24b.

Amelia's head was feeling light. Like when you stand up too fast and your vision blur and you think you are going to fall.

The woman in front of her, she always knew was crazy, but this was another level. One that was too much to comprehend.

Naomi didn't seem to notice Amelia's dizziness as she kept yelling more absurd things about her life.

"I did everything for you!" Naomi screamed. "I moved to this disgusting city and founded the cult as soon as I noticed there were people here who believed in werewolves. I did it for you, Amelia. This way you would grow up knowing the evil those creatures represent to the world and you would hate them. But it didn't work because there is no way to cure a monster."

"You did it for me? I've been hating my life since I was only a child. Everything here was always surrounded by hate and disrespect." Amelia's face was washed in tears, her voice breaking between screams. "My life was a living hell because of you."

"You lied to me my whole life. I have a family!" Naomi could see the veins in Amelia's neck, given the force with which she was screaming. "And you stole me from them."

"Do you want to know where I was all this time? I was living in a house full of werewolves who since the first day told me the truth you hid from me for twenty-two years. They taught me there is nothing normal in what you call 'love'. They are better than you will ever be." The screams faded. Now, there was only a woman who had been hurt all her life, saying everything that was stuck in her throat for years. "They are not monsters. You are a monster. A monster." She repeated.

After those words left her lips, something felt right. Amelia realized she was not afraid of Naomi. She could not rule in her life anymore. She was not a little girl. She was a woman now. An omega. And she didn't need Naomi's approval for anything.

"I feel sorry for you. You spent all your life hating the wrong people for the wrong reasons. Your sister did not kill your mother. You rejected her because you wanted. You could have been a part of her life but you preferred to be envious, hiding in the shadows."

"What you did with me is not mercy, it's cruelty. A crime. And you are a sicko if you think this is love."

That's it. She finally said it. The burden in her heart was all out now. Amelia felt light as if she had a chain locking her with Naomi all her life, and it was broken at that moment.

She stared at Naomi, willing to hear what the woman had to say about it. They just stared at each other, until - for just a millisecond - Naomi's eyes shifted, looking over Amelia's shoulder.

When her eyes stared at Amelia's again, they had a wicked glow that matched the smirk on her lips. Frowning at the sudden change of mood, Amelia's sense kicked in and she heard someone took a deep breath behind her.

It was not Albert, neither it was Juliette.

And like in the movies, time seemed to slow down.

Amelia turned her head in the direction of the stranger at the same time a metallic sound clicked. Her reflexes were faster than her mind, and before she could process what the sound meant, her legs moved, throwing her body aside.

It was one of the training Ethan gave her. "Not always you will be able to attack first. Sometimes, your best option is to dodge who attacked you" was his mantra to this specific exercise.

But it didn't matter how much Ethan trained her. Nothing could prepare her for the real danger. Where she would hear the blast even before she could see the gun.

First, the unique sound of the air being cut by a very fast and very small object arrived at Amelia's ears. Then, she noticed a man - the hunter. His eyes were wide, and he had in his hand, pointing in her direction, a gun.

Before her heartbeat could accelerate at the sight of the face she never wanted to see anymore, she heard the muffled sound of said object hit a target.

Turning around again, her eyes witnessed Naomi collapsing to the floor. A red blot growing on her chest, staining the old blue pajama.

The breath catches in Amelia's throat. She didn't know what to do.

She looked again at the hunter who had just tried to kill her for the second time when she heard the voice of an angel, too good for a scenario like that.

"Amelia!" Ethan shouted outside the house.

The door latch was broken with the force Ethan threw himself into it. He looks around the room, focusing his stare at Amelia, looking her up and down. Looking for signals of blood, Amelia guessed. When he found none, he left out his breath in a sigh that was interrupted by the sight of the armed man.

Immediately, Ethan threw himself on the man, making the gun fall on the floor. He pushed the man to the wall, his hand wrapped around the hunter's neck.

As much shocked as Amelia was seeing Ethan being so violent, she didn't pay attention to it, knowing Ethan would take care of it.

She ran to Naomi, kneeling on the floor beside her. She tried to remember all she knew about bullet wounds, and how to stop the bleeding. But her mind was blank. Naomi was choking on her blood, and Amelia knew there was no way to help her.

So Amelia did the only thing she could. She held Naomi's bloodied hand, noticing her own was shaking, and with a choked voice she whispered.

"It's okay. It will be over. I swear, it's going to be okay." The tears accumulated in her eyes begin to fall. "The pain will go away." A sob left her lips.

Amelia stared at Naomi's eyes all the time, who looked back at her, scared. She kept repeating her mantra. "It's going to be okay. You are okay." As the seconds passed more tears fell, and louder sobs came from the girl.

That's not how it was supposed to be. She only needed to put a full stop in the influence Naomi had on her, but none lives should be taken away. None of it needed to happen.

Amelia felt a light pressure in her hand and notice Naomi tried to squeeze it. She glanced at their connected hands. Naomi's strength seemed to fade when her hands slowly fell from Amelia's grip.

She kept her head down, looking at the loose hand on hers. Tears running free down her face, her heartbeat painfully fast.

Still holding her hand, Amelia lowers her head, touching the lifeless body with her forehead and she let herself cry. Her throat burning with pain, after so many yells and sobs. But this pain was nothing compared to the one she felt when Juliette and Albert kneeled on each side of her.

They both had a terrified look in their eyes. Albert looking more confused but both showing so much pain.

She lifts her body and puts her arms around them, who put their heads on her shoulders and cry. She feels their fear, it is palpable.

"It's okay," she repeats the mantra now to them.

With her siblings there she remembered there were more people in the room.

Looking over Juliette's head she saw Taylor's father, taking the hunter out the house, with his handcuffed hands behind his back.

As much as the scene is one she wanted to see, it brings no peace to her, who is unable to let out a sigh of relief. The pain and sadness in the place are almost unbearable, and she realizes that most of them are radiating from her.

Her eyes ran in the room, passing by Taylor who looked at her with sympathy. Amelia looked away. Taylor's maternal feeling toward her, at that moment, was too much for her to handle.

Then, her eyes finally found who they wanted to see.

Ethan is the closest to her, but he still kept his distance. His posture seemed tense, bloodied fists clenched. But what caught her attention was his eyes.

The beautiful golden eyes, that Amelia had fallen in love with since the first time she saw them, were teary. There was so much pain there. And Amelia knew it wasn't for him, it was for her. His face was contorted in pain, which Amelia was sure to be a mirror of her expression.

Amelia knew he wanted to come closer. And she loved him even more for not doing it. This was the moment her siblings needed her.

She wanted to smile at him. A smile that said wordlessly that everything would be fine with them too. But Amelia could not do that. She didn't know what would happen from now on, how it would affect them. So she didn't even try, but she knew Ethan understood.

And there, kneeling in front of the body of the one she used to call her mother. With blood on her hands and holding her siblings, Amelia prepared herself for yet another sudden change in her life.

Closing her eyes, she tilted her head up and silently prayed to anyone who could hear that she could be strong enough to hold on just one more time.