The Blood Rose pack

Lesson #1

(Jace POV)

I woke up and noticed a knock on the door. Based on the melodic beat, it had to be Judy. My mate was still asleep in my arms so I had to attempt to carefully shuffle away without stirring her awake. After a few seconds, I was up and at the door, opening it slightly. Judy had some clothes in her hands and a skeptical look on her face when I opened the door.

“Tell nobody I was here. Please, not even her. I don’t need anyone finding out, and no nothing happened last night” I kept a low tone to make sure not to wake her or to gather any attention of sensitive gossiping ears.

She raised an eyebrow at me, then looked at my sleeping mate's figure, “Was Scarlett OK with you sleeping with her?”

Scarlett. It had been a day and I never knew her name until now. I was so caught up in the moment that I didn’t even get the chance to get her name because of all the chaos leading up to now.

“Uh, she was asleep and I went to check on her, she didn’t seem to be doing too good. So I decided to comfort her to help her sleep a little better, if that makes any sense.” I was hoping Judy wouldn’t catch on, but it seemed she already did and as a result she gave me the same smirk my dad did earlier when I first saw her.

“ OK, well, you had best get going. I have to show her around and how to cook in the kitchen along with other omega duties. But by the looks of it, we might have to teach her Luna duties instead” she giggled softly.

I let out a small groan and grabbed my shoes that sat on the floor next to the bed, then looked at Scarlett still sleeping soundly under the covers and gave her forehead a small feather like kiss before turning to leave the room so Judy could go on with her plans for the day.

Since I'm up, I had better speak to my father about his plans as to what to do with Scarlett now that she's here.

(Scarlett POV)

I woke up to Judy gently shaking me. I noticed her and looked around the room while starting to tear up, knowing everything from yesterday wasn’t just a nightmare. I was a prisoner once again, but with a large group of strangers this time and not my parents.

She seemed to notice and gently shush me while cleaning the tears that dared to fall down my face, “It’s OK dear. I know it’s a lot to take in and I promise it’ll get better as time goes on. But a good start to getting used to this new norm you have to get up and change so we can make breakfast for the pack.”

I nodded silently to her and sat up from the bed. I had noticed the picture I slept with was gone and started to panic and frantically look around the bed before noticing it perched perfectly on the side of the nightstand on the other side from where I was originally sleeping. There was also a faint indent on that side of the bed. Did I roll around in my sleep and move the picture last night? I shrugged it off, then decided not to dwell on it as I changed into some regular tight blue jeans and a grey sweatshirt. I also put on a regular white apron that Judy had brought for me. She was waiting outside the door for me, so I had privacy to change. I quickly threw my hair back into a ponytail, then opened the door to Judy, who was speaking to the large man from yesterday. He was wearing a regular t-shirt and sweats while speaking to her, then gave her a quick kiss and nodded to me in silence, before he ran off down the hall.

“ That’s my mate. Jackson. But you call him Beta Jackson. He’s off to train the warriors for the morning, so we have about three hours to make breakfast for everyone, then clean up and prepare for lunch.”

I nodded and followed her down the hall. Some people passed us and they all seemed to look at me like a foreign animal that intruded into their home. I wasn’t a huge fan but I kept my eyes glued to the floor and occasionally glanced up to make sure I was still following Judy.

By the time we made it down the stairs, we turned the corner and walked past a room with several people sitting on warm leather couches in front of a fireplace. It looked cozy and reminded me slightly of home. It was nice.

We made it to the kitchen and I instantly noticed the large island in the center. The walls were lined with cabinets topped with beautiful dark granite counters along with twelve commercial ranges and three ovens. It was amazing and I could honestly envision myself baking in here on my free time.

“Ok, Scarlett, this is the kitchen, we usually make breakfast at four in the morning, then lunch at ten, then dinner around four in the afternoon. We usually clean in between, but since we have so many other people helping in here, there would be around two hours of cleaning, then free time until the next meal.” Judy smiled at me and looked sincere as she gestured me to take a look around the kitchen.

I walked around and looked in the two fridges. There were eggs, milk, cheese, butter. The usual stuff. Some cabinets had pots and pans, others had seasonings along with cereal and other ingredients.

“so, uh. What are we cooking today?” I asked while looking at the pancake mix in one of the upper cabinets.

She went to speak but three or four other people came in. They took a glance me, but paid me no mind before saying their good mornings to Judy and walking around as if they knew what to cook all together. They must do the same things every day.

“We’re making pancakes, scrambled eggs, sausage and bacon for everyone. Oh Hazel can show you how to make the pancakes.” She gestures to a curvy woman roughly the same height as me, standing by the island with various ingredients around her along with four large mixing bowls.

The girl named Hazel looked at me then rolled her eyes as she went to make the pancake batter. Once I stood next to her, she handed me a bowl and spoke in a soft but firm tone, “I have the recipe over here if you need it. We’re making around four hundred and fifty pancakes for everyone, so get comfortable, we’ll be here for a bit.”

I nodded and glanced at the recipe while grabbing the flour and eggs, then the vanilla, sugar, salt and milk. By the time we got finished with making everything, we had around twenty people in the kitchen helping set everything up in large pans in a buffet-style breakfast for the others. Once we got everything ready, I was then assigned at the sink to work with Hazel once again. She had spoken a bit more to me and was actually nice to speak with. She was from across the country and met her mate named Ashton, then moved here to be with him. She had always worked with food, but admitted that adjusting to a kitchen this big needed time.

“So, Scarlett, you’re from across town. What was it like? You brought up a farm so did you ride horses and round up cows like an old-fashioned cowboy?”

Her question made me chuckle as I handed her a plate, “no, nothing like that. I did ride horses but we never had cows, only sheep, a couple of pigs and a large number of chickens. We also planted some carrots and tomatoes in a small garden and it was a nice little area.”

Speaking of home made me tear up a little and miss everyone. Mom, Dad, Jonas. I missed them and knew I would never have the opportunity to see them again. Hazel looked concerned and gently placed a hand on my shoulder as she gave me a small smile while setting down the plate.

“I’m sorry. I was curious and forgot about your circumstances. It’s still a fresh wound. Uh, so how do you like it here so far?” she tried changing the subject to get my mind off of things. It was kinda cute.

I took a deep breath and gave a small sigh, “This place is so weird."

I looked deep into the soapy depths of the sink as I spoke, "In my opinion, like you guys talk about this place being a pack. Like animals, you call your significant others mates, which is new. Along with calling Mr. Stone, Alpha Michael. I find it interesting and a little bit strange. But not in a bad way!” I tried to sound nice about the oddities here, but was slightly prepared to get yelled at or scolded like with what happened with Judy last night.

She sighed while she dried off a pan. She was about to speak but as she looked at me she noticed something behind me and went back to looking at her hands, “Jace, nice to see you. Breakfast is ready if you want to start digging in.”

I felt the colour drain from my face as I smelt the similar musk and cologne from yesterday. I felt his large presence behind me. I turned around to see him. The man that looked at me yesterday while grabbing my face, was looking intensely at me once again. His face softened when he noticed the fear in my eyes and the slight tremble in my fingers as I held a plate covered in suds.

“Alpha Michael wants to speak with her. Judy already knows.” His tone was very robotic as he grabbed my arm and made his way out of the kitchen, practically dragging me behind him.