Chapter 11

Rose POV

I stared at mom, it looks like she's thinking about something very hard and very long. Finally she sighed and turned to look at us, mainly me, with an expression I have never seen on her face before, so much so that if I haven't been looking I wouldn't have even thought it was necessary. " I need to tell all of you something " mom said slowly, like she's either trying not to breakdown or keep us from freaking out, I think its the latter. " You all saw what happened outside and there's an explanation for it, I just never thought I would have to explain it so soon." Mom said with a sad tone. Then she looked at me " But first things first... " she said and walked over to me " Rose... " she said slowly placing her hands on my shoulders. " This is very important and I need you to take this seriously. Everything I'm about to say is true and I need you to treat it as such and keep an open mind, okay?" She said and for a moment I thought she was joking but the look on her face said otherwise so I nod. " Use your words Rose." She said sternly and I don't remember ever hearing her use that tone with me. I remember seeing her use it at work but never on us 'Damn this must be serious' I think to myself " Yes mom, I understand" she seemed to relax a little but I could still feel the tension rolling off of her. She looked in my eyes for something but I guess she didn't find it cause she sighed and closed her eyes and I looked at Damien for help but he looked like mom and I could sense tension in the room, its so thick I could probably cut through it. 'I wonder what's the problem, they never act this way' I think just as mom opens her eyes again and looks at me with such intensity I almost shrunk away from her gaze because of two reasons: 1 she is holding my shoulders so tightly I couldn't feel it anymore, I never knew mom was that strong, I never saw her at our trainings, and 2 for some reason I knew she wouldn't, no wait, couldn't harm me even if she tried, which is weird if you ask me " Rose... We, um... We, all of us in this room are... Wolves." She stopped probably looking for a reaction but I have none 'Is she serious?' I ask myself but don't verbally say anything " We knew and on your 18th birthday you will have your first shift. Damien already had his" she said looking at Damien for confirmation and he gave a stiff nod. Then she looked back at me waiting for me to say something but me being the person that I am.... No, being any normal person, I broke out in a laugh and not the subtle female laugh, no I was almost on the floor gasping for air while holding my stomach that was beginning to ache with all the laughing I was doing. Apparently that was not the reaction mom wanted because her eyes furrowed as she looked down at how I was crunching over holding my stomach. " Rose this is serious" she said and muttered something, I think it was "This is so much easier after their first shift" and I finally calmed down a little still giggling " Come on mom, do you really think that I'll believe that I'm in some teen wolf movie" I said and sighed " Really mom you know this better than anyone. I don't believe in supernatural creatures that hide under your bed at night, not to mention that none of you look like Scott McCall " I say wiping the little tears that escaped. Mom looked super upset and, if I'm not wrong, offended? " First of all..." Hunter said stepping towards me "... Do not insult us like that by comparing us to that teen flick." I was about to tell him its not a teen flick but as soon as I opened my mouth he cut me off "Secondly, I look far hotter than Scott McCall." He said and it seemed like that offended him more than the first one cause he scoffed as he said Scott McCall. I wanted to tell him he was wrong but the blush on my face would've said otherwise so I wisely kept my mouth shut and he smirked knowing he was right and suddenly he seemed to cocky. I mean he had the right to be but that doesn't mean he can be and so I just said " Ever heard of modesty because if you did get a dictionary and look up the meaning since you know absolutely nothing about it." I had the satisfaction of seeing him caught off guard and smiled but he recovered faster than I thought " Well it seems like this one has a tongue on her doesn't she? Well babe meehoww" he said making a claw and I blushed again. 'What is wrong with me, I never blush this much' I think to myself and heard him continue what he was saying before I interrupted but he didn't seem to mind "And thirdly but certainly not least, cause I don't come last, Wolves does exist and if you want I could prove it to you" he said with an evil smirk and I don't think I want him to " Unless you're to chicken to " he said and for some reason I feel the need to show him up so trying to seem confident I raised my head to shake the hair out of my face " Okay, fine, whatever but you'll never be able to prove it" I said confidently because I don't think he could but his smirk just widened as he took a step toward me " Is that so, do you really want to challenge me because I think you can see that I'm not one to neither back down nor lose " he said trying to seem intimidating power and dominance radiating off of him but I'm not even fazed and walked to him standing in front of him and looked up to him in the eye and he seemed amused and this angered me which also surprised me cause not only was I never an angry or aggressive person but I was also never one to show dominance, I always thought of myself as submissive but these thoughts were in the back of my mind and all that was in front was the amount of disrespect he was showing me " Well that makes two of us because I do not lose and I never back down from a challenge, so I guess one way or the other one of us loses" I say full of pride and I think I see some of it in his eyes as well but I don't know why he would be proud of me so I brushed it off but still found myself staring at him like he was me and I felt this urge to kiss him and I subconsciously start leaning into him, him doing the same and when we were just inches apart I heard someone clearing their throat and just like that the spell was broken and I quickly moved away from him he mumbled something unintelligible and I didn't even bother to find out what he said my breathing was heavier ' What the hell just happened?' I asked myself running a hand through my hair. " Okay let's get this done" Hunter says and I turn to see him looking at me with what I think was lust in his eyes my quickly closes his eyes and shakes his head and then with a sigh he turned and walked to the door and after a moment I followed. I see mom, Damien and aunt Elena smiling out of the corner of my eye as they follow and wonder what that's about but shake my head, there are just too many secrets here and I need to figure them out.

We're standing outside where Hunter will 'attempt' to prove that werewolves exist. He's standing in front of us, facing us and then he looks at me and starts striping " Uhhh!!" I scream bloody murder and cover my eyes and I hear chuckling behind me "Dude I do not need to see your moobs and fat pack, I think the unfortunate soul who will date you will see enough of that!" I say still covering my eyes and then hearing full out laughing from behind me " Oh come on you know I don't have moobs " he said and I could basically hear him roll his eyes. " And Pandora also knew that she mustn't open that box yet she did and released you in the world. Now if she had only minded her damn business, you wouldn't be here to make me wanna claw my eyes out." I say and the laughter behind me turned into what sounded like dying Turkey. He didn't say anything and I felt kinda bad for saying that but I need to get rid of these feelings and the easiest ways to do that is to make him seem more mortal. All of a sudden there was this cracking of bones or at least it sounded like bones and this bending and snapping and I felt scared but didn't remove my eyes because I didn't want to be a witness in a murder but the murderer will probably kill me as well. Then it stopped and I heard a howl, ' It can't be ' I say and slowly remove my hand and standing on the exact spot that Hunter was standing, was a big black wolf and I start to scream. I turn to run but two strong arms keep me and I feel the familiarity and it was the same set of arms that comforted me at night and here they were, about to feed me to a wolf. I start fighting him, I struggle then remember what dad taught me and took my and jabbed him in the jaw, he stumbled back, I don't think he expected me to fight him, maybe struggle but not fight. So I took advantage and jabbed him in the throat and finished it by doing a sweep to take his feet out from under him and he fell with a thud. I don't know why the others didn't attack but I looked at them and they didn't look like they were going to stop me infact they looked shocked, so I turned toward the woods and ran.

I was running for so long and I think I'm lost. Finally I collapse not wanting and willing to run anymore. I look at the ground in front of me and looking back on what I know and I remember all the howls in Colorado and the late nights that Damien takes and finally what I saw today, I could lie to myself and say that it couldn't have been him and that I didn't really see him change but I know the truth and I think I've known it for a while yet chose to ignore it and this is what it got me to. Me alone, lost in the forest and yet I don't seem to feel scared, I feel like there's a part of me unlocked and I can't wait to explore it. Then suddenly the exhaustion hit me and I think 'I can't stop, I have to get back ' maybe I shouldn't have run. Maybe I should've let them explain but seriously what is there to explain. I have been living with wolves, I am a wolf. This realisation hit me hard but I shake my head and push the thoughts to the back of my mind and try and get up but I fell back down, my legs not willing to cooperate. I try a few more times but fall every time and the last attempt, I wasn't even able to wobble my way up and by now I have given up and just lay on my back looking at the night sky. I wonder if they are looking for me? The darkness and peace of sleep is finally rearing its head and I try to fight it and stay awake but different parts if my body was already shutting down. After what seems like hours I hear a voice calling my name, it's distant but there, at first I thought it was just my imagination but then I heard it again " I'm here " I try and yell but it comes out a whisper. I try again and this time it came out a little louder but the voices became more and more distant and soon it was gone altogether " I'm going to die here " I whisper to nobody in particular and after a little longer most of my body shut down and then my eyes closed and almost immediately some dead leaves crunched, I managed to open my eyes to just a slit and tried to raise my head but it dropped down again and that was like the nail in the coffin as my eyes flew shut and this time remain shut. A pair of strong, firm arms picked me up, just as the oblivion claimed me I heard someone say something in Italian?

"presto sarai mia, la mia futura Regina Luna"

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What just happened? Who took Rose? Is it a friend or foe?

What is going on in Rose's head and who will she find when she wakes up?

What will happen on Rose's first shift?