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’
ROSESo that night, Rum had a tussle with the dark whims and almost had his head ripped off.And I thought that he finally had enough of my no response. How selfish can you get, Rose Cintilar?A large hand covered mine, squeezing it gently. I looked up and those blue eyes gave me a reassuring smile. I gazed at our hands as a smile touched my lips. 'An explosion from your chest?' Ellis rubbed his chin in ponderment, his eyes focused on the empty plates on the table. 'What do you think it is, Ellis?' Elena leaned closer to him. 'The special ability.''It's hard to tell for now.' Ellis sighed in frustration. 'A healing explosion… it's strange and unusual. But one thing's for sure: the dark whims knows about it.'The older werewolf turned to Rum with a look of warning. 'That's why it made you go for the bullet instead.'Elena jolted with a sudden revelation. 'So Rose was put at gunpoint to make Kee embrace his own death?'Ellis nodded. 'It must be done at Keithen's will, so his body wo
ROSE She knows. No—I shook my head inside. She doesn’t know. She’s suspecting it. All she has are speculations, not evidence, and she’s aware of it. So she’s trying to test me, to get that evidence she needs. I have to be careful. I mustn’t let slip of anything that will lead her to the truth. I MUST KEEP IT A SECRET TILL THE END! ‘What’s outside the Howling Five?’ I asked, rearranging my facial features into an innocent puzzlement. ‘What do you mean?’ She seemed offended by the question. Quickly, I explained, ‘I mean, is there a world beyond the Howling Five? I remember Rum said that the five largest packs came together as the Howling Five—that means there are other packs roaming your world, right?’ Elena studied me quietly for a second and then smirked. ‘I always find you a smart human.’ Can she tell that I’m avoiding the topic of Quinn? Maybe I should stay on the topic the next time she brings it up. I moved closer to the Luna as she meandered through rows of rectangul