luna. I am sure that your father will figure this out." Mom says, clearly trying to calm Aiden down, as you can actually see the anger rolling off of him. She pats his arm gently and goes on. "Aiden, you have to calm down. Amelia will sense all of your animosity and anger and it isn't good for her. Plus, you don't want her to wake up and be scared of you, do you?"

He looks from Mom to Amelia and shakes his head 'No' as he closes his eyes to take a few deep breaths. "I just can't believe that this happened. I was right there and I should have protected her better than this." He says quietly.

"Aiden, this is not your fault. You were in your own little world with Amelia. I remember what that can be like, so you can't blame yourself for any of this." She tells him as she stands up and moves over to kiss him on the top of his head. "Now, Jessie has volunteered to stay here with Amelia for the first shift. The doctor will be back soon with nurses and I need to make sure that our guest rooms are all ready for them. Aiden, you need to get some rest and you can take the morning shift when Jessie goes to school."

"I am not leaving her side. I will stay with her." He says with a finality that aggravates me.

"I will stay with her tonight. If she wakes up and finds you in bed with her, she may have a heart attack." I try to explain to my thick-headed brother, but he doesn't even acknowledge me as he is now lost staring back at Aims.

"Come on, Jessie. You can help me with the rooms and then we will come back to check on them." Mom says, quietly taking my hand in hers.

I am very upset, but as we are walking out of the room, I look back at my brother and he looks totally shaken. I guess he wouldn't have been able to handle leaving her like this and I need to be understanding. I don't like seeing either of them like this. I hope that Aims wakes up quickly and is completely alright. As much as I hate Addy right now, she better be hoping for the same thing or my brother may kill her. We let the door close behind us and move out to the hall where it looks like everything is already being taken care of. I move with Mom to go check on the rooms and then we walk back downstairs to check on all of the party cleanup. We are very surprised to see that all of the future leaders are still here sitting around a table with Dad and Uncle Keagon discussing...Addison!