White Roses: A Continuation of Lana_sky's Short Story 'Without Thorns'

Chapter 1

A/N:  So, as you can see, I'm not an artist.  Anyone who wants to create a cover, it has to be better than what I made.  Oh, since this is effectively Lana_Sky's story, tell me if you think I'm staying on track or flying way off the rails.  This might be a little darker.  

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Chapter One

Dane stared at the white rose on the windowsill of his crappy apartment. It was still beautiful, still fresh, still new, still fragrant. It was the only lightness in the downtrodden efficiency. A new, tiny bud had emerged last night. It had startled him. He had thought everyday after his unsuccessful search for her that he should just throw it out, no need to remind himself of the beautiful womanchild who had given it to him. Who had haunted his dreams since that night. No need to even try to find her. Where did wood nymphs hide anyways? Obviously in the woods but, the forest system was vast in this part of the country, surrounding the city and farmlands to the north and west.

He had tried. The next morning he had gone about his usual routine but, he couldn't keep his mind on his work. Emerald eyes, blood-red hair and milky skin had haunted his dreams all night. Deva. Then when he was awake, her face had begun to appear in front of him. A V8 engine block fell on his shoulder because he had failed to confirm its attachment before he'd walked under the lifted car. If it wasn't for his werewolf strength, he would not have been able to reattach it before his boss noticed. He would have been fired for sure.

Luckily for him, his healing powers had begun to speed up. And, laughingly it wasn't automatic. The block had knocked his shoulder out of its socket, tearing some muscles and tendons. If the healing had begun while he still had that 500+ pound block on his shoulder, the muscle and tendons would have not been properly aligned when he did pop his shoulder back. The wrenching feeling of healing actually waited for him, not kicking in until he could readjust his bones.

It was then that he had decided to search for her. He went back to the dirty motel and tried to follow her scent. He was able to discern hers from the others that had come and gone through the last twenty hours. He traced her to a midpoint in the city and, then it disappeared. He had run around looking and tasting everything. He tried the buildings. He looked at the manholes and sniffed the covers. It wasn't that she had disappeared into thin air, it was as if she was . . . everywhere. At that one particular spot, she was everywhere, wild flowers overlaying the earth. The whole block smelled like her but, was fainter than the earlier part of the trail. She was there and, she was gone.

He rubbed his eyes wearily. His staff ached. He'd had a permenant hard-on since the morning after. All his ignoring or his attempts to dispell it was useless. And it was beginning to decrease his ability to think. It was a deep, hard ache that pushed straight to his balls. His wolf was grouchy. He began nagging him, telling him he should have claimed her when he had the chance. Too many times he had to remind the wolf that it wasn't up to him to take a woman against her will. And, too many times he had to push into his wolf's face the fact that the word 'mate' never came up. His wolf would grumble after each reminder. He rubbed his unzipped jeans that had been too tight to wear any other way. Fuck. He could feel the want for her and only her not allowing him to plummet over the edge. And the cold showers were doing nothing to alleviate his desire.

The newly acquired powers she had bestowed upon him had not stopped developing. However, it seemed they took a while to completely manifest. The latest thing to develop was a dramatic increase in strength. What had strained him before, like the engine block on his shoulder, was presently feather light. Now he could run faster on two legs than he could before when on four. And his wolf, his wolf was fast. His wolf had also gotten bigger, its jaws stronger, its teeth longer. It had taken him two weeks to get used to it because, for one whole week everything kept increasing. It was like puberty all over again, all crammed into a week.

His senses had continued to increase in range after that first night for six more days. He had used them to scent her but, had become frustrated when he had gotten to that intersection. By the time he had accustomed himself to his maxed out senses her scent had long since evaporated from the area. It was at that intersection where the most bizarre power had made itself known.

He started hearing things. He thought it was his increased hearing. He soon realized, it was other people's thoughts. It took him a whole week and a half to learn to filter. In that time he couldn't go to work. He had asked his witch friend to help and she was able to help to a degree. Turned out his thought processses were different because of the wolf. He'd had to work most of it out on his own. What really freaked him out was when he was able to put thoughts into someone else's head. He could communicate, yes. He could also influence.

Influence. It was a huge power. One that he didn't think he'd had 'naturally'. It was too big for him to play with. Once he realized what he could do, what he did, he immediately shut it down and wrapped it up in a box in his mind. There was no need to have that temptation just laying around as a tool, a toy.

No, he locked that up tight.

And it did him no good when he couldn't find her anyway.

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Etienne stood against the wall and watched Deva suspended facing downwards from the ceiling by her ankles and wrists in his playroom. She was naked, her milk white skin glowing in the shadowed darkness of the scattered sconces along the wall. Her long, red hair hung past her face, covering most of it. Her small breasts looking fuller in this position, pink nipples hardened by the cold air of the dungeon. A small protrusion around her belly which was what had prompted him to move sooner and put her in her place, his chains, was most obvious in this position. Not only had she given away her virginity to some stranger, she had gotten pregnant! The whore!

He didn't remember having ever felt as angry as he had on his wedding night when he looked at Deva's beautiful puffy lips only to find one thing missing. There was no hymen blocking his entrance. He looked and saw that in fact the tearing was recent.

He had screamed at her. Demanded to know who had raped her. She denied being raped. Over and over again. It was then that he realized she had willingly given her power to someone else. Denied it from him. He had become enraged. He trashed the room. Then he went off and sulked. And fumed. And planned.

And here they were.

He examined her positioning. She did not look comfortable. Despite that being exactly what he wanted, he decided he didn't have as easy access as he would like for all the torture he would put her through. She wanted to give herself away? He would help her. He knew plenty of 'strange' men that would love a go at her. First he wanted to take every hole she had.

Maybe even make a few more.

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A/N: I just went back and reread Nikki's short to make notes.  Seems I transposed some things in my head.  So, I did a quick edit and, tried to take care of the things I noticed.

Working on 2nd Chap now and I'm scared.  Deva is hurt and it looks like she might get hurt worse.  *hiding eyes between fingers*

I also have to deal with the fact that she is preggers when she told Dane that she couldn't with him.  Hmmm.  How to deal with this delima.