Prologue

The pale moon light shone down upon Central Park in the center of New York City as a young woman hastened through the still and calm entrance, she was dressed in an all-black form fitting uniform that identified her as the Huntsgirl. But she was no longer the Huntsgirl, her name was Rose, and she was now the mother of a child, a beautiful baby girl who she had given her life as she knew it for. That gurgling baby that she carried was warped in a simple brown blanket, which was the only thing she had to give and that would be enough. Rose took a deep breath in and looked up at the moon. He was late, with a groan she realized that he was always late, and this was the wrong time for his lack of punctuality.

Anxiety filled her mind as she looked down at the baby whose brown eyes were drifting up and down. Rose knew that she was tired but she would be able to sleep soon enough, as soon as her father showed up like he had promised her. Shaking her head to remain alert, she realized that she too was dead tired, that wouldn't work out too well when she was leaving. This moment was defining in her life and she was going to accept it fiercely, it was the moment that she rejected her birthright and turned her back on her family and their way of life. What had ultimately sealed her fate and her decision to do this was the exact moment that she had found out she was pregnant, and the moment she knew who the father was. She was leaving for her daughter's safety, and the father of her daughter's safety.

Rose's eyes shot open and she yelped with surprise as she heard a whooshing sound behind her, spinning on her heel she was relieved to find that it was Jake in his human form. He shot her an apologetic glance. "I'm so sorry I'm late babe…are you alright?"

"He knows, and if finds her he'll kill her, not to mention me too, that's if I stay" Rose said walked forward and gently handing the baby to Jake.

The young man accepted the child and gently began to rock her in his arms, he looked at Rose and cast her a heavy questioning glance. "Rose-…?"

She pressed a finger to his lips gently and smiled at him, in her clear blue eyes he could see sadness. "If I stay here they will find me and her and kill us both, the Huntsman really didn't care that I was pregnant, but when they tested her then they knew, and he swore he would kill me…"

"I understand…" Jake said quietly trying to block the well of tears that were held up.

She smirked at him, a very sad smirk. "Just promise me two things, she'll always be cared for and loved…"

Jake raised an eyebrow at her. "You don't need to worry about that, what else, anything and I'll do it"

"Tell her about me, one day, I just want her to know what day what I did for her" Rose said with a hint of a break in her voice.

He nodded and looked down at the sleeping baby in his arms, this was his daughter, his flesh and blood, and now it seemed that this little girl was the only connection that she would have with Rose. But that wasn't true either, he would always have a connection to the woman standing in front of him, always and that was all that mattered at this point. Jake almost forgot the fact that he had been bringing something special for Rose, looking down he spied the duffel bag that he had dropped, using his leg he kicked it over to her. On that she picked it up and quickly unzipped it, her mouth opened and her eyes widened. "H-How much is this exactly?"

"A quarter of a million," Jake smiled and winked at her. "That should take care of you, wherever you're going anyway…"

Rose almost choked on her saliva. "Where did you get this kind of money? Did you rob a bank or something?"

Laughing he kept rocking the little child nestled in the crook of his arm. "No, it was a part of my inheritance, my Grandma died and for some reason she decided to leave me a lot of money, I knew that it would come in useful someday…"

She smiled and leaned forward kissing him longingly, they both were trying to make the moment last, because as they believed it, it was the last one that they would ever share. When they separated, she opened her eyes fully and pulled away from his face never breaking contact with his eyes. "What about that second that I asked you to do for me? Will you?" She asked curiously.

"When the time is right…she'll know…" Jake smirked and winked at her again.

Then her guard dropped and she reached forward and kissed him feverishly again wanting to savor the moment, she broke contact quickly when she realized that he wasn't really responding to her. "What is it? Am I doing something wrong?"

"No, you couldn't be any more good at that," Jake grinned and then he lightly moved his arm to motion to the baby. "I would kiss you just as hard but I really don't want to crush eh…did you give her a name…?"

Rose shook her head and shrugged. "Alyssa…Alyssa Long, I hope you don't mind that do you?"

"It's a beautiful name," Jake said looking down at the now sleeping child. "I'll tell her that you named her…"

Laughing she reached down and grabbed the bag, and then she knew the moment she had been dreading had arrived. Rose looked at him sadly and breathed a wearisome sigh. "I have to get going now…"

"Ah I know you do," Jake frowned holding back tears. "I love you so much, you have no idea how much I'll miss you…"

She simply turned, looked down at the baby in his arms one last time, looked at his face one more time and winked at him. "I'll see you around"

In a blink of an eye with the bag in tow, she bolted, she ran as if her life depended on it. Jake kept his eyes trained on her back and as soon as she was out of sight he turned his attention back to the sleeping baby in his arms and smiled. "Let's get you home, you must be tired…"

With that, he turned and walked in the opposite direction, he didn't want to look back on what he had just left, but the infant in his arms who couldn't be more than a day old would always remind him of Rose. He would just have to live with it.