ROSE I banged the counter and begged desperately. “Please, you gotta let me go up there!” The new security guard frowned harder, hands on his hips, and glared fiercer. “No means no, young lady. You got no appointment with Mr. Rum. And his specific orders are: let no goddamn soul up unless he gives me the name! And your name ISN’T IN the record.” “OK. Then can you please ask Mr. Ambrose to come down here!” The twenty-something scrawny dude frowned quizzically. “There’s no such person.” “You didn’t even check the records!” I argued. SLAM! The man leaned in, propping on his palm, and growled, “I started here ten days ago. And in those ten days, I am to let NO ONE up. So NO ONE had gone up.” “OK. What about his assistant? Or his driver? Do you have any emergency contact number for Mr. Rum? You know, if something happens to him at home—.” “I know what an emergency contact is!” the man snapped. “And it’s Rose Cintilar!” Wait, what? I came to a screeching halt. “He didn’t c
ROSE One second, everything was under control. In the next, it was chaos. No one saw what happened. Not even me. I was in the midst of convincing one of the ladies in an LBD with the organiser’s tag that I’m Rum’s assistant, and I needed to get to him, when a hush of gasps burst over the screaming, clicking and reporting. Out of genuine curiosity, I jerked around to the noise—and Rum was there, completely surrounded by fans, rendered immobile. He looked helpless—and angry. Well, it didn’t show on his face, of course. He’s a professional. But, for some reason, I could sense anger inside him, and it was on a sharp rise. I panicked—he’s going to shift! Don’t do it, Rum! Frantic, I scanned my vicinity and saw a table of water bottles. Without a second thought, I grabbed the black table cloth and yanked it off in one pull. “HEY, STOP!” One of the black suit guys pressed a finger to his ear and muttered a few things inaudibly. “What are you doing?” I need to get to Rum be
ROSE "T-They're… they're Rum's godparents!" I shoved David into the living room and closed the door, when I saw the shock on Ellis's face. Are you sure about this, Rose? It asked. I gave a nod to tell him: trust me, I know what I’m doing. And I clipped the door to its frame. Yes. I’m acting on my instincts. For some reason, I trust it. I have no other choice. The situation calls for it. And my instincts are telling me that David needs to know the truth about Ellis and Elena’s relationship with Rum, or he’ll interrupt Rum’s treatment and worsen his condition. "Rum's family?!" David looked incredulous. "But Rum has no family. Mr. Danny said so. Don’t lie to me, Rose. What's going on?" "T-They aren't his biological family, of course. Friends of his dead parents—yes, that's what they are—friends of his parents. And Rum had recently reunited with them," I hastily explained. “You saw them at the cafe a month back, remember?” Well, that was half true. But David looked astounded b
ELENA"Huk—Urgh!" A grunt of pain punched the silent space. The body twisted and untwisted itself, convulsing and flapping like a fish out of water. More low, thick grunts and growls of torture punched the silence as the poison unwillingly followed the white glow to the opening—the stabbed wound—to remove it from the system. The door opened and closed, and my love was back in the spot across the bed from me, checking the cub's pulse. "How is it?" I whispered. Ellis held Keithen's wrist as he stared at the pink edges of the large crimson blot of the sheets, his brows knitting with focus. Then, he looked up to meet my gaze. "It's still slow...." Panic seized me. "But it's stronger. By a notch."I sighed, my lips quivering in sheer relief. "His heart is working again."Ellis sighed too. "It's still weak, but it's working." "Thank Goddess." Heat of relief swarmed to my eyes as I watched my left hand drag slowly and steadily across the air above the cub's back, pulling the white glo
AMBROSEGoddess blast it. He was sure that Rose wouldn't show up. Didn't she say that she had enough of werewolves? Of Kee? So why in deity's name did she turn up at the last minute! If Rose hadn't been there, Kee would be dead now, since no one would get to him in time. There was enough silver to kill a werewolf—even the fittest one like Kee. Ambrose was sure of it. So why was the Alpha still alive when he returned with Alpha Ellis and Luna Elena? Why didn't he die?Ambrose stared up at the crescent moon, hanging gracefully behind the night wispy clouds. Did you send Rose to Kee, our Goddess? The Delta asked in his mind. If you truly did, then the ultimate question is: why this human? Why did you choose her? What's so special about her? How did she save the leader of the Howling Five? She's just a human! Ambrose dropped his face with a disappointed sigh. It wasn't enough to use a human kitchen knife. No. Rose. He needed to get rid of Rose. His face jolted up in surprise. S
ROSE “So what happened in the room?” I looked up from my plate of untouched sandwich at Ambrose, who was eyeing me with the concern of an old friend. After fixing a concoction of healing juice for Rum, Ellis and Elena left for home. Elena wanted to stay, but Ellis felt that they had to move fast and warn the others back home. Elena then argued that she would stay here alone—to which Ellis insisted, for the first time looking like the angry possessive husband, that ‘a Luna never leaves her Alpha’s side for another werewolf’—even when that werewolf is, in their eyes, ‘a cub’. And, of course, Elena, with love in her eyes, shrunk to a meek lamb and left quietly with her ‘Alpha’. “Rose?” The calm and concerned voice jarred me back to the worried face. I blinked and looked down at the hand covering mine, squeezing it gently, and felt a weak smile on my lips. I looked up again and said, “Ellis asked me what happened. And I told him. He found it strange that I could contain the silv
ROSEI miss you…. The way he sucked my lips told me that. His tender strength, and the way that strength protracted with my lower lip between his lips, they all told me that he longed for me. He yearned for me. Yet, something inside me held me back. Yet, that same thing inside me wanted more. Rum released me and sighed, his warm breath blowing against my nose, sending a tickle up my spine, urging me to capture his lips for another kiss. And I did. And we sucked each other’s lips with the same tenderness as before, but stronger with passion, wanting to inhale each other’s soul. But reality ended the kiss. Though a little longer than before. We were pulled apart. Even so, the gravity of my heart leaned my forehead against his as our warm breaths mixed together in the cool darkness. “Do you miss me?” he asked. I closed my eyes and felt my head nod. He exhaled a chuckle. Then I felt his thumb brush against my cheek. “So you’re coming back?” My eyes flew open. And they gave me a
ROSE I decided to stay. What choice do I have? I called Jill to apologise, only to hear her say, "You ungrateful girl! I gave you a job, thinking that you needed one. And you hang me out to dry?! My hair salon is not some fucking pitstop!" No matter how hard I tried to apologise, she wouldn't hear any of it. I couldn't possibly tell her that I was trying to save a werewolf from becoming a government property and a rat lab. Why would she believe me? What has that got to do with her hair salon? So I hastily disconnected after the tenth apology. The next person to contact me was, of course, Joy. "So you left in the middle of work for Rum?" She sounded frustrated. "I'm really sorry, Joy—." "It's always him, isn't it? Even though you said it's over with him, you weren't exactly over him." That pinched me. "He's been nothing but horrible to you, and all it takes is just a voice in your head telling you that he'll be in danger, and you start running to him!" "He really got