Chapter 14 - Amber

Kaleigh and Dominick could hear light music coming from the dining hall as they headed down the stairs. Just as they were getting to the bottom of the steps, Kaleigh stopped and felt pain hit her. She knew it was the spell she had put on the house. Someone was trying to get into the packhouse that would try and hurt her. She could feel the dark energy coming from them and their anger about not knowing what kept them from entering the house. She looked at Dominick in fear.

“Kaleigh, what’s wrong?” He had never seen that look of fear mixed with anger in her eyes.

“Someone is trying to get into the house that wants to hurt me. I can feel their dark energy. I can also feel their anger of not knowing what keeps them from coming inside. What should we do? We can go to the front door to see who is trying to get in, so we know who it is.” Kaleigh could still feel the person’s anger, so she knew they were outside, and all of their hatred felt like it was toward her. She had a good idea who it probably was because she had only met a few people, but she could not be sure that it was Amber until they saw for themselves.

“What do you think, Kaleigh? Do you feel like confronting this person right now? If so, I will mindlink my parents so they can see it for themselves as well.” Dominick knew that it was most likely Amber, so if she was planning to do something to Kaleigh, she would be banned from the pack. He would need the Alpha to witness her intent to make that happen.

“Yes, let’s do this now, then maybe we can enjoy the rest of our dinner.” Dominick quickly mindlinked his parents, and they agreed to meet them at the front door. They all four arrived at the same time.

“Kaleigh, dear, I am sorry that your first day here has been such a dramatic one, but I am glad you put those spells in place. Let’s find out who is out there, although I think we all already know who it is.” Luna Alannah was angry. She knew this had to be Amber; that girl was never one to give up easily.

Alpha Dillon opened the front door, and the sight that met their eyes was almost comical. Amber was standing at the bottom of the packhouse steps screaming.
She kept trying to walk up the steps, but the spell stopped her from even getting to the bottom step. It was like she was running into a brick wall, and the more she tried, the more she screamed in anger. She finally noticed the four people standing at the top of the steps watching her, and she froze.

“What is going on here, Amber?” The Alpha asked her, and she turned white.

“I don’t know what you mean, Alpha, I was just trying to come to the welcome dinner, but something is stopping me from coming up the steps. I don’t understand.” She tried to make herself look defenseless with a pout on her face. To her surprise, Kaleigh was the one who slowly walked down the steps towards her. Kaleigh’s green eyes had never looked darker and angrier. Amber could tell that Kaleigh’s wolf was there as well. She felt a shiver of fear, watching her walking like she owned the place with Dominick at her side.

“Amber, I placed a spell on this house to ward off anyone from entering that meant to do harm. The energy you are giving off right now tells me that your intent was dark and aimed at me. Would you like to tell us all what your plans were?” Kaleigh spoke to her with ice in her voice. Amber quickly looked at Dominick, the Alpha, and the Luna, hoping someone would step up in her defense. They were all looking at her with disgust. How did this she-wolf place a spell on the packhouse? There was nothing special about her. Amber straightened her shoulders and looked at Kaleigh with pure hatred.

“You have no right to place a spell on anything. This is not your pack. You are a nobody from nowhere, and the sooner everyone sees how worthless you are, the better. Now I demand that you let me in the packhouse this instant before I do something you will regret.” Amber spoke before thinking, even though her wolf Nia told her to shut up for once. Amber looked up and realized that she had just made another threat in front of the Alpha. She quickly closed her mouth but still glared at Kaleigh. The Alpha was getting ready to say something, but Kaleigh turned toward him shaking her head.

“Give me just a second, and I will tell you her plan.” Alpha Dillon nodded and waited while Amber looked in disbelief. There was no way Kaleigh could figure out what she would do. Amber watched Kaleigh with her arms crossed, getting angrier and angrier. Kaleigh just stared at her seeming to say something under her breath; Amber could not hear what she said. Kaleigh’s eyes started to shine, almost like a light was coming from behind them, while still talking quietly. Amber suddenly had a weird feeling like she was not alone in her head. She wanted to run away, but she couldn’t move. She could see all her thoughts running through her head without her doing anything. Amber didn’t understand what was happening. Who was messing with her mind like this? She tried not to think about her plan for Kaleigh, but those thoughts kept repeating in her mind. Suddenly she knew she was alone in her head again.

“Alpha, she was planning on poisoning my wolf and me with the hopes that it would make me weak. Then she would try and challenge me to a fight to prove my strength. She intended to fight me to the death, knowing I would be weakened by the poison.” Kaleigh was still talking with that same chilly tone. Amber’s face got even whiter.

“Alpha, you cannot believe what she is saying. There is no proof that I had any intention of hurting her.” Just as she finished that sentence, something moved in her pocket and came out to fall on the ground.

“Then would you like to explain why you have wolfsbane in your pocket Amber if you had no intent to use it?” Luna Alannah asked. “Did you forget that I could detect poisons?” Amber wanted to run away, but she couldn’t move. She was terrified. She was expecting to get her way but had no idea that this she-wolf would find her out. She was scared but also angry. She would still get her revenge one way or another. There was no way the Alpha would actually ban her from the pack. She is the Beta’s daughter, after all. Amber stood there defiantly with her hands on her hips. The Alpha began speaking using his Alpha voice on her.

“Amber Wilkens, I hereby ban you from the White Raven Pack from this point forward. You will first spend sixty days locked in the dungeon for your intent to hurt the future Luna. After sixty days, you will be taken far away from this pack, never to return. If you are found on the pack’s land, there will be an order to kill you on sight.” At that time, two of the pack guards walked up and put silver cuffs on her wrists covered in silk dipped in wolfsbane so that she could not shift into her wolf or use her wolf strength. Amber began screaming, saying she would kill them all if they did this to her. They all ignored her as she was dragged to the dungeon deep in the forest. When they turned around, Beta Jonathan was standing in the doorway with sadness on his face. Kaleigh felt sorry for him.

“Dominick, Kaleigh, I am very sorry for my daughter’s misdeeds. I did not think she would go this far. I feel no ill will toward anyone, and I want you to know I will support our future Alpha and his Luna.” Beta Jonathan slightly bowed to them both before walking back inside the packhouse. Kaleigh felt nothing negative coming from him, so she knew he spoke the truth.

“Kaleigh, are you okay?” Dominick put his arm around her.

“I am fine, Dom. I am just glad that, hopefully, this is over with her. When I read her thoughts, they were very dark, she has a very dark soul, and I had to get out of there before it began to affect me. The Beta does not give off any darkness, so where did this come from? Has she always been like this?” Kaleigh was truly curious. She could tell that Amber was not only angry about not being the Luna. There seemed to be something more at play, but she couldn’t put her finger on it.

“Actually, she has gotten worse over the last couple of years. She did not always act like this. I don’t know what changed, but even her parents have not been able to keep her under control. How about we get to our dinner and put this behind us for now? She is in the dungeon, so hopefully, we can finally enjoy ourselves.” Dominick gave her a quick kiss before leading her to where his parents were waiting.

“Kaleigh, that was very courageous of you to not show fear of your magic. Your gifts are very powerful, more than I have seen. I am anxious to talk with you more about this so we can collaborate. Right now, let’s go introduce you to a bunch of people who have been anxiously waiting to meet you.” The Luna came and put an arm around Kaleigh, leading her inside. She was shocked at how effective Kaleigh was with Amber and how she showed no fear. Her son’s young mate was remarkable and would make a fantastic Luna. Alannah could not wait to sit down with her to talk about their crafts and possibly learn from each other. She had felt like a recluse in the pack as the only hybrid werewolf witch, but now she had a daughter who shared the same qualities. Even though Kaleigh was not her daughter by birth, she would make sure she was loved as if she was one of her own. Alannah could not wipe the smile off her face as she led the young couple back inside.

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In the dungeons, Amber had been thrown into a cell with bars made of silver covered in wolfsbane. They also put a collar on her covered in wolfsbane so she could not shift. She was beyond angry. There was no way she would let them all get away with this. She would get her revenge as soon as she was let out of the dungeon. The anger had been building in her for over a year, but she did not know where it came from. It was like something had taken over her mind making her angry at everything that didn’t go her way. Sometimes she felt like an external being controlled her, but she did not know what. Even her wolf Nia thought it. Nia would hide in the crevices of Amber’s mind, afraid of what she was becoming.

Suddenly Amber started cackling as she sat down on the floor of her cell. Those idiots really thought they could punish her. She was more powerful than all of them combined. Once she was out of here, they would see that hell would be raining down on them before they could send her away. Her parents had gotten weak, bowing to the Alpha and Luna; they had no backbone. She didn’t care about them no more either. She would kill everyone in this entire pack and then declare herself Alpha.

Nia tried to get through to her, but Amber kept pushing her away. Nia was scared when she heard the thoughts in Amber’s head, something was wrong, and if she was not careful, she would leave Amber. A wolf could leave their human if the human became something evil; that was what seemed to be happening to Amber. Nia would talk to the moon goddess to get her opinion. She did not want to leave her human, but she may not have a choice, or Amber would kill them both.