ROSEWe left before the sentinels arrived—we had to; we promised Erasmo that we’d stay hidden. Once silence took over the surroundings, we reckoned that we were a good distance away from the market and stopped running. ‘You were right.’ I got off Rum’s back and met his gaze as he straightened and turned to me. ‘I shouldn’t have interfered.’ ‘But you said you had to. You must’ve sensed something.’ He took my hand and pulled me along as he moved up the slope at a more leisurely pace. ‘I did feel that he was on the brink of death.’ The Alpha smiled. ‘There you have it.’ I leaned closer, walking alongside him. ‘But what if they try to find me. And they found you?’ ‘Then we leave.’ He chuckled. ‘Every problem has a solution.’ He looked ahead, gazing at an imaginary distance. ‘The only issue is fear. Fear cripples all solutions.’ This Rum is the one in all the music that I’ve listened to and loved. The Rum who cherishes life and sees the joy in all experiences, good or bad. It’s th

QUINN It’s gathering. She can feel it. The dark whims. Strengthening in power. It can’t wait. It must be dispersed now or she won’t be able to do it alone—the more wolves involved, the greater the chance of it latching onto a warm body. Disperse it first then. Quinn halted before the door, her knuckles just an inch from the wooden surface. As fickle as her mind, she turned around and marched right back to the stairs. And the door swung open. ‘Quinn?’ Kristen’s sweet voice rang the cool air of the landing. ‘What is it?’ Can’t talk. Quinn spun back to face one of her two best friends. ‘Important. Something. Need to tell you.’ Kristen was smiling when she heard the serious tone and gave an even nod. ‘After dinner, your room?’ And a thumbs up was the born healer’s response. ***** ROSE I’m yours…. That deep, silky voice echoed in my ears as the face of it remained in a deep, peaceful slumber. Did he mean that? Or did he just say it cause it felt right at the moment? Or

ROSEThe bed is shaking—Earthquake?! My eyes flew open. Shit! Rum! My mouth opened to call for him as I turned to him—-the Alpha was squirming violently, grunting in pain, as though something was choking him. ‘Rum?’ I tapped his chest. But he didn’t hear me. ‘Ugh…,’ he groaned, his brows revealing the discomfort he was experiencing. ‘Mmph….’ I seemed to feel his pain and I didn’t like it. I don’t want this for him. ‘Rum!’ I grabbed his shoulders and mustered all my strength to shake harder than the tremors in his body. ‘Wake up!’ ‘Uh!’ He tossed over, his face in excruciating pain, and then his eyelids flew open, their eyeballs bulging from their sockets. Then, he jolted to a sitting position and started coughing hard, his hand gripping mine tightly. ‘FUCK!’ He roared, slamming his fists into the sheets like a crazed animal. ‘Fuck, fuck, fuck!’ Veins of fury appeared like green lightning across those thick, trembling muscles. ‘Goddamn it! FUCK!’ Immediately, I hugged him and

ROSE It’s strange. How heavy a chest filled with yearning would be; my feet had not feel this heavy before. Or maybe I feel like I’m dragging along a boulder because I’m going up the steepest and most uneven slope of the werewolf world. ‘What’s this world even called?’ I huffed, glaring at my fifth consecutive hour of grey, boring, vexed crags. ‘Human world… werewolf world… Howling Five….’ My feet halted. Rum…. I straightened my back to take a good look around me. Nope. Still no sign of any life form. Not even a weed in sight. Just the night sky, the moon, the rocks and me. Keithen Hook…. My face lifted to the wispy clouds passing by, waving at me, encouraging me to move on. Save him, Rose…. The voice continued whispering in my mind. ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah…. Save him. Save him….’ I wiped my cold, damp forehead with the back of my hand, resisted the urge to turn back or crumbled to the ground in tears like a four year old demanding for a candy, I pulled my right foot forward a

ROSE It was a werewoman. From her clothes, I could tell that she had been hunting. The fact that I found her here, in the middle of nowhere, not with a pack, means she’s a rogue. The angry red swell in her ankle told me she had slipped, and her being a werewolf told me that she was waiting for her ankle to heal. Those were all my analysis until I came closer and saw a twig jutting from the swell. The frightened look on her face further revealed that this wasn't her first time out alone, and it sure wasn't her first time chancing upon someone while being out here. And those meetings weren't pleasant. 'I-I….' My hand stretched out to her. What's wrong with you, Rose? The woman's more afraid of you than you are of her. I inhaled to calm my nerves and tried on a kind smile. 'I'm a healer.' I knelt before her and observed her wound. 'I don't need a healer,' she snapped. 'Then you need to pull this thing out.' I looked up at her, my brows gathered with concern. 'You're losing