Somber Song

Chapter 2 - Answering The Alpha's Call

        I stood still, contemplating whether I should run back into the bar or stay to face the thing I was running from for the last four years. I could probably slip away, I knew those streets and buildings much better than them, but my feet refused to move.

        "How did you find me, Ethan?" I asked, deciding that running would be of no use. They had found me and they tricked me out of the bar so whatever they were after, I doubted they would just leave. I might also end up fighting them, though I doubted I could take both Ethan and Ben, the second young man who accompanied him.

        "Well, it wasn't easy, I'll give you that. You've become really good at covering your tracks," Ethan continued and I crossed my arms, tensing as he took a step towards me. He was the same as I remembered him - tall and lean, with strawberry-blonde hair like me and our mother’s, but unlike her blue eyes, his were brown. He seemed to have gained a bit of weight and his face looked sharper, which wasn’t necessarily a bad look for him.

        I didn't give him the satisfaction of stepping back. Instead, I met his eyes head-on as he stopped in front of me. Almost a head taller, he smiled from ear to ear and it almost looked genuine. Or it was. It was hard to tell anymore. 

        "I've missed you, Mia. You've changed."

        "You haven't," I retorted as his long, muscular arms embraced me. Involuntarily, I took in his familiar scent, and I was surprised at myself for not figuring out it was him earlier. I was so keen on forgetting everything before coming to New York that it turned out I had done better than expected. "What do you want, Ethan?" I insisted after he released me. He turned to glance at Ben before looking back at me.

        "You need to come back," my brother said in a grim voice.

        "That’s not happening," I replied without hesitation and almost smiled at myself. "I put that life behind me and I plan to keep it this way. You've wasted your time coming here." 

        Silence filled the alley and for a moment I thought they would attack me, force me into the car and drive away. My skin bristled with anticipation, but neither of them moved. There was this heavy air around both of them, and despite Ethan’s smile earlier, they didn’t look happy at all.

        "It's Julian, he wants you to come back," Ethan said in a low voice and I took a deep breath, making sure I kept my face straight. They hadn’t looked for me for four whole years. They didn’t try to bring me back. I didn’t even speak to anyone in all that time. Why now?

        "No," I repeated as firmly as I could.

        "You can't refuse your Alpha!" Ben exclaimed, circling the truck to join us. He was still around my height, but he had definitely grown for those four years. His shoulders were twice as wide and well-defined muscles bulged under his shirt. His face had lost its childish softness, despite him being just seventeen still. He glared at me, his jaw tightening. "Julian is dying, Amelia, and he is your Alpha. The entire pack is gathering. You must return." 

         I took a step back, preparing for his attack, but Ethan raised his hand to stop him. Ben froze on his spot, but his indignation was more than evident on his face. 

        "He personally sent me to talk to you," Ethan continued in a much milder tone, forcing me to look at him again. "Julian doesn't have long, Mia, and he wishes to see you before it’s too late." My mind was still wrapping around the idea that Julian, the strongest man I knew, was dying. In my eyes, he had always been invincible. He never got sick, he never got hurt, and he never looked tired. And he was nowhere near old age, even by human standards. How was that even possible?

        "What's wrong with him?" I asked, trying to keep my voice even. I hated myself for caring, I hated myself for even listening to them. I should have run back to the club and alerted the guards - neither Ben nor Ethan would have made a scene if humans were involved. They would not risk exposure for something like that. 

        "You need to see for yourself," Ethan replied, his eyes darkening. I searched his face for any hint - that he was lying, that he was exaggerating. Instead, I noticed the dark circles under his eyes, the paleness of his skin, and the almost visible stiffness of his shoulders. Even after a night of patrol or heavy workday at the farm, I had never seen him so haggard.

        "Ethan, listen to me," I pleaded. I couldn’t just go back, not after all this time. I was too ashamed to admit it, but I couldn’t face the others. Especially Caleb. "I have a life here, a normal life. I'm graduating from university and I have a job and friends. I can't go back." 

        Ethan’s calm face gave place to a different expression, a much darker, vicious grimace that I knew well but never had seen turned towards me. I shuddered involuntarily, suddenly aware of the chilly wind whistling around us and the cold touch of the night air.

        "Should I remind you that when our parents died, Julian took us in and raised us as his own?" He snapped angrily, and I found myself swallowing the lump that had formed in my throat. "Should I remind you that he was the one helping us through our transformations? If it wasn't for him, we would have died or turned into mindless beasts! Should I remind you that he saved our lives more times than I can count and we owe him everything? He never blamed you for running, he didn't even blame you for leaving Caleb! Do you know what happens to wolves when their mates reject them? You do realize..."

        "That's enough!" I shouted. His eyes were glowing with rage, but so were mine. I was so angry at him for playing so unfair and even more so for being right. We did owe Julian everything we owned, everything we had become - both good and bad. If it had been anyone else, I probably would have resisted, but Ethan knew he had won. That's why he had turned his back on me, stepping next to Ben by the car.

        "We should get a move on," Ben said, staring at me as if still not sure if I would run away. 

        After everything I had been through, after all the struggles I had to endure to make it here and the temptation to go back which I faced every day, I was finally returning home - back to my pack, back to my family, back to my old self. The overwhelming sensation of shame and fear made my knees unsteady, but I made sure not to show it.

        "I need to get my things," I said with a trembling voice, still not looking at them.

        "No time," Ethan's voice announced, and the sound of a door opening suggested he was ready to jump in the driver's seat. We had time. He probably just didn’t trust me to come back, I realized. 

        I finally looked at them, only to find Ben waiting for me with the second door open. I took a deep breath, glancing again at the back door of Inferno, then I headed towards the pickup truck, sliding on the seat between the two.

        We didn't speak much on the way, and I found myself drifting off at some point. I woke up a few hours later as Ben shifted in his seat to find a more comfortable position. I realized my head had fallen on his shoulder and he, being the nice guy he was, didn't want to wake me so he didn't move at all. As I opened my eyes, I pulled away, and he retracted the hand I had used as a pillow. Ethan's jacket was wrapped around my shoulders, but I believed I wasn't childish enough anymore to shrug it off just because I was mad at him. So I sat, blinking sleepily as Ben stretched his limbs, and Ethan glanced at me.

        "Where are we?" I croaked. I cleared my throat just as my eyes caught a glimpse of a sign announcing that we were fourteen miles away from the town of Killingly. I sighed, running a hand through my hair only to find it stuck at the edges. Ben chucked next to me.

        "I still can't believe you of all people work in a bar and dress like this," he said, and I frowned at him.

        "What was that supposed to mean?" I snapped harsher than I would have done had I been fully awake. Ben, for all his annoying qualities, had done no wrong by me, and honestly, he was probably the only one I would have been happy to see - of course, if it didn't include me going back.

        "Well, five years ago you were this good, obedient girl - no drinking, no partying, no fun. And you almost looked like one of the boys. Look at you now, a bartender in New York. And when Clarissa sees you in this dress, she'll be mortified." He added, referring to Julian's wife. She had been like a mother to all of us - both her own boys, Ethan and me, as well as her brothers’ children who often hang around the Brayden farm.

        "I don't care," I mumbled, hoping I wouldn't bump into Clarissa before I had the chance to change. She probably wouldn't say anything, but her reprimanding glance would most definitely make me want to dig a grave and bury myself in it.

        "Clearly," Ben chuckled, but there was no menace in his retort. It was funny how everything was exactly as I remembered. I felt like I was the only one who had changed.

        Twenty minutes later Ethan had passed the sign announcing that we were entering the Brayden farm where trespassing was forbidden. I realized that I was sweating and my heart was beating faster despite my attempts to calm down. I had no idea what kind of welcome to expect, and I was dreading a happy one. Everything would be so much better if they hated me, if they glared and turned their heads away and made me feel like a stranger. It would be so much easier to leave.

        "Don't worry," Ben whispered as if reading my mind, "they will all be happy to see you."

        "Not everyone, maybe," Ethan mumbled.