Beauty and the Were~Beast

Where the Rose Blooms

Lilium Rose stood on the porch of her family home which abutted the pack lands and the human town where she grew up. Her mother loved this place. The fields were always full of wild flowers and the front garden was always filled with ornamentals. The house gave off a cottage in the woods vibe even though it was a bit big to be called a cottage. Normally she would spend the evening in the swing reading a book, or drawing something while she waited for her father to get home.

But tonight was proving to be an unusual night as dozens of people were being pushed out of the woods and into the field in from of the house. They were visibly upset. Many were crying or shouting in anger. Some were withdrawn and quiet, lost even. One individual tried to return to the woulds but was promptly blocked by a wolf that gnashed its teeth at them. They fell back. Slowly they started to look at each other as if they were hoping to find answers among them. They were confused and were not quite sure what to do.

"Rose?" Lilium looked to the corner of the house where the familiar voice was coming from. It was Esther, her friend from the pack.

"Esther, what's happening?" I watched as her face fell and she sniffed back tears.

"He banned us from pack lands. All of us." The last part came out as a squeak in the effort to hold back her tears.

"Who did? The Alpha? Why?" My brain jumped from one question to the other as the answers came to me on their own accord.

"H-he has been looking for a way to get rid of humans for awhile now." She was sobbing. "What am I going to do? My children are still there!"

"He wouldn't hurt them would he?" The Alpha was not know as merciful or forgiving, but she never heard of him physically hurting anyone either.

"Not with Callan there... but what if they get their wolves? I'll never see them again!" I rushed forward to catch her as she collapsed, giving in to her maternal grief. As she held Esther, she pondered where the Alphas hatred of humans came from, then quickly dismissed it. That was a mystery to be solved on another day. Right now there appeared to be nearly 30 people on her land and it was already dark.

"Are these all pack people?" She inquired.

"Yes." Esther collected herself and wiped her tears away. Callan had drilled it into her head over the years that she was now a Beta bseeing she was mated and married to a Beta. She smiled sadly to herself as she reminisced about the shocked look on his face when she insisted on a traditional wedding and to be courted first, even if they were destined mates. They had different beliefs but they made it work. Now she had to make him proud, and keep her self sane. The best way to accomplish that was to stay busy and busy was around her in spades.

"What are we going to do about them? They can't stand out here all night." Lilium racked her brains for a moment. Some of them must have family around here.

"Let's go round them up and get started." Esther declared.

"Good idea. How about you bring them over to the house. I am going to see if I can reach my father. He needs to know what is happening at his house." Lilium went inside to grab the old fashioned landline that her father insisted in keeping in the house. She would have used her cell, but it was dead. For once she was willing to put up with her fathers gloating over her 'useless' cellphone. This was more important. The phone rang 3 times before he answered.

"Roberts mechanic shop."

"Dad you really need Caller ID. I feel like a stranger to you when you answer like that when I call..." She sighed in exasperation.

"What's up honey?"

"Something happened on the pack lands tonight. All the humans were kicked out. There are about 30 of them in the yard. Esther is with them. She is getting everyone together now."

"What?! I'm on my way." Good old dad. He was honest, and caring. He would know what to do when he got here. He hung up so quick I didn't even get the chance to tell him to drive safe. These people were not going anywhere and they would still be here when he arrived, when ever that may be.

"If you have your cellphones on you go ahead and call any friends or family members you may have in town. Ask if you can stay with them. Let them know you are at the last human house on the pack road right where the pack territory starts." Esther was shouting to everyone. There were quite a few murmurs of 'Yes, Beta' as they followed her instructions.

"I was going to ask you if anyone has family in town. I am glad you thought to ask them. With any luck we can reduce the number of people that we have to worry about. It will make finding places to put people much easier if its a small number." Esther just nodded to my comment as she fell deeper into thought with a serious expression on her face. Leaving her to her musings Lilium went back inside and pulled out the only 2 cases of water they had left in the pantry. She placed them on the table, added water to the grocery list on the fridge and began to haul the water outside. Everyone was surprisingly quiet with the exception of those few on their phones. The rest had either already finished their calls or were watching their Beta expectantly. It was easy to tell that they trusted her to make sure they would be taken care of. Lilium admired Esthers leadership and her outgoing presence. Things she herself was afraid she would never be able to be, no matter how hard she tried. People made her uncomfortable.

Cars started to arrive. Families were claiming relatives, friends were claiming friends, and one by one the people dispursed. One of the last cars to arrive was my father's. He parked his truck, got out and watched as the car behind him slowly approached the four remaining people in the yard. Of the four left, only two got on in the car. The remaining two turned around and approached the house. My father fell in step behind them.

"Just you two then? No family in town? Friends?" Esther asked. They shook their heads with a murmured 'no ma'am'.

"Well that... is an easy fix." The two young men turned to look at my father. "Its not pretty, and it needs to be cleaned, but I can drag the old bunkbeds into the tack room. It has a bathroom in there, and electricity. You'll have to eat your meals in the house with us. But for now we can make it work." I knew I could count on my father to figure out solutions. I just wasnt expecting it to be so small a thing for him to deal with. I don't know why I was expecting more people to be put out with nowhere to go, but I was glad there wasn't.

"Esther, you can have the spare room next to mine." The offer wasn't necessary. She used to stay there when she came to visit my mother. Everyone referred to the guestroom as Esthers room. My mother loved Esther and so did I.

"Thank you. I accept. I'll go air the room out. You should go and get the bedding for those beds ready. I doubt your father has any clean sheets or pillows out in that barn."

"OH! We dont have mattresses for those beds anymore." I thought hard for a minute before remembering the air matresses in the guestroom closet. "Guestroom has air mattresses in it."

There was a lot of shuffling to get everyone situated. IT took about two hours before room was cleared for the bunk beds, air mattresses were aired up and covered in clean sheets. Esther had already showered and changed into some of my mothers old clothes. Dad had to rifle through his stuff to find his old clothes because the two men in the barn had considerably smaller girths. Fortunately they had their own shower in the barn bathroom. It made things far less akward.

Esther and I decided to make dinner for everyone. Noone had a chance to eat at the Alphas birthday banquet before he ruined it by banning humans. Pasta and sauce from a can was not fancy but it was the kind of food that left you full and made you sleepy. I went the extra mile by making toast then adding butter and garlic powder. It was the best that I could do in a pinch. Esther eyed my poor mans garlic bread with a glint of humor in her eyes, which quickly disappeared as she remembered why she was here in the first place.

All five of us sat around the table as Esther said grace with the ease that only repition could bring. Sensing my father moving I looked at him from the corner of my eye. He looked at Esther as she prayed then towards the stairs as if he were waiting for my mother to coming stumbling down them to chastize us for starting without her. Head bowed again as he he let out a heavy yet quiet sigh.

"I heavens name we pray, Amen." Everyone Dug in, eating with purpose. I doubted the food was that good. They were probably just wanting to get this terrible night over with. I couldn't blame them.

"What are your names?" Everyones head shot up. many with spaghetti still hanging out of their mouths. Everyone stared at me blankly for a moment before they realized that we never actually got around to making introductions. Esther already knew everyones names so it didn't cross her mind. My father always has informal nicknames he calls everyone such Boy, young man or lady, Sir, Ma'am etc. So it was only natural for him to forget when he never uses names. The two young men were in shock over losing their families and it never occured to them. I had thought of it several times. It just took me this long to get used to their presence and build up the will to say something to them. Finally one of them spoke.

"Jesper, and this is my twin brother Jackson." They were not identical but similar enough to guess the realtion between them. I cautiously looked over at my dad. I wish they had not said twin. Twins, and boys, young men now... were actually a sore spot for my father. I was too young to understand what was going on when my parents lost their boys so it didn't affect me the way it did him. But I love my father and his pain DID affect me.

"Robert, My daughter Rose." He hastily introduced me with a wave of his hand towards me. The twins just nodded and my father grunted and everyone went back to eating.

"What will we do if Alpha Brett doesn't let us come back?" Jackson asked Esther.

"Let that be tomorrows problem. We have dealt with enough tonight." Her response was meant to be gentle but made her exhaustion apparent and therefore she seemed cross when she said it.

"Don't worry about tomorrow, You only have today while it's here. Tomorrow, will make you realize how today has slipped away. hm?" He gestured for them to keep eating and they quickly cleared their plates. The rest of the night went by without incident. Jesper and Jackson went back to the barn for the night. Esther made some tea and took it up to her room. My father fell asleep in his armchair in front of the fireplace. My mothers old book in his lap. One of her favorites. My father was never much of a reader, but her read her books. He said he could hear her voice reading them aloud when he did. It made me sad seeing how much he missed her, but still I was happy to see that his grief didn't break him. I wasn't ready to lose my father to.

I waited til his soft snores filled the living room before I tore the page I was writing on out of my sketchbook. I had to act before I lost my nerve. I folded it in half and then in half again. I didn't have an envelope handy so this would have to do, I thought as I grabbed a shopping bag from under the sink. A wolf would have to carry it in its mouth, so it would stand to reason that I needed a way to keep slobber off the note. I hope I didn't offend the wolves.

As quietly as I could I slipped out of the house and made my way towards the woods. Would they still be here? I took a tentative step past the treeline.

"Hello?" I sound pathetic, weak and mousey. Pull yourself together! I lectured myself and tried again as I took a few steps even further into the woods. "HEL-loooo."

My internal monologue was a long involved lecture about the importance of being more assertive, and standing my ground. I became so lost in my thoughts that I lost track of how far into the woods I had gotten. Then I heard it. The soft warning growls of wolves. They were warning me to leave.

"I have a message.." So much for assertive I thought as I realized my voice was soft and barely audible. A wolf approached from behind a tree and snapped at me making me jump back. "But I..."

Another wolf came at me from the side and snapped as well. They were pushing me back towards the tree line. I stood my ground for a moment longer before caving in and retreating. The wolves alternated between growling and nipping at my feet when they deemed me to slow. In my head I kept pep talking myself into saying something. When I get to that tree, I'll say it. The tree would pass and nothing. Okay that Log then, I pass it, and nothing. The tree line was creaping closer and I thought about Esther, crying in my arms. My father may not get to see his sons again, but that doesn't mean Esther couldn't. I squeezed my eyes shut, clenched the bag with the letter to my chest, and whirled around.

"I have something to say! Bring this letter to Beta Callans son, Noah. It's about his mother. I just want him to know she is okay and staying with Rose. He'll know who that is!" I practically shouted at them. They snarled and lept in my direction. Startled I fell back dropping the letter. I wasn't given time to retrieve the letter before I was chased the rest of the way out. They didn't follow me out of the woods. Instead, once I was back in the field they turned to leave. One wolf simply stared at me, one paw on the bag.

"Please." It was a desperate plea.A pitiful one at that. He simply chuffed in my direction, carefully picked up the bag, turned around and left.

"Thank-you." I said meekly into the woods.

As Rose walked away a pair of yellow eyes followed her. There was no malice there, instead he thought she was brave facing a pack of wolves, and for that he would deliver her letter. He carefully adjusted the bag in his mouth. She was also stunning. He could not help but wonder if she had a mate. He quickly shook those thoughts from his head. He didn't have the luxery to hope he would find his mate in the human town anymore. With that final thought he made his way towards the Manor.