Rose- Feelin Thorny

by Jewels Arthur

  I eye her with exasperation and nod. I look to my brothers, who just shrug their shoulders at me with small smiles.

  “Hello, Amber, Julian. It’s good to see you both,” I say politely to the owners of Jewels Cafe and, more recently, our friends.

  “What have you found?” Julian asks, getting straight to the point. I explain what I’ve read about familiars, and Julian nods, soaking in all the information.

  “There’s something else; we watched the video of Pumpkin’s attack,” Seb explains just as the cat in question jumps onto the table I sit at.

  “You let Rose watch that?” I ask angrily. Do they not have the ability to say no to our mate? “I thought we agreed that she shouldn’t witness such a thing.”

  “That was before we knew that Pumpkin would be okay. Sure, it was graphic, but we all knew how it ended, and I think that made it easier,” Seb replies.

  Rose glares at me. “Listen here, all of you. There will be no more of this protect Rose bullshit. I understand your need to protect me because I feel the same for you guys, but I will not be thrown in some tower like a defenseless princess. That’s not who I am, and I will never be that person. So if you don’t cut the shit, then I’m outta here.”

  I wince at her words since even the thought of her leaving makes me feel an ache in my chest. I don’t think she would really leave, but the threat is there, and I don’t like it. I sigh and look up at her, standing there and glaring at me.

  “Okay,” I concede quietly.

  “Okay?” she repeats, her glare still penetrating.

  “I will never stop protecting you, ever. But I will stop being such an ass. No recklessness though, none of us goes out alone.” I frown, looking to Rose and my brothers, then catching sight of Amber and Julian, who look on at our public tiff awkwardly. “Now, what did you see in the video?”

  “That’s the problem. Nothing. There is just a dark blur-like smudge on the screen, and then claws appear for a second and attack Pumpkin,” Rose explains, her face paling at the explanation.

  “That is strange. Pumpkin said he smelled feline?” I ask, thinking hard.

  “What kinds of felines have the ability to cloak themselves?” Julian asks loudly, looking over at Violet. She slowly makes her way back over to us, but looks slightly annoyed by his shouting.

  “There is a book on shifters on the shelf over there, young man. Third shelf from the bottom, in the middle,” she answers back, using a proper indoor voice, like she asked me to use earlier.

  Julian gets up and grabs the book, flipping through it to look for feline shifters, then sits there quietly reading. I look back down to my own book and begin reading again until I hear Finn sigh loudly.

  “This is fun and all—nope, can’t even lie. This is horrible. Rose, can we leave? I think I hear the pet store calling us.”

  She smiles at him. She’s probably the only person that finds his rudeness adorable. “Yeah, I think that’d be best. Amber, you staying?”

  “No, I think I’ll be heading back to Jewels to relieve Wes and Chase,” she replies with a smile. She leans down and kisses Julian before she leaves with Rose and my brothers, turning towards Jewels Cafe while the others walk in the opposite direction to Beastie Besties.

  Rose

  The afternoon sun shines brightly down on Finn, Seb, and me as we make our way to Beastie Besties, the pet store in town. I look over at Pumpkin and see that he is strangely fine in the sun.

  Why doesn’t the sun hurt you? I ask him silently, looking down as he walks obediently next to us. If I was still a human and I saw a cat walking with a group of people so obediently, it would definitely make me stop in my tracks. Cats are normally finicky creatures, living to be served instead of living to serve like dogs.

  My fur, I would assume. The sun doesn’t feel great though, I will admit, he replies, picking up his pace a bit.

  Maybe there are some cute cat clothes at the pet store! I think excitedly, smiling at the thought of Pumpkin in a little sweater and pants, maybe some booties and a hat. No, a little kitty track suit. Ahhh, I can’t, it’d be too freaking adorable.

  You will not dress me like some kind of doll. I am far too proud for that, he retorts as he walks in my shadow in front of me. The sun being behind us definitely makes things easier on us.

  But it would be so freaking adorbs, I reply with a whine.

  “They are doing it again,” Finn says, and Sebastian just laughs.

  “I think that is something we are going to have to get used to, Finn,” Seb says through his laughter.

  “Would it be better if I talked out loud?” I ask, smiling at the men.

  “It would look crazier,” Finn replies, then he grabs my hand in his and holds it while we walk.

  We approach the pet store, and I stop to admire how cute it looks, even from the outside. There is a brown and white striped awning covering the entrance with small decorative trees on each side. A large sign with a man being dragged behind an oversized furry dog hangs out front. As a human, I would probably see it as just that, an oversized furry dog. But upon closer inspection, it looks kind of like a werewolf, and I chuckle at the cleverness. When we walk inside, I admire the dark wood shelves lining the walls and all the brown accents. Cats walk around freely, hopping onto various cat trees that are scattered around the large store. A section of the wall is lined with pet beds of all shapes and sizes, some looking like they are actually fit for a king, and I watch as Pumpkin runs straight to them.

  “Jesus, we are going to max out our credit cards here,” Finn says in amazement as he looks around the store. “We shouldn’t have brought Pumpkin; it’s like taking a kid into a candy store. Look at him.”

  A woman behind the counter catches my eye, and I am astonished by how pretty she is. She has long dark brown hair up in a high messy bun. She sits back in a chair, flipping through her phone and holding a coffee cup that says ‘Vodka and Cat Hair’ on it with a picture of a black cat. The woman is gorgeous and plus-sized like me, but her face is shaped into a pronounced frown as her eyes concentrate at her phone.

  “Do you ever wonder why the guys that feel the need to pose shirtless on Tinder always have the smallest dicks?” she asks no one in particular. I snort loudly and watch as Finn and Sebastian’s jaws both drop open.

  “Know this from experience, I assume?” Finn asks, regaining his composure.

  The woman looks up, eyes Finn carefully, then looks back down at her phone. “I doubt very much that you have a small dick.”

  Finn’s mouth pops open and closed like a fish, and I fucking lose it, clutching my side as I laugh loudly. She looks up and smiles at me, then sets her phone down and takes a big gulp of what I assume is coffee and not vodka, though there is probably cat hair by the looks of the place.

  “Hi, I’m Calluna.” She smiles widely, winking at me conspiratorially. “I assume these are your men?”

  I laugh again, then nod. “Yes, I’m Rose, and this is Sebastian and Finn.”

  “The Whitaker boys,” she says knowingly and glares at them jokingly. “No longer munching on drunken human gals, eh? Landed yourself a nice full woman, I can respect that.”

  Both of my men seem unable to form coherent sentences, and I love it. It isn’t very often that they are rendered speechless, and I gotta say, I really like this woman. At that moment, Pumpkin jumps up on the counter and walks straight to Calluna, rubbing against her arm.

  “Awwww, who is this little fellow?” she gushes, then kisses him on his head. “You have very good taste in men, Rose. Although, this little fellow isn’t quite what he seems. Are you, little guy?”

  “His name is Pumpkin, and he is eleven. What do you mean, he isn’t quite what he seems?” I ask, surprised by her reaction to him.

  “It seems like you already know since he has bonded with you. That much is clear.” She rubs behind his ears, and he purrs loudly. “You can hear him in your mind, can’t you? He’s your familiar. Aren’t you, baby boy?”


  I like her, Pumpkin says with a loud purr that feels like it rattles my brain.

  I do too, I reply with a smile.

  “He likes you,” I tell Calluna, watching as she loves on my little man. Another cat, a small gray one, jumps up and rubs against Pumpkin.

  Ohhh, I like her too. Let’s take her home, Pumpkin says with another loud purr.

  “Nope. Not gonna happen. We are not owning two cats,” Finn states resolutely.

  “Did you hear him?” I gasp.

  “No, but I can see it in the horny little fellow’s eyes. No kitty fucking in my house,” Finn growls out, eyeing Pumpkin.

  “What a killjoy,” Calluna whispers to Pumpkin loud enough for all of us to hear. “You can come over here anytime for kitty fucking, as Finn put it so eloquently. Sam is fixed.”

  “Is Sam your familiar?” I ask, hopeful that Calluna can tell me more about familiars, especially if she has one herself.

  “No, not a witch. I’m something a bit different—just good with animals and recognizing when they have magical capabilities. Which this guy has in spades, don’t you, Pumpkin?” she replies.

  I smile at her, wondering what she could be that’s a bit different, but I remember the guys saying it’s rude to ask. I explain to her the events of last night and this morning—Pumpkin’s murder, changing him to a vampire, and our newfound ability to speak to each other telepathically.

  “Who the fuck would murder your cat?” She growls the words, her eyes flashing red for a moment. She looks him over carefully, lifting up his lips to show two sharper canines than what was there before. “He does appear to be a vampire now. I will say, I’ve never seen a vampire cat before. His latent abilities as your familiar probably made the transformation possible. Does he have a weakness to sunlight? We have some jackets or some shirts you could try.”

  Pumpkin hisses at her loudly, and she chuckles. “Okay, no clothes. Maybe some shampoo infused with SPF? I could make something especially for him. Cats already eat their meals raw, so he’ll get blood from the mice and birds he catches. I would probably supplement some human blood in there somewhere. Not directly from the source though, so no attacking humans, okay?” Pumpkin makes a soft sound of disapproval but continues to rub on Calluna.

  The sound of a large number of items dropping onto the counter draws my attention, and I gasp in surprise when I see that it’s Sebastian dropping all the items on the counter. From kitty treats to a huge soft bed, to a set of beautiful new bowls. Numerous amounts of cat toys are scattered across the counter, and there’s even a small kitty cowboy hat that Pumpkin eyes skeptically.

  “What the bloody fuck is all that shit, Seb?” Finn asks, holding up the small kitty hat as if it might attack him.

  “It’s stuff for Pumpkin!” Seb replies happily. “We really need to make the house more cat-friendly anyway, Finn. Calluna, we’ll take that big cat tree in the window. Do you have a delivery service?”

  “That is an excellent cat tree! Yes, I can have someone swing it over later today. Do you want to set up an account while you are here?” Calluna asks, then chuckles as Finn begins huffing about ‘cat shit.’

  “Definitely. We’ll also take Sam,” Seb says with a grin. “She is so cute! How old is she?”

  “She is four and fixed. I don’t think she’ll walk along with you as well as Pumpkin does. Do you want a leash or a carrier?”

  “We’ll take both!” Seb replies.

  “Awwwww, a new kitty?!” I squeal excitedly, hugging Seb tightly, then I move over to greet my new baby. “Hi, Sam. I’m your new momma!”

  Sam replies with a little head bump to my cheek, and I swoon.

  “Son of a bitch,” Finn growls, giving Sam a little pet on her head.

  Sebastian

  I’ve never been a cat person, but for Rose, I’d be any kind of person she wanted. When I saw her eyeing Sam, I couldn’t say no. Even the way that Pumpkin was acting around Sam pulled at my heartstrings. This morning when I thought Pumpkin was dead, my heart broke into a million pieces for Rose. She loves that cat so damn much, and I knew it would kill her to lose him. Finn be damned, we need all this stuff. I start thinking about my plans to knock down the wall between Finn and Dean’s rooms to join them into one master room for the four of us. Then I can turn my bedroom into a cat room. They’ll love it.

  When we get back to the loft, I begin putting all the stuff away and make room for the cat tree that will be delivered soon. Watching as Sam explores the house, I smile and think about how Dean will react when he gets home. I’m sure he’ll just shrug it off, but I know that Finn is really betting on Dean coming to his rescue. At this point though, Finn and I both know that none of us would ever say no to Rosalie.

  Finn nudges the bags of cat stuff that sit on the floor near the front door, still waiting to be put away. “We still don’t know who the fuck is targeting us, and what are we doing? Dean is reading about familiars in the library, and we just bought out a fucking cat store. Oh, and we added another member to our household.” Pumpkin bats at Finn’s legs before walking over to his new bed and lying down on it.

  Rose laughs loudly, and I look at her in question. She smiles widely, and says, “Pumpkin says that you are his new favorite.”

  “Above you?” I ask in mock shock.

  “It seems so,” she replies, her lips pinched in jealousy.

  I chuckle and move over to the couch, thinking about Finn’s words. It’s true; we still have no idea who is targeting us, and that makes me scared. When will their next attack come? Who will be the victim? I can only imagine that we won’t be as lucky this time as we were with Pumpkin. We still have no idea what the attacker was. How were they able to cloak themselves from the cameras?

  “Are we opening tonight?” Rose asks as she looks at Finn and me.

  “I don’t know. It may not be wise. I don’t want to potentially put anyone in danger,” I reply, feeling worried.

  “I say fuck it. We don’t want to look weak. Let’s meet ‘em head-on,” Finn says brashly.

  A buzz at the front door interrupts our conversation, and I stand up immediately. “Must be Calluna’s delivering the cat tree. I’ll go get it.”

  “I’ll come with,” Rose replies, getting up and following me to the door. We look back at Finn, who waves us on.

  “You guys have fun. I’m gonna hang out up here, maybe clean up some of this cat shit everywhere. Do you think familiars should be responsible for scooping their own poops? Because I do,” Finn says, then he eyes Pumpkin, who’s sleeping in his new bed. I shake my head and laugh as we exit the loft.

  When we get to the door, I rip it open, expecting to see Calluna or maybe one of her workers. I am unhappy to see that it isn’t. Instead, I am greeted by the irritatingly uptight face of Shani, only this time, she is without her brother.

  “Good afternoon, Rose. Sebastian,” she says curtly, a slight accent that I never noticed before coming out in her tone. “I am here about a disturbance that was reported to me. Supposedly there was an attack here last night?” she asks, looking around my shoulder to the inside of the nightclub.

  “Who reported it?” I ask curiously. “We’ve made no calls.”

  “It was an anonymous tip. Besides, I’m sure you can understand our need for anonymity in these instances. We can’t just reveal tip-offs willy-nilly,” Shani replies, her lips pinched.

  “Someone broke in and attacked Rose’s cat. He is okay now though,” I explain, not going very deep into details. Rose looks at me questioningly, but I just ignore it and keep my eyes glued to Shani, who eyes me skeptically.

  “Why would someone break in to attack your cat?” she asks. “Seems like an odd victim. Was anything stolen?”

  “Not that we noticed,” I reply quickly.

  Shani squints her eyes at me slightly, looking annoyed. “Withholding information could be a detriment to your case.”

  “Do we have a case?” Dean asks, coming up from behind Shani with a couple of books in his a
rms.

  “Dean, is it?” Shani asks as she moves to the side to let Dean through, but not before she openly gazes at his books. “Researching familiars?”

  “Yes, just a little light reading. Did I miss something?” Dean looks to Rose and myself, slight worry marring his features.

  “Nope, Shani is just here to question us about the attack last night,” I reply to Dean, staring at him with a wordless warning.

  Dean nods, then looks at Shani. “We appreciate your worry, officer. But if there is nothing else, we really must be going.”

  “Delivery!” a man says, walking towards the door and pushing a large box, clearly the cat tree by the large picture on the side, using a dolly.

  “New cat? Or did the attacked one just bounce back quickly?” Shani asks while eyeing the box.

  “Both. Was there anything else?” Rose states shortly.

  “No. Just let us know if there are any more attacks involving your place of business, please. We would hate for a local business to be taken out because they were too proud to go to the police,” Shani replies.

  “Thank you for your concern, officer,” Dean says with forced sweetness as Shani turns and walks away.

  “Is this a bad time?” asks the delivery man from Beastie Besties, looking uncomfortable.

  “No, this is a perfect time. Come on inside,” I say warmly as I hold the door open for the man.

  Dean leans in to place a kiss on Rose’s cheek. “It seems I have missed a great deal. Is everything okay?”

  I watch as she places her hand on his chest, then gives him a kiss on his lips. “We’re okay, I think.”

  Dean nods and puts his hand on the small of her back, guiding her up the stairs as I help the delivery man carry the large cat tree box upstairs.

  Rose

  Dean and I sit on the couch and watch as Sebastian and the delivery man, Lars, bring the cat tree into the loft. Dean puts his arm around my neck, and I cuddle into him, smiling when Sam jumps onto my lap.