Fated To the Alpha by Jessica Hall
Chapter 227
The following morning Rose bounded into the house like her a*ss was on fire, her body barging into me the moment my mother opened the door as she engulfed me in a hug. Rose was like a burst of rainbow sunshine, bright and bubbly with a dash of crazy.
She was one of those people you looked at and wondered what she was up to now. The wild child, yet she was also a tomboy. Jonah walks in behind her, carrying a mountain load of bags and covered in a vanilla milkshake and not looking very impressed at all.
“What’s happened to you?” I ask.
“One guess,” he says, glaring at his little sister.
“Come on, bro, it was an accident,” Rose says, batting her eyelashes at him.
“You threw it at me,” I chuckle, watching them bicker, and Rose gives him puppy dog eyes, and he rolls his.
“But I’m your favorite sister; it was an accident scouts honor,”
“Your my only sister, and you’re not a girl scout, ” he says, shooting her a look.
“You tipped it on me first and called me a brat for spilling it on the seat,”
“I was braking. Would you rather I hit the car in front?” Jonah scolds, and she shrugs.
“Where is Casen? Isn’t he usually a*s*signed to Rose?”
I ask.
“Right here, ” Casen says. He did not look impressed walking in behind Jonah with his own bag.
“You moving in?” I ask Rose, looking at the amount of luggage she brought with her.
“No,” She says as Casen walks over to her.
“Put it in Marabella’s room, ” Rose says, and Jonah glares at her.
“I am not your slave; why do you need all this stuff? You are staying for two days and one night,” Jonah huffs before k!ssing my mother’s cheek on his way past, heading for the stairs.
“Eziah, where you hiding, pretty boy,” Rose calls out, stalking past me toward the Kitchen.
“Uncle Mateo, ” Rose squeals and greets him with a slap on the back. My father arches his back, and Rose chuckles.
“God, help us,” He mutters, walking over to shake Casen’s hand.
“Mara,” Jonah hisses nodding toward the stairs.
“Doors remain open, ” my father calls to me as I trudge up the stairs after Jonah.
“We aren’t doing anything, ” I hiss. “Yet, ” Jonah calls over his shoulder.
“You little – big, ah, 1. s – meter rule Jonah, whatever you do to her, I will do to you,”
“Oh, la la, daddy Kink,” Jonah taunts, and my father growls as we disappear around the corner. Walking down the hall, I spot Eziah peeking out one of the spare bedroom doors.
“Psst, ” He hisses at me as I p@sshim.
“What are you doing?” I ask him. Eziah glances over my shoulder.
“She still down there,”
“Mum, yeah, she is talking to Casen and Dad,”
“No, Rose,” he whispers, glancing about like she will pop out at any minute.
“Oh my god, what did you do?”
“I visited Uncle Andrei last; I sprayed her and her friends in mud and puddle water when I took off,” He snickers before he suddenly shrieks, eyes going wide as saucers before nearly knocking me over as he takes off running.
“There you are, you wanna run Eziah, ” Rose says, chasing him down. She tackles him into the wall placing him in a headlock.
“Mum, Mum, ” Eziah squeals as she bends his arm back while wrapping her legs around his torso. Jonah shakes his head, continuing to my room.
“Be nice to your cousin, Eziah, ” My mother calls back, and Rose laughs at him.
” Don’t just stand there, help me, ” Eziah hisses as she starts yanking on his hair. Eziah bites her leg, and she wails, punching into his arm. “No fair, I can’t hit you back,” Eziah yells at her.
“You punch like a p*uss*y anyway, ” Rose says, putting him in a ch*okehold.
“Casen, fetch the brat, ” Jonah calls over his shoulder, and I hear a gr0@n downstairs before Casen starts stomping up the steps toward us.
“You little turd, you bloody covered us all. That was my favorite shirt. You embarra*s*sed me, ” Rose says while Eziah squeals trying to untangle her limbs while squirming on the ground like a slug. I hurry after Jonah, knowing a brawl is likely to start when Casen grabs her.
“Thank god she is staying with you for the night; she is already driving me nuts,” Jonah says, dumping Rose’s bag on the end of the bed.
“She is alright, she is just, ” My words are suddenly cut off by Jonah’s l!ps as he grabs me, ripping me toward him and crushing me against his chest, his l!ps crashing against mine.
“Jonah, Kyan,” I mumble against his l!ps.
“He will get over it,” Jonah says, pecking my l!ps and squeezing me tightly when the door opens, and we quickly pull apart. My cheeks heat, but Jonah doesn’t let me go instead of sitting on the edge of my bed and pulling me on his lap while my brother collapses on my floor. I could hear Casen and Rose arguing in the hallway.
“Lock the door, ” Eziah ch*okes out when Rose comes in, and Eziah shrieks darting up off the floor and jumping on the other side of my bed and hiding behind Jonah.
“Rose! ” Casen says, leaning on my door frame with his arms folded across his chest. He glares at Rose, and she rolls her eyes at him and huffs. My face heats at everyone walking in while I squirmed on
Jonah’s lap, trying to get off him, but he held me in place, burying his face in my neck.
“I will drag you back home, Rose,” Casen warns her, and she growls.
” Fine, ” Rose huffs. She turns to look at Eziah and her eyes narrow at him.
“I’m sorry you fight like a girl and squeal like b*tch,” Rose tells Eziah. Her hair was every color of the rainbow, and she ran her fingers through her long hair before looking at her black fingernails. Casen facepalms himself, “Goddess, give me strength, ” Casen mutters, and Rose pokes her tongue out at Eziah.
” Happy, ” She asks Casen, and he glares at her, but she pushes past him; he growls, following after her.
“She needs Lobotomy, ” Eziah mutters.
” Sorry, cuz, glad she is your sister and not mine, ” Eziah says, tapping Jonah on the shoulder before climbing off my bed and sticking his head out the door to make sure she is gone before darting off.
“If Rose gives you any trouble, ring me, and I will come to get her,” Jonah says, making me look at him.
“You’re not staying? ” I ask him and he shakes his head.
“No, I have to get back to the pack. We are doing the Alpha challenge on Sunday when we get back from
the City after Rose’s party. Dad wants me to train with him tonight; your mum said she would take Rose to the City and talk with her,”
“Talk with Rose, what for,”
“Her and mum have been clashing something shocking. Dad asked me to take her into the City for a few weeks after her birthday to give mum a break, Casen disagrees, but he always does when it comes to actually punishing her for her behavior, “
“Casen didn’t seem too happy with her,” I admit remembering the look on his face when he stepped inside.
“Yeah, he thinks we should just tell her, let him handle her,”
“Tell her what?”
“sh*t, I forgot you don’t know, forget I said anything, and don’t say anything to Rose, “
“Tell her what?” I ask, and he sighs.
“Just forget I said anything. I need to leave but ring me if she becomes too much. Casen is staying, and he can usually wrangle her under control, “
“She will be fine; she is always good with me, ” I tell him, yet I was also debating whether or not to tell him her plans, but Jonah k!sses my cheek and lets me go, and I hop up.
“I gotta go, but I will see you at her party, and are you coming to the Alpha Challenge?”
“Of course, but are you sure you want to challenge your father, “
“No, but it is expected, and I have been training for it since I was a kid,” He shrugs, and I follow him out.
Later that evening.
Rose passed out asleep while watching a movie, and Casen picked her up and put her in my bed. Yawning, I decided to head to bed early too. The sun had really got to me.
Rose and I spent all day at the river, it was stinking hot, and we spent all day talking and floating around, Casen watching from the shadows wherever we went.
I was glad though, because her falling asleep meant we would be staying in, and I didn’t really feel like sneaking off with Rose to get up to whatever she had planned. Casen had just left to head to the guest bedroom, and I was slipping my pajamas on when she suddenly sat upright.
“He gone? ” She says, and I jump, not expecting her to suddenly sit up.
“Yep, ” I yawn, pulling my pajama bottoms up. “What are you doing?” She whispers to me.
“Ah, going to bed, it is nearly eight o’clock, and I am beat,”
“Good, he falls asleep quickly, give him twenty minutes, and he will be out, quick. Let’s get dressed, ” I blink at her. She can’t be serious.
“Come on, Mara,” Rose whines.
” Rose, it would be near ten o’c1ock by the time we get there, “
” Good, that’s when the parties start to get good, ” She says, pushing her pajama pants down her legs.
“You can’t be serious,”
” Come on, please, before they put me in lockdown again, I never get to leave the pack,” She says while sending a text message.
“Yeah, because you got picked up by the police last time, “
“That was last year, and I am sick of being locked away. Mum’s paranoia is suffocating, no one will kidnap me, and I can defend myself, please Mara. I will never ask again. I just need to get out of here without being smothered for once, ” I smile at her sadly.
Rose always expressed how she felt smothered. My uncle and Aunt were a lot stricter with Rose. She never went anywhere without a guard or Casen. I understood her need for freedom. Still, her idea of fun and mine were two different things, yet I could also relate.
It s*cks living in another’s shadow, so it must s*ck even more being front and center of everyone’s attention having your every move watched. I understood Aunty Sage’s fear. She feared Rose would be kidnapped and have the same t*ortur*ed life she had before Uncle Andrei rescued her, but even I thought they were a little too strict.
Rose couldn’t go to her high school dance without a guard or attend anything by herself, not even birthday parties; she always had someone over her shoulder watching her when we were little. Mostly Casen, and after spending the entire day with her, I could see how not being free to do anything could be suffocating.
“Fine, but we don’t stay long, and you remain with me at all times, your parents will K*ll me if anything happens to you, and we have to be back before my parents wake up,”
“And before Casen gets up, I will be fine, you will be there, and I can kick a*ss, and all you gotta do is touch them with your grim reaper hands,” She shrugs, and I roll my eyes at her. Why did I think this was a bad idea?