Better Than Revenge (Book 1 in Revenge series)

Chapter 2

Josh's Point of View

I tensed as I felt his presence behind me and then a pat on the back as my dad picked me up from the airport.

"Im proud of you son." He said and I looked up at him, my face emotionless as I stared at my so called father.

There was something off about him though, I could smell the slightest tint of blood on him and his eye was slightly swollen, and he smelled like Rose. My Rose.

"Why do you smell like Rose?" I asked, frowning as he tensed.

"We were out on a run befire I came here." He said quickly, too quickly.

"Your lying." I said, but let the subject drop as I walked to the car, bags in hand.

"So you'll be staying with your mother for the next two weeks. She'll help you finish your training before you take my place as beta. And she already has the perfect mate picked out for you." he said as he started driving.

My head snapped to him, my jaw clenched as I stared at him, my sorry excuse of a father.

"Rose is my mate. I will not have anyone else as my mate but her. In fact, take me to her. I need to see her." I said, wanting to be near my mate badly.

"She's at her friends house." He said uneasily.

"No shes not. Take me to her. Or I will tell the whole pack what you did to her when she was a baby." I threatened and he paled at the mention of kidnapping a royal.

"She busy around the house. Se's getting ready for her birthday." he said, I could tell he was lying, but he was also telling the truth.

"Fine. I'll just wait til her birthday then. Its only a week away." I shrugged and looked out the window.

"She's dying." He suddenly blurted out, my head snapping to him with wide eyes.

"What? Why? How? What the hell happened?" I asked, eyes wide.

"Her wolf is controlling her. She's not strong enough for the first shift." He said, smiing slightly.

Lies.

Bastard.

"Your lying," I said, staring at the man who raised me, no correction, the monster who raised me.

"No! Of course not! She's just accepting it, not fighting it like normal wolves." He said, shifting nervously in his seat.

"Your a horrible excuse for a father." I mumbled to myself, ignoring him when he asked what I said.

And distantly, in my mind, I had another thought.

'And Rose is a horrible excuse for a mate.'

I frowned in thought and ignored that thought.

"Mother! I'm home!" I called out when I entered my mothers small cottage.

"Joshy! Oh, I missed you so much!" She said as she threw her small form at me, making me catch her. Unlike dad, she actually liked Rose. She resented my stepmother and him for kidnapping a royal.

"You can leave now." I said to my father coldly as I turned back to face my perky mother when I heard the car door slam shut.

"Where is she?" I asked, looking around, knowing my mother was hiding her.

My mate.

Or so I thought, at the time.

"Wait. He's still outside. She's dead if he finds out she's here, we can't have that, now can we?" She said as she pulled me into the kitchen, the smell of cookies filling the house.

"He's gone now." She said when she placed the pan of cookies on the table. "Rose! Come out here! He's gone!"

I heard the sound of metal clashing together in the closet before a small girl fell out.

"Stupid broom. The broom tripped me! On purpose!" She cried as she scrambled to her feet, nearly falling forward when I caught her by her arms.

She was small, probably weighed less than when I left. I pulled her at arms length and sturdied her from head to toe, noticing the many bruises that covered her from head to toe. Her arms and legs were thin and she was wearing rags, literally.

She looked nothing like the way I left her. 

I stared at her clothes in distaste, glaring at the many bruises and wishing they would just disappear.

"Who did this to you?" I asked as she nervously shifted on her feet, staring down.

"I did it to myself." She said, I couldn't tell if she was lying, something that came with being a royal, you don't have to show your emotions if you don't want to.

"No you didn't. What kind of sick person would do this to themselves? Who did this to you?" I asked again.

I felt a hand on my shoulder and turned to my mother, who gave my a sympathetic look.

"She's not ready to tell you. Give her time." She said.

I nodded at her, pulling Rose into my arms, hating the way she barely fit into them. She was so small, it was like she was going to break.

"I just needed to see you." She whispered. "But I can't risk being caught."

And just like that, I lost any memory I had of seeing her that day. How? I have no idea.

Mom was sitting across from me, confusion also on her face.

"When did you get here?" She asked, turning towards me.

"I just got here." I said, staring at the plate of cookies in front of us.

I shrugged and picked one up, wondering why the hell I couldn't remember walking into this house.

~~~~~*~~~~~

For any confusion, Rose didn't want to be caught with Josh so her wolf took over and erased Josh and his mothers memory of seeing her there. Is that clear enough? Or did I just make you more confused?