24. Raine
24
Raine
“So,” Rose says while toweling off her wet hair and hopping back onto her bed. “How long have you known you were going to be a breeder?”
My body stiffens at the question, mostly because I have no idea what to say for a lie. I’m not all that familiar with breeders and the culture surrounding them, only having heard about them in passing or through old legends told to us as pups when we were still young.
On the other hand, she could also be testing me—seeing if I’m actually who I say I am and not just some fraud sent by my pack in order to learn trade secrets or whatever else spies do.
“Oh, um.” I clear my throat. “Since I was young.”
“Really?” Her long dark hair is tossed over her shoulder as she straightens up, her towel tossed carelessly across the back of the single desk chair. “So…what, your parents just came up to you one day and told you that you were going to be a breeder?”
I stare at her, not sure what to say to that.
Is that how it worked? Or would it be more appropriate to breach the subject when older?
Honestly, I have no clue which would be better. On the one hand, telling a child young would help them prepare themselves for the future but also confuse them, while on the other, telling a teenager something like that would fundamentally rock their world, but they would have a greater understanding of what it meant.
Plus, I guess this all hinges on if the culture of breeders is even accepted within the pack in the first place.
“Sorry, am I being annoying?” she asks. “I’m not trying to be. I’ve just never met a breeder before.”
That has me blinking in surprise. “Really?”
Then why would her alpha need one in the first place if they aren’t a practicing pack? Is this their way of dipping their toes into the water?
“Yeah. I swear I’m not trying to make you feel uncomfortable. I’m just interested. What was your life like growing up?”
“Hard,” I say slowly. It is the truth, even if she doesn’t exactly know what I’m referring to. “It’s a…a big responsibility.”
She nods sagely. “Yeah, I bet. Are you nervous? I mean, I would be leaving my family behind like that. But I guess they prepare you for that, right?”
I play with the idea of lying to her and telling her that I had a huge going away party or whatever. To pretend like I meant anything at all to that pack, aside from Delilah, would have me feeling sick to my stomach. Even if it could make me look better, I just can’t do it.
“No. I didn’t have a family.”
Her mouth drops open. “Oh… shit. I’m sorry. Shit. I should’ve kept my mouth shut. Wren’s always yelling at me for it.”
I smile a little. “He doesn’t quite strike me as the yelling type.”
Rose rolls her eyes. “He does, it’s just silently. He’ll stare you down until you crack. He gets it from our mom.”
Oh. “He’s your brother?”
“Unfortunately.”
I’m really beginning to like Rose.
I hope this isn’t all a ploy to get close to me and then rip the rug right out from under me. If any of this is genuine, she has no idea how much her company, even if only because she’s been forced into it, means to me.
If this is real, then hopefully that spells good things for my future in Soleus. Nyx sticking me with someone like Rose has to mean he isn’t interested in hurting me, right?
“You have any siblings?” she asks.
I shake my head. “No, but my best friend back home is like a sister to me.”
Rose frowns. “I bet you miss her.”
“Yes. Maybe one day she can come visit.” That is, if she’s ever told what pack I’ve been taken to.
And that’s on the assumption that Nyx will even let a strange shifter past his borders. Daniel is such a paranoid narcissist that he believes any shifter passing through is plotting to off him or take over his pack.
When my dad left, his paranoia only got worse.
“Well, I don’t think Nyx would care. So, yeah. If she ever wants to.” Rose shrugs. “Maybe she’ll like it there better.”
It’s obviously a dig at my pack and their poor status, but her off-handed comment has me intrigued. “Does your alpha usually take in strays?”
“Hm…that’s a tough question. Yes and no. It depends.”
On what ? I want to ask. Though, I have a feeling that she’s not going to tell me. If she wanted to, she would’ve volunteered the information like everything else she’s been saying. With this, she’s been rather cryptic, which means that either I’m not allowed to know that as an outsider, or she’s not allowed to say anything.
With her brother being the beta of the pack, I’m sure Rose has a lot of insider knowledge into how her pack runs, even if she isn’t supposed to.
Smiling, I say, “I’ll let her know, if she ever wants to come and visit.”
“Just make sure to clear it with Nyx. He’s…sometimes in a mood.”
Instantly my heart stutters.
The sound of that is both foreboding and telling of my future. These “moods”...are they bad? Good? Indifferent? She said it in a way that makes me nervous.
“Well, anyway.” Rose scoots back on her bed enough to grab at the covers and dig her body under them. “We should probably get some sleep. Wren will be banging on our door before the sun comes up because he likes to torture me with an early morning run every day.”
Nodding, I stand and grab at my own covers, pulling them back so that I can slip under them. Even with this motel being the way that it is, having some kind of cushion under me that isn’t my own balled-up clothing feels like absolute heaven.
Nothing else matters but this glorious night’s sleep I’m about to get.
“Night, Raine,” Rose says with a yawn.
“Night,” I say as my eyes slowly drift closed.