4

CHAPTER FOUR

Rosalie turned over as the alarm rang. It was 6;30 am, time to get up and prepare for the day ahead. She stretched, then yawned. Her body had not fully woken up yet.

Forcing herself awake, she brushed her teeth hurriedly and began preparing food for her little triplets. Her lips curved in a smile. They were her joy, her all.

It had been six years since she ran away from her pack since she last saw their father, the Alpha. For six years, she had struggled to make it in the human world, taking one day at a time, and she had even done well for herself. She had studied, went to college, and got a degree as a medical doctor, and now, she had just recently gotten employed by one of the best hospitals in the country.

Her smile grew wider as she twirled around singing her favorite song from when she was little.

“Is it morning yet Mommy?” Ricardo, the eldest of her triplets asked, his eyes still clouded with sleep. He went over to his mother and pressed himself against her in the innocent warm embrace of a child.

Rosalie hugged her son close enjoying the feel of his soft body against hers. He smelled of baby powder. “Yes. It’s morning sweetie. Since you’ve woken before the others, go ahead and brush your teeth. I’d make breakfast soon.”

Ricardo nodded, but he made no move to leave his mother. “Mommy I heard the weirdest dream last night.”

“You did?”

He nodded. “I dreamed I was a wolf, and you were a wolf also, and my father. Mommy who is my father?”

Rosalie felt her heart skip several beats, and for a long while, she was unable to utter a single word.

“Mommy, Mommy are you okay?” Ricardo asked innocently.

Rosalie nodded. “Yes. Of course, I am. Your dream is nothing but a silly dream. Of course, you are not a wolf. You’re human. And of course, I’m human too. Do I look like a wolf?” She forced a playful smile on her face, but Jeremy remained solemn.

“But what about my Father, Mommy?”

Rosalie shook her head in a bid to clear it. “He… your father is dead. He died before you were born. Now go and brush your teeth before your brothers wake up.”

Ricardo nodded. He still looked troubled but before he could say anything again, his brothers had all woken up, and distracted, he ran off to fight with them over who would brush their teeth first.

Normally, Rosalie would have intervened in her children’s fight, but this morning, she was distracted. Troubled by her son’s dream, she flexed her claws, watching them shoot out from her fingers, and then she withdrew them. They were no longer as long and as sharp as they used to be. Staying in the human territory was gradually rubbing her of her wolf within.

Rosalie was silent as she dropped off her kids at their school and drove off to work. Her mind went down memory lane to six years ago when she had once lain in the arms of an Alpha.

Alpha Jacqueline. She said his name softly to herself and blushed at the way it still made her feel.

She had three gorgeous boys, all sons of the Alpha. They had been her pride, her joy, and also a constant reminder of the time she had been naïve enough to give her heart to a male who was never going to be hers and he was selfish enough to take it.

Alpha Jacqueline had treated her like he treated other females, she had been stupid to think he was any different. He had used her, taken advantage of her innocence that night knowing fully well that he was doing his mating ceremony the next day. And then he had dumped her, just like the rake that he was.

Blanking her thoughts from Jacqueline, she drove to work.

Rosalie worked in one of the most prestigious hospitals in the country as a specialist doctor. It meant she could get the prestige, and sometimes, not all the work. She loved it that way, it gave her enough time to be with her boys. The hospital however had a policy about all staff keeping working hours, so she had to go to work every day.

As she got behind her desk for the day, she still couldn’t take Ricardo's words off her mind. Of her three boys; Raymond, and Rowland, he was the most inquisitive, and the most sensitive.

She sighed softly. Her claws were all she had left now of being a Werewolf, and even that kept getting shorter each day. Wolfbane. She didn’t need a specialist to tell her she had it, or that her children probably had it too, that force of nature that could be found among humans, the force that fought the wolf inside every Werewolf till they gradually turned human. She wanted to turn human!

Her phone rang, and she smiled briefly as she stared at the screen. It was Nikel, her human boyfriend. They had been dating for over two years now, and she suspected he was about to propose.

She was about to pick up the call when a male walked in. He was dressed in an all-black business suit and looked very important. Not wanting to get queried by HR, Rosalie put down her phone and gave all her attention to the male, she would call Nikel later.

“Hello, Rosalie .” The male said one single word, but it set her heart racing. Rosalie knew that voice.

“Hello, Carl.” She said simply while her heart hammered against her chest. Carl was a beta from Alpha Jacqueline's pack, a Werewolf! How had he found her? Was this a mere coincidence?

Seeing someone from Jacqueline's world brought back vivid memories. The moments she had spent with Carl, his grey eyes lit, warm, touching down on hers with friendship and affection.

Jacqueline was tall, strong, and handsome, fighting off all her bullies, and then as he had looked on the night of his coronation, the night her heart had been shattered into a million pieces, never to be put together again. Tall, strong, handsome, and inaccessible.

She still felt the ghost of his arms around her, his lips, hot and searching on hers, on her body.

“You are blushing,” Carl observed. “I’m glad he still has that effect on you. Alpha Jacqueline needs your help.”

Rosalie jumped visibly, her sudden movement upsetting her chair, and she landed on the floor. She got up gradually, as she collected herself. Carl waited patiently until she was on her feet before he continued.

“Alpha Jacqueline needs your help, his father is very sick. We have heard you are a doctor now, a specialist. Maybe you are the only one who can help us.”

“Maybe you should leave my office right now before I call security. I do not want to see or hear from Jacqueline ever again. He has made it clear that he does not need me in his life.” She shook her head, sending her curls flying in all directions.

“And I don’t need him to. I never want to see him or ever hear from him again.” Rosalie did a double turn. “ And what do you even mean by We? how did you know I was a doctor?”

Carl smiled coldly. “Because we have been watching you. Alpha Jacqueline asked us to keep an eye on you after you fled the pack.”

Rosalie felt her heart slam against her chest. She tried to draw in enough air to fill her lungs, but it was becoming increasingly hard to breathe. She felt a mixture of fear and anxiety.

Did Jacqueline know about her triplets, his triplets? Had he merely allowed her to keep them because he did not care about his children born from her, or had he allowed her to keep the kids because he knew how much they meant to her or maybe he simply didn’t know anything about them.

Squaring her shoulders, she stared ahead at Carl. “I do not ever want to see the Alpha again. Please leave my office.”

Carl looked resigned. “Alpha Jacqueline thought you might say this, so he asked me to bring you, either by force or with your consent. What’s it going to be?”

Rosalie stared him straight in the eye. “I’d rather die first.”

Carl shrugged. “Very well.” In a swift move, he gathered her by the front of her shirt and pulled her over the desk. She was in his arms, with one of his hands on her mouth, stopping her from screaming beg she could even raise any alarm. She had forgotten about the unusual strength and speed of Werewolves, especially a beta and against her who probably already had wolfsbane.

As he pressed a handkerchief against her nose, making her feel faint, Rosalie ’s last thoughts were that she would finally get to see Jacqueline. She didn’t know whether to feel sad or excited as she finally blacked out, her body sagging against Carl’s strong masculine one. She would see if Alpha Jacqueline meant to take her boys away from her.