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
ROSE ‘So what have you ladies found?’ Rum’s popped through and all the fear and anxiety I had earlier vanished in an instant. My senses perked up and I turned to the voice just in time to catch a kiss on my forehead. When I opened my eyes, he was right there smiling down at me. The soft caress of his thumb on my cheek was like a warm hug and I immediately felt more settled. ‘Not much.’ Elena stretched her arms forward. ‘Just the whole history of the were-folks.’ She pounded her back lightly and asked, ‘What about you, Rose? Anything you want to ask us?’ It felt like she was inducting me into the werewolf living and I didn’t like it one bit. ‘Nope.’ I shook my head, staring at the page. For some reason, the words made sense again—earlier on, someone blurred them after a sentence. ‘Elena.’ Rum exhaled and said, ‘I think you better go to Ellis.’ The serious tone in his voice made Elena jump from her seat in worry. ‘Why? What happened?’ She took one look at Rum and relaxed kno
ROSE'Fuck….' Was all he managed to utter after a long silence and a face hardened with the ominous truth. I wanted to give him a hug but I knew it wouldn't help with anything. His face said everything: he's screwed up big time. Of all the mistakes he had made thus far, this is the worst of them all. 'Rum….' I reached out a hand but he stepped away. 'Jesus Christ….' He grabbed his head in helplessness then raked his fingers through his hair in the slow, fierce way of a knife cutting his scalp open. 'Rum!' I grabbed his wrists to stop him from hurting himself. He spun around, panic and fear in his eyes. 'We need to leave.' I searched those blue sapphires with the same anxiety. 'L-Leave? To where?' 'We can't stay. They'll find out.' Rum’s eyes were darting around nervously. ‘But, Rum.’ I held his hands in mine and whispered, ‘the sooner everyone knows that your Beta’s consumed, the better chance we have at getting the dark whims right—.’ ‘NO!’ He snarled, his gaze darkened wit