AMELIA’S P.O.V

Ian never asked questions, he never pushed. He looked over at me with slight amusement at my question before shrugging and gestured for me to walk with him. He was a breath of fresh air after being in that hospital the entire time and I just needed some space from everything.


“I take it that things aren’t going so well with you and the Alpha,” he began slowly as we drove towards the woods. All I could do in response was shrug because despite how pissed I was at Kaden, I didn’t want to bad mouth him. “It’s alright though, it happens a lot. Couples fight all the time. It wouldn’t be a good relationship if there were not any healthy arguments.”

I turned to him. “You call this a healthy argument? He picks a woman in a hospital over me.” I slapped my hands over my mouth when I realized what I had said. “I’m sorry, I should never have said that. Please accept my apologies. That was stupid of me.”

“It’s alright,” he waved me off. “Sometimes we just need to get things out there. This is obviously something that pisses you off a lot and you need someone who will listen. I have been told I can be a very good listener.”


He added the last part with a wink and I couldn’t stop myself from laughing. It was a loud and boisterous sound but most of all, it was genuine. By the time I managed to calm down, a small smile was permanent on my face. Ian just watched without saying a word and I let out a sigh.

“If I ever need to talk, I will let you know. Right now, I just want to forget and pretend like none of this is real, you know?”


“Pretending won’t make it disappear,” his voice was a soft whisper. “You have to face your problems head on, Amelia. They won’t just go away because you want them to.”

“It’s not my problem, it shouldn’t even be a problem. He chose her. it is his choice and he is allowed to make those decisions.”

“Then why does it upset you?” he asked and I pursed my lips. “Whether you like it or not, this directly affects you and unless you do something about it, it will continue to do so.”

“What do you suggest that I do then?”

He shrugged. “You have two options. You can either fix the issue that is bothering you or take yourself out of the equation. I can’t make the choice for you. It is yours alone.” I opened my mouth to speak but he cut me off. “This is something that you should take some time off to think about, okay?”

I nodded and he helped me out of the car. We walked towards our usual spot and I waited for him to shift, but this time however, he didn’t. He sat on the ground and gestured for me to take the seat next to him. I hesitated before doing so.

“You can sense your wolf, right?” he asked and I nodded. “Can you speak to her?”

“Of course I can, her name is Tara. She doesn’t talk to me all the time but I can feel her there at the back of my mind even when she is quiet.”

“Have you ever tried giving her control?” I didn’t quite understand what he meant and that seemed to show because he explained. “When we shift, we give control to our wolves. It is their way of coming to the surface and finally stretching their paws or whatever. Have you ever asked Tara to take the reins? IF she does that, you might shift.”

“I’ve never tried it before,” I mumbled. “Do you really think it will work?”

“I think there is one way to find out.”

I crossed my legs underneath me and took a deep breath. It was hard concentrating because my nerves were a jumbled mess but I was able to quiet down my mind and locate Tara. She was curled up in a ball at the back of my mind away from everything. I knew what was happening with Kaden wore on her, she loved being around him and his wolf.

“Tara,” I probed softly and I felt her stir but she didn’t turn to me. “Do you want to take control? It might help you feel a bit better.”

“What I want is my mate to not be around that skank,” she snapped and I flinched. She had been in an extra bad mood lately. “Why would he choose her? What does she have that we don’t? Is it because she is pretty? Should we dye our hair?”

“No,” I whispered softly, my heart breaking as my strong and brave counterpart was reduced to a self conscious mess. “We cannot make him choose us, Tara. You are amazing on your own. Not many people can do what you can.”

“You do have a point,” she mumbled before finally giving me her full attention. “What did you want?”

“Do you want to try taking control? I might be able to shift if you do.”

“I don’t know,” she began slowly. “You’re older than you should be for shifting and it will hurt like hell. Our mate should be here if we are going to take a step this dramatic, you know that. I don’t want to do this without him.”

“I don’t see him coming back to us anytime soon and I am not going to wait any longer because of him. Please, Tara, just do this for us. We need to have a life outside of him, we need to do this for us. There is no more doing anything for anyone. The first time I wanted to shift was for Blake, then it was for Kaden, I want to do this for me.”

She went silent for a full minute and I thought she was going to say no but at the last minute she nodded. “There is no better reason to shift. I can try. I won’t promise anything but this will hurt like hell.”

“I can take it.”

I felt the exact moment, she pushed to the surface. Her presence became almost overwhelming and for the first time in my life, I got the clear picture of a wolf in my head. I knew without a shadow of a doubt that was Tara, she was a dark midnight color, almost black but not quite there yet. Her eyes were an electric blue and they held so much wisdom. She was also larger than I expected.

As soon as the image hit the back of my mind, I felt a sharp and searing pain go down my spine and I let out what was meant to be a silent groan of pain but quickly turned out to be a scream. I felt hands on me but they felt wrong and I pushed them off.

“Amelia, are you okay?” Ian asked and I tried and failed to nod. “What is going on?”

“She is taking control,” I gritted my teeth trying to keep the pain at bay but it was so bad. I bit down on the inside of my cheek so hard that I tasted blood and I realized just how stupid it was for me to jump into this without Kaden. “I need my mate. Where is Kaden?”

Ian looked taken aback by my choice of words and I realized that I had never publicly called him my mate. Everyone knew we were together but no one knew we were mates. Ian was dumbfounded and I caught him opening and closing his mouth.

“Will you stop gaping like a fish?” I snapped. “I need my mate.”

“I can’t leave you here alone but the mate bond is a crazy thing. He should be able to feel that you are shifting- or at least, his wolf will. He will know and he will be here, you just have to hang in for a little while.”

I let out a groan of pain. “Please, I need him here and I need him here right now.”

“I know, you’ll be fine, he will be here, I swear it. You just need to hold on a little longer.”

I waited. I counted down every agonizing second that I waited for Kaden but he never showed up. I began to doubt Ian’s words and a part of me hoped he was lying but I felt Tara in my mind and she knew that he was telling the truth. For whatsoever reason, Kaden had ignored my shifting. I didn’t need anyone to tell me that he was at the hospital. I felt angry but most of all, I was hurt. I was willing to overlook everything so far but this, this was inexcusable.

A sharp pain shot up my spine, somehow worse than the others and it felt like every single bone in my body was rearranging itself.

“You’re going to shift any second from now,” I heard Tara in my head. She sounded almost excited and eager. I looked up at Ian who gave me an encouraging smile as my bones snapped and fur began to sprout from my hands. “I can handle this, just take a back seat and let me lead.”

I handed control over to her and I watched through her eyes as I shifted. The world grew different as I grew bigger and soon, I was standing on all fours staring at a pair of midnight paws. I opened my mouth to speak but all that could come out was a small yelp.

Ian chuckled. “You’ll get used to the sounds. I’ve never seen a wolf your color,” I simply huffed. “It is a lot harder to communicate in wolf form. Most of us just use the mind link but-”

“I can use the mind link just fine,” Tara’s tone was haughty as she bridged a connection between his mind and ours. He was stunned for a second to say the least.

“How did you do that? You’re not officially a part of the pack.”

She must have realized the errors in her ways because she started scrambling for a response. I shoved her into the back of my mind and took control.

“Kaden gave me access to the mind link. I didn’t know it was possible but he is the Alpha.”

His mouth formed an ‘o’ and just like that, he agreed. I let out a sigh of relief that he believed me and turned back to Tara with a stern warning. She told me about my powers but until I was sure how to use them and what they entailed, I didn’t want anyone else finding out, it was a recipe for disaster.

I tried to take a step forward but my limbs wobbled and I fell flat on my face making Ian laugh.

“You’ll get used to that, I’m going to shift and I’ll help you out,” I nudged his shoulder with my snout in a silent thanks and he ran his fingers through my fur. “Everyone deserves to have someone at a time like this.”