TYSONWalking into the school, Rose squats down to Maddie’s level. “Okay sweet pea. Have a good day today. Absorb all the knowledge they’re giving you. I love you, bigger than Pi is infinite!” Then she kisses Maddie on the cheek several times, making Maddie giggle in the process.“I love you Mama, bigger than Pi is infinite! Bye Tyson. I’ll see you after school.” With that, Maddie trots off to the cafeteria.I see Melinda behind the front desk giving us a smile, so we walk over to say hi. They talk about how Rose is feeling, how she’s healing. As I just listen to them talk. I realize that Rose may be on the mend and healing well, but she’s still in pain when I’m not with her or touching her. I guess that is to be expected since she’s human. For us wolves, as long as the bone is set or the skin is held closed, we heal completely within a few minutes for minor injuries, hours for broken bones. Humans are so much more fragile. I’ll need to be sure she’s taking her pain meds and getting p
ROSE I watch Tyson leave the apartment and it’s like a switch is flipped inside of me, in regards to my pain levels. How can touching him, even just being within his presence stave off the pain like it does? I walk to my room and take a half dose of meds; I know these are a narcotic and I don’t want to get addicted. That is a headache that I don't need, so I want to take as few as possible. I look around my room, trying to think of what I could do today. I feel like I’m wasting time here. Part of me wants to be working and being productive. But I also know, I still need a little more healing time before I can return to my job at The Tower. I’ll have to be completely healed up to return to the diner. Currently, I cannot carry the heavy loads that are required of me at the diner. I hear my phone ding from the kitchen, indicating I have a text message. It is weird having a phone now, but I like that I can communicate with anyone I want to, right at my fingertips. I read the message; it
ROSE I head back to my bedroom and take a dose of pain meds. I settle back into my bed and turn on my TV. I surf the apps for a few minutes. I finally pick a show under the comedy genre called “How I Met Your Mother”. It is ridiculous, zany and over the top, but it is funny and enjoyable. Watching it lets me forget about my troubles for a while. I fall asleep with the TV on. I wake up to someone knocking heavily on my bedroom door. “Miss Rose, are you okay? Mr. Evans has been texting you and he’s worried because you haven’t answered.” It sounds like Benton. “Benton?” “Yes ma’am, it’s me. May I come in?” “Oh, yes. Come in.” I reply, still out of it. Benton opens the door and looks around my room as I sit up in bed. I’m sure my hair looks like a rat’s nest. “What time is it?” I ask Benton as he walks into my bathroom. No idea what he’s looking for. “Past time for us to go get Miss Maddie from school. Don’t panic, Marshall and Ike are bringing her home now.” “And people wonder why
ROSE We all don our coats and make our way to one of the SUVs. Maddie sits in her booster seat in the back with Tyson and I, Marshall drives and Ike rides shotgun. I am blown away by our destination when we pull up to the Natural History Museum. “I thought you’d like to see it. It’s full of amazing things to learn about. Have y’all been here before?” Tyson asks. “No. The tickets are too pricy, even during the discounted off-season. I think Maddie came with a school field trip though. That was the first year she was at Zeus Academy.” “Oooooh, ooooh, ooh, Mama!! They have dinosaurs!” Maddie exclaims, not being able to contain her glee. She begins clapping her hands and I hear Marshall groan at all the noise. “Hey, you’re the one who took her for ice cream, dummy. You can deal with it too.” I tell him in my mom-tone. “Yes, ma’am,” he says with defeat. Ike and Tyson just laugh. We spend hours walking around the museum. The first exhibit we visit is the dinosaurs. Maddie loves it, li
ROSE ****TRIGGER WARNING!**** “You don’t have to. Just know, when you are ready, if you ever want to, I’m ready to listen.” Very quickly before I have a chance to change my mind, “My parents died when I was 3. Drunk driver on their anniversary date night. We had no other family, both of them were single kids, their parents on both sides were dead already. I have no memories of my bio parents.” I start my life story without looking at Tyson. I turn and put my back to him. I don’t want to see the disgust or hate that will most likely mar his beautiful face by the time I am done. But he continues to hold me and rub soothing circles on my skin. “I was placed in foster care. I was with a wonderful couple for two years, they wanted to adopt me. Them, I actually remember a little bit of. The woman, Susan, had bright red hair and so many freckle you couldn’t count them. Her husband, Nolan, was bald with comforting brown eyes and he smelled like cedarwood. I don’t remember much else about t
TYSON Rose begins her life’s story and all of the instincts that reside within me are telling me to stop her. Stop her from talking by kissing her and letting her know she is treasured. But I don’t. I need to know what happened to her. What made her into who she is today. She has told me she didn’t have siblings or living parents. I didn’t know that she had been an orphan as a child. That is hard for anyone so young. I had a feeling she was sexually assaulted, it made logical sense. No one has a panic attack like she did, mid hot and heavy make out session that would have definitely led to sex, if it wasn’t something along those lines, right? Nothing could have prepared me for the story she tells though. She was literally told she was a throw away person, just before she was raped, sliced open and left to die. She was thrown away like garbage. Who does something like that? Who sets out to ruin a life like that? A psychopath, that’s who. And by all accounts, he thinks he got away wit
TYSON“I love you, Tyson.” My eyes widen at her declaration. My breathing picks up, hoping I didn’t mishear her. How could I have? She said it clearly and strongly.“Do you really mean that?” I close my eyes just in case she decides to take it back. “Please don’t say that and not really mean it, or you’re only saying it because you think I want to hear it. Please… please mean it when you say that to me.” I beg her quietly, letting all of my emotions color my words.Rose leans forward and gently kisses my lips. When she breaks our kiss, I open my eyes and stare into hers, knowing that what she says next will forever imprint itself onto my soul.“I mean it, Tyson. I love you. I’ve felt it for a while now, I just wasn’t sure love was what I was feeling. I tried to reason myself out of it, but that didn’t work. My emotions for you are so incredibly strong, even from the very beginning. The moment I saw you in the hospital with me, I have felt pulled to you. To be near you. To touch you. T
TYSONRose caresses my cheek, “You aren’t responsible for his choices, Tyson. He was an adult, it’s on him.” She snuggles into me and sighs. “Thank you for telling me some of your history and about your parents. I know that was probably really hard for you. I’m so glad you stayed with me.” She tiredly whispers the last part. I feel her relax and quickly slip into sleep, her nose pressed into my chest, like always. I lie awake for a while, thinking on all that has happened tonight.*Mike.**Yes, Alpha.**I’m sorry to disturb you so late at night. You seem rather awake, though. Everything okay?**Oh, yes sir. Lucy has been having a few Braxton-Hicks contractions at night, but she is fine. She has a few weeks till her due date. Nothing to worry about… for now. I still struggle to sleep after she has them though. What can I do for you?**I will not be in tomorrow.**Everything okay on your end, sir?**Yes. I need to spend tomorrow with my mate.**Understood, sir. I’ll change the schedule