A Rose Among Thorns- Book 2 in the Corvale Pack Series

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Joseph

My eyes shot open as I heard a series of banging noises from the kitchen. Groaning, I rubbed a hand across my face and sat up in bed. My room was pretty big, with one wall made entirely out of glass leading out onto the deck which hovered a few feet above the surface of the lake. There were currently a ton of dark blue bed sheets taped to these windows to stop the light from getting in. The room wasn’t exactly built to accommodate a vampire, and I think that the glass wall was there to keep them out.

I felt around the bedside table for my phone, and glanced at the time. 17:43, about an hour before sunset. I got out of bed and peeled back one of the sheets, and sighed in relief when l saw that the sun, although hadn’t set, had sunk behind the mountains. I was safe in here, at least.

There was another loud bang from down the hall. I sighed and walked into the hallway, being careful to keep to the shadows.

What was that chick’s name again? Tessa? Theresa?

“Don’t worry, the sun’s nearly set, you should be okay in here, your highness.” I heard her call, and I stepped into the kitchen.

“Look, don’t start, I’m just Joseph here...”

“I know, but to me, you’re still a spoilt little prince.” She was sitting on the counter, her head leaning against a cupboard. She smiled, revealing slightly sharpened teeth.

“Why’s that?” I muttered, opening the fridge.

“Because, I’m the only one in this pack capable of kicking your ass, so I can call you whatever the heck I want.” She rolled her eyes, stabbing the tub of ice cream she had in her hands with a spoon.

“I could have you punished unless you show me some respect.” I said sarcastically and grabbed a can of soda, sitting at the island in the centre of the room.

“Oh really? Try it, and I have quite a few spells which can prevent you from ever sleeping with another girl without becoming the laughing stock of the entire pack.” She said, smiling.

I looked at her strangely from over the top of the soda can. Man, this chick was weird. I guess I have to not sleep with her if we’re supposed to work together on these killings and tracking the vampire down, shouldn’t be too hard. I don’t want to catch her crazy.

“Anyway,” She stuck the spoon back in the tub and returned it to the freezer,” Now that you’re up, I’m supposed to show you around.” She grabbed my arm and tugged me up, she was surprisingly strong was someone her size.

“I just woke up!”

“You’re not in the palace anymore your highness, you have to do what they tell you.” She marched me back to my room and kicked one of my suitcases open.

“I thought I was supposed to be in charge here!”

She scoffed,” You have so much to learn. You may be the new, famous, powerful toy in the playpen, but Richard’s still the one that’s pulling your strings.”

She dragged me outside just after sunset, and she used one of the cars left there by one of the wolves to take us back to the pack house, cursing as the snow started to fall and stuck to the windscreen.

“So... you have a sister. Where is she?”

“At the pack house.”

“Why doesn’t she live with you?”

“We had a...disagreement,” She said coldly, and changed gear a little too fiercely.

“About?”

She stiffened, ”Look, it happened ten years ago, and I don’t want to talk about it.”

“I’m just trying to make conversation.” I said, holding my hands up.

We were silent for a few minutes, and I looked out of the window at the forest lining one side of the road, and crappy houses along the other.

“So...you’re a quadruplet, must be fun having three sisters.” She said, her tone a little brighter than it was when I asked about her sister.

“It used to be, then they all found their mates and started breeding like rabbits.” I muttered.

“Still haven’t found yours yet?” She asked, turning into the long, winding road leading up to the pack house.

I froze. Could I tell her about Clarissa? Was there any point? It was years and years ago, when I was seventeen.

“No,” I said eventually,” How about you?”

Her hands gripped the steering wheel tighter and she blinked furiously. Then she smiled,” Me neither. I’m not even sure if I do have a mate. There haven’t been any books on true sorcerers, and I’ve never seen another in my life, so I can’t ask.”

“So you know which wolves are single?”

She laughed at this,” Yeah, but they don’t talk to me much. They’re scared of me for some reason.”

“Really?”

“Ask them yourself.” She replied, stopping in front of the doors and getting out.

There was a party going on at the pack house. Music was blaring from the left and screaming children and disgruntled parents to the right. I guess it was a teen party then judging by the two or three people throwing up in bushes. Ah, alcohol, it had no affect on me because of my vampire side, but werewolves could get completely plastered just like the humans.

As we walked into the living room, they all fell silent as...Tabitha? Entered the room. She scoffed and dragged me inside, where the wolves continued to stare.

“Everyone, meet alpha Joseph. Your highness, meet your royally pissed subjects.” She gestured to the crowd. She stared at them and one by one, they continued to drink, dance and whatever wolves do at a party.

“Why do they look like they’ve pissed themselves every time they look at you?” I asked again. It was weird seeing as she was tiny and was probably the most childish out of the lot of them.

“I don’t know, they’re probably just in awe of my awesomeness,” She sighed, leaning against the wall,” You should go mingle with them, I’ll stay here so they don’t faint or something.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, go mingle with your subjects, your highness.” She said before fiddling with her long nails.

I turned my back on her and shook my head, walking towards a large group of about seven girls. My eyes darted to their necks and saw only two of them were marked. I didn’t go for marked chicks, they smelt funny and always cried for hours afterwards. There were two brunettes, a redhead and a chick who had long black hair, as well as a blonde who I couldn’t see properly as the two marked chicks stood on either side of her. The redhead glanced over at the place where the ‘sorcerer’ stood and began to gossip.

“What the hell is she doing here? I thought she wasn’t allowed in the pack house!” She whined.

“As long as she doesn’t come over here, we’re fine.” The blonde said, her voice high and pleasing to hear, unlike the donkey noises I heard from the others.

Her hair was shiny too, like the sun, which was poker straight down to halfway down her back. She flicked it over her shoulder so that she could look at the girl. Her sky blue eyes met mine and the whole world stopped.

Sure, my wolf may be dead, but if I could’ve heard him, I knew what he’d be saying.

Mate.

 

 

Please vote and comment! Well, i'm not really bothered about votes, but please tell me what you think? Is it better than The Orphan And The Wolf???