Chapter 6: Let’s make a deal

ROSE

When I stood up to follow Lyra out of the room, she suddenly turned to look at me. "Just for us to be on the same side here, there are a ton of werewolves outside of the house. They heard the explosion and came to check on Tristan", she explained to me in a serious tone. "None of them will harm you, but they will prevent you from running away. It is an order, which means they have to obey. So if something like earlier happens again, you might end up killing innocent people or even yourself." She let the information sink in for a second. "Do you understand that?"

I nodded. I was unable to speak. I could still not quite process the thought that I had destroyed an entire bedroom within seconds.

Lyra had a point: I could hurt or even kill people unintentionally if those were really my powers. If Tristan had not protected me back in his bedroom, I'd probably be dead by now. It would have saved him a lot of trouble… Why did he protect me? What sort of twisted mind first threatens to kill your father and then saves your life? Unless… was he trying to provoke me on purpose? If so, well, that backfired.

I followed Lyra through the hallway to a large set of curved stairs leading to the first floor. They led to the large entrance of the house. This was more a villa than a house! It was already evening, but the entrance was still flooded with the day's last sunlight falling through the large windows and transparent curtains. In the corner of the room was a door leading to the kitchen. We entered the kitchen and were greeted by a middle-aged woman with an apron and hands full of dough.

"Oh, Lyra! Good that you're here!" she didn't even take the time to turn around, "I'm making some cookies. Can you go check on Tristan and see if he needs anything?"

"Is he even awake yet?" Lyra didn't seem to bother much. She grabbed an apple from the counter and took a bite. Then she turned around and leaned with her arm on the countertop.

"I don't know! Nobody tells me anything!" the lady complained and turned to face Lyra. She noticed that I was in the room, too, and turned to look at me in surprise. She had red-brown short and curly hair, a round face, and was about my height. She looked like she was in her 40s. "Lyra! Why didn't you tell me we had a guest? I would've prepared some food in advance!"

"Well, technically, she's not a guest…" Lyra added quietly while giving me a knowing glance.

The woman looked confused, first at Lyra, then back at me. "Well, now that you're here, would you like to eat something, dear?" I opened my mouth to answer, but before I could say anything, she turned back at Lyra and said a little outraged: "Lyra! What are you waiting for? Won't you introduce us?"

I saw Lyra, still eating her apple, rolling her eyes. "Rose, this is Fiona; she's helping us with the house. Fiona, this is Rose, she's Tristan's…" she stopped for a second, "Tristan's prisoner."

Fiona stared at me with her jaw dropped. It took her a second to gather herself again. Then she went on: "How about I make you some sandwiches? Lyra, could you please check on your brother? Tell him I'm making his favorite - Italian sandwiches."

Lyra unwillingly started moving towards the door. When she noticed that I didn't follow, she returned, grabbed my hand, and pulled me out of the room. "Wait, stop!" I called out and then spoke carefully, "Do you think… it is a good idea if I come with you?"

She smiled full of warmth and tilted her head to the side contently. "Of course! It's the best idea!"

We returned up the stairs we had first come from and turned left. At the end of the hallway, there were two big wing doors. Lyra pushed down the handle of one of them and entered the room without any warning. Before entering the room, I tried to peek around the corner to see if Tristan was awake.

"He's still sleeping", Lyra lowered her voice. I could hear it again, her deep worry about him. 'They must be very close', I thought. She did mention something like that to me earlier… that he was all she had left. My stomach felt like someone had punched it. I had almost killed him. Well, technically, he had kidnapped me first and threatened my family. So why was I feeling so guilty for all that had happened? He hadn't hurt me, at least not after he had laid eyes on me. And he had told me the truth; I just didn't want to believe it.

"Hey, Rose, can you come here?" Lyra said. I was still standing at the door, too shy and conflicted to approach Tristan's sleeping body. Against my will, I slowly put one foot in front of the other until I could see around her and directly into Tristan's face. Now that I got a good look at him, he was incredibly handsome. The way he was laying there, so peaceful and beautiful, didn't make me feel any less guilty for almost killing him.

"I need to go downstairs and tell Fiona he's still sleeping. Would you mind keeping an eye on him?" Lyra had noticed that I was utterly mesmerized by her brother. My cheeks turned slightly pink, and I stared at my feet. I nodded.

"If he wakes up, listen to him. He won't harm you; he's a good guy, even if he sometimes spins a bit out of control. Trust me, ok?" I raised my head and looked into her eyes.

Somehow, I trusted her. She put her hand on my shoulder and squeezed it slightly before turning around and returning to the kitchen.

Lyra's words resonated in my head. How could a guy like him have such a lovely and caring person as a sister? Whenever I imagined the enemy, I imagined these blood-thirsty, evil wolves that wanted to kill just out of pure greed and hatred. That's the picture my pack painted of the Blood Moon Pack. That's all I had ever known about them. My brain started questioning my memories about home and the pack and everything, which caused my head to hurt painfully.

What was the truth? My father had for sure lied about the identity of my mother. What else had he lied about? Did Alpha Colton know about all of this? Did maybe even Leila, the woman I had trusted the most in my entire life, lie to me? If my mother was not buried in our backyard, what had happened to her? Was she alive?

Entirely consumed by my thoughts, I decided to sit at the edge of the bed. At that moment, I felt a hand on mine. It was Tristan's. He was still sleeping but had started moving in his sleep. When his hand touched mine, I felt a light electricity radiating through my skin. Or did I only imagine it? His skin felt so soft, so warm… Did I feel attracted to this guy?! 'Rose!' I yelled at myself, 'Snap out of it! Get a hold of yourself! This guy is your KIDNAPPER!'

I quickly pulled my hand away from his touch. At that moment, he opened his eyes. He was staring straight into mine, and his eyes were almost black. Wait… black?! Was that his wolf coming through? Would he try to kill me for what I did to him??

My heartbeat started going crazy, and I was about to jump up and run away, but it was already too late. He was so much faster than I could have ever been trying to escape him. Within the blink of an eye, he leaned forward and grabbed me. He pulled my body into his arms and let his head fall into my neck. Then he stopped moving. I froze and held my breath. Was he… hugging me??

Tristan inhaled deeply, and it caused all of the hairs on my neck to stand upright instantly, but I didn't move a single muscle. His body was so warm… Why did he feel so good? My brain was probably so overloaded with the kidnapping, the war, this weird witch-thing, and my mother maybe being alive that it had just completely shut off.

I couldn't help but relax a bit when I felt Tristan's heartbeat. It was so steady and strong. 'At least he seems to be fine', I said to myself. I was still tightly held in Tristan's arms when I heard the door opening again.

"Oh wow! You two are already getting straight to the hot stuff." Lyra started laughing, and I jumped up, freeing myself from the hug as fast as possible. It caused Tristan to wake up fully, and he looked around, still trying to orientate himself. His gaze caught mine, and our eyes locked. Then his brows furrowed, and for a second, I expected him to yell at me or slap me in the face for almost killing him, but instead, he asked: "Are you ok?"

I looked at him in surprise. He was the one who saved my life and almost got killed in the process, and the first thing he wanted to know was if I was okay? Maybe Lyra was right… Maybe he wasn't a bad person at all and had just been dragged into this whole pack war thing.

"I-I…" I stammered, "I should be asking you that."

His expression relaxed, and he leaned back on the bed. "You can see that I'm fine. But what is more interesting, do you still not believe me?"

I swallowed the lump in my throat. I wasn't sure what to believe, but that was probably not the best thing to tell him. After all, he had ordered somebody to kidnap and torture me.

"I want to know the truth", I said, determined.

He exhaled and made a long pause before continuing with his speech. "I cannot tell you everything, only what the seer told me. But I don't know what Alpha Colton and your father would have to say about that." He looked at me and waited for a reaction. I gave him a brief nod. He took another deep breath. "However, if I tell you, we must make a deal first."

I raised an eyebrow and observed him carefully. "Go on", I said.

"I'll tell you everything I know about you and your family; in return, you will not leave for a while. Nobody will harm you. We just want to figure out how much Alpha Colton knew about your powers first and if he was trying to use you against our pack." He paused. "I understand you might not like my pack very much because of whatever you were told we have done, but I assure you, there are many good people here. Men, women, and children that have nothing to do with pack politics and live in peace under my protection. You could kill innocent people if you run back to the Nightwalker Pack now, and Alpha Colton forces you to fight."

I thought about his words. His demands seemed reasonable, and since I was still not sure who was actually speaking the truth, diving in head first and running back to my pack may cause more harm than good… At least like this, I could do my own research about Tristan, his pack, and his plans for going into war. Even if his information about me and my mother would turn out to be useless, I could help my pack by becoming a spy on the inside. That was if I would leave here alive in the end…

"For how long would I have to stay?"

"That would depend on how long it will take to get the intel about Alpha Colton. But now that you're missing, it shouldn't be too hard to figure out what he wanted to use you for." He was staring so deep into my eyes that I could feel he was trying to read what was happening inside my head. Then he shrugged his shoulders. "Look at it like extended holidays. We have everything you need here. Fiona cooks wonderfully. Lyra will keep you company, and I promise that nobody will lay a finger on you. You're under the protection of the Alpha of the Blood Moon Pack." He proudly said the last part as if it was a holy promise he was giving me.

"Alright", I sighed, "I accept."