Innocent Rose

30. Sally Face

It was almost 9 in the morning when we landed in San Juan International Airport and I was just aggravated. Our flight was suppose to leave at 3am and instead it left at 5am (which I get is not the airlines fault) and the entire time I couldn't sleep because I was afraid I would miss the plane or we would have an emergency landing so I had to be awake just incase. Even when we stepped out of the airport and embraced the nice hot sun, I just wanted coffee and to hurry and get to Guayama.

Thankfully, Lorenzo was just as aggravated as I but it was due to the fact that vampires can withstand only a certain amount of sun and heat. Even with the blessed ring to protect him, too much sun or heat still makes him exhausted.

Lorenzo and Anthony were playing pilot with the rental car so I tried to get some sleep in the back, wrapping myself in the oversized hoodie I brought for this occasion, only to be woken up some time later, being handed a McDonald's bag. By the time I finished my pancakes and started on my hot coffee (iced coffee doesn't exist in most places at PR, especially McDonald's), we were here.

Like almost all houses in Puerto Rico, it's all a one floor multi bedroom house with a locked small fence and an open garage inside surrounded by a gate to keep people from entering inside. Standing outside the fence was an older man with bike.

"Tio!" Anthony said as he parked the car in front and exited out. Lorenzo, however, stayed inside the car with me while Anthony greeted his uncle. Eventually, he brought his uncle to the car and introduced his uncle Angel to me while Lorenzo said hi and waved.

Anthony walked to the fence to unlock it and then eventually the gate, leaving his uncle with Lorenzo and I.

"Todavía quiero saber cómo mi padre estaba bien con la idea de que un vampiro estuviera en su manada." Angel said to me quietly. "Incluso después de todos estos años, todavía no confío en el chupasangre."

That caused me to stare at him blankly because it's almost as if he knew Lorenzo still didn't know Spanish that well, but I know Lorenzo understood enough to know that he was being insulted.

"Ese 'chupasangre' nos ha salvado a tu familia y a mí durante muchos años. Tal vez deberías dejar de probar su lealtad y conocerlo." I sipped my coffee after to avoid laughing at Angel's face. Thankfully, Anthony called him over to change the conversation.

"What did you say to him?" Lorenzo asked.

"That he needs to stop testing your loyalty because you've been helping them with a lot of their generations." I pointed at his untouched hash brown. "You gonna finish that?"

Without hesitation, Lorenzo handed it to me and got out the car when Angel left, helping Anthony bring the suitcases inside. I gathered the trash from breakfast to bring inside. I stepped inside the house and randomly was hit with flashbacks but the types in movies that are quick with little detail with some sharp head pain.

It felt as if I've been here before but not really. I started touching around, seeing if I could get a vision, but nothing happened.

"Rose?" Anthony stood towards an entrance to one of the rooms. "You ok?"

I faced him, wiping my hands on my leggings as I got off the couch. "Yeah I'm fine."

He went up to me and cupped my cheek, kissing my forehead. "You're nervous about being here aren't you?"

That's the thing. I don't remember ever going to Puerto Rico before but I felt like I have. I just can't remember.

"Yeah. And it's also the reason we're in PR in the first place."

"Don't worry about that. A majority of the time for pack meetings, the alphas stay in a table with their mates and other alphas. Their families have separate areas for it. I usually stay for a couple of minutes and then sneak off until it's over."