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
ROSERum inched closer until our clothes touched, and he whispered in a low voice that only I could hear. ‘If my uncle was consumed, then it doesn’t make sense for the dark whims to kill Berardo and let Erick live.’ I squinted at him. ‘But Berardo did die and Erick lived.’‘Because Alpha Erick might have found out that the dark whims were consuming Berardo. So he had no choice but to kill his own cub and hide his entire pack.’ Horror hardened my face. ‘B-But why would the dark whims consume another one when it already got your uncle?’ ‘Cause my uncle’s a Beta.’ Those blue eyes shone with resolution. ‘Betas are still weaker compared to Alphas. I bet the dark whims needed the strength of the largest pack—since my father died, they couldn’t consume him. So they took the next werewolf, my uncle. But they realised it wasn’t enough—so they tried to take the next strong candidate, Berardo.’ ‘What about you?’ I frowned in disapproval. And Rum was taken aback. ‘What about me?’ ‘You’re a
ROSE‘What is it?’ Rum asked, offering his hand. I took it and shrugged. ‘I thought I saw something.’ And Rum halted. ‘What is it? What did you see?’ I described it to him and he turned to the pond and smiled at it. Then, he looked at me again and said, ‘I know a place we can use as our hideout. Come on.’ *****A cave, located out of the sight of the pond, somewhere above the middle of the mountain—a quarter of height from the peak. I thought the cave would be empty, but there were traces of its last occupants—stones arranged in the circle of what appears to be a campfire, long sticks carved like skewers, woollen covers, and thick patches of dried grass. Rum was moving around with ease searching while I stood in one spot absorbing my new environment. The air was as cooling as the air conditioned space inside B.A.D. but it carried the freshness of the snow at the peck of the mountain and the clear water of the pond. Gathering the front seams of the robe around my neck, I ignor