Beware The Wolf Inside

Chapter 1

Her head felt extremely warm against my palm. Had it really been that my precious Amelia had a fever? She looked like herself, but not herself at the same time.

I looked over at the spots of sweat that had implanted themselves to her pale white pillow a few moments ago. It seemed the fever was running its course faster than I had ever seen before. A few more moments passed before I wrapped my darling in a small quilt and carried her to the vehicle.

"Carmen?" My Amelia whispered out while in the passenger seat.

"Yes, my darling?" I replied, focused on the road.

"Where are you taking us?"

That one question could not have brought more terror and humiliation into my mind. I felt the tension growing as I waited longer and longer to answer her. But how could I bring myself to tell her the truth? My Amelia, the woman I fell in love with, was dying, because of my stupidity.

"Carmen?" Amelia breathed out again.

"Amelia, Please! Just trust me. For once... Just trust me, and rest your head. We are almost to our destination, my love."

Within an hour and thirty minutes of constant driving, I pulled into a narrow driveway filled with trees and darkness. I pulled next to the daring spiked gate and rang the buzzer to be summoned inside the large palace.
Once fully aware my host was home, I parked the car, and stepped out.

"Carmen. We were expecting you... Not this late in time, but sure enough, here you are." A low voice sang to my ears.

"I need your he..."

I stopped as my eyes made their way up and I looked into the eyes of the one man I had respected my whole life; my father.

"I know why you are here, Carmen." My father stated as he nodded towards my bride-to-be. "She is weak."
I nodded slowly, fully aware and ashamed of what I've done.

"Can you help her?" I asked shakily, afraid of the answer he might give me.

"Bring her to my office, and we'll see. As for tonight, you may stay visitor to the heat room, or perhaps... Your old room?"

"Father... Thank you."

I took no hesitation in carrying Amelia to my father's office. Her moist forehead remained at a steady position on my chest, creating a dark green to appear on my shirt as her sweat melted in with the fabric. When I laid her out on the small sofa near my father's book shelf, Amelia gave me a look of pure curiosity. It amazed me how much pain she must've been in, but still she could utter looking up at me with those beautiful eyes.

"Carmen.." she whispered in a raspy voice. It was still her voice though, she hadn't changed yet.

"My dear Amelia, I'm so sorry.." I whispered back, stroking my fingers in her smooth auburn hair.

I leaned myself forward and planted a gentle kiss along her damp forehead before taking the sleeve of my shirt and wiping away some of the sweat. My hand still caressed her head when my father stepped into his office, closing the door behind him slowly. He strolled over to both my fiancé and I before leaning down beside us.

"Carmen, your mother expects you in the kitchen soon." My father said before ruffling my hair. "I'll take care of Amelia."

I trusted him. Of course I trusted my own father to take care of the woman I loved, but it didn't stop the tears. They began to slowly drop from my eyes as I stood from my fiancé and walked out of the office. Shutting the door to that office was the hardest thing I had ever done. Leaving my Amelia when she needed me the most was something I never wanted to do, but I also realized that if I stayed in the room with my father while he helped to save her life, the wolf raging under my human skin would appear and it would be a nasty clean up scene.