Wild Rose

Wild Rose By Michaela Haze Wild Rose Originally published in the United States/United Kingdom in 2023 by DIRTY JEANS PUBLISHING www.michaelahaze.com Copyright © Michaela Haze 2023 All rights reserved This book is a work of fiction. Names and characters are the product of the author’s imagination. All characters and events in this publication, other than those clearly in the public domain, are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. Wild Rose My twin sister, Lexi, is a null Witch and the toughest B this side of the Red City. She's got the whole bounty hunter/mercenary thing down. Me? I'm more at home in a greenhouse than in a dive bar. I tend to my garden, not to my muscles. When Lexi goes missing just hours before her biggest job yet, a career-changing gig as the head of security for a band called The Elementals, it's up to me to step up. All I have to do is pretend to be Lexi for three tour stops. Easy Sweet Pea-zy, right? Well... no. Turns out, The Elementals have a stalker. Coupled with death threats and numerous people on their tour going missing, I've walked into something that I am hilariously ill-equipped for. I've got to find out who's behind the threats to save my sister, but I didn't expect to actually care about the four big lugs in the band-- four men that think they are Gaia's gift to the world. I know I'm going to get my heart broken, They think I'm my sister, and everyone falls in love with Lexi. Just once, I wished they would fall in love with me. **Wild Rose is a slow burn, reverse harem, standalone, paranormal romance novel. It contains scenes of MM, MFM, and multiple partner relations** Preface The little girl scrambled across the dirt as she searched for a weapon. A rock. A stick. Anything she could use to fight off the other children as they hugged her legs. Their fists were filled with a foul-smelling collection of herbs—no doubt stolen from one of their Witch parents—ready to stuff in the little girl's mouth to smother her pitiful cries. “Show us your magic.” Cassie Whitney sneered. “Prove you’re not a null like your sister!” A chorus of agreement rose up from the other children. The little girl sniffed and turned her face away. Her cheek brushed the dry grass as she bit back a sob. She wanted to show them so badly, but her Mama said she could never tell. “Rosie Rosie, born of two, the ugly girl, through and through!” One of the boys jeered. “That was pretty good!” Cassie sat back and smirked. The other children took up the rhyme, forming a chorus of small voices. The little girl’s blood felt like a tumultuous sea. Roaring and crashing against her eardrums. She wanted to hurt Cassie Whitney, but she didn’t know how. “Hey!” A voice called through the clearing. All the children looked up as her sister Lexi stepped out from the trees. The little girl’s twin lifted her hand and wiggled her fingers. “You get!” Lexi shouted. “Or I’ll steal your magic and feed it to the dogs!” None of the children knew if Lexi could do such a thing, but they didn’t have to be told twice. They raced from the clearing as fast as their little legs could carry them. The only one that stopped to look back was Cassie Whitney, her eyes narrowed as she studied the twins. Taking their measure before deciding the fight wasn’t worth it and walking away. Lexi bent down to help her sister, but Rosie shoved her hands away. Tears continued to fall from Rosie’s face, mixing with the snot on her upper lip. “It’s all your fault.” Rosie wailed, banging her fists on the ground before standing up. Her new dress was ruined, and she had been so excited to wear it to school—now it was covered in grass stains. “Rosie—” Lexi moved forward, concern in her eyes. Rosie pushed her away so hard that Lexi fell down on her butt. “It’s all your fault for being a null. Why couldn’t you just be normal? They’re taking it out on me because they’re scared of you.” “You pushed me,” Lexi said numbly, her eyes round with shock. Rosie growled. “You stay away from me, y’hear?” The little girl turned and raced away, her pigtails bouncing off her shoulders as she ran back to the house. Rosie found her Mama in the kitchen, staring down at her teacup with her lips pursed and her brow furrowed. Rosie never knew what her Mama saw, but it was safe to say that Mama saw a lot more than two eyes would allow. Rosie knew she was in trouble when her Mama’s eyes lifted to meet hers. “Mama—” “Don’t you ever push your sister.” Her voice could have frozen a lake. “But she—” “I don’t want to hear it, Rose Prudence Boudaire.” Her mother's voice brokered no argument. Rosie sniffed away the residue of her tears before wiping her cheek with the sleeve of her grass-stained cardigan. “The other kids were bullying me,” Rosie said weakly. Her mother shifted in her chair until she faced her youngest child. “You wanna be a null like your sister?” She narrowed her cornflower blue eyes. “N-no.” Rosie hung her head. “I just wish they knew—” Rosie hadn’t seen her Mama move, but the little girl’s head snapped to the side with the force of the blow. The bite of a slap and the metallic taste of blood on her lip. “They can never know.” Her Mama’s eyes were wild, and her hand was still raised. “They’ll take you from me. People will use you. You think what I just did was bad? They’ll pinch you. Hit you. Kick you until they get what they want. Juicers don’t live long lives, Rosie. They just don’t. They get all used up, and people get greedy.”