Keeping Their Dark Rose by Jessica & Jane

Chapter 11

That they love me still as they used to, even though I was just the annoying little step-sister that they let tag along with them. I feel all floaty as I try to hang onto the feeling, but it doesn’t last as Ethan hits a bump jolting me in my seat.

“Are you taking me to the hospital?” I ask, my voice barely audible.

“No, I’m taking you home,” he answers, guiding the car on the road.

I protest, my words slurred. “Hospital. I need a doctor, Than.”

“Only family calls me that, and you’re not family. Family doesn’t betray one another the way you did.” He snaps at me and my heart aches at his words.

“But I’ll take you to a doctor. Lucky for you, Max used to be a trauma surgeon.”

I could see Max doing something like that. He was always so much kinder and softer than Ethan. Healing would be something that he was good at. I just hoped

that we would make it in time.

The car speeds off into the night, and as much as I fight to remain awake, I slip away, falling into the oblivion of unconsciousness.

I don’t know how much time has passed as I open my eyes slowly, squinting against the faint light streaming into the room from the hallway. Pain throbs through my leg, and my lips feel bruised and sore. I’m lying on a luxurious mattress, swathed in warm, soft sheets. It’s cozy, and the bed is more comfortable than anything I’ve known before- I almost sink into it like a cloud. As my vision comes into focus, I realize that I’m in an expansive, lavishly adorned bedroom. The area is dimly lit, but enough to let me take in the grand four-poster bed that I’m laying in. Plush pillows are bunched beneath my head, propping me up. The bedding is done in hues of cream and gray like the rest of the room.

It’s roomy and so much more luxurious than what I’ve become accustomed to. Nothing like our room in Drake’s trailer. The room that I had tried my best to turn into a den, even though I knew it wasn’t what he wanted.

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Drake wasn’t looking for an omega or a mate. Not that I had wanted to be his mate. He wasn’t an alpha, but I had cared for him.

Thinking about how easily he would have thrown me under the bus to save his own skin, stings, but so did the last words he had said to Ethan. The offer that he had made to him hurt so very much more than it had any other time. It wasn’t a stranger that he was offering me to. Ethan knew me, and that made it all so much

worse.

I swallow hard, looking over at the translucent white curtains draping the windows, but the moonlight shining through them won’t be dimmed. My skin tingles as the moonlight hits it and I draw the covers up over my arms.

An ache fills me, seeping into my bones. An ache for what could have been that rips at my heart. I could have lived here, stayed in this home with them until they found a pack for me. I wouldn’t have had frosty nights in the trailer with Drake or the times that I had been on the street alone. Scared, I close my eyes. It’s best not to think like that. It only makes things harder, and the past is something that I can’t change.

I look around the room, a dresser sits off in the corner, the dark wood gleaming in the dimness. Everything is spotless, and the smells are familiar. That ache stirs deep within me, as if I’m home for the first time in a long time. I don’t want to get used to feeling this way; it could become dangerous when I eventually have to leave. Because I know that I will, I can’t stay here.

This isn’t my home or my life. Ethan, Max, and Cole probably already have an omega. Someone that they cherish and love. Someone that they would do anything for.

My body jolts with fear as I remember the events of the night before the warehouse break-in, Ethan killing Drake, and then driving to this house. My heart is pounding in my chest and a wave of anxiety washes over.me. I force myself to sit up, pushing off the heavy comforter that is weighing me down. I feel weak but can tell that my body is slowly starting to heal.

My leg throbs and I inhale sharply. The sound is loud in the quiet of the room. Looking down, I wince as I look at the massive bandage that’s carefully wrapped around my leg. It hurts, everything hurts, and I can’t help but wonder how long I’ve been unconscious.

This isn’t the care I’m used to. I can’t help but wonder who did this; it certainly

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Chapter 11

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couldn’t be Ethan. He loathes me and, from the way he had looked at me earlier, I know that nothing between us has changed. I hated seeing that look in his eyes, but I couldn’t blame.

Not after everything that had happened between us.

The door creaks open and pulls me out of my thoughts before I can begin to dwell on the past. Ethan steps into the room, no that’s not right. His movements are an angry prowl. His expression is cold and hard, and it takes me by surprise. I had expected him to be more compassionate, or at least less mad at me. Given that he had carried me here himself and made sure that my wounds were tended to. That

had to mean that he didn’t hate me still.

Stopping at the foot of the bed, he looks down at me silently, watching me with those cold, dark eyes. I feel an overwhelming sense of vulnerability. I can’t protect myself right now. Hell, I could barely stand against him if I was at full strength, and we both know I’m not.

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