RUMI laid her down on her bed and then waited to make sure she was really alright. For the hundredth time, I traced her face with my eyes, drowning myself in the contours and forms of her features, getting drunk in the happiness I felt from being familiar with them and being able to discover something new about them. My thumb brushed across her brows, trying to sooth them. ‘Don’t worry, Rose.’ I heard my whisper. ‘I’m here.’ Stop frowning, cub. And a sigh left her lips, those slim brows relaxed. My own lips spread into a genuine smile. ‘You’ll be fine.’ Without thinking, I leaned in and kissed the corner of those fine brows then pulled back to study her some more. Of those times we made love, she’d always fall asleep first, and I would draw her in and wrap her in my arms, and listen to her peaceful breathing until the moon sets and the sun rises. Strangely, the wait for that darn moon to set seemed much, much shorter than before. ‘When you wake up, Rose, I’m not going to push y
ROSE Flashes of lights from cameras are blinding me. Bustling murmurs of eager reporters are giving me a headache. But amidst them all, I felt a sense of achievement. 'Thank you. This is all put together by Cintilar,' said the woman with a tiny waist and long slender legs. The man holding a mic laughed proudly. 'Cintilar? It's hard to get her these days! Everyone's gonna be jealous. How did you manage?' 'I begged her for months! Then finally her assistant put me on the waiting list a year ago.' 'You gotta catch this, guys. An ensemble by the mother of styling herself, Cintilar,' cheered the host of the annual movie awards ceremony. Me? Are they talking about me? Cintilar? 'There she is!' An explosion of gasps and sounds of awe, then the brightest spotlight shone on me. I look down and I'm in the softest, whitest gown that flows like water from a waterfall. The black bulb of a mic shoved into me and the host asked in a loud, enthusiastic voice, 'So Cintilar, your inspira
ROSE He slid out slowly, caressing my insides like a light feather, and a delightful shiver shot to my toes. My face jerked to one side and a moan slipped from my pursed lips. ‘Rum….’ My voice has never been this high. ‘Why are you looking away, cub?’ asked a deep voice. Hands locked above my head, knees raised high, body pinned hard against the mattress, I couldn’t feel a thing except the intense pleasure Rum was filling up in me. How do I move my head? ‘R-Rum….’ I need something. Him. I need him inside. My desperation is soaring rapidly. ‘Rum!’ He kissed the throbbing skin below my earlobe and grunted, ‘How many times must I remind you, Rose?’ The scorching tip of his tongue travelled down my neck. ‘Ha!’ I shuddered. ‘K-Keithen!’ His mouth closed over the bulge of my collarbone and sucked hard. ‘That’s right.’ And he rammed in strong and hard, drove to the hilt. ‘Remember it, Rose.’ More pleasure bolted through me, arching my back, slipping out another cry of bliss. ‘O
RUMJoy folded her arms, displeasure crossed her face. ‘She won’t go.’ ‘She’ll be in good hands,’ I said, looking straight at her.‘She won’t go.’ ‘She must go.’ I arrived at the table. ‘YOU—.’ She glanced at Rose’s room door then spun back, fierce hurt crossed her face. She lowered her voice and hissed, ‘she wants to make a name for her father and you keep deterring her from it! She’s spent close to four years and she’s still an intern.’ ‘I can assure you,’ I interjected. ‘She will not remain an intern.’ Joy chuckled dryly. ‘I didn’t think you’d make empty promises too. We thought you were different.’ This bitch. How can I convince her that I meant to stick to Rose and help her in every way I can? I want to help her understand her shifting first, then support her in her next step. If that was to return to the human world and achieve her father’s ambition, so be it. ‘But you’re just going to make her your lover—a secret lover—to fulfil your own needs.’ What the hell…. ‘You’re
ROSE A strong grip came around my wrist and I was roughly pulled back. I crashed against a hard warm body and looked up to see Rum glaring down at me with fear and anger. ‘What the fuck, Rose! You almost got yourself killed!’ His finger shot out, I followed its line of direction and saw the ground coming to an end just a step from where I stood. I almost walked off a cliff. His thick arm came around my waist clutching me tightly. ‘What the fuck were you thinking?’ He growled in my ear. I turned around in his embrace and hugged him. ‘I didn’t realise that I’d be on a cliff.’ A lame excuse but that was the truth. Honestly, I don’t know what to expect. Ever since I shifted and saw my so-called wolf form, I felt disconnected from my mind… from the present. ‘Jesus Christ… you’re sticking to me like a bubblegum, got that?’ I nodded and then something ruffled behind Rum. He stiffened and within the next second, pushed me behind him and faced the unknown creature who stumbled up
ROSE Daddy, is mum OK? Daddy’s worried face. He always wore it when mum got sick. Mum didn’t look like the weak kind, and daddy would be the one in bed with a fever or a flu. Come to think of it, I had never seen mum with an injury too. I thought it was because she doesn’t work in the kitchen like the mums of my classmates. When I told them that my daddy made me all the lunches that I brought to school, they asked if I had a mum at all. She has a headache, that’s all sweetie. But it seems serious. I remember telling daddy that we should let mum have her rest. I even suggested going to the park for a stroll and daddy gladly obliged. But I knew he would rather stay by her side…. You’ll be fine, baby…. The voice is back. It was gone for a while. Now, it’s back. Mum? Be brave, my girl… Protect Keithen…. No… no! It can’t be my mum. It can’t be. It must be the Goddess. She turned me into a wolf to save Keithen. You’ll be alright, sweetie…. Stop pretending to be my mother
ROSE‘As in ‘shifted’, shifted?’ Elena murmured, the complexion of her shock permeated her eyes. ‘Jesus Christ,’ blurted Rum. ‘What else can it be?’ He was shouting again. ‘Well, how would I know?’ Elena thrust an open palm at me, her face flushed with another wave of shock. ‘She’s human, isn’t she? Humans don’t shift!’ ‘I know that! And I’m telling you, SHE DID.’ Rum pointed at me and then at his right eye. ‘Right in front of my eyes!’Ellis left Elena’s side and moved closer to me. ‘What happened before and after? Tell me everything. Don’t leave any details.’ And I proceeded to do so. Along the way, Rum added in his version—about the explosion of crystal whitish-blue light and then my wolf-form—how it reminded him of snow—and how he completely healed after that. ‘Wait a count.’ Ellis interrupted. He turned full face to Rum. ‘You healed? All that damage from the silver bullet, gone? Just like that?’ Rum raked his hair with his fingers and growled, ‘Yeah. Just like that.’ Elena
RUM ‘Bullshit,’ I growled. They looked too serious to be true. The corners of Ellis’s mouth curled up and then he shrugged and chuckled lightly. ‘That’s what the elders would say. That’s what’s in the scrolls.’ And my face relaxed again, the resistance evaporating. ‘Then what’s with the death stare?’ Elena looked at me solemnly. ‘We’re OK with hybrids—I mean, we are living in a different age now. But as Ellis rightfully pointed out, hybrids are frowned upon in our world. There are people who detest hybrids.’ Ellis added, ‘There are no hybrids here. The ones that do exist live amongst humans and many of them never really shifted, so they probably never knew their true heritage.’ Elena turned to Rose and said, ‘Detest would make our kind a danger to Rose, if she was a hybrid. Especially since she has shifted.’ ‘Why would the werefolk detest her?’ I argued. ‘It’s not like she has a choice.’ ‘Some werewolves don’t like it.’ Ellis pursed his lips. ‘To them, the hybrids aren’