7

Arlo;

I stood motionless in the darkness and watched as she walked away from me, she had been pushed too far and it was me who did it. I was such a fucking fool; she didn’t believe me when I told her I cared about her and I don’t blame her. I had broken her trust, and apparently her heart. I sat on the bench and slumped back looking up to the pearly full moon. A sight that usually filled me with so much joy just left me feeling numb.

‘Selene, what have I done?’ I mumbled, anger bubbling in my chest and refusing to look away from the glowing beauty overhead.

I waited for Amelia to be out of sight before I left to walk back to the mansion. I couldn’t get over seeing her in the pub, standing on the bar dressed in next to nothing, she didn’t see the excited looks the pack members were giving her, the way that they were watching as her body moved to the music, wondering which one would take her home, she was just so innocent.

I shook my head at myself remembering her painful words I hate you. It stung because she had every right to hate me. I; her Alpha, had let her down, she wouldn’t even call me by my name now, it was just Alpha. Just like what everyone else called me.

The walk back to the mansion was quiet, and solemn. I hated feeling this way. But I deserved it. As bad as I am feeling now, I knew that she was feeling worse, and that was all down to me.

When I got to my bedroom door I listened to see if she was still awake, her room was silent, the alcohol had succeeded in knocking her out, it was 3am, she needed to sleep, something I knew I wouldn’t be doing at all.

I pushed on my bedroom door and snuck inside, trying my hardest to remain as quiet as possible, as not to wake the sleeping girl next door. I had a hot shower, hoping to wash my sins away and hurried back out into my room and threw on nothing but mu loose tracksuit bottoms and paced my room, trying to think of something to do; some way to make it up to her, it was no use, I wasn’t going to be able to find the right answers without speaking to her.

I opened my balcony doors and stepped onto the concrete foundation, stepping out barefoot into the cold nights air. I heard quiet, muffled sobs; it was Amelia and it was all my fault.

Sleeping with Lori was not my intention, it was far from it. I was furious that she didn’t give Amelia a chance to defend herself, a weak wolf needs the help of others and they pinned Amelia down so Lori could do damage. It was pathetic and dirty.

After me and Matt rushed Amelia to the health centre, I collared Adela and Harper, threatening that if they ever pull a stunt like that again, they would be out of the pack for good, but getting rid of Lori? Well that would cause an uproar. Her parents were Elite’s and important to the Packs running, we needed them more than I cared to admit.

I called Lori into my office, she was so proud of herself, grinning from ear to ear until she saw my face.

‘Is everything ok daddy wolf?’ she asked playing dumb and fluttering her eyes lashes at me.

‘Are you fucking kidding me Lori, you beat the shit out of her! You didn’t even give her a chance to fight back, using your stupid friends as restraints so that she was defenceless against you. What sort of wolf uses others to pin someone down just to overpower them? Its dirty. And that is not how this pack runs!’ I watched as she started sulking, crossing her arms and narrowing her eyes at me. I could tell there was about to be one of Lori’s famous tantrums, but I honestly didn’t care.

‘She started it!’ She hissed through clenched teeth.

‘How? What did she ever do to you?’ I roared clenching my fists, I wanted to hurt her, show her what it felt like to be overpowered. But I couldn’t, a good Alpha would never do that to a pack member, no matter if they were the scum of the earth or not.

‘She has taken you away from me, as soon as she came here you have been different. You would never allow me to call you by your first name, even when we were together. You stopped coming to my bed, stopped caring about me.’ Lori looked hurt but she was twisting everything.

‘How could she take me away, when I was never yours? I told you I didn’t want to sleep with you anymore, that there is nothing there for you. I don’t love you. How many times do I have to say it? But you just wont take no for an answer, ‘It’s okay Alpha it’s just sex, I know there is nothing in it.’ It’s my fault, I shouldn’t have been so thick to believe you actually thought that.’ I sat in my chair and stared at Lori, she was once a nice girl, a shy girl and then, she came into her shifting abilities and her true colours came out. She became obsessed with becoming Luna, convincing herself that I would imprint on her. As if it worked that way!

She slowly dropped her arms down from her chest and walked over to me, unbuttoning her pink dress; she had nothing on underneath, no bra and no panties. Was this girl serious?

‘Stop Lori.’ I growled as she slowly placed her bare bottom on my crotch, she looked at me seductively, but it wasn’t working, I was just getting even more pissed off. ‘Stop’ I shouted knocking her to the floor. There was nothing I could do to stop it. I felt myself harden beneath my trousers and Lori’s eyes widened with excitement.

She pathetically rolled over onto all fours and slowly began crawling back over to me, this bitch is mental.

‘Come on Alpha; do it, I know you want to, she ran her fingers up my legs, gently massaging my thighs, before slowly pulling down the zipper on my fly. As ashamed as I was to admit it, the mere action caused my to pulse. I needed release and I needed it now. I watch as she slowly dragged her long nails over the bulge in my trousers, before undoing to the button and slowly pulling then down to my knees. The minute she saw me stood there in my boxers her face flushed and hey eyes flared. I knew that she wanted it. She turned her eyes up to meet mine and slowly began kissing up my legs and I standing up so that we were eye level.

I literally wanted to smash her head against a wall. Anger ripped through me and my inner wolf emerged, I grabbed her shoulders, spinning her around and pushing her over the desk, I pulled my throbbing dick out of my trousers and shoved myself inside her, I had been completely taken over, I couldn’t control myself. But I should have.

Lori was wet the minute that I entered, groaning loudly still pretended like the sex was good, faking an orgasm as loud as she could. It was off putting, looking at her, was off putting and I couldn’t even see her face. She made me feel sick, I couldn’t cum, I just wanted her gone. I pulled out and turned away.

‘That is the last time I ever do that.’ I mumbled putting myself away and turning away from her in disgust.

‘Yeah, we will see.’ She cackled, scooping her dress up from the floor before putting it back on.

‘Don’t you get it? You’re just a fuck, a lousy one at that. Get the hell out of my office now.’ I snapped, not caring about the brief look of hurt in her eyes. I shouldn’t have slept with her. At the time it was kill her or shag her to just get her away from me, both options were wrong. It wouldn’t have been a problem for me to just pick her up and throw her out of my office, naked or not. I wish I had done it. But I was stupid!

I stood staring out into the darkness until the sun started rising, the sky filled with beautiful shades of purple pink and orange, I wished Amelia could see it too. The sobbing stopped at around 4:30 am, she must have cried herself to sleep, my heart hurt. I wished I could have made her feel better, have her listen to how sorry I was, but she hated me. The faint sound of thunder rumbled in the distance and I stood there for a moment, watching the forked lightning streak across the top of the trees. A felt a rain drop land on my foot and then it was as though someone had turned the taps on. Water fell from the black clouds above me, falling harder than I had ever seen before. I stood in the downpour for a moment and realised that I was drenched. It was freezing, even for a werewolf; usually the cold never bothered us. I growled in frustration to myself and turned, heading back into my room. All this pacing was pointless. I knew that I needed to get some sleep. I couldn’t let the pack see me looking worn out. They need an alpha who is strong and alert. I tugged off my soaking bottoms and tossed them into my bathroom, listening as they plopped on the tiled floor, before climbing into my bed and flicking off the light, laying there in darkness staring up at the ceiling until sleep finally claimed me.

Breakfast dragged, I was downstairs in my office by 7, preparing for the meeting, it took my mind off everything that had happened, but only for a short while. It was so hard to focus on anything other than Amelia, and I knew that that wasn’t healthy. Why had I suddenly grown that attachment to her? It wasn’t like we were imprinting. If we were, we would both know it.

When I got to the dining hall, my parents were waiting for me. My mum wouldn’t even look at me, she had obviously heard what had happened. I should have expected it but; Amelia wasn’t standing behind her seat, she wasn’t there at all and I knew that today she wasn’t late, she just wasn’t coming. I noticed the way that my mother glanced to Amelia’s empty chair and knew in that moment that that I had royally fucked up.

Amelia;

I heard him last night, pacing up and down in his room. I wasn’t ready to talk to him then and I still wasn’t ready today, all I wanted to do was go to see Pretty Girl, I had so much to tell her. I made an effort with my clothes today, I would do anything to make myself feel better, I dressed in black skinny jeans and a lose fitting Grey jumper, I pulled on my blue glittery wellies and did my make-up; anxiously trying to cover the bags under my eyes.

Creeping out was a lot harder than I thought it would be, the staff were in and out of the dining area and kitchen continuously, the smell of the waffles was filling the air and making my stomach rumble, I was hungry, but I could not face anyone today. I would rather starve than go in that room and seeing all the pitiful looks that I was undoubtedly going to get. Finally, I stepped outside, I had missed Pretty Girl so much, I had felt bad that I hadn’t seen her for a little while, she must have been so sad in those stables by herself.

I walked towards the stables; my bright blue wellies were squelching in the wet mud as I took each step. I guess that it must have rained pretty hard some time between my falling asleep and waking up this morning. I looked up at the sky, dark grey clouds were heading towards the mansion grounds, it looked as though it was going to pour down. I reached the stables and instantly saw Pretty Girl’s head, peaking over the stable door.

‘It looks like me and you will be chilling together in the stables today; Pretty girl’ I called walking towards the dark brown wooden gate. I heard a happy neighhhhhhhhhh, as I unlocked the rusty bolt. ‘Hello, my angel’ I whispered, walking through the fresh hay. Pretty girl seemed to be happy, the stables here were big enough for her to walk around without her feeling too trapped and the back of them lead onto a field of grass. She had a lovely home, but I knew it wasn’t enough.

‘I’ve missed you’ I whispered placing my head against her long soft neck, taking in her softness against my skin. She nudged her head towards me as if to say she had missed me too. Her grey eyes twinkling. I had never noticed her eyes before, they were very unusual but so beautiful. ‘So much has happened.’ I said sadly. I slowly wandered over to the large hay bales in the corner of the room and watched as Pretty Girl laid down o the ground beside me.

I sat and told her everything, she was silent the whole time, but I felt as though she was listening to me, I am sure she was listening to me.

‘So basically; Arlo is a prick and I should have never trusted him.’ I finished, laughing as she nodded her head up and down. ‘I am glad you think so too, would you like to go for a run in the field?’ Pretty Girl hopped up onto her feet and reared backward gleefully. I wandered over to the open back of the stables and watched as she dashed back and forth in the field.

I sat and watched as my horse ran across the field and back again over and over, she looked so happy, it must have been so nice for her to stretch her legs. I started daydreaming again, I had the perfect opportunity to run and if I was going to do it, now would have been the time, but something was stopping me. I couldn’t bring myself to leave, why? I don’t know but the thought of it this time hurt. A rumble of thunder filled the grey sky, snapping me abruptly out of my thoughts, I looked at my watch, it was 9:30, Pretty girl had been running around for an hour but she didn’t stop when the storm hit, it never bothered her at all, which was unusual because I was sure horses were scared of storms.

I let her run around for a bit longer, but the rain had just gotten too heavy; and I could have sworn that I noticed her coat was sparkling, as though she was coated in some form of glitter; although I was sure that it was just my eyes being tricked but the rain and the occasionally flash of lightning. I ran out into the field, the rain falling so hard that it stung my skin whenever it hit, within seconds I was saturated and so was she. I hurried over to her and took in the gleeful look that was on her face. She was loving every minute of this. I placed my hands on her slick mane and she turned to look me in the eyes. The minute she looked at how wet I was she shook and galloped back over to the stable. I stood there motionless for a moment and smiled to myself, before running after her, heading back into the shelter of the stable.

I grabbed a towel from the rack and dried her off and made sure that I fed her some corn and oats before walking back to the mansion. On my way there I noticed Lori walking in my directions. Her blonde hair was tied up in tight ponytail, and she was wearing a Mustard yellow dress with black tights and brown boots, with a large umbrella held over her head. As we got closer to each other I noticed the dirty look she was giving me, was she going to start another argument? I did not have the energy nor patience for her bullshit today, thank fully she walked straight past me, I noticed her bitch pack weren’t with her this time. Surprise, surprise, she had nothing to say when they were not around. I also noticed the swollen nose and two black eyes, I had a feeling that was something to do with me. Good! She stormed passed me and never bothered looking back. Wherever she was going, she was determined to get there in a hurry. Either that or she really was just a coward. I jogged up the main stairs towards the entrance of the mansion and quickly slipped through them. Luckily there didn’t seem to be anyone around, and I was able to make my way back up to my room without being spotted.

When I got to the second floor, the hallway was silent, it took me back to mine and Arlo’s argument and everything that had happened, I wished I could change rooms, but I knew he wouldn’t let me. I wondered how Matt and Piper were doing, I left without saying goodbye to them last night, I must have come across really rude. I turned to my door and put my hands in my pockets. I couldn’t find my key.

‘Oh shit’ I mumbled looking down at the red carpeted floor, I searched my jeans pockets again, but my key wasn’t there.

‘Looking for this?’ I jumped and turned around.

‘Would you stop doing that!’ I scolded looking at Arlo angrily, he was holding my gold key in his left hand, his right hand was in his trousers pocket.

‘Doing what?’ he asked looking confused.

‘Creeping up behind me and then saying something’ I hissed snatching the key from between his fingers. ‘Anyway, shouldn’t you be in a meeting?’ I snapped. Arlo put his hand through his hair.

‘Yeah, I should but I am too tired today.’ I answered with a shrug, acting like nothing was wrong. I rolled my eyes and turned to open my door, but I felt his warm hand on my waist, and I froze.

‘Wait, can we talk?’ he asked.

‘Not really no, I am soaking wet, freezing cold, and we have nothing to talk about. You did what you did, there is nothing more to say.’ I mumbled unlocking my bedroom door and pushing it open. I closed entered the room without saying another word and pressed my back up against the door, listening as he went into his room. I felt guilty and I didn’t really know why, I had nothing to feel guilty about and yet the awful feeling wouldn’t go away. Was it because I cared about him, that I could see through my anger and pain, was I willing to forgive? I was, just not yet.

I must have fallen asleep still sitting with my back against the door because a loud tap, tap, tap woke me from my sleep.

‘Who is it?’ I croaked forcing myself to stand up, I yawned and stretched my arms out, I still hadn’t got changed. My clothes were still damp, and I was frozen to my core. It felt as though my bones had turned to ice.

‘Its Matt.’ A familiar voice called.

‘And me!’ piper said softly. I opened the door to my two new friends and forced a smile at them. They were both holding silver trays, one had a cup of tea and biscuits on it with a note and the other had pancakes and waffles. My stomach grumbled begging me to eat, I stepped aside letting them come in my room.

‘How are you feeling?’ Matt asked taking the old tray still with my dinner from yesterday on it and putting the new one down.

‘Like shit.’ I replied before taking a sip of my tea. It was sweet and hot, and just the thing that I needed after being still in my wet clothes. Matt reached forward and twiddled a clump of my wet, rat-tail hair between his fingers and raised his eyebrows questioningly. I offered a wry smile and a shrug before turning my attention to Piper, who had automatically started picking up the glass off of my carpet. I had intended on doing it myself when I got back, but then I guess I just was overtaken my grief and exhaustion.

‘Leave it; Piper, I will do that in a minute.’

‘It’s okay, you eat. You must be famished; its midday and you haven’t eaten since yesterday morning.’ She was right, I hadn’t, and I was starving.

‘Piper; please leave it, I will do it once I have eaten. Both of you take a seat, you don’t need to stand up.’ I smiled reassuringly, both Matt and Piper sat on the settee and looked at me with saddened eyes. I know they both had things to say. ‘Go on.’ I said looking at Matt.

‘I am sorry I didn’t tell you about Arlo and Lori, but he begged me not to say anything, he wanted to tell you himself.’ He said running his fingers through his dark hair. Piper went as white as a sheet and started chewing the inside of her cheek. I wouldn’t tell anyone that she had told me; she was my friend and it meant a lot that she did.

‘It’s okay, Arlo is your best friend, I completely get it and I respect you for it.’ I smiled before snatching up one of the waffles coated in melted chocolate and nibbling on the edge; I was trying to force myself to be civilised while I had guests. If they were not there, I probably would have been eating it like a beast.

‘Do you think you will talk to him again?’ Matt asked raising his eyebrows.

‘I don’t really have much choice, do I? After all he is the Alpha and I have to live alongside him until he lets me leave.’ I said before drinking down the rest of my tea.

‘I think you should hear him out; Lia. He really is sorry; I know Arlo, and I have never seen him like this. He hasn’t eaten all day and even cancelled a meeting, which he has never done before. I know he has hurt you, I would be gutted too, but Lori is a malicious and calculated bitch, she knew what she was doing.’ Matt said, desperation on his face, it was so clear to see how much he cared about and valued Arlo, not just his Alpha but his best friend too.

Piper finally spoke out. ‘Yes but, Arlo isn’t all that innocent, he did think with his ding dong and he really didn’t need to.’ I laughed at her choice of words before I could stop myself. Ding dong.

‘Yes, he did.’ Matt agreed ‘But I spoke to him and it wasn’t the romp she is making it out to be trust me, he didn’t enjoy it, he hated it and he threw her out of his office and swore he would never do anything like that again.’

‘Yes, but that’s not the point; Matthew, he shouldn’t have even entertained the idea and plus god knows who else she has been with and what diseases she might have.’ Piper screwed up her face in disgust at the thought of what she had said. Matt bit his lip, obviously trying to keep a straight face.

‘All I am saying, is that Amelia needs to talk to him and listen to what he has to say, rather than being so stubborn.’ Matt glared at me nodding his head towards my bedroom door.

‘She can’t go and talk to him looking like that! We need to get her to look amazing and re do her makeup and hair first.’ Piper squealed clapping her hands in excitement.

‘Piper.’ Matt grumbled.

‘Yes?’ she replied.

‘Don’t ever call me Matthew again.’

‘Hey! I am sitting here you know!’ I snapped, glaring at my two friends. They both turned their faces back towards me and sat like two deer caught in the headlights of a speeding vehicle.

I burst out laughing, something I didn’t think that I would be able to do again, these two crazy friends of mine lifted my mood without even meaning to. They both had valid points and Matt was right, I should hear Arlo out and Piper was right, I shouldn’t go looking like I had been dragged through a hedge backwards. Matt watched as Piper went through all my clothes, he was pulling faces at everything she held up.

‘Move over, you deal with the hair and makeup and I will deal with the outfit.’ He said jumping up and playfully nudging her out of his way with his hip. I watched Matt for a moment, seeing a side of him that I hadn’t noticed before. There was something different about him, I just hadn’t quite worked out what it was yet. I shook my head and cleared my throat.

‘And I will pick up this glass.’ I said getting on my knees, trying to find little pieces that would be easily missed. I manged to find nearly everything before I cut my hand. ‘Fuck!’ I yelped standing up, I still had loads of glass in both hands, and a large shard sticking out from my palm. Blood was pooling around it and collecting in my palms. Oh man, this was a deep one. Matt and Piper both rushed over to me.

‘Put the glass in the bin and then we can have a look at how deep it is.’ Piper said running into the bathroom. I did as my friend instructed and dropped the remaining glass into the waste basket, trying to stop blood from going all over the floors and walls. I turned back to face Piper as she hurried over with some tissue and inspected my wound.

‘Ooh. This is a nasty one!’ She whispered to herself. She turned her worried stare to meet mine and sighed. ‘Lia, I think that you should go down to the medic ward. This looks pretty nasty!’ She added, looking over my shoulder to Matt. I shook my head and pinched the large piece of glass between two fingers and sucked in a deep breath. 1, 2… I yanked on the glass, dislodging it from my hand, causing burning pain to shoot up my wrist. I clenched my teeth and gulped down air through the pain.

‘Lia!’ Piper exclaimed, rushing forward and holding the tissue tightly against my open wound. She lifted the tissue slightly and gasped. I pulled my hand free from her grip and watched as the muscle, tissue, and sinew stitched itself back together. What the fuck?

‘I-Is this normal for werewolves?’ I asked with a nervous chuckle. Matt and Piper glanced at one another and shook their heads, speechless.

‘Um, no. That’s not normal at all.’ Matt whispered, still staring down at the now scar-like mark on my palm. Piper wiped at the still tacky blood that was sitting in my head and shook her head,

‘Lia, why don’t you go and have a shower? Maybe warm yourself up a little? I think that I am just going to hoover up the rest of the glass.’ She said, her voice flat and stunned. Matt rushed over to the wardrobe once more and pulled some clothes from within.

‘I’m going to see if Arlo is alright.’ Matt said laying an emerald green long sleeve belly top and a pair of dark blue ankle grazer jeans on my bed. I watched in silence as my two friends fled from the room like I was about to infect them with a terminal illness. What the actual fuck? What is happening to me?

By the time that I had had my shower, my two friends were back, sitting on the edge of my bed and talking in hushed whispers to one another. The moment that they heard the bathroom door open, they leapt up from the bed and turned to smile at me awkwardly.

‘Ok, seriously guys, what is going on? Why do you keep looking at me like that?’ I asked. They glanced at one another and plastered their faces and shook their heads. I narrowed my eyes at the pair of them as Piper hurried over to my vanity table, grabbing my hairdryer and gesturing for me to come and take a seat. I sighed softly and did as she instructed.

Piper blow dried my hair and did my makeup. And I had to say that she had done a really good job. Being a waitress for the pack wasn’t fair on her, she had a talent, they should allow her to leave for a while and go to college. Give her a chance to have a dream. Why should she be forced to work for people that thought that it was ok to call her a Mutt?

Matt left the room once more as I got dressed. I pulled the top and jeans on that he had picked out for me and slipped on a pair of green dolly shoes. My nerves were playing havoc with my bladder.

‘Go on.’ Piper grinned, ushering me out of my door, Matt had just come back to my room.

‘I told him you were coming to speak to him.’ He said knocking on Arlo’s door. Before he could answer they locked themselves into my room, leaving me to stand awkwardly waiting for Arlo to answer; alone!

‘Cheers guys’ I muttered.

Arlo opened his bedroom door and the minute that he laid his eyes on me they popped open wide. Without saying a word, he stepped aside, allowing me to go in. His room was much bigger than mine, he had a king-size bed with the headboard against the wall, on the other side of that wall was my settee. His room was decorated a dark purple, a diamond chandelier in the middle of the pictured ceiling. I look up at the beautiful painting above us. Two wolves were sitting on a cliff howling up to the moon Goddess, Selene. One was Sapphire blue; which represented the nights sky, dotted with stars and one was a pearl white which represented the moon. It was stunning.

‘Thank you for coming to talk to me.’ Arlo said breaking the silence and smiling weakly. He looked exhausted, why was my not talking to him, bothering him so much? I wasn’t anything special, I didn’t understand it.

‘It’s okay.’ I said looking at his toned and bare chest. All he was wearing were black jogging bottoms that were riding dangerously low on his hips, revealing the perfect V of his toned body. My eyes travelled down the length of his body and I felt myself getting hot. Now why would he do that? He knew I was coming in to talk to him. I sat down in his big green armchair practically sinking into it, my god it was the comfiest chair I had ever sat on. Arlo sat on the end of his bed and sighed.

‘I am sorry, for hurting you; Amelia, it wasn’t my intention I swear to Selene it wasn’t.’ He whispered, his voice sounding just as broken and tired as he looked. I smiled weakly at him.

‘I accept your apology.’

‘Please can I explain everything to you?’ He asked still looking sad.

‘Arlo. You don’t have to explain any-’

‘I know I don’t. But I want to.’ He cut in. I paused for a moment and exhaled softly. I nodded yes and listened to everything he had to say.

And I replied truthfully to him.

‘I do understand it; but there was still no excuse for you to have sex with her, whether you enjoyed it or not, whether you stopped halfway or went to the end. There wasn’t any excuse. And I know I shouldn’t be mad about it, I am not your girlfriend and you are only my Alpha; we shouldn’t even be having this conversation, you should not be explaining yourself to me. But I was hurt and after thinking about everything, I knew that I was in the wrong too. I over reacted.’ I paused before I said the next thing, wondering whether it was the right thing to say. ‘I really did like you; more than a friend and I thought something was going to happen between us but once I had heard that I... I realised I was just being stupid; it was never going to happen. I guess I took your kindness as something else and that...’ I gulped down a deep breath and struggled to keep my tears at bay before carrying on. ‘That’s on me not you.’ Arlo looked surprised, I guess he thought that I was going to shout at him, he most certainly did not expect an apology.

‘Amelia; why the fuck are you apologising to me? You had every right to go mad at me, I deserved everything you said. I get why you would think there would be something between us, I haven’t exactly been innocent, I have flirted with you and told you I liked you, I introduced you to my best friend and broke your heart by having sex with my ex. I know I am your Alpha and I can promise you this, I would never be having this conversation with anyone else and I would never allow anyone to speak to me the way I allow you too, but it is because you are different, I can’t put my finger on it. Your stubborn as hell, you argue back with me like no one ever has done before, you push my buttons and it drives me crazy. But you are kind, sweet, honest and you treat my pack how they should be treated; like equals; Elites and Mutts alike. And you make me laugh. Plus, my mum and best friend love you. And Matt hates everyone.’

Everything he said hit me like a ton of bricks. Did he just admit that there is nothing between us and it was all in my head? Or did he mean something completely different? I was so confused and yet so touched, no one had ever said such lovely things to me, and no one had ever been this honest. All I manged to say was

‘Thank you.’ Before standing up and walking towards his bedroom door.

Arlo jumped up and lightly touched my hand.

‘Where are you going? I told you that I like you and then you just get up to leave? Honestly Amelia; you are so fucking complicated.’

I turned around baffled at what he just said.

‘I am so confused, I thought you admitted to leading me on.’

Arlo crossed his arms and looked me in the eye. ‘No Amelia; I like you, like, I really like you.’

I didn’t know how to reply, my heart was pounding, he likes me? I know I shouldn’t have said it, but I did anyway, because it was the truth.

‘It’s not my fault that you have no communication skills and your wording is shit.’

‘Shit? Shit? I just told you how amazing you are and now my wording is shit?’ he cried in frustration.

I shook my head trying not to laugh at him, he was looking and acting so offended and yet, I was still so confused. He said that I was complicated, but he was more so! I licked my lips and looked up his beautiful face, his golden-brown eyes trying to read me.

‘Yeah, your wording is shit. But I appreciate everything you said.’ I smiled still trying not to laugh.

Arlo’s face was still serious. ‘Did you really think something would happen between us?’ he asked taking a step closer to me.

‘Yeah, I honestly did, at first I didn’t want to admit it to myself. I guess that I am not the greatest person at reading people, I guess that that is thanks to the way I was brought up in seclusion. But you grew on me, even your annoying way of creeping up on me.’ I admitted plainly.

Arlo studied my face, his eyes flicking back and forth across my face; taking in every feature and then he put his hand softly underneath my chin.

‘I did too, you’re such a pain in my arse but I like that…sometimes.’ I smiled at him

‘Baby steps eh?’ I whispered, my voice trembling as he slowly inched a little closer to me. He nodded in agreement

‘Baby steps.’ He pulled my face gently to his and we kissed, both pulling away in unison, seemingly checking the other for moment. We looked into each other’s eyes, neither of us could hold back much longer, Arlo pulled me into him and lifted me up, I ran my hands through his hair, and we kissed again, this time our tongues met and electricity zapped across every inch of me that he touched, and we couldn’t pull away from each other, it was as though he was a human magnet drawing me in. Arlo placed me up against his door, slamming me into the wood hard causing me to groan in pleasure, still holding me up neither of us wanting the kiss to end.

‘Halle-fucking-lujah.’ Matt shouted from the other side of the door.

‘Shhhh.’ Piper hushed. ‘They will hear us.’

‘You’re talking louder than me.’ Matt hissed.

‘For Selene’s sake Matthew, now they know we have been here listening to them.’

‘I swear Piper; you call me Matthew one more time I will throw you out of the nearest fucking window.’ Arlo and I froze for a moment, listening to the argument happening out in the hall. Our kiss turned into big grins, before we broke out in laughter. Those two really knew how to ruin a moment. But they were my best friends.

And I wouldn’t change them for the world.