War of the Roses [Book 1]

River Run Rose

I can’t resist writing a chapter for this :P Okay, to my friend who told me she’s been dying for an update (Hi Calla, you know who you are), I’m updating it.  Particularly because I just finished Snakeroot and I’m having serious Ren feels. Enjoy!

Chapter Quote:
“Oh my gods!  My innocence!”
~Connor
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Chapter 13: River Run Rose

Ren 

He could see them.

Sitting at the top of a ridge, peering behind a rock, he could see them.  Arya, Neville, and Ansel.  The latter two’s presence didn’t surprise him.  This was their territory.  They belonged here.  Arya’s presence did surprise him.  How had she found him?  He’d been careful not to let her know where he was.  It was for her benefit and safety.  She didn’t know what he was doing; Arya didn’t know he’d disappeared for her.

His thoughts were broken by Neville letting out a massive howl, calling not only his pack, but Arya’s as well.  Calla’s pack responded first.  A few seconds later, Arya’s pack answered.  Ren shivered, and not from the cold.  He ached to be with his family again.  His new one, that is.  He wanted to romp around and play with his pack, he wanted to kiss his fiancée, he wanted to be with them.

But he had a job he had to finish.

A single howl echoed through his head, making him involuntarily whine.  Arya was calling out to him, begging him to come back.  Ren couldn’t stop himself.  He answered, trying to convey everything to her, that he missed her, loved her, and that she needed to stay away.  He saw Arya shift from wolf to human form and slump down to the ground.  Ren didn’t need to be next to her to know that she was on the verge of crying if she wasn’t already.

Shifting forms himself, Ren hit the rock next to him out of frustration.  He just had this one last job to do.  Then he could get done with this.  His “boss” had told him he’d be able to go back to his pack after doing all the recruiting, but Ren knew better.  He knew when people were lying.  He knew he’d end up dead.

Ren stalked back down the mountain, away from his pack.  He entered the cabin he was staying in.  It used to belong to one of his old professors, the one who had started talking about a forbidden author.  Ren had never seen the guy again, and no one was living in the guy’s house, so Ren made use of it.  Unfortunately, Ren wasn’t the only one living there.

“She found you,” a voice commented.  Holding back a growl, Ren turned around to face the person.  Lumine smiled at him. “I told you not to underestimate her.”

“I didn’t.  I don’t know how she found me.  I haven’t talked to her since I left.  I’ve done everything you asked me to.  I’m about to recruit the last person.  After that, I’m done.  You give me what we agreed upon, and I go with them.”

“I remember, Renier.”

“Arya won’t find me.”

“Don’t underestimate her.”

“Don’t underestimate me.”

Lumine raised one of perfectly manicured eyebrows. “We’ll see.”
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Shiloh 

As Shiloh and the pack were running to find Arya, he heard his alpha howl.  A heartbroken, pleading howl.

Then he heard his other alpha reply.  The alpha they’d been searching for.  For the first time in the two months they’d been looking, the Lightwood pack knew for a fact that Ren was in the area, and nearby too.  Finally they could reach him, even if his howl warned them to stay away.  Why Ren wanted the Lightwood pack to stay away, Shiloh didn’t know, but he didn’t care.  He was done watching Arya be miserable.  Ren would be found.  There was no other option.