Chapter 24
"Love is a battle, love is a war; love is a growing up.” – James Baldwin
Rose's POV
The next morning, I pulled out one of the new outfits I was almost certain Auntie Hilda had bought for me.
It had her style written all over it—a dark blue short sundress with yellow flowers scattered across it.
I slipped on a pair of denim-colored blue wedges and made my way downstairs.
The smell of pancakes filled the air. Auntie Hilda was here, making breakfast. I couldn’t help but smile.
Adjusting the straps of my backpack, I squared my shoulders and walked into the kitchen.
Aiden was already at the table, laughing and inhaling pancakes like they were going extinct.
Lorraine was in the background, looking none too pleased—probably miffed that someone else was taking over her kitchen duties this morning.
Auntie Hilda was smiling at Aiden, but the moment her eyes landed on me, her smile faltered.
Guilt hit me hard, not for the first time, over the way I’d acted last night.
“Morning!” I said brightly, forcing some cheer into my voice.
I walked over and gave Auntie Hilda a hug, which she returned without hesitation. That eased some of the weight off my chest.
“I’m sorry for how I acted,” I whispered into her shoulder.
“Oh Rose, I love you. I’m not perfect and I make mistakes. But I’m doing my best,” Auntie Hilda replied, pulling back to look at me with a smile.
Things were okay between us.
“Good morning everyone!”
Anthony’s voice boomed through the kitchen, and I turned, surprised to see him.
“Tony!” I squealed, running into his arms. He lifted me in a huge hug that nearly pulled me off my feet.
Aiden let out a low growl. Immediately, Tony set me down. I caught Aiden’s eyes on Tony’s hands still resting around my waist. For a second, it looked like he wanted to tear his brother apart.
“Rosie, I was so worried when I heard what happened,” Tony said, pulling his hands away as Aiden continued glaring.
“I heard you were out of town,” I said.
“Yeah, Aiden decided to send me on a mission at the worst possible time.” Tony scowled, crossing his arms. “I wanted to come back when Mom told me what happened, but by then you’d already been found, and Aiden wanted me to finish the assignment. You doing OK, Rosie?”
Tony looked at me closely, searching my face.
I nodded cheerfully. “I’m good.” I threw my arms out dramatically. “How could I not be? Everyone’s going above and beyond to take care of me. Making sure I don’t step a foot out of bounds.”
I hadn’t meant to sound so bitter, but it slipped out anyway.
“Don’t worry, Rosie. You just have to wait until you turn. I know the rules are kind of… suffocating. Just hang in there until September,” Tony said reassuringly.
“That’s still almost four months away!” I groaned.
It was mid-May now—almost the end of the semester.
“Well, what’s four more months in the grander scheme of things?” Tony asked with a grin as he reached for a plate of pancakes.
He winked at Auntie Hilda in thanks and took a seat next to Aiden. Meanwhile, Aiden looked like he was seriously debating murder.
“Jealous you don’t get hugs from Rosie like I do?” Tony waggled his eyebrows at Aiden. Aiden muttered something about pummelling him on the training field.
I turned back to Auntie Hilda, who was already preparing a plate of hot pancakes for me.
“Oh, do you have strawberries?” I asked, glancing at Lorraine.
She shook her head. “I’ll be sure to buy some when I go grocery shopping this week,” she offered.
“Oh, you don’t… don’t—I can—” I stammered, trying to find the right words. “I have money. I can buy the things I like and stock the pantry myself.”
“Nonsense,” Josie chimed in breezily.
She had just walked in, keys still in hand. I figured she’d just gotten back from dropping the kids off at school.
“Lorraine, if you need more money for groceries, you can get it from me. I have all this pension money as the alpha's widow and nothing to spend it on.” She shot a smirk toward Aiden. “Aiden’s alpha funds cover most of the house expenses.”
“Doesn’t he have college fees and books he needs to pay for?” I asked, sitting down on a stool next to Tony and digging into my pancakes. “I can help out. I’m living here. It’s only fair I contribute to the house.”
I had money from my mother’s inheritance, but I didn’t have direct access to it yet since I was still under twenty-one. Usually, my dad deposited money into my account each month.
Aiden finally spoke. “Keep your money, Rose. Save it for a rainy day. We were covering the expenses before you got here. I’m pretty sure I can handle one extra person in the house.
” His eyes flicked to Tony, who was sneakily reaching for another stack of pancakes.
“Tony, on the other hand, needs to stop being a freeloader. Hey, don’t you cook at your own place? You’re always here for meals.”
Tony grinned.
“You’ve got me running around on so many assignments, I don’t have time to cook. Maybe I should hire a cook!” He looked excited by the idea. “The pack funds could afford one cook for the beta,” he added with a mischievous sparkle in his eyes.
“I’m sorry, do you have eight people living under one roof?” Aiden asked, clearly exasperated.
“A hot… tall… leggy cook with big…” Tony cupped his hands as if holding invisible breasts.
Josie smacked him on the head.
“You’re despicable, Tony!” she scolded.
Auntie Hilda and Lorraine burst into laughter.
I felt a smile pulling at my lips. I tried to look at Tony with a straight face, but it wasn’t working—especially as he sputtered, claiming he was a healthy young man with a healthy appetite for the opposite sex.
Josie hit him again. I looked down at the last bit of my pancakes, hiding my grin.
This—this is why I loved Aiden’s family.
Being an only child, I loved feeling like I had siblings.
“At the risk of you eating me out of house and home, no, Tony. You can’t have a hot cook,” Aiden said with a laugh as he got up, grabbing his school bag. “You ready to go, Princess?”
I looked up, a little surprised at his light tone. I gave a quick nod, took one last bite of pancake, and followed him out.
Sliding into the passenger seat, I noticed how carefully Aiden checked everything—the brakes, the headlights…
It all made sense now that I knew why.
“Do you want to stop at the coffee shop near the library? I can park the car around there,” Aiden offered. His sunglasses made it impossible to tell if he was looking at me or not, but I had this weird feeling he kept glancing my way.
“I usually grab a coffee in the morning,” I said quietly. “But if it’s out of the way for you, I can go later.”
“I’ve seen you there plenty of times buying coffee,” he replied smoothly.
I tensed up as we passed the spot where I’d been taken.
Aiden must’ve noticed, because he reached over and placed his hand on mine where it rested on my knee.
He gave it a gentle squeeze before returning his hand to the gearshift.
He drove one of those fancy stick shift cars that I found totally impossible to understand.
“Don’t worry, Rose. I'm going to make sure nothing like that happens again,” he said, voice full of conviction.
“I’d like to be equipped to take care of myself,” I finally said once we’d turned off that awful road and left the memory behind.
“You will be,” he said with certainty. “Once you turn, we’ll get you into the same introductory fighting classes our warriors take. It’s part of the training program.”
I smiled. Okay—this was progress. When we pulled into the lot near the coffee shop, I couldn’t hold back the question that had been tugging at me.
“You never said hi,” I said, getting out of the car and adjusting my bag.
Aiden gave me a puzzled look, hands stuffed into his pockets as we walked toward the shop.
“You never said hi whenever you saw me at the coffee shop. You obviously know I go there because you’ve seen me there,” I said, raising an eyebrow.
“Oh… yeah, well… we were always on our way to class or headed into the library to grab printouts,” he said evasively.
But you still took the time to notice me.
That thought teased its way around my brain. As we got in line, Aiden stepped forward and placed our coffee orders. I pulled out my wallet, but he gently pushed my hand away.
“You know the pack pays me,” he murmured, leaning in so close that his breath brushed the side of my face. I had to fight not to shiver. “So really, it’s like you’re already paying for your coffee.”
“But—” I started to protest.
He ignored me and handed over his card like the conversation was already settled.
The pack had its own system for generating funds.
The land was in the name of Bloodfire Phoenix Inc.
, with the alpha always serving as the CEO.
They owned residential and commercial properties, and the rent collected went straight into the pack accounts.
That money paid for everything—maintaining the lands, the pack doctor, the alpha, beta, gamma, warriors, and anyone else on the payroll.
Most of the pack lived on pack land, paying a small fee to stay in the houses built by Bloodfire Phoenix.
Even those living off pack land still had to pay a small tax as members, since the land was shared for shifting and running in wolf form.
So when Aiden said his pay came from me, he wasn’t wrong.
Auntie Hilda and Ezra both contributed to the pack fund.
Well, not Ezra anymore—he was on the Council of Elders now, which exempted him from pack taxes.
But Hilda still paid. I had a feeling that after my turn, I’d be expected to start paying too.