All Chapters of THE WILD ROSE: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

33 Chapters

10-BLACK CAT

Bianca looked at her, expression flat, eyes cold enough to strip warmth from the room without effort.“Likewise,” she said, her gaze flicking lazily around the bar. “This place stinks.”Rose didn’t rise to it, even though something in her already wanted to. That was the thing about Bianca. She didn’t need to push hard. She just… pressed, and waited for you to break yourself against it.“What do you want, Bianca?”“A message,” she said simply, stepping closer as though she had every right to stand in Rose’s space. “Kaelynn has to cancel tonight. He wants you at the docks at Midnight. He has a little job for you.”Rose clenched her fist before she realized she’d done it.“I’m working,” she replied, keeping her tone even. “I don’t just walk out because someone clicks their fingers.”Bianca sneered.“Well,” she said lightly, “you can tell him that.”A pause, just long enough to be deliberate.“Oh, that’s right,” she added, turning her head. “You can’t. His phone is off because he has more

11-BLACKHAND MAFIA

The alley narrowed around her, brick pressing in on either side as if the space itself had decided to close its teeth.Five figures at one end. Five at the other.Dirty, stinking, rogues.They simply stood there, watching her, waiting in a way that told her this had been decided long before she set foot into the trap.Rose let her gaze move over them slowly, counting without turning her head, reading the way they held themselves, the lack of discipline in their stance, the hunger that bled through every loose movement.One of them stepped forward, his grin crooked and careless, eyes lighting with recognition as he looked her over like she was already his.“This her?” he called, glancing back at the others. “This the one she wants us to kill?”A second voice answered from somewhere behind him, amused and ugly.“Yeah. That’s her. The one that dropped Bernie.”Rose’s fingers curled at her sides, her pulse settling instead of spiking as the pieces slid neatly into place.“Bad odds,” Rose

12-INQUISITORS

Kaelyn stepped forward, placing his hand on my back. My wolf wanted to leap for joy until I noted Bianca and the driver standing silently behind us.“Nikolas, on what authority do you think you can walk into Westwood and go after one of my own?”The inquisitor, she now knew, was called Nikolas, eyed Kaelyn shrewdly.“As long as we are not impeding your business, what do you care what we do with the girl? The Wolf Queen has ordered all witches to be brought before her for judgment. She is clearly a half-breed, not to be trusted.”“You think I care what the Wolf Queen orders?”Kaelyn's voice was low. Rose wondered if the implied threat had gone over Nikolas’ head.Nikolas squinted.“You have never cared what we have done in the past. It is widely known of your distaste for wolves.”“Whatever rights you thought you had in Westwood, they end now.”“You can't just….”“Can’t I?”Kaelyn shifted closer.Nikolas narrowed his eyes, staring at Rose.“You know what she is, an energy manipulator,

13-APEX PREDATORS

Kaelyn didn’t look back at the direction the inquisitors had fled, as if they had already ceased to exist the moment he had sent them away.“It would have been the fights,” he said, his manner easy, as if it were minor, not the fact she had just been hunted by inquisitors.Rose felt her anger shift inward.“What about the fights?”“I watched you,” he said. “You controlled your energy, but I saw it. Small, but enough to be noticed.”Her stomach tensed hard.“If I noticed it,” he continued, quieter now, “others would have.”The implication fell heavily between them.Luke stayed silent, but Rose could feel the force of his attention.Kaelyn didn’t linger on it.“We had plans,” he said instead.Rose blinked, thrown by the sudden turn of conversation.“My bike is here,” she replied, her manner brisk. “I’m not leaving it.”Kaelyn didn’t hesitate to take control of the situation.“Give the keys to Sebastian.”Her jaw set immediately.“I’m not just…”“Rose.”He didn’t raise his voice, but the

14-INSTINCTS

Kaelyn didn’t release her.Even after the warning, even after admitting exactly what he was, he stayed where he was, one hand braced beside her, the other resting at her waist, close enough that she could feel the heat of him.His breath brushed her ear.“I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you since our first meeting.”The words sank in, low and dangerous.His hand lifted, fingers brushing a loose strand of her hair back from her face with a touch that was almost careful, which somehow made it worse.“You must be a witch,” he murmured. “You’ve put a spell on me.”Rose’s pulse kicked hard, her body betraying her in a way her mind refused to accept.This was insane.She was standing in the middle of nowhere, alone with a man who had just admitted he was a predator, who had killed without hesitation not half an hour ago, and yet…She wanted to be here.“I don’t think that’s how it works,” she said, though her voice came out softer than she intended.His lips curved slightly.“No?

15-HUNTING ME

“How did you know I would be at the docks?” Rose asked, the thought catching up with her as they moved together beneath the low hum of music and candlelight.“I didn’t,” Kaelyn replied, his voice sure, unhurried. “The summit finished early, so I went to find you at Howl at the Moon. Ethan told me where you were.”Her gaze sharpened slightly.“And Bianca never thought to tell you?”His jaw shifted just enough for her to notice.“I never asked her,” he said, the words measured. “And I don’t want to talk about her. Not when I have you in my arms.”That should have annoyed her.Instead, something in her chest tightened.“You’re treating me like I’m someone special,” she said, studying him carefully, searching for something solid beneath everything he was showing her. “But you barely know me. How can any of this be real?”For a moment, he didn’t answer.His hand slid lower along her back, drawing her closer, and she let him, even as her pulse began to climb again.“I’ve been asking myself

16-BLUE AND RED

I hung up the phone, my pulse hammering so hard it drowned out everything else, only to see Kaelyn lowering his own, his expression unreadable.“I’ve dealt with it,” he said.The words didn’t land.“I need to get to Viv’s house,” I shot back, already moving past him. “Your psychotic ex-girlfriend is there trying to kill her.”“She is not trying to kill her,” he replied evenly. “I just spoke with her.”I didn’t slow down.“Take me there. Now.”He watched me for half a second, measuring something I didn’t have the patience to care about.“Very well.”He pulled his keys free.I snatched them from his hand before he could react.“I’ll drive. I know the way.”For a moment, it looked like he might argue, but when I planted my hands on my hips and held his gaze, something in his expression shifted, not quite surrender, not quite amusement, but close enough.He moved around to the passenger side.I didn’t wait.The engine roared to life, tyres biting into gravel as I tore away from the barn,

17-SILHOUETTE

The patrol car rolled to a stop outside Viv’s house, the engine cut, and the driver’s door opened.Detective Maxwell Stone stepped out. He reached back for a flashlight, already focused on the scene ahead.Why did it have to be him? The question burned in my mind.“We have had reports of a disturbance here,” he said finally.Viv moved forward before I could step in, her hands still shaking even though she was trying to hide it, her shoulders squared in that stubborn way of hers.Stone angled the beam of his flashlight toward the doorframe and stepped closer, crouching slightly as he ran his fingers along the splintered wood.He let out a low whistle.“Who or what in the hell did this?” he asked, not looking at her.I shifted just enough for Viv to catch my eye, letting the warning sit there without words.She hesitated for half a second, then spoke.“I didn’t get a good look,” she said, her voice steadier than it should have been. “It happened so fast, and I called my friends. They go

18-BLOODSUCKING BITCH

I didn’t slow down. The engine screamed beneath me as I drove the bike straight at her, the road narrowing into nothing but Bianca standing there, perfectly still, daring me. At the last split second, she moved. A clean, fluid shift that let the bike tear past her. I dragged the bike sideways, tires screaming against the asphalt, forcing it into a hard turn that nearly threw me off before I slammed it back under control and spun it around to face her again. The engine idled low and angry between us. Bianca laughed like this was a sport. She didn’t even try to hide it as she began walking toward me, slow and deliberate, as if she owned the road, as if she had been waiting for this exact moment. “You really are a mongrel little dog,” she said as she looked me up and down. “I knew you’d come running.” I swung off the bike. “I’m going to give you one chance,” I said, stepping toward her. “Explain why you thought it was a good idea to break into my friend’s house and threaten he

19-A MOOD

Morning didn’t ease in so much as drag me into it, kicking and screaming, my mood already foul and demanding coffee before I could even begin to deal with the world.My shoulder throbbed where Bianca’s teeth had sunk into me, the dull pulse refusing to fade, and I couldn’t help thinking the bitch was probably rabid, which meant I’d need Luke to tell me whether I needed a shot for anything more than my pride.I pushed myself upright, swung my legs over the side of the bed, and scrubbed a hand down my face as I let out a slow breath.“Yeah,” I muttered, my voice rough, “today’s going to be a mood.”By the time I made it out back, the edge had dulled just enough that I probably wouldn’t stab the first person who spoke to me, which was fortunate for Hurricane Hale, who had already claimed his usual spot on the edge of the porch like he had been there all night, a cigarette hanging loosely between his fingers as he watched the world with detached amusement.“You look like hell,” he said.“

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