Chapter 28

Rough hands grip my shoulder as I am viciously shaken from my momentary slumber. Ryder keeps saying "Rosa wake up, please. What the hell do you mean that today is your birthday?" He continues this for a few more minutes before he picked me up and shakes me a little harder to wake me up.

I finally had enough and groaned out, "What?"

Ryder seemed to get even more furious as he says, "Why did you wait for the end of the day to tell me that it was your birthday? I could have given you the most amazing things and a spectacular day an-" I had to cut him off. He just doesn't realizes that today was amazing.

"Don't you get it? You have brought me the best birthday in all of my life. For my birthdays for the last 18 years I have been beaten and alone. This year I was able to have my friend, mate, and be able to open up to everyone. You have given me the greatest gift of all, love." He looked at me with tears in his eyes and pulled me into a hug. He has been hugging me a lot lately, but I am not going to complain. I love his hugs. They are always warm and seduce me into a content state.

He whispers, "You truly were brought up in such a horrible environment. I am sorry I wasn't able to be there for you then, but I will be with you here from now to forever."

"It's alright."

"I love you Rosa," I wanted to say those words back to him to make him feel better, but I couldn't. I don't feel truly in love with him. I do care for him, but not in the way he cares for me. He seemed to realize my state and say "Don't worry, you don't have to say the same thing back until you are ready. I just love for you to know that you love me. That reminds me . . ." He trails off as he gets up and goes over to the closet. He digs around until he pulls out something that I couldn't see. He walks back with the thing behind his back and sits back on the bed.

He brings the item out from behind his back and I see a black box. Ryder opens it and I see the most beautifully intricate ring I have ever seen. I freeze as a thought came to my mind. Ryder notices my look and says, "Don't freak out. It is not an engaement ring, yet. Don't give me that look you know that I want to marry you one day, even though it is not a part of a werewolves custom. This is a ring of promise. I promise to always be there for you and protect you from the dangers of the world. If I fail I will never be able to forgive myself. I won't stop until I fully redeem myself. If you die then I will kill myself so I will be able to be with you forever. Werewolves don't die unless in an attack, but if you die in human form I will kill myself and my wolf to fully be with you. That's why we don't have old people here and that's why many parents seem young. We stop aging a certain time in our life and stay that way forever. So, Rosa this ring is a promise of my love for you. One day I will exchange it for an engagement ring and then a wedding ring, but right now this is an eternal promise. Will you accept it?"

"Yes," I say breathlessly as I couldn't believe the sweetness of his words towards me. He takes my hand and puts the ring on my ring finger on my left hand, as not to confuse anyone if it was on my right.

I gave him a full on heated kiss on his mouth before I fell asleep, looking at his happy face.

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I wake up to shouting and Ryder shaking me. I wanted to fall back asleep, but his face was set on worry and fear. I shot up and asked, "What's wrong?" He begins to freak out a little until I touched his cheek to calm him down. He took deep breaths from his miniature panic attack.

"We are being attacked and we need to get you somewhere safe." I nod my head and grab clothes to quickly put on since we were completely nude. I got ready so fast that I was amazed that no time passed. Ryder grabs my hand and brings me downstairs, but stops when he sees everybody fighting against people in black. It was so chaotic that it looked like they were just merging together. I noticed Nicole and Dalton fighting back to back against a group of people in black that were surrounding them. I notice children hiding under furniture trying to escape the horrible attack of these people. No one was to be paying any attention to them which I was thankful for. I was amazed at how many people in black were already down on the ground either close to death or has already met him face to face. We quickly ran back upstairs, but something wraps around my legs pulling them out from under me. My head bangs against the hard wood stairs. My vision begins to blur as Ryder starts to fight with whoever tripped me. I could already feel a headache coming to my head.

I try to lift my head, but it was impossible if I didn't want to lose all consciousness. I hated to feel so unaware that it was killing me to not just deal with losing consciousness to notice what was going on for a few seconds. I made sure to turn my head to see the people who are fighting with the pack. I saw Ryder fight with an older man that I immediately recognize. My eyes bulge at who the old man was. This can't be happening. I thought he was burned dead with the rest of them. I guess not though because here he is, fighting perfectly fine in front of everyone. Why would he be here though? What use did he have of being here and fighting with my pack none the less? I couldn't go back though. I hate to fight as much as I could otherwise I will lose everything I have been working towards. I couldn't lose my pack, Nicole, and especially not Ryder. Ryder is the one who made me into such a better person that it shocks me at how fast he has helped me and my life evolve into something better.

My vision was then covered by a sac. I screamed and thrashed around at the person who was attacking me. Suddenly a needle was pushed into my arm and I began to feel numb. I tried to fight back, but I was only becoming weaker. The last thing I heard was Ryder calling out my name.

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Unimaginable amounts of pain hit my abdomen that it was difficult to breath. I try to push away, but shackles kept me from moving a lot. One side of my body is pressed down on the cold concrete floor and the other faces the icy cold air in the room. I lift my head and immediately got a hug migraine. I felt like someone was trying to bash it in.

I got a better look around the room to see it was entirely concrete. There was a small table set up in the near corner across the room that held a laptop on top. I looked closer and saw that the screen was completely black, but a red light was blinking. Did that mean it was recording? My head hurts so much that it is impossible to even think straight.

I look down at my hand and I see the ring Ryder gave me before all of this had happened. Do I blame him? No, of course not. He was fighting to keep me with him with all his might. Although now since I am here I know that he won't come back for me. We all have our faults and one that I know everyone has is that you try once and then give up. You might try a little longer, but they always give up. I felt tears form, but force them away as I get a closer look at the room.

I notice a beaten mattress along with a sink and toilet in the corner. My eyes widen at wear I am. I thought this place burned down. This can't still be standing. I saw it for myself and I swear the people in here burned down with the house. I remember it so clearly that it hurts.

My folks just kicked me out of the house to go hunt for food. It was near fall almost hitting winter. It was my last chance of getting a good meal until I was forced to eat whatever they had left for scraps, which was very little. I sometimes think that they throw out most of the food they don't eat so that I have to starve.

My feet run across the forrest ground to see if any of my traps have gotten a prey. I see that all of them has caught something. I quickly get them all and build a fire. I cook them as quickly as possible to not get a harsher beating for being out for so long.

I don't eat for long, but it suffices my hunger as I start to head back to that nightmare. I see smoke in the direction of the torture chamber and I run towards it. I see the house engulfed in flames. My eyes open wider at the horrible realization I am all alone. These people were the people to give me a place to stay and food. Now I have to stay on the streets as my new home.

Before I know what I am doing I am running away from the horrible place I have been stuck in for years. I am finally able to make my own choices and live my own life. I don't have to live in torture and in fear of doing something wrong day in and day out. Then I realized it.

I am finally free.

The door opening brings me out of my memory to see one of people that I thought burned in the hell house. I should have known better than to ever think I could escape a cold fate like this. Who knows maybe I will be able to live in an actual house again.

As I stare at his face I see that nothing has changed. His red hair is as vibrant as ever to match mine and his brown eyes are almost black to match coal. He has a pot belly yet his arms are very muscular, probably from beating up little kids. His legs also have some muscle and his feet have this horrible stench that makes me scrunch up my nose.

He sneers at me, but walk closer to me so his feet were in front of my face. He lifts his foot and slowly pushes down on my cheek before he wipes his shoe off on my face. I felt the dirt from his shoe on my face, but I didn't dare move in case he wanted to start kicking me nonstop.

He then crouches down and whispers, "Did you miss me daughter? We have a lot of catching up to do."