Chapter Eight

A few weeks later, Rose was feeling more and more at home, but there was a buzz around the pride and she was completely unsure of what was going on. Kraven had finally gone back to work at one of the companies the pride owned, leaving her alone at his cabin.

He’d gotten her a cell phone when they’d gone shopping not long after the incident in the alpha’s office. She was much more comfortable in the form-fitting black jeans and a warm hoodie they’d bought. It was more to her liking than the years and years of wearing her usual hospital scrubs.

It was the first of a new month, and they were gearing up for another celebration at the end of the month. They’d already had a major gathering and meal for a holiday they called “Thanksgiving” and the next one was called “Christmas”.

It was still twenty-four days away, but what did she know? Maybe it took them that long to prepare for the next feast. When curiosity got the best of her, she pulled out her cell phone and pressed the preprogrammed number for his sister, Hope.

“Hey Rose,” Hope greeted. That female was becoming one of her closest allies…or friends one would say. “What’s up?”

“I have a question,” she said into the phone.

“What’s that?” The background noise appeared to vanish and Rose wondered what she was doing and if her call had interrupted something important.

“Why is everyone running around like they’re planning Christmas already?” Rose was confused. What was Christmas all about and why was it going to take them almost a month to get ready for it?

“He didn’t tell you?” Hope’s voice deepened and Rose heard her curse under her breath.

“Tell me what?”

“His birthday is tomorrow,” Hope sighed. “December 2 nd . Ugh, he hates a spectacle, but we celebrate anyway.”

“Oh, no,” Rose panicked. “I had no idea. What does the pride do for birthdays?”

“We usually have a big meal at the main house and some of us get him presents. After that, most of the pride will shift for a few hours to play in the woods.”

Presents? She’d heard of this custom but had no idea how it all worked. In the books she’d read, a character was celebrating a birthday with just his parents and baby brother. There was cake and a few gifts. She didn’t even get a present on her birthday.

“I don’t have a present for him,” she admitted. “What does he like?”

“You,” Hope chuckled. “I can’t believe you two haven’t touched yet.”

“Oh!” Rose blushed, knowing what his sister was talking about. They hadn’t even discussed a mating, but she was starting to feel something toward him. It was stronger than their friendship, but she couldn’t explain what she and her animals were feeling. Whatever the word for it was, she knew it was something beyond her knowledge. Was it the feral need to mate like Hope had spoken about?

“You have time,” Hope interrupted her thoughts. “Do you want to come to the main house and help?”

“I don’t even know how to cook, Hope,” Rose reminded her. Her meals were made for her in the hospital. She’d never even stepped in a kitchen before this, but she was willing to try.

“We have plenty of females who can teach you,” Hope said. “Come over. I just got here.”

“Okay,” she said with a smile the female couldn’t see. “I’ll be there in ten minutes.”

After they hung up, Rose brushed her teeth and paused for a moment to peer into the mirror. She looked different, and the smile she wore was one she hadn’t seen since she was a child. It was a happiness she’d only dreamed of, and thinking of Kraven made the smile so large it hurt her cheeks.

She had birthdays, but there were no celebrations. No presents. Whatever happened tomorrow would be new to her, but she wasn’t going to let that stop her from joining in on Kraven’s birthday dinner. It was a wonderful day to know, because if Kraven hadn’t been born, she might’ve died in those woods, alone and helpless.

Stepping out on the porch, she closed the front door and made her way over to the main house that stood tall and nothing like the hospital. The non-descript home she’d always known was dull and not as inviting as the alpha’s home.

A cool wind blew from the north, and she scented for any danger. It was a habit that had been trained into her at the hospital. When she found nothing other than the scent of burning wood that appeared to be coming from a few of the cabins on the main road leading to most of the pride’s homes, she kept on her trek toward the house.

The cold chill in the air wasn’t anything like where she was raised. Usually, the month of December was met with snow and frigid temperatures. The pride’s home wasn’t expecting snow for a long time. She heard the young children mention how they couldn’t wait for the new year because they hoped they’d get snowfall in the coming months. Rose knew she was in the southern part of the country, and if what she pieced together from her war novels was true and her noticing how the rivers moved downhill, she might’ve been raised somewhere farther north from her current location.

She made a mental note to tell the alpha and Kraven of her revelation, but she had a birthday to help prepare for, and maybe she’d get a cooking lesson out of it. The thought of making a meal for Kraven excited her. She was three decades into her life, and she should know those things by now.

“Rose!” Hope cheered when she entered the kitchen. The scent of rich spices and the warmth of something boiling on the stove gave Rose an uncommon feeling. It was peaceful, and the love of a family swirled around the kitchen as a few elder females moved about the kitchen as if they’d been experts their entire lives.

“I don’t know how to cook, but I’d like to learn how to make something for Kraven. I don’t have any money to purchase him a present.” She was brutally honest, and the females didn’t shun her. No, in fact, they turned around with beautiful smiles on their faces.

“Would you like to learn how to make a cake?” Marie, Evie’s mother, asked.

“Sure,” she answered, feeling a bit of excitement tighten her chest.

“Come over here,” June, the cubs’ caretaker, ordered.

The counter was set up with several ingredients, and even though she didn’t know how to cook, Rose recognized most of the items.

“Marie writes down all of her recipes,” June began. “So, here are the instructions. I’d read them over before you begin so you know the steps you’ll need to mix the batter.”

“Okay,” she replied, feeling a bit more at ease. She could follow instructions to build things and deconstruct them. Cakes couldn’t be that hard, right?

Picking up the card, Rose read the instructions, and then made notes of the ingredient amounts. It looked easy. So, she got to work, using her memory to construct the batter, reaching for a large pan. She greased and floured it before adding the mix. Once she was done and popped it in the oven, she turned around and asked the females, “Is there anything else I can cook? This is fun.”

Hope chuckled and handed her another recipe card. That one was for coleslaw. She’d eaten that before at the hospital and enjoyed it. By the time she was done, she’d memorized several recipes.

“So, you like cooking, huh?” Hope asked, taking a dish towel from Marie to dry her hands. “Do you want us to make a copy so you can keep it for later?”

“Oh, no,” Rose smiled while shaking her head. “I’ve memorized them.”

“Memorized them?” Marie asked.

“I have a good memory.” Rose shrugged and took a seat at a table in the corner of the kitchen. She also had an instinct for time. The cake was almost done, and June had set a timer, but Rose automatically knew there were only two minutes and seven seconds left before it was done.

“How good?” Hope asked, coming to her side.

“The timer for the cake has one minute and thirty-seven seconds left,” Rose replied, knowing she couldn’t see the numbers on the oven from where she was sitting.

“Wow,” Hope gasped. “How long have you had this ability?”

“Forever, I guess,” Rose shrugged. “Why?”

“This is something you might want to mention to Talon and the healers,” Hope suggested. “Shifters have abilities that humans don’t possess, but your memory and time recall is super advanced.”

The elder females excused themselves to take a break from cooking, leaving the two females alone in the kitchen. Rose didn’t understand why they’d left, but she assumed it was so Hope could talk to her more privately.

“I didn’t know that was an ability only I had,” Rose admitted. “The doctors at the hospital tested me constantly from the time I’d shown as having a photographic memory. The time thing might’ve come from my training.”

Hope smiled warmly and took Rose’s hand in hers. “We don’t want to overwhelm you, but whenever you think of something, or one of your abilities makes itself known, you really need to talk to Talon and let him know. It could give us a better idea of where you came from.”

“I need to talk to him anyway,” Rose admitted. “I think I know where the hospital is that I escaped from.”

“I think he’s in his office. You should go now, Rose,” Hope urged, pulling her up from her seat.

Kraven was chomping at the bit to leave work, but he was still waiting for one more supplier to arrive with a truckload of materials for an office complex Shaw Construction was building in town.

The driver had called earlier to let him know they should arrive around three that afternoon. It was already ten minutes after their promised time, and he tried to keep from being agitated at the delivery being late.

He knew his frustrations had nothing to do with the delivery. He’d rather be at home so he could spend time with Rose. Thankfully, his sister had messaged him earlier, letting him know that Rose was up at the main house helping her and the elders work on his birthday dinner.

It was no surprise to him that they were going overboard for his thirty-seventh celebration. He wanted to tell them not to celebrate him, but he might as well have been telling that to a brick wall. The pride was big on celebrations, and he wasn’t going to hurt the elder females’ feelings by insisting they forgo their planning. Showing up and accepting gifts was just part of life at the Shaw pride.

The driver eventually showed up, and to Kraven’s relief, he was able to unload in record time. Once it was all said and done, he closed up the warehouse doors and locked everything before jumping in his truck to head home. He couldn’t wait to check on Rose and his sister.

The drive home was extra heavy for a Friday afternoon. There were a few wrecks on the two-lane highway leading south of town, but he was able to skirt around them with ease. There was only one way to the pride’s land that made sense. Anything else would’ve cost an extra half-hour drive to get home.

Kraven hated the logistics of that route, knowing the pride was somewhat boxed into their rural location. If there was danger, it was almost better for them to shift and go on foot to flee if worse came to worse, so to speak. Fortunately, the pride was aware of the security implications, and that was why Talon had put up additional fencing around the pride. The cameras were an added protection if they were attacked on their own lands.

They’d been attacked before, but thankfully, not one of the enemies had penetrated their homes, and for that, Kraven was thankful. He would’ve fought to the death for the Shaw pride even though he was not born into the original family.

When he arrived home after a long commute, he stopped at the alpha’s home to run in to check for Rose. Hope hadn’t let him know if she had gone back to his cabin yet.

But he found Talon’s daughter, Ember, sitting on the front steps leading into the house. She was older now, more mature, and she was studying up on how to be an alpha herself. As he approached, he noticed the brown-haired pre-teen staring off into the distance.

“Ember?” Kraven called out her name. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah, sure,” she mumbled, her eyes shifting to look out toward the road. “I just needed some fresh air.” Kraven knew she was lying…he could scent it.

“Whatever is going on with you, you need to speak up. I can tell you’re lying, kid.” Kraven wasn’t sure why she had such a sour face, but from the way she focused on the road that ran in front of the pride, he assumed it had to do with someone.

“It’s kid’s stuff, Uncle Kraven,” she huffed. “You wouldn’t understand.”

“What’s going on? Is it the public school? Are the kids bullying you?” He was about to call out to Talon through the link he shared with the alpha, but Ember reached up to touch his arm. Damn, that kid already had alpha powers, and he could sense it just by her touch.

“Leave my father out of this,” she warned, knowing what he was about to do. “He has enough on his plate.”

“You, little Shaw, are the reason why your papa lives and breathes,” he reminded her. “If you’re having trouble, he needs to know, and so does your mother.”

“I’m fine,” she barked, rolling her eyes the way teenagers did when they were done talking to you.

“Well, you don’t look fine,” he barked back, squatting down so he was eye level with her. “You have until tomorrow to talk to your parents, or I’ll do it for you. Whatever is happening, I assure you, us old folks have seen, heard, or done it ourselves. You’ve got to learn to control your emotions if you’re going to be an alpha one day.”

“Okay, okay,” she snarled. “Fine, I’ll talk to them after dinner.”

“Good,” he said, standing up to head inside the house. Gods, as much as he wanted cubs, he sure as fuck didn’t want to deal with them from age fourteen, like Ember, to age twenty. Those years sucked for everyone.

The moment he entered the house, Hope met him in the foyer. There was a look in her eyes he didn’t like and that worried him.

“Is Rose okay?” he panicked. Gods, he shouldn’t have gone into work and left her alone.

“She’s fine,” Hope promised, placing a hand on his forearm. “Rose is in the office with Talon. She thinks she knows where she came from. You should go in there. I told Talon and Rose I’d send you that way as soon as you arrived.”

“There’s something else,” he stated, knowing his sister all too well. He had always been able to read her like an open book. “What is it?”

“We’ve found out a little more about her abilities, Kraven,” Hope sighed heavily. “She’s really fucking smart. So much so that you need to see it for yourself. I’ll let her fill you in. It’s quite interesting.”

“You’re scaring me a little,” he responded, relaxing his shoulders. At least it wasn’t anything bad like her shifting into a hellhound and eating the sheriff…but then again, that wouldn’t have been a bad thing.

“Just go!” she barked and smiled when she turned on her heels to head back to the kitchen where he could scent a cake fresh out of the oven. Ugh, he guessed his birthday was going to be a celebration as usual.

Kraven knocked on the office door and steeled his spine for whatever was on the other side. He’d gotten quite protective of Rose over the last few weeks, and his panther was just as nervous as he was not knowing what happened while he was at work.

“Come in,” he heard his alpha call out.

When he entered the office, his Rose was sitting calmly in one of the chairs in front of the desk and Talon’s body language was relaxed as he sat it his. That was a good start.

“Hope told me you might know where you’re from?” he asked as he took the other open seat next to hers.

“I think I’m from Chicago,” she admitted. “Well, maybe somewhere close to there. I was watching television this morning and they were talking about a huge snowstorm that’s going to hit there in a few days. They said there was going to be “lake effect snow”? I remember the hospital staff using that word whenever we would get large snowstorms there.”

“Now,” Talon began, “I’ve let Rose know that those snowstorms hit all along the Great Lakes, and while she narrowed down our search, she could’ve flown from several other areas besides Chicago.”

There was hope in his alpha’s eyes. Talon wanted to know all he could about the MODs as much as everyone else. But he also had noticed how Talon had taken Rose in as if she were his own flesh and blood. The female was being accepted into the pride like she’d been meant to be there all along.

“We can sit down with a map and go over all of the areas you could’ve come from,” Kraven offered. “I’m pretty good with geography, and if I don’t know anything about a certain area, we always have the internet to look up photos.”

“I’d like to do that tonight,” Rose stated. “Unless you are tired from your work. We can always do that day after tomorrow.”

“I’d like to start tonight. If we don’t come up with anything solid, we can always work on that tomorrow, too,” he offered.

“Tomorrow is your birthday,” she reminded him, narrowing her eyes. “You are to relax and enjoy your special day.”

“I agree, Kraven,” Talon chuckled at Rose’s stern command. “You have to let the females spoil you, because if you don’t, I’ll never hear the end of it from my mate.”

“Fine,” he drawled out.

The three of them shared a moment of joy in the office, but it quickly quieted as they finished up their short meeting. Kraven was chomping at the bit to get her alone so he could ask her about Hope’s cryptic message concerning her abilities.

They left the alpha’s home after taking two plates of food from the kitchen. Marie had shooed them away after that, demanding he go home and rest because they had a big day planned for him for his birthday.

“I never wanted a birthday party,” he grumbled beside Rose as they walked toward his cabin, passing the dorms where some of the teenagers were sparing. It looked like Talon was going to have some new Guardians in the next five or so years.

“You’re lucky to have so many people who love you enough to have a party,” she mumbled, but he heard her loud and clear. “I never even got a cupcake on my dinner tray.”

“When is your birthday? Do you even know that?” Kraven set aside his disgust at being celebrated. Rose’s day was more important anyway. She should be celebrated.

“I just turned thirty in September,” she said with a shrug. “At least the MODs knew that much. It was written on every sheet of paper we had handed to us when we were being tested…our MOD number and our date of birth. I’ve only been away for a month, and I can see how awful I was treated. The pride is so free !”

Kraven let her ramble on as they entered his cabin. He wasn’t one for locked doors, but he’d gotten into the habit since Rose came along. The hospital could still be sending their Trackers to find her, and if that deadbolt was the one thing that kept them out long enough for him to hide her away, he was going to keep using it.

She took her plate to the table and removed the plastic covering, leaning forward to scent the delicious meal. The sigh she let out made him smile and he forgot about MODs, hospitals, and birthdays long enough to sit across from her and unwrap his own meal.

“So, Hope tells me you found a new ability today,” he said after chewing his first bite of venison.

“Yeah,” she chuckled. “I guess I have a super ability, or so Hope says.”

She took a drink of water and set down the glass. Kraven was about to press her for information when she set her fork down next to her plate and leaned back in the chair.

“It took us one minute and forty-three seconds to walk from the back door of the main house to the threshold of yours.”

Kraven had no idea what she was talking about, and he made a face of confusion that had her laughing a little louder.

“You’re making no sense,” he chided.

“I have this crazy ability to tell time accurately. I don’t even know what it’s called, and I didn’t know it wasn’t a common thing among shifters.”

“Wait,” he said, shaking his head. “Do you mean like your internal clock is super accurate?”

“I had no idea it was a thing until Hope asked me about my eidetic memory and time recall.” Rose shrugged and picked up her fork to continue eating.

“Tell me about your time recall ability. How did Hope figure that out?” Kraven urged. He wanted to witness it for himself. While all shifters had super memories, Rose’s must’ve been impressive for his sister to question her about it.

“I was baking something, and I didn’t need the timer.” She shrugged and a small smile pulled at the corner of her lip. “When I mentioned the exact amount of time left on the timer someone had set on the oven, without looking, everyone was shocked. Hope asked me about it, and that’s when she suggested I let Talon know that little detail. Well, details. I only looked at the recipe card once. I can recall things I’ve read with much ease.”

“That’s fascinating,” he admitted. Fuck, she, and the other MODs, were damn machines. “Would you be willing to show me? I’d like to see this for myself.”

“Sure. Do you have anything you’d like for me to put together or take apart?”

Rose was very willing to do anything the pride asked of her. That bit of thought had Kraven concerned.

“You do realize you can tell any of us no, right?” he asked, finishing his glass of water. When he stood up to get another one, he looked over his shoulder when Rose became silent.

“I don’t know that,” she admitted, looking down at her lap. The defeat in the gesture had Kraven coming to her side. He wanted nothing more than to use his forefinger to lift her chin.

“Talk to me, Rose,” he begged. “What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know how to maneuver this new life of mine,” she admitted, sniffling a little, and he knew she was holding back tears. “I’ve always been told what to do, how to do it, and when to do it. You’ll have to forgive me, but it’s all I know. It’s the only way I know to act.”

“Oh, Rose,” he cooed. “We want you to be yourself here. You’re not a prisoner, and you have your own free will.”

“I know that, but…like…I don’t know that at the same time,” she replied. “I see the other females around the pride. They have jobs and they have fun with the others. I see them shifting and running through the woods periodically throughout the day. I know I can do that too, but it’s all so weird to me.”

“Weird how?” Kraven pulled his chair closer to hers, but not so close they touched. Rose had so much baggage from her life that adding on a mating was just cruel. He’d wait for her though.

“I’ve always been told when to shift, when to eat, when to shower, and I’ve always had a schedule. Everyone here is so… carefree . I don’t know how to do that.” She let her hands fall into her lap with the heavy thud of someone who was about to give up, and he knew his Rose wasn’t like that. She was a strong woman who needed to learn her independence.

“I understand where you’re coming from,” he admitted, pulling up a very old memory.

“What do you mean?” Rose had lifted her head, and the shame in her eyes was almost gone.

“Before I came to the Shaw pride, I lived in North Carolina with my sister. One night, our pride was attacked by wolves. I was then sold to scientists who were trying to study shifters. They drugged me with something that made me feral. I almost hurt Mary Grace.”

“Mary Grace?” she gasped.

“Yes, my Guardian brother’s mate,” he replied. Now it was his turn to drop his head in shame. It’d been many years, but he would always feel shame about the time he’d been drugged and told to do the unthinkable to a female. Thank the gods he hadn’t done anything.

“I’m so sorry,” she replied, but she didn’t know everything.

“That’s not all,” he replied. “I was naked and locked in a cage. They’d brought Mary Grace to me so they could study me. The man who’d brought Mary Grace in didn’t know she was a shifter until she lashed out at them. It was a horrible night. She’d been touched by males who were not her mate, and her skin felt like boiling lava had been tossed on the spots where their skin had touched hers. Thank our gods I was coherent enough to scent her new pregnancy, and I fought the drugs so I wouldn’t be forced to mount her against her will.”

“You mean?” Rose cried. He didn’t know if that had ever happened to her in the hospital, and he was starting to think maybe it had by how fast her tears were falling.

“Yes, Rose,” he said, lowering his voice. “They wanted me to have sex with her so they could watch and take notes on how shifters mate.”

“That’s awful!” she glared, a hint of red from her hellhound leaking into her beautiful blue eyes. “I hope you killed them.”

“The pride took care of them,” he promised.

“What happened to the pride you were born into?” she asked, abandoning her plate.

“You haven’t eaten enough,” he pointed out.

“But I want to know about your life,” she pouted, and he found it endearing.

“Eat, I’ll talk,” he ordered.

Once she picked up her fork and dove back into her meal, he released a long breath and continued his and Hope’s story. He hated to think about those days, but it was something Rose needed to hear. She’d lived a fucked up but sheltered life.

“There is always going to be a threat to us,” he reminded her. “Some humans didn’t take it well when we were exposed. It caused our enemies to come looking for us and new ones to make themselves known. It’s important that we keep you a secret until we find the hospital and the scientists who created you.”

“What about the others?”

“We have prides they can go to,” he answered. “There are a few prides who’ve taken in humans turned shifter after a war we fought with the wolves.”

“There is so much to learn,” she said with a groan of defeat.

“We have time,” he reminded her…and himself. There was plenty of time for her learning and their mating. She never said if she’d been hurt in the hospital, and he prayed she hadn’t. In the world they lived in, it was not uncommon for females to be taken advantage of in a setting like where she’d grown up.