Total pages in book: 47
Estimated words: 45970 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 230(@200wpm)___ 184(@250wpm)___ 153(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 45970 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 230(@200wpm)___ 184(@250wpm)___ 153(@300wpm)
She opened the apartment door to him and he just stared at her.
“Amelia?”
“It’s fine. I’m fine.” She stepped out of the way, giving him room to enter. Her apartment, like always, was immaculate.
Even focusing on Buster’s health, she’d kept her place clean. She, however, stunk.
“Amelia, what is going on?”
“I just need to run some errands. I’ll be back soon. I would normally leave them, you know, on their own, as they’re house trained, and they’re good, but … with everything.”
“I saw what they’ve written downstairs, on the doors and windows,” Val said.
She forced a smile to her lips as she stared at him. “Yeah, I’ve seen it too.” Painted on her door were the words liar and whore. Not the nicest of words.
Tears filled her eyes, and Val took a step toward her. “Are you okay?” he asked.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Totally fine. I’ve just got a few things I need to do is all.” She nodded. “And I don’t want to leave them on their own. I know that … dogs are quite difficult. It will only be for a short time. I promise.”
“Amelia, stop,” he said. “I’ll take care of them. It will be a pleasure to take care of them.”
“Oh, thank you.” She nibbled on her lip. “I, er, I didn’t lie.”
“What?”
“In case you were wondering. I didn’t lie. I promise. I would never lie.” She swiped at the tears that fell down her cheeks. This was so embarrassing.
“I know you wouldn’t lie.”
“Well, just in case you were wondering. The whole pack seems to think that I’m lying.”
Val put his hands on her shoulders. “Not the whole pack.”
“Yeah, just you.” She nodded. “It’s fine. It is perfectly fine.” Glancing back to her dogs, she looked at Buster and Rascal and knew she couldn’t stay. “I better go and run my errands.” She forced a smile to her lips and then left him alone.
Amelia didn’t bother with a jacket or anything.
In her sweatpants and a hoodie, she stepped out of her apartment building. There was no one around.
She turned toward her building, and there in white and yellow, the words liar, faker, and whore were all scrawled across the window.
More tears built, and she wiped them away.
This was … this was hard. Painful even.
Her throat felt thick.
No, this was worse because she knew Wolfe believed it. At the thought of Wolfe, she had no choice but to clutch her chest. The pain was real.
Buster.
Think about Buster.
No one believed her, but she knew something had bitten Buster. Rascal hadn’t. He couldn’t, so that meant while she’d been too busy focusing on Wolfe and his accusations, someone or something bit her dog, and now she was going to head back to where they were to find it.
Amelia didn’t have a clue what she was going to do when she did eventually find it, but either way, she was going to make sure it never hurt her dog again.
She started in the location where she first saw that figure. That stupid figure. She hadn’t been making that up.
Stepping into the thick bushes, she looked around. There were no footprints or discernable tracks to suggest anything had been near her home.
After taking a deep breath, she couldn’t smell anything either. She lifted up and looked around—nothing.
This was her first track, and next, she started to walk in the direction of where her dogs took off it.
One foot in front of the other, taking her time. Moving. Inhaling. Whenever she heard any sounds she couldn’t analyze straight away, she paused and listened.
Nothing.
“I’m not leaving this damn forest until I know what the fuck is going on.”
Chapter Eleven
Wolfe missed Amelia.
He hadn’t gone to see her, but he knew the pack was filling up with rumors and gossip. He’d already seen that her apartment building had been vandalized.
Which pissed him off.
He hadn’t seen Amelia though.
Nor Boyan and Enzo.
Running fingers through his hair, he stared down at the second whiskey bottle of the day.
“You know, if it doesn’t work the first time, you kind of have to call it quits,” Rocco said.
“Yeah, I think it sucks that we can never get drunk.” He swallowed the last quarter of a bottle and placed it on the table.
“You’re hurting.”
“Nah, I’m not hurting.”
“You pissed off about Amelia?” Rocco asked.
Wolfe glared at him. “There’s nothing between Amelia and me.”
“Sure,” Rocco said. “And the sun doesn’t shine in the morning or set at night.” He rolled his eyes.
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”
“What is the problem with being with her, exactly?” Rocco asked.
“Besides the fact she’s a liar?” Wolfe asked.
Rocco shrugged. “Say she didn’t lie. What is wrong with wanting to be with her? She’s a beautiful woman. A member of the pack.”
“She’s weak.”
“And we all know how Wolfe values strength,” Draco said, taking a seat at the table.
“I don’t recall inviting you.”