The Female Alpha

Chapter 12 ✅

Rose didn't seem to notice his changed expression and leaned closer to him. "And did they?"

Samuel looks into her eyes and forces a lighter smile. "No because the King no longer had what they wanted. They had taken everything they could have wanted and displayed it for others."

Rose's eyebrows nit together in confusion, swallowing as she asked, "What did the King take?"

"Their parents," He says in a low voice that if she hadn't been leaning in, she probably wouldn't have heard him.

"They couldn't live with their parents under the King?"

"Live?" He chuckles darkly at that. "The King had welcomed them on the border of his land. Along the borders in his land, he had decorated it with bodies."

Rose gasps again, but this time in horror. Samuel can see the cogs working in place in that pretty little red head of hers.

Samuel nods at her reaction. "Yeah. And their father they had been searching for, for two whole years was hung there beside their mother."

"They had recognized their corpse because of this," he pulls out a necklace with a sun-shaped pendant hanging from the thread from inside his shirt, "they had it around their neck as they hung from the trees, a warning to those of the Central and Eastern pactks and to those who do not listen to him will be showcased like them."

Rose covers her mouth with her trembling hand and is already in tears. "The King..."

"Was the Alpha of the West Clan," He finishes.

He puts his necklace back into his shirt and looks at Rose silently crying, avoiding his eyes.

He wasn't finished with his story though. "So Hansel and Gretel did what any other kid wouldn't do. They attacked the King and had killed many of his guards. And then, when Hansel got badly wounded, Gretel grabbed her brother and they ran, ran as far away from the place as they could."

He reaches for her free hand and holds it tightly. "They ran until they found home, a new home."

"Home...?" She croaks out, still not looking at him.

"Yes, home." He gently grabs her chin and faces her to him allowing his warmth to calm her. "And Sally and I will always be thankful to Daniel saving us, for Jackson accepting us despite our past."

Rose is bawling her eyes out, hiccupping as she tries to speak clearly. "But...the King...me...I..."

"Do you know why I'm telling you this story?" Samuel smiles at her and softly shakes his head. "I know, Rose. I know."

Rose eyes widen at his words. "You...you know?"

"Katie told me what I needed to know," He leans closer to her, using both hands to wipe her tears away. "And I don't care about your past. All that matters is the present, the future, right here and now."

Rose leans into him too, touching their foreheads together. "So you're okay with me...? You don't...care who I am?"

"You're you," he says before he closes the distance between them and the sparks explode on their lips as they kiss.

Samuel pulls away, chuckling at her as she tries to make their lips stay connected. He pecks her on the lips one more time and smiles at her with bright eyes.

"Katie," he answers breathlessly, "will kill me if I go any further."

"Damn right I will!" Katie growls out while looking up at them where she's laying down.

Rose jumps at her voice and looks at her with red cheeks.

"You were awake! For how long?!" She shrieks.