How The Night Moves

Double Trouble

When I woke up the next morning, my body was cold and shivering. I felt alone, my blankets had been thrown off at some point and I had curled my legs up into my chest in a tight ball.

I was in my room in the pack house so someone must have carried me from the hospital to here.

I surveyed the room, it wasn't mine, I think it was Archer's. The light shone lightly through the open window and beamed down across the bed, leaving a warm glow in its trail.

I yawned and stretched lightly, my muscles quivering underneath me. Shivering, I rolled out of the lonely bed and padded across the floor. I opened Archer's door and stepped out into the deserted hallway.

Carefully, I tiptoed down the hall to my own room and pulled the door open. It was cold and dark, the sunlight not having made its way to this side of the pack house yet. I wrapped my arms around myself and made my way to the large shower.

Under the water, I managed to relax and my body felt at ease. At this moment, I had no worries about what was to come, and the choices I would make. It was just me and the water, which was doing a very good job of washing away all my doubts.

I lathered my hair with rose-scented soap and massaged my scalp. The slight leftover headache had finally ceased and my head no longer felt about to explode. Once I had shaved my legs and was satisfied with their smoothness, I rinsed my body and turned off the shower, stepping out.

I wrapped a towel around my body and dried my hair. After pulling on a flowery sundress, I wrapped a skinny belt around my midsection and combed the knots from my hair.

I applied some light makeup, and dashed on some lipgloss. Only final look in the mirror and I was ready to go.

To downplay the girliness of the outfit, I laced up my Keds and ran out of the room.

I checked the calendar in the hallway and noted the date of the next full moon. I had less than a week left and I still wasn't sure what to do.

I went straight to the library and walked slowly up and down the shelves Sheila, the librarian, pointed me to. She'd told me I could probably find something to read up on and I might be able to pull some information about how to stop this whole mess.

Sitting in the comfy chair, I lay my pile of books on the table in front and pulled the first one from the stack. 'Double Trouble' was the title. Hm, the author was obviously feeling stupid when he titled that book.

Despite my qualms, I found some good information. I just had to reject one of them, but they had to accept and I had to feel that it was right with my whole heart. Well great. This wouldn't be easy, seeing as both Archer and Seth are so... nice.

I worried the tip of the crinkled page and played with the ends of my hair. Suddenly, the most amazing smell entered my nose and I breathed deeply, looking up just as a coffee cup was thrust under my nose.

"You should be sleeping." Archer glared, his eyes smouldering, like it was a bad thing that I was feeling better.

"Sorry," I rolled my eyes, "I wasn't going to stay up there for the rest of my life. I'm feeling good, thanks for asking."

I took the coffee from his hands and wrapped the fingers that I'd just realized were cold as ice around the paper cup. I took a small sip and almost burned my tongue. I spluttered and tried waving my tongue in the air.

I must have looked like an idiot (who am I kidding, I did look like an idiot) because Archer grasped his stomach and doubled over laughing. I immediately stopped and felt my face turn bright red. For some reason, while I had the bright idea of waving my tongue around, I had thought he'd gone.

What an idiot I am. I really need to start thinking these things through.

"Anyway," Archer gasped, once he'd finished chortling, "I came to ask - well more like plead - if you were free tonight and could support me while I make a speech about us."

Why was he making a speech about us?

"Why are you making a speech about us?" I repeated the question, this time out loud.

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, a movement I found incredibly sexy. "I have to inform them that one of us - me or Seth - will no longer be alive in a week."

Crap, I forgot that they were alpha and beta and that this would affect the entire pack. I asked him what he was planning to say, and he responded, "Just the basics, the bare minimum. The need-to-know."

This was sure to be a long night.

---

After Archer's speech, the entire pack went a bit crazy, to say the least. There was a huge one-ended screaming match, to which Archer and Seth calmly answered demands in normal voices. For the most part, the pack was kind of peeved at only learning about this now.

When I say peeved, I really mean pissed-off-and-ready-to-kill-someone. So yes, peeved.

Thankfully, it didn't last very long because Seth had taken me outside while Archer attempted to calm them down. In his words, I was 'still recovering from an incident and needed to stay away from trouble.' I was fine with it, because it got me out of the slightly claustrophobic gathering.

While I stared at the stars, Seth figeted on the hard ground. I twisted my head towards him, "What's wrong?"

He finally looked me in the eye, "I'm just worried, is all. It's hard not knowing whether I'll live or die this week. And I'm worried about losing you."

I smiled at him and tried to reassure him, "You won't die. I promise. I will do everything I can to make sure of that. I've been reading on similar situations to ours, and so far, one out of fifty have gotten out without a scratch."

Mentally I hit myself in the head. Way to make him feel better, that's one out of fifty. Kind of a slim chance, don't you think?

Either way, he looked a bit relieved. "Well at least three people have gotten out okay."

His eyes went to mine and I saw heat there. Not the kind of heat in Archer's, more of a slow-burning flame. A comfortable heat. One that didn't match my own. That was almost better than Archer. Safer.

With Archer it was a constant tension, there was like a demon inside of me, growling to be let out. Being with Seth made me feel safe and loved. Cared for and wanted.

Yet why did I still long for Archer's passion? The passion that equalled my own. The passion that thrilled, yet terrified me.

I couldn't do this to Seth. He was too good of a person. He deserved to live his life fully and I wouldn't break his heart. But I also couldn't kill off Archer, I don't know if I could stand losing him.

Then, I knew what I had to do.

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A/N: Ah! What's she going to do? Whoever guesses right gets a dedication in the next chapter!

Sorry about the short length, but I really wanted to write a chapter for A Side Order Of Fate today, too, and I also wanted to work on writing this short story I've been working on. Lots of work, jeez.

Anyway, comment, comment, comment! They can mean more to me than a vote. But I love those too. ;)

One last thing, I wanted to say thanks to all you guys that are reading. When my reads went from 130 to 400 then 600 in less than two days, I died of happiness. You make me want to write. :)

XxEm.