by Sable Sylvan
Rose thought about what she’d do at home for the next few days: in her head, she’d had a plan. She’d cook and clean for her family, sure that they’d suffered in her absence...but they were fine. By the looks of things, better than fine: they were better than they’d ever been. Although she still wanted answers about where all the nice things had come from, for now, she was going to drop the topic and figure out what her role was now that it was evident that everyone could get along just fine without her.
Rose was drying the dishes off when she heard a knock at the door. Eliza bounced up from her chair and knocked on the door before Rose could. Rose followed after her: Eliza was chatting with a tall blonde with pigtails at the door. Rose walked up to the front door.
“Hannah?” asked Rose. “What are you doing here?”
“I don’t have time to talk,” said Hannah. “I need you to come with me. Now.”
“Hannah, what’s going on?” asked Rose. “Is there something wrong?”
“He needs you,” said Hannah, looking Rose in the eyes as her eyes flashed.
Rose looked back at her family, sitting in the living room, already watching television. They didn’t need her anymore: they loved her, but they were fine without her. She loved them, and there’d always be a place here for her, but things had been sorted out. She had to go to him. “Let’s go,” said Rose.
***
There was only room for two people in the chopper: Rose got in the first helicopter and Hannah got in the other. There was no time and no way for Hannah to explain the situation. The chopper landed a few miles away from the house. An SUV drove Hannah and Rose back to the mansion, but once there, Rose practically tucked and rolled out of the SUV, running towards the gardens. Hannah shouted her name but Rose ignored her, running to find the secret gate that Beast had shown her just a day before.
The gate was open, and Rose ran through the glen to the gate on the other side, which was also open. She heard the roars of a beast through the gardens, the roof of the greenhouse open, letting in the celestial light, the roars that had haunted her nights spent at the forest mansion. She finally was putting two and two together, and realized what they were.
“Beast,” she cried out as she ran through the secret gardens, the roses glowing in the moonlight. “Beast!”
She heard another roar: Rose followed the roars through the gardens until she found their source. In a corner of the garden, there was a bear, larger than any bear Rose had seen before in person, roaring and making sounds that were animal, human, and neither. The fur of the bear was dark brown, thick and wet with water from the sprinklers that had left the roses in the garden covered with dew-like sheen of water. The bear was sprawled on its back, its stomach exposed. There were no signs of blood or of blood loss. The animal didn’t look to be wounded on the outside, but the roars were roars of pain nonetheless.
Rose didn’t approach the animal, looking to see if it was wounded in some way. Scraps of fabric were scattered around the animal, but she recognized the shade of crimson from one of Beast’s ties.
Rose made her way towards the animal slowly. “Beast, I know you’re in there,” she said slowly and quietly. “Beast...it’s me. It’s Rose.”
Chapter Nine
The beast roared: Rose swore she could hear it trying to say “Rose”.
“That’s right, it’s me,” said Rose. “I’m here now.” Rose got down on her knees next to the bear and put her hands on her lap. She didn’t reach out to the bear: she let the bear touch her first.
Rose heard footsteps in the garden: Hannah was calling her name. Rose called back, “I’m here!”
Hannah came up and started to pull Rose back. “It’s dangerous. You can’t be near him when he’s like this.”
Beast’s bear snarled and snapped at Hannah, who roared back, even though she was in her human form. Hannah was holding back her own shift, but that didn’t mean it was any easier for her to deal with the situation.
“I can handle this,” said Rose, pulling away from Hannah. “Just...let me try.”
“Fine,” said Hannah, putting her hands up, and sticking her tongue out at her brother, walking backwards slowly and steadily retreating into the shadows.
Rose scooted closer to the bear, which had calmed down since Hannah had retreated. The bear moved closer to Rose, and pressed its head into her lap. “There, there,” said Rose, rubbing the bear’s hand, petting it with the palm of her hand. She had never touched a bear before: the fur looked fluffy but was surprisingly thick and coarse. The bear let out a small roar and looked up at Rose.
Rose pet the bear, and when the bear had settled down, Rose pulled the bear’s face up to hers: she had no idea what Beast would do in his bear form, but she had to take the risk if she wanted to get her lover back. She closed her eyes and kissed the bear on the forehead.
Rose kept her eyes closed, afraid that if she opened her eyes, she’d still see the bear and not the man. Rose kept her hands on the bear’s head, but the hair beneath her lips receded, revealing skin. The fur disappeared, turning into hair below the tips of her fingers, the ringlets which had a texture she remembered from the night before. The head became smaller, rounder, and the neck smaller, tauter, and the shoulders sharper, less rounded.
“Rose?” whispered the man.
“Beast?” asked Rose, not opening her eyes just yet. “Beast...is that you?”
“Rose, you came back,” said the man, pulling Rose to his taut chest.
“I told you I’d come back,” said Rose, finally opening her eyes and looking up at the dark haired man above her, his eyes illuminated by the red roses which were glowing in the moonlight.
“I know, and I knew...at least, the man knew, but the bear...the bear went nuts,” said the man. “And I couldn’t get out of my shift.”
Hannah came out of the shadows and tossed Beast a pair of black basketball shorts. “That’s because you never let your bear out.”
“Hannah, you know nothing about what I feel,” said Beast, slipping into the shorts while Hannah turned away, before sitting back down in the fake grass with Rose.
“I don’t? I’m a bear shifter too, and I know what it feels like, having two souls in here,” said Hannah, clasping her hand over her chest. “But I let my bear out, and that’s why I don’t go nuts.”
“Will somebody please just tell me what’s going on?” asked Rose. “Why do you have a rose tattoo, Beast?”
“You didn’t tell her about the mate mark?” asked Hannah, shouting at her brother. She got close and pushed him on the shoulder hard. “What kind of an idiot doesn’t tell their fated mate about their mate mark?”
“Fated mate? Okay, can you two please shut up...and can someone please tell me what this is all about?” asked Rose.
“This is for...what are you calling yourself, Beast? This is for Beast to tell you,” said Hannah.
“You’re the worst little sister ever,” said Beast with a groan.
“Sister?” asked Rose. “Wait, hold on. Hannah, you’re Beast’s sister?”
“Yeah, she’s my little sister,” said Beast, answering for Hannah. “And we’re both shifters, bear shifters, from an old shifter family.”
“Not just old, old money,” said Hannah frankly. “And shifters have mate marks: they’re marks that symbolize the person we’re meant to be with, forever. It’s thought that fate will bring a shifter and their mate together, meaning that they’re their fated mate.”
“What kind of mark? Like, a mole or something?” asked Rose.
“Not exactly,” said Hannah. “Beast, you wanna field this one?”
“Like this,” said Beast, putting Rose’s hand on his chest. She felt the grooves she’d felt the nights before: the roses, dark red, with golden tips, were surrounded by black thorns.
“Your mate mark...is a rose,” started Rose softly. “And the thorns...?”
“My name...is Thorne Asher,” said Beast. “Every socialite in the Pacific Northwest knows who
I am. You may be the only girl in Montana who didn’t know that I’m not just a bear, I’m a billionaire, and the CFO of Asher Lumber Co. And you, Rose...are my fated mate.”
“Rose and thorn...” started Rose. “Is that why you made your mate mark glow last night?”
“Made it glow?” asked Hannah. “Thorne, you dumbass. You know what that means.”
“I don’t,” said Rose.
“It means...you’re my fated mate,” said Thorne. “Without a shadow of a doubt, it’s you, Rose. I knew it from the moment I met you that the rose literally meant you, Rose. You were the rose. You are the rose. You will forever be my rose. My mate mark never glowed before...or at least, it hadn’t, before I was with you.”
“So you went nuts today, because I’m your true love?” asked Rose. “Sorry, that doesn’t add up, bub.”
“I’ve been going nuts since the day I met you,” said Thorne. “This mate mark...I’ve dedicated my life to figuring out what it means, but when I met you, I couldn’t hold back my bear. I’d held back my bear all my life: I had shifted a few times when I was younger but I had stopped once I became more and more bitter from not finding my fated mate. I hadn’t known what to do: I dedicated my days to figuring out as much as I could about the mate mark. I researched roses. I put them in my home. I surrounded myself with the rose, the symbol of true love, the marker of my true love...but once I saw you, outside your house, I knew you were the one.”
“And why didn’t you just tell me?” asked Rose.
“I wanted a chance to get to know you, to woo you,” said Thorne. “Meanwhile, I made sure your family was taken care of: I’ve had a financial advisor work with your father to ensure that he makes better fiscal decisions in the future, and I’ve sent your family money.”
“My father said he couldn’t tell me where the money was from,” said Rose.
“I had him sign non-disclosure agreements, precisely so he wouldn’t tell you, because I wanted you to be able to make the decision to be with me yourself, without considering what I could do for your family, without feeling obligated to be with me because I could provide for your family,” said Thorne. “And that’s why I let you go home: I never wanted you to feel like you were a prisoner here, Rose, and honestly...if you had left earlier, I would have done whatever it took to woo you and make you see we were meant to be. Controlling my bear has been harder than ever before around you, but it’s even harder when you’re gone.”
“And so now what? Is the agreement over?” asked Rose.
“Of course it is,” said Thorne. “It’s not like you signed anything. You could have left whenever you wanted...but, I hope you stay, Rose. I want to prove to you that I can offer more than just a fairytale mansion: I can offer you a life here. Whatever you want, I can give it to you. All you have to do is ask.”
“Anything?” Rose asked.
“Anything,” promised Throne.
“Then...you need to get help, Thorne,” said Rose. “You need to learn how to control your emotions. I know you think you can handle it: you don’t think I’ve seen your type before? You can’t handle your bear, Thorne, and I’m not a werebear, I’m not even a shifter: I can’t help you with this.”
“She’s right,” said Hannah. “You need help with your bear, Thorne. The relationship you have with your bear...it’s going to haunt you until the day you die, unless you fix it now. It’s not going to be easy.”
“I’ve held the bear back because I saw what happened to our father,” said Thorne, looking up at Hannah. “I don’t want that to happen to me. Every day, I struggle to keep control, and so I...I try to control everything and everyone around me. I micromanage things, because I’m scared that if even one thing goes wrong, I’m going to blow everything, and when I met you, I was sure that if anything went wrong, even for a second, I’d lose you. Forever.”
“What...what happened to your father?” asked Rose.
Thorne looked to Rose and his eyes flashed bright green as he thought about the man he simultaneously tried to forget and who haunted his every step. “My father...fell in love with a human woman, and had us,” said Thorne. “But when my mother passed, a fluke stroke at a young age, barely thirty, my father...he was never the same. When I was in my teen years, I barely remembered that my father used to be a happy man...that he used to be happy. But one day, at a family dinner...my father shifted, all of a sudden, and my sister and I were pulled away by one of my aunts, and my father went on a rampage through the house, until he ran out into the woods, and I never saw him again.”
Thorne sighed. “I’ve looked for him, Rose. I used to go out into the woods, before I got my shift, and hope that some bear would come and pillage my tent, and that that bear would be my father. But I never found him.”
“You’re not your father,” said Rose.
“Then why do I feel like I’m becoming him, day by day?” asked Thorne. “Just like him, I’m obsessed with the woman I love: I was obsessed with you before I even met you. All of this, Rose, was made because I was searching for you. “
“You’re not cursed, curses aren’t real,” said Rose. “But if you think yourself into a hole, at the end of the day, you’ll be stuck in a hole. You...you need to not worry so much, Thorne. You overthink things, over plan things. If you had just...asked me on a date, we could have dated, and seen how things went.”
“I’ve...I honestly had not considered that,” said Thorne. “I’ve spent my whole life obsessing about my mate mark that I never...I never realized I was taking it too seriously.”
“I get it,” said Rose. “I’ve...I’ve always been a mom to my sisters, ever since our mother passed. And I never expected I’d ever leave home, at least, not until my sisters had graduated college, because we’d scrimped and saved every penny to put into their college funds, but now...everything’s simpler. I know it sounds crass, but whoever said that money doesn’t solve anything wasn’t poor. And now...for the first time in my life, I have to figure out what I’m going to do with my life. My sisters don’t need me as a mom anymore: what’s left, Thorne?”
“Our lives together are only just starting, Rose,” said Thorne, kissing Rose on the top of the head and inhaling her natural scent. “You shouldn’t have had to grow up so fast...nor should have I. But now, we’ve found each other. We’ve got the whole rest of our lives to figure things out...that is, if you’ll accept me.”
“Thorne...what are you trying to say?” asked Rose.
Thorne looked through the scraps of his pants to find what he was looking for: a small black box, covered in velvet flocking. Thorne lifted Rose up from the ground before he got down on his knee and popped open the box.
Inside, a brilliant cut diamond shone, surrounded by layers of soft rose gold, which were arranged around the diamond like petals, forming a soft pink rose. The rose gold band consisted of scrollwork, forming leaves dotted with deep green marquise cut emeralds and thorns made of black pear cut obsidian.
“Rose Charleston...over the last few weeks, I’ve made many mistakes, but the fact that I’m here, with you, right now, in this garden, means that I must have done something right, to be with a woman as amazing as you, the only woman I’ve ever felt anything close to this level of a connection with,” said Thorne. “And I, Thorne Asher...with this ring, propose to you, and ask you to become my wife. I know I’m in basketball shorts, sitting in the grass, but I hope you can look past that.”
“Thorne Asher...of course I’ll marry you,” said Rose, and as soon as she said that, Thorne slipped the ring onto her finger and then lifted Rose up into the air, whirling her around gently before kissing her deeply, the first kiss between fiancé and fiancée.
“I do love a happy ending,” said Hannah, smiling, tears of joy flowing freely as she watched her brother finally win over the woman he was meant to be with.
“This isn’t the ending,” said Thorne, holding Rose up in his arms.
“No, it’s just the beginning,” said Rose, leaning up and ki
ssing Thorne before he carried her out of the garden and into their new life together.
***
Thorne didn’t stop carrying Rose once he reached the threshold of the house: he carried her up the stairs, but not to his bedroom: to hers. He didn’t even bother to turn on the lights. He just wanted to cradle her in his arms and do whatever it took to gain her trust and her forgiveness.
“I’m so sorry, my love,” said Thorne, pressing Rose down and against the sheets. “I’ll never...I’ll never worry you like that again.”
“You better not,” said Rose crossly, furrowing her brow. “I was never more scared than I was during that helicopter ride.”
“Let me earn your forgiveness tonight, Rose,” begged Thorne, taking Rose hand into his and pressing his lips against the back of her hand. Unlike the restrained kisses he’d given her during their weekly meals, this one was passionate and desperate.
Rose rolled her eyes. “I suppose I could let you try your best,” she said sarcastically.
“I missed these curves,” said Thorne, pushing the dress up. As Rose slipped the dress off over her head, Thorne worshiped her every curve with kisses and caresses. “I was afraid I’d never see them again.”
“I missed you too,” said Rose. “But...I was going to come back, Thorne.”
“I know...but the bear, I couldn’t...” started Thorne.
Rose pressed a finger to Thorne’s lips. “Shh. We already talked. It’s...fine.”
“Is it?” asked Thorne.
“No...but it will be,” said Rose. “Right now...what I want is you, Thorne. The man. Kiss me.”
Thorne didn’t have to be told again: he pressed her lips against Rose’s lips and pulled her close as Rose lowered her panties. Thorne helped taking them off as he parted from the kiss and Rose unhooked her bra, throwing them aside.