A Rose Among Thorns

Chapter 2

I walked out to the kitchen to put my bowl away after dinner and said goodnight to Maria and Steven. They both know that I am not going to sleep yet, but I wont be coming out of my room again, well as far as they know. It has been about half an hour since I said goodnight when there was a knock at our door.

This made me tense we never get visitors this late in the evening. I sat quietly in my room listening to what was going on by the front door. I heard someone open the door some words were passed then some silence then I got called out of my room. I go walk to the front room and see its the same man that was at the bakery this morning – Beta Axel.

I give him a slight bow of my head before looking back up at him but avoiding eye contact. I notice that there are a few guards standing outside and the same car that he used earlier today. My focus goes back to the beta when he hands me an elegant looking envelop.

I look up at him and give him a confused look. What is this? I ask softly.

Beta Axel gives me a slightly amused look before maintaining his façade. that is a personal invitation to the kings ball this weekend. You will be picked up at 6:30pm sharp by one of the royal drivers and a guard. He says with the slightest bit of excitement in his voice.

This weekend was two days away! This cant be right. I am a human hiding in a werewolfs world. Why on earth would I be invited to the kings ball?

I look at the Beta like he is crazy Why? I ask.

This time the Beta dose let his façade fall and smiles at me with amusement and answers you intrigue me I dont remember seeing you at the last ball so want to make sure you attend this one

He is right about that. There was a ball a month ago and I chose not to attend despite Marias incessant pleading. I cant go to a ball. Firstly, I dont know the correct etiquette, secondly, I dont dance and thirdly, I am trying to lie low and going to ball seems to be the complete opposite of that.

I open my mouth to politely decline but Beta Axel beats me to it. I wont take no for an answer Miss Rose then he bids us all goodnight as I am left standing there trying to think of a way out of this.

Once the door was closed Maria lets loose her excitement and starts excitedly talking about all we need to do. I cant help but let he excitement seep into me a little. I never did get to go to my high school formal dance so this could be like that. I still want to decline and say I cant go but I know that my attempts will just fall on deaf ears.

After talking to Maria and Steven for a while and getting some plans in place we all head off to bed. I go to my room and change into my all black ensemble consisting of a long sleeve black shirt, black stretchy jeans, my black hoodie to and my black combat boots. As I wait for Maria and Steven to fall asleep, I look at the full-length mirror in my room.

I hate what I see looking back at me. There stands a tall girl with long dirty blonde hair, a soft smattering of freckles on her cheeks and nose, a slim frame with the subtle curves hidden by clothes that act as a mask over the many scars that I know hide underneath. The lastly, the blue green hazel eyes that always see so hard and cold, yet I can always see the deep pain hidden behind them.

I move away from the mirror before I get emotional and look at the time. Its been about an hour since they went to bed so Im sure they are asleep by now. With that in mind I take my water bottle and sneak out my window and head towards the forest.

I passed this clearing a while aback when I came out here for a walk after a particularly bad night. Ever since that night I have come out here every night to train. I have to stay fit and strong in case something happens, also recently I started developing these abilities. I can move things without touching them (telepathy). It has also given me extra strength and speed if I call upon it.

These abilities started to develop about a year and a half ago. I think they are part of the reason I was drawn to this kingdom. Like I have worked with the supernatural before but even this kingdom pack was secret to almost everyone.

I have also been reading through some of Stevens books and there are a lot of them about werewolves and their history and things like that. But even reading through almost all of them I have never come across anything that can give me any hints about these abilities. So right now, Im just kind of winging it until I know more.

Tonight, feels different. I feel like something important needs to be acknowledged or something, but I dont know what it is but its making me nervous. I carry on training and exercising despite this feeling. I have been trained by quite a few different people throughout my life and each one always had a different method. But no matter the method I always took in as much learning as I could before I had to inevitably leave. I started training so often that many times I would end up being better than the person training me.

As Im training, I start practicing with my bow and arrows that I have hidden in the trees – got the idea from reading The Hunger Games. I need to make sure I keep up my aim practice, but I cant use guns because they would make too much noise. As I get myself set up, I notice that my shaking has gotten better. When I first came here my hands were always shaking, it was a side effect of the trauma I have experienced but I was trying to hide it. I know that Maria and Steven noticed my shaking hands, but they never said anything.

Since being here my stress and anxiety has gotten better as well as my PTSD. I was planning on leaving this place a few months ago but nothing has forced me to leave and ever since being here, this is calmest I have felt in a long time. So, I just stayed, and Ive been using the excuse that I still need to recuperate myself before facing everything again.

Im worried that soon Im going to start getting too comfortable here and staying in one place for too long. Its dangerous for me and others around me to stay in one place for too long because the chance of them finding me increases and I cant let that happen. Maybe I should leave tomorrow night or maybe I can stay until after the ball.

After a few hours I can feel that my body is beginning to get tired to I head back to the cottage and have a quick shower before climbing in bed and trying to go to sleep but as always sleep eludes me. However, after some time I finally manage to fall asleep.