A Rose With Teeth and Claws

No other way

Rose woke up an hour later. She was almost positive she had a concussion, because her head was scrambled. She was momentarily confused as she didn't recognize where she was but soon found, she had been to this place many times. She was at Dan's house. He was currently standing over her with a worried expression on his face. Seeing she had awoken, he inspected her. "Rose? Are you ok?"

She just nodded and he seemed relieved that she was responding to him, because often when she was in these situations, she would not speak to him, not wanting to burden him with the information, but he already knows well enough what happens at her house, so he doesn't ask. He once tried to go to the police about it, but Rose couldn't stand the thought of her once loving father locked away so she convinced him not to do it.

"I'm alright." She said dryly. Dan offered her a cup of water that she drank thirstily.

"Dan?"

"Mmhmm?" He hummed.

"How did I get here?" That was the real question. The last she knew, she was lying on her driveway out cold while her father was stumbling and Wess was there, sprinting toward her.

"I don't really know myself. I heard a knock on the door and I ran down to answer it but it was just you and you were unconscious." He looked uneasy, and I felt like I was going to puke. "What happened to you Rosey? This is different than the other times."

"My dad threw me out. And when I went back to get some of my things, he tried to attack me, calling me an intruder. A passerby must have picked me up and carried me here. Though I don't know how they knew where to go."

Did Weston bring me here? How did he know where to take me? Did he look through my book bag and find something about Dan? She thought about it but quickly discarded the idea. There's nothing in there about him so-

"I'm just glad you're here. Heaven knows what would happen to you if you were out there, with a bruised up face, broken wrist and small cuts all over you. Not to worry though. My mom still has most of her nurse things so she took care of you." He said, though, she could tell he was frightened. For her.

"Thanks Danny. You're the best." She said. "But I'd like to get a little more sleep now if that's ok."

"Oh! Of course. I'll leave a light on and some water here for you. I'll be right in the next room if you need me. I'm sleeping with Dustin tonight so you have my bed for yourself." He said with a bright smile. She couldn't say anything without making it sound like he wasn't appreciated, and she was too tired to think about moving so she mumbled, "Night. Love you." And drifted to sleep, but she heard his reply. "Night. Love you too."

It was just barely two in the morning, three hours after Dan had left her to sleep that there was a knock on her window. She played it off as her imagination and tried to go back to sleep when there was another knock. Not loud enough to disturb other residents of the house, but loud enough for her to hear it loud and clear.

Sighing she got up slowly as to not harm herself, but everything ached and the anesthesia was wearing off so she was beginning to hurt all over. She opened the window agitated for being woken up, when she saw the cause of the noise.

Weston was standing outside the window and he had been trying to get her attention. He whispered, "Come out. I've got to tell you something."

So she climbed out the window and joined him as he walked to the side of the house. This is where she and Dan came to sit on the trees and dream about adventures.

Wess stopped and turned toward her.

"Are you alright, Rose? You were in pretty bad condition." She sat on their favorite tree and answered him.

"I'm okay. I ache all over, have a broken wrist and I'm not that pretty to look at, but otherwise, I'm pretty good. I don't feel like hurling my guts up anymore and my headache's gone away for the most part." She stopped because she noticed he was very quiet and that she was rambling.

"I'm glad." Was all he said.

"What happened to you? And how did I get to Dan's house after I backed out?" It had been bugging her all night and now she was finally asking the person who should have the answer.

"After you fell, I ran to you and scooped you up into my arms. You had enough strength in you to push your father over but he quickly got up. But by the time he was up I was already on my way to town with you. I brought you here, to Dan. I had seen you and him together before, once, while I was getting groceries and so I asked around and someone finally told me where the boy lived. So I took you there and left you on the doorstep after knocking and making sure he came to the door." He sighed. "But I had to make sure you were alright with my own eyes. So I came back to see for myself."

Rose couldn't believe it. This man she had just met today had taken the time to help her get away from a dangerous situation and had gotten her to a safe place. Not many people were like this these days.

"Thank you so much, Wess, for helping me, a complete stranger, but as you can see, I am fine now, thanks to you." She said with a smile.

He suddenly got serious. "Would you like to have to never be pushed around again? To have to strength to fight back if it came to that? To never have to be defenseless again?"

Rose was shocked. "I mean, of course I would. Everybody would. But that's impossible. Everyone's defenseless sometimes."

Whoa, mood swing much?

"Oh really?" He asked, putting his hand on a tree. "Are you sure about that?" He sounded so cocky, so she decided to humor him. "Prove it. Prove to me that it's possible."

He smiled then. It was a smile so unbelievably arrogant and he walked over to her. "Alright. If you say so." He stopped right in front of her.

"Here. Before anything, I'm going to need you to give me a hug to show that no harm is meant to either of our persons."

She saw no reason not to, though it was a strange request, but she opened her arms for him. He stepped forward and put his arms around her with his head in the crook of her neck where it joined her shoulder. He moved his head a small bit, and she screamed.

Where his head had been, there were large teeth marks. He had bitten her. She was losing a lot of blood due to a fang piercing her jugular. She looked at him with a mix of betrayal, anger and shock but what was once Wess was now a giant wolf person. A werewolf. Weston was a werewolf and his eyes were glowing red.

Her body was heating up, her pulse skyrocketed and her head was hurting like never before and she screamed again. The pain was almost too much for her to bear.

"DAN!" She called. It felt like her skin was melting off her bones. Her blood was boiling. She lost all sense of the world and hit the ground with a thud. Wess was gone, but only after he saw that what he had done worked. But she heard another set of footprints getting closer. She thought she could hear Dan's voice calling for her but all she could manage was a whimper.

Then she stopped breathing completely and that was when Dan found her lying limp on the ground outside his house, bleeding out of her neck from teeth incisions and her back from where his claws had punctured. He checked her pulse, but he got nothing.

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A/N: well well well, aren't I evil? I could leave it here and maybe I will mwahahahaha. for those reading in the future, you won't have to wait, but for those reading during the update, i may torture you just a tad bit. With all the love ~K