Riding the Wolf Ch. 04

"So, rules are simple."

Rosita snorted and Jacob laughed in response.

"No, really, they are, I promise. First, you'll get Alpha Aaren's cell number, put it in your phone. No matter what, you answer, and always obey his commands. He doesn't give very many, though. Second, you'll get a room in the house, but you don't have to stay here, except on full moon week. The three days before and after the full moon you need to be here, with the pack, preparing for the hunt, keeping the grounds and house up kept, and making yourself known to the other pack members. Most of the time we just spend our time relaxing and catching up on each other's lives. The third rule is the hardest: don't let any humans find out about you or us. I know your grandmother already knows about us, but the Alpha has granted her a pardon because of her condition. Just make sure she doesn't go nuts when you explain you're now a were, and we'll be good to go. There are several old cars and motorcycles that are available if you want to borrow one to go back to town. They're all registered to Aaren Moon Inc. You'll be listed as an employee, so you can drive it. They belong to the ranch. Any questions?"

Rosita was quiet for a moment, trying to absorb it all in. She could leave, at least until the week of the full moon. They weren't going to keep her prisoner and she wasn't required to participate in regular group sex. Okay, she could handle this.

"Where's the garage?"

Jacob showed her to a large barn that doubled as a garage. She found a small dirt bike and helmet and wasted no time flying down the side of the mountain, ignoring some of the roads in her hurry to reach the hospital and check on her grandmother. She parked the bike in the first spot she found and sprinted inside, the helmet tucked under her arm. The nurse at the reception desk recognized her and smiled.

"She's in room 216, I'll sign you in."

Rosita nodded her thanks and took the stairs to the second floor, two at a time. When she walked in the room, she saw the familiar sight of her grandmother seated in the comfortable recliner, hooked up to an IV drip, her hands in cold mittens and her feet in wine coolers. The relief in her grandmother's eyes was immediate, but it was clouded by secret dread. Rosita gulped. Somehow, her grandmother knew. Rosita pulled a chair next to her grandmother and lay her head on her shoulder, sobbing softly.

"Abuela..."

Her grandmother took one chilled hand from the mitten and stroked her granddaughter's head.

"Just tell me. I can handle it, nieta."

The hand on her head was comforting. With tears spilling down her cheeks, Rosita unloaded her woes on her dying grandmother.

"Marshall Jones was really a bounty hunter and a weretiger. He killed the werewolf who attacked us. The werewolf was actually mother's boyfriend, Raul. But the werewolf pack who hired him was angry because humans now knew about them, and they said I had to turn or die. I told them I wouldn't become a werewolf, I wouldn't join their pack, but I would let Hunter, Marshall Jones, change me. So he made love to me, and then bit me, and when I woke up in the morning he was gone! Now I have to go through my first change with the werewolf pack, and be under their rule until I can manage my powers on my own. They promised to leave you alone, though, so long as you don't tell. Please, Abuela, I'm so scared, please don't say anything to anyone!"

Rosita's grandmother heaved a heavy sigh. Her granddaughter had been turned into a monster. Was it better that she wasn't dead? At least that would keep her safer from the other monsters. Thank God for small favors.

"It's alright, nieta. It's alright."

Rosita sat there, sobbing into the arm of the recliner. It smelled like medicine and cheap lotion. She'd never noticed the odor before. Her new powers must have heightened her senses already. When she finally cried herself out, she found the courage to ask her grandmother what had happened to her.

"The cancer has stopped its remission. They have increased the dosage of chemo in the hopes that it will return to shrinking. We do not want to change the surgery date, but it might happen if the lump does not shrink a few more millimeters."

Rosita's voice cracked as she thought of the last few days.

"Could... could stress have caused...?"

Abuela would not meet Rosita's eyes, but she nodded once to confirm her fears. Raoul had taken so much more away from them than the invasion of their bodies. They held one another for a time, and her grandmother quietly began to pray, for them both. Rosita couldn't bring herself to ask God for anything, much too worried that her new powers would be seen as an affront. The soothing and familiar sound of her grandmother's prayers soon lulled her into a contented doze, her sleep, thankfully, dreamless and restful.