Chapter 6 Embrace

I only had two days left of freedom, and I wanted to make the most of it because the days were going by so quickly. When my parents found me in bed the morning after the ball, they had promised me not to mention Alaricus Knight. I sobbed into my dad's arms as I explained to them, my pillow drenched in tears, what that man had laid out for me. Ever since then, that remained the forbidden subject.

I was spending time with my family and friends, even though there was a part of me that just wanted to be by myself, but I couldn't afford it. I knew the moment I stepped foot in that palace that I would never see my loved ones again; that man was a tyrant, and I was just his property. Wolf partners hardly ever permitted their partners to see relatives. By nature, wolves were very protective of their partners and disliked the idea of their partner considering, much less requiring, a second partner. They wanted to be everything to their mate because they valued their lover above all else. I was going to live the rest of my life with a man who was known to be utterly cruel and incapable of loving anyone.

People gave me pitying looks everywhere I went; even the most powerful werewolf girls I knew gave me sympathetic looks. However, there were the brave ones; others shied away from me like the plague, with crowds dispersing as I went. My feelings were exacerbated; I was now treated like Alaricus Knight and was obviously an outsider. I was no longer just the harmless human girl who could do as she liked; my identity had already been taken. I'm just the notorious Alaricus Knight's mate now, not Amara Winters. Some saw me as the girl destined for an endless life of suffering, while others saw me as the quickest route to self-destruction.

My companions' presence was indicated by the sound of the doorbell ringing. We were going to watch a movie and consume junk food that was as bad as possible. When I opened the door, I saw my closest male friend, Aaron, and Marina carrying numerous bags of who knows what. I hurried to assist him, but Marina grabbed my arm and pulled me into my bedroom. I glanced over my shoulder at Aaron, expressing regret.

We put on a scary movie, turned down the lights until the entire space was dark, and arranged the various chocolates and extra-butter popcorn. We wrapped a large, heavy blanket around ourselves. I was seated in the center, and as the film went on, two of my companions completely squashed me, so that the three of us were covered by the blanket.

As the insane axe-murdering spirit pursued the girl, Marina and I held on to each other. Aaron was curled up with a cushion, complaining about watching an action movie, having given up on attempting to be courageous. We heard a spinning blade, but it wasn't the one from the movie, so the room fell silent. The door began cracking open as soon as we sat there, our eyes wide and too terrified to even blink. When we spotted a small, rambunctious figure at the entrance, we screamed. We were sitting on the blanket when Aaron pulled on it, causing us to all fall off the bed and onto the floor. My ungainly landing fell on top of Marina, with Aaron's stocky frame splayed across the two of us. His knee was severely pushing into my hip. We yelled even louder, forgetting the pain, as the lights came on.

When we finally heard a response that strangely sounded like my mom, Aaron and I were clutching to each other over the bed, With a terrified expression on her face, my mom was holding a blender that held a berry blend.

"I just wanted to show you guys our new wireless smoothie machine, but you all are lunatics." My mother slammed the door and screamed loudly. We were mortified as we sat there until someone groaned. When we looked down, we realized that we were practically sitting atop Marina and that we had jumped off to assist her. She clutched her sides and swore like a sailor, apologizing to her.

We coerced Aaron into joining us to watch Titanic after deciding that we would never, ever again watch a scary movie. He bit the cold popcorn with an angry sigh the entire time. I watched the movie till it was almost over, and as it was, I started crying silently because I knew I would never know love like this. To the ruthless ruler, I would always be nothing more than a privileged prisoner. Marina snorted next to me, and I gave her a hug, but we fell apart at the sound of an incredibly muted cry.

We observed Aaron in silence for a few minutes while he sobbed, and then Marina started laughing, making Aaron glance at us shamefully. complaining that it's an intense film and threatening to keep it a secret. Marina and I launched ourselves at him and gave him a tight hug. We all sobbed together for the remainder of the film, screaming during the credits that we wanted a Jack-or, in Aaron's case, a female Jack.

There was a tap on the door, and my dad answered it, his eyes going wild when he saw all of us sobbing and clutching to each other. He took a tiny step backward and glanced over his shoulder at the corridor. But before he could escape, we flung ourselves at him. He was having trouble keeping the three of us steady in his arms and almost fell back. Aaron untangled himself from our group hug and grabbed my mom, who was close behind him. She patted him on the back and spoke to him like a little child who had just been hurt. My parents probably didn't notice a difference between me and my friends because my friends had always thought of my parents as their parents, and we were together so frequently. I used to believe that my mother preferred Aaron because he enjoyed cooking with her.

When I realized that this was probably the final time we would all be together in this manner, my heart began to swell because I knew that this would be the last time I would see them all until they said goodbye. I sob and hold on to my dad, and I suppose they noticed that I wasn't crying for the movie anymore because they gave me a closer hug. Aaron and my mother are sharing an embrace.