Chapter 3

Brent's POV

I'm driving down the highway when I notice a flash of red. Looking closely I notice that it's Rose! Why is she on the outskirts of the woods? I swing around and roll up to a distressed looking Rose.

"Hey sweetheart what's wrong? Why are you out here by yourself?"

"I don't really want to talk about it. Um but can you give me a ride? I was with Sophie when I took off and she drove. I'm not really sure what direction I came from."

"Of course, just hop in and I'll take you wherever you want to go."

"Thank you Brent! You are Brent and not Damien right?"

"Yes sweetheart I'm Brent, the better looking one." I toss her a wink and make her giggle. I inhale her womanly scent and I'm instantly calm as my mustang fills with the scent of strawberries.

"By the way tomorrow is my birthday... Sophie is throwing a party, and I wanted to see if maybe you and your brother want to go?

"Sounds cool, how old are you?"

"18" she answered.

"I wouldn't miss it for the world." I reassured her.

I looked over at Rose who is staring out the window. Her red hair is flowing freely down her back making her look like a gorgeous siren. I restrain myself from reaching over and seeing if her pale skin is as soft as it looks.

"Are you sure you're ok Rose?" she smiled tightly at me.

"I'm not yet but I will be." she assured me.

Rose's POV

I should send Sophie a text and let her know I'll see her at my house to go shopping. "Thank you Brent, could you drop me off at my house? I live off of Winscott and Main." I tell him in a small voice.

"Sure" he replied in his sexy, silky voice.

"Thank you for the ride!" I yelled when he rolled up to my house. I looked back as I approached the door and gave him a quick wave.

"Rose honey! How was your first day?" Mom asked as soon as I walked in the front door.

"It was fine, I met some people, and they are throwing me a birthday party tomorrow!"

"That's great, hun! I know this move is hard on you, but I think that a change of scenery is good for personal growth anyway."

Right. Personal growth. More like rent-free.

"Did I hear Rosie-bear come in?" Dad yelled from the kitchen.

"Hey dad! I just got home, was telling mom about a birthday party some of the kids are throwing for me tomorrow."

"Sounds good honey, just be safe and make good choices."

"Don't worry I will dad." I reassured him. I had no desire to get into trouble.

Ding dong ding dong, the doorbell rang. I strolled up to the door to answer it and found Sophie on the other side.

"Hey girly, are you ok?" She asked.

I tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear and sighed, "yes. I'm so sorry for running away earlier."

I walked out and closed the door behind me. "Let's head to the mall, we have to get you an outfit for tomorrow," she said. I climbed into her blue car and made myself comfy on the seat.

"So, what's the story with you and Joel?" she asked me as she got in and buckled her seatbelt. I should have expected this eventually.

"So, Joel was my summer love. You know like Sandy and Danny. We met on the beach and spent everyday together. We would go to cookouts at night and we would make out in the waves during the day. Honestly it was the happiest that I ever was."

"So, what happened?" she asked.

"One day I decided that I was going to show up early to the bar we were supposed to meet at but when I got there, he was making out with some blonde bimbo and had a brunette sitting on his lap. I was beyond mortified. I dumped my drink on them and left. He tried contacting me afterwards, but I never returned his calls or texts."

"Wow what a jerk! I'm so sorry to hear that happened to you Rose! I can't believe Joel is such a player! I'll be happy to kick his ass for you!" Sophie exclaimed.

"It's not necessary but thank you anyway." I told her. We turned onto a large lot where the local mall was found and got out to begin our search for a birthday outfit. Sophie kept trying to get me to buy some ridiculous dresses that were supposed to make Joel jealous. After we exhausted all the different stores and picked a winner, a yellow dress with thick straps and knee length, we finally left and she took me back home.

"Goodnight mom, dad! I'm headed up!" I shouted to my parents before taking off to my room to go to bed.

The next afternoon, after spending all day lounging around, I stripped myself of my shorts and oversized shirt and dressed up in the yellow dress with white heels, fixed my hair into a high ponytail and finished off the look with smokey eyes. I yelled out to my parents that I was leaving and borrowed mom's car to drive to Sophie's house.

When I rolled up I was shocked. Four sets of eyes peering into my soul. Two blue, one green and one hazel.

"Mine!" They all simultaneously growled. Startled, my eyes widened while I looked at them all in confusion.

Brent, Damien, Joel and Mr. Star looked as bewildered as I was. "Mine?" I asked confused. Those four sets of eyes blinked rapidly and Brent chuckled nervously.

Brent's POV

What the hell did I say? Actually, what the hell did these morons also say? I'll be damned if I'm sharing Rose, now that I know she's my mate.

"Good afternoon, Rose! And happy birthday! I bought you a coffee from Starbucks, I remember you mentioning yesterday that your favorite drink from there was an iced espresso with heavy cream." I smiled as cool as I could while passing her the iced beverage.

"Thank you so much Brent! Good afternoon, everyone, it's nice to see all of you." Rose said with a smile though her eyes still held a bit of confusion.

Mate....claim mate....my wolf growled in my head.

"Hey Rose let's go up to my room," said Sophie as she tried to save a confused Rose.

"Sounds good" Rose chirped quickly and she followed Sophie away into Colten's house.

"Explain what the hell is going on, how can she be your mate when she's mine?" I directed at these idiots.

Damien spoke up, "It makes sense for her to be ours since we're twins but I don't know how she can possibly be the mate of this jackass and a half breed vampire."

Joel interjected, "she was mine once and she'll be mine again."

"Over my dead body" the vamp interjected.

"Cousin she's mine," Joel continued to argue with Colten.

"Should we play Rock Paper Scissors?" Damien said stupidly.

Colten's POV

"Look you young boys need to get serious, let a real man take care of Rose, it's what's best for her." I argued.

"A half breed like you can't possibly understand the pull of a full-blooded wolf, it's not the same. Plus you're her teacher! That's super creepy!" Damien kept arguing with me.

"See you boys later, I'll be in my room." I stormed off perturbed and shot a text to my little sis.

Me: Soph, take care of my mate for me, we have some things we must share with her

Sophie: don't be an idiot, Rose deserves to be treated better than an object

Me: of course, she's my mate

Sophie: seems like you guys finished your pissing contest

Me: there's no comparison between a strong hybrid and these boys

Sophie: *face palm*

Me: ?

Me: put in a good word with my love

Me: Sophie?

Rose's POV

I don't know what's going on. I have these guys who called me theirs? I belong to nobody. I am glad to see everyone here for my party tonight though. Sophie is going over her plans for tonight and that most of our school will be here along with lots of alcohol and pot. The boys are all here to help set up decorating. I can deal with being around Joel for one day if he leaves me alone.

"Hey Sophie do you know what the guys were going on about? Calling me theirs like that, was pretty weird don't you think."

"Yes! Totally! They obviously thought you were killing it in this dress and couldn't help themselves with all your beauty." Sophie said.

"I guess so."

"Like I was saying earlier we have a pool out back so we can go swimming anytime. I have a cute tiny red bikini you can borrow!" Sophie squealed in my ears.

"I don't know, this doesn't even cover my butt or boobs. Do you have anything less revealing?" I begged. She sighed loudly and dug into her closest before throwing me a black one piece suit.

"Here you go grandma." She said.

"Thanks!" I beamed at her and headed to the bathroom to change.