7a.

After what felt like a lifetime, Amelia stopped crying. Ethan held her all the time, soothing her, whispering that he understands her, that this was not her fault, that they all would help her and go through this together, she didn't speak, and she wouldn't be able even if she wanted. Her sobs were loud, crying the tears she had to hold her entire life.

She cried for all the times she couldn't do it in front of her mother, or when she needed to be strong for her siblings. She cried for the discovery that her life was now in danger, even if she wasn't sure why. She cried because she didn't know what else to do, and cry seemed like the obvious choice.

At some moment, Ethan guided her to the couch, where they were now sitting. She took deep breaths and wiped the tears the best she could, but her red face was washed in them. After calming down, she noticed that her head was throbbing really hard. Her throat was dry and hurting from the sobs. And even if Ethan was cautious in his embrace, her ribs were aching.

Noticing the grimace in Amelia's face, Ethan went to the bathroom to pick up some painkiller for her. Taylor sat beside her on the gray couch, looking attentively at her face. "We aren't going to judge you. You can talk to us, you know? We are family here." Amelia glanced at the woman before her, giving her a small smile but still frowning. For the pain or for the shame of trying to run away she wasn't sure. "I can't say I understand how it is for you. But I can promise you that we will try. Please, I know you are scared but let's talk."

Amelia nodded her head softly to not cause more pain and Ethan entered the room again. She took the pills and sat more comfortably on the sofa with Taylor still by her left side and Ethan sat on the gray recamier in front of them. Matthew appeared in the front door, with his clothes back in his human form. Amelia shivered lightly remembering what she saw earlier. "I just want to see how it will go." Matthew murmured. No one replied.

"Ask us anything you want to know," Taylor told her with an inviting smile on her lips. "We are open books for you." She chuckled at her own joke. Amelia gave it a minute to think. There were so many confusing things, she didn't know where to start.

"All of you were born..." She hesitated. "Werewolves?" The word left a strange taste in her lips. Taylor opened her mouth, eager to answer but Ethan was faster.

"Yes. This is the house where our pack lives. All of our parents are werewolves too, some of us are half-breed, where only one of the parents is a wolf while the other is human." He said simply. The atmosphere in the room was getting lighter, Amelia was feeling more at ease with them. She didn't even want to think about the rollercoaster of emotion she was having that day. She could deal with it later.

"How many people live here?" She was curious. How many wolves there is in the village and no one knows? was the real question.

"We are a pack of six wolves for the time being. One Alpha, four betas and one omega." This time Taylor jumped into the opportunity to answer as if it was a game. Amelia frowned.

"What do those means? Alpha, beta and omega?" She never heard it in this context before.

"It's our position in the pack." Ethan started. "I am the Alpha, the leader." Amelia wasn't surprised to hear it. "Taylor and Matt are Betas. Besides them, we have George and Henry that are also Betas. Vanessa is our only Omega. It's something that is born with us. We don't choose what we want to be, it's heritage. Usually, it's the same as your father but it's not unusual to be different from your parents." He explained.

"Yes, and we discover it through our lives. It shows in our behavior and how we interact with other wolves." Taylor added. Amelia nodded slowly still trying to put all this information together.

"It influences in the pack directly. For example, when there are too many betas and only a few omegas it feels unbalanced. The original pack is formed with the children from the old pack. Our parents belonged to the same pack. Now that we are adults we form our own. But it's not a closed club, it's common to expand the family, with marriages or when a lone wolf wants to be a part of it and have the Alpha's approval."

Amelia paid attention to every word that left Taylor's lips. She really wanted to understand all of this. Her mother never talked about a hierarchy. Maybe she didn't know as much as she made people believe.

"While the Alphas make sure that everyone in the pack is safe, the Omegas make sure the pack feels like a family, you know? It's not something they do, it's what they are. Their kind nature always helps others to remain calm. Imagine a bunch of wolves living alone? It would be a total mess if it wasn't for the omegas. They are regularly females but there are male omegas too." Taylor continued. Ethan nodding along. Matthew was still quiet, sitting in the corner of the other sofa.

"And the betas?" Amelia asked. Taylor smiled mischievously.

"I said the Alpha makes sure we are safe. But sometimes his dominance isn't enough to scare away a threat. And this is where we fit. We are the army. For lack of a better word. So, remember it to be easier: Alphas are the walls of the fort. Betas are the structure of it. And omegas are the ones that make it bearable." Taylor seemed satisfied with her resume. Amelia smiled at her.

"It helps, thank you." Then she glanced at Ethan. "You said I am a werewolf..." She paused unsure at how to continue this. "How could I?"

"I've told you it has happened before. All the cases are normally the same. A new wolf is born, for some reason is separated from their family and the adoptive one, or the orphanage don't know about their true heritage." Ethan answered. Amelia thought about it for a few seconds.

"Well, it makes sense. I am an orphan, my parents abandoned me when I was a baby or maybe they died. I don't know how it happened. Naomi adopted me, she always said she found me abandoned somewhere, with no one there. But I am not convinced about it." She said thoughtfully.

"We could do some research to see if some pack lost a baby near here," Matthew chuckled. Only to receive death glares from Ethan and Taylor. "What? It's just a joke, no need to be so defensive. Amelia doesn't seem offended." He said pointing to Amelia.

Before Ethan could say what was looking like a reprimand to Matthew, Amelia intervened. "No, wait. I am not offended, really. Maybe he is right. I mean, if my parents were werewolves and they died and I disappeared, their pack would notice, right?" She said feeling a tip of hope. Knowing where she came from was one of the dreams she always had.

Ethan raised an eyebrow, considering what she said. "Yes, we could try to find something. But I don't want you to get your hopes too high. There is a chance the whole pack could have been killed or that your parents..." At this point he stopped, eyes wide, realizing what he was going to say, but he didn't need to continue for her to understand. There is the possibility that her parents just didn't want her.

"Don't worry. After twenty-two years of not knowing what really happened you have time to consider all the options." Amelia admitted assuring Ethan he hadn't hurt her. Then she came back to her questions. "So... Can a werewolf transform a human into one of them?" She asked staring at her feet, she felt embarrassed but she wanted to know if there was something true about what she knew about them.

"Yes. But not completely. If an Alpha bites a human while they are in wolf form and the human doesn't die, they will change. But it is different, they won't be able to shift into wolf form because their bodies are not made for it. And they wouldn't be alphas, betas or omegas neither. It is a rare kind of werewolves because humans usually don't survive the change, it is too much for them." Ethan answered. Amelia nodded.

"I always knew my mother was lying about it. I just thought-" She stopped in the middle of the sentence. Her eyes going wide. She looked at each one of them making them confused. "Oh my God. My mother... That stupid cult. It is in front of the clinic you guys work. It must be terrible to have people hating you to the point of making a church to spread hate to your kind." Amelia felt her heart tighten, suddenly overwhelmed with guilt.

"Oh, she is not the only one who still believes in the horror stories that people tell children." Taylor added quickly. "Don't worry about it. We know now that you were forced to be a part of that." Amelia took notice of the 'now' Taylor said.

"You guys were surprised that I didn't believe in werewolves before..." She paused. "Did you thought I knew I was a werewolf and was against my own kind?" The theory would explain why Matthew was so rude in the beginning.

She could see Ethan's cheek get pinker than it naturally was. "We considered all the possibilities. And it wouldn't be the first time a werewolf turned against their own. It is just really rare to happen." He seemed ashamed to have even considered it.

"It's fine. You need to take care of your pack, right?" Amelia offered, trying to light up the mood again, and she was successful once the three of them giggled.

"You got it." He said smiling. His eyes were lighter now, and at the distance, she could see the golden mixing with the honey color. It was breathtaking for Amelia. Then she noticed something that hasn't come to her mind till now.

"How you guys knew I was a werewolf?" She looked at them, her big eyes waiting for an answer.

"We just knew. It's the scent. Each person has their own scent, and a werewolf's smell is different from a human's. We started working at the clinic a few days ago, that's why we only noticed now." This time Taylor answered.

Amelia sighed. It was too much information about creatures that until yesterday she didn't even believe that were real. She leaned against the back of the sofa closing her eyes. She was certain there were a lot of things she still needed to know but she just wanted to rest now. The medicine had worked and she was only feeling discomfort in her ribs when she moved.

She wasn't sure about how she felt about everything, and she wasn't able to really think about anything with them looking expectantly at her. She needed some time alone to administer all the new information so she decided it was enough for a day, tomorrow she could figure out what to do. Today she just wanted a little bit of peace.