The man that opened the door gasped and ran towards my aunt's lying form.
"Mrs. Doyle! Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?" My over dramatic mate asked as he helped her sit up.
I rolled my eyes at his actions.
Janeen's expression was hilarious as she looked up at him like he was some alien from outer space.
Understandable, since Lucian's presence wasn't expected.
She turned her gaze from him to me, giving me a what the hell expression.
Lucian followed her gaze before standing up from his place, shielding my aunt from me.
I rolled my eyes again.
"I never expected that of you Rose." He said accusingly making me sigh.
"Never expected what exactly?" I asked as I walked out from my place in the darkness.
"Kidnapping an innocent lady and blackmailing her son? What were you thinking?!" He asked with disbelief as I continued walking towards them, his voice raising a notch.
"That innocent lady," I started calmly as I reached my hand for Janeen to take as I helped her stand up as well, untying her hands and feet. That was obviously not needed anymore.
"Is my aunt and guess what, she's with us in this plan that you so gracefully ruined!" I snapped at the end with narrowed eyes.
Lucian looked taken aback by what I just said.
"What? So you didn't kidnap her?" He asked in confusion to which I sighed once again.
"No your highness, Ap—" Janeen answered instead, and I quickly shot her a warning look when she was about to say my real name. "Er...Rose," She corrected. "And I planned this together." She finished.
"Why?" Came Lucian's question.
"That has nothing to do with you. Leave." I said as I started pushing him out the cottage, ignoring the sparks that erupted from where we touched.
"What? No way in hell!" Lucian yelled as he held onto the door for dear life.
"Lucian." I groaned out.
"No Rose! I'm not leaving after I've finally found you again." He said.
I huffed and crossed my arms when my attempts of making him leave failed.
"How come you're here anyways?"
"Brandon sought help from my father when he received the phone call, and I offered to go instead of some warrior since I knew that it had something to do with you. He then told me the address when he had it, hence, me being here." He finished with a grin.
I furrowed my eyebrows at that and before I could say anything, my words were interrupted with someone calling for Janeen.
"Mom!" Brandon called as we saw him run towards the cottage.
Once he stood in front of Lucian and me, he growled deeply.
"Where's my mom?" He asked lowly.
I looked around with my eyes searching for the only person that I want to see right now.
"Where's your dad?" I asked in confusion once my searching came out empty.
Brandon growled before answering.
"I don't know. I haven't known for about five years now." He snarled.
I growled in frustration. This is unbelievable.
"Now where's my mom?" He asked again. "Mom!" He called.
Janeen came out from the cottage behind us.
"Brandon, my boy." She said as happy tears rolled down her eyes. It seems like she hasn't seen her son in a while.
She ran towards him and he was quick to hold her between his arms.
He towered over her tiny frame and held her tightly to him.
"Are you okay mom? Did they hurt you?" He asked her as his eyes searched for any injuries.
Janeen shook her head. "I'm okay sweetheart." She told him with a soft smile.
His gaze then snapped to us and he growled, mostly at Lucian.
"You were supposed to help us Prince Lucian." He spat, saying Lucian's name like it was poison. "Not be on that slut's side." He finished, his disgusted, rage pure gaze turning to me.
"I'm not a slut."
"She's not a slut."
Lucian and I growled at the same time.
We shared a look before turning our gazes back to Brandon.
Janeen hit her son on the back of his head. "Brandon Chris Doyle." She warned. "Don't speak to them like that." She scolded.
"What?" Brandon yelled. "What have they done to your head?" He asked his mom earning himself another whack on the back of the head.
He mumbled incoherent words under his breath as he rubbed his hurting occiput.
"Rose here is my friend." She said as she looked at me mischievously, telling me with her eyes that my secret is safe with her.
Before we start with this plan, I've asked Janeen not to use my real name and to keep my identity as her niece a secret for now.
I feared that if people found out that she's Rose's aunt, they would have a lead on who Rose really is and they might hurt Janeen for answers.
Janeen turned back to her son, who looks at her in bewilderment. "We planned this together." She said.
"I don't understand." Brandon spoke, confusion lacing his voice.
His eyebrows were furrowed and a small scowl adorned his face.
"We wanted to find your father and because we had intel that he was staying with you, we thought that the best way was to drag him indirectly through you, which obviously didn't work." I explained as I stepped forward, marching closer to them.
Brandon sighed. "I knew this day would come, and I came prepared." He spoke as he reached for the backpack that he carried.
Confusion now laced my features, but I kept quiet waiting for him to explain.
"Here." He said as he handed me a folder.
I scrunched up my face at it but took it none the less.
It felt heavier than to be holding papers and when I shook it, it rattled.
"What's inside?" I asked as I shook it again next to my ear, trying to figure out what could possibly be inside.
"I don't know." Brandon lowered his head and shook it. "Before my father disappears five years ago, he spent about two weeks acting very weird. He barely slept and wouldn't eat a thing. I tried talking to him, but he wouldn't open up." Brandon sighed sadly before continuing.
"One night, he came to me in my room in the middle of the night while I was sleeping. He woke me up and gave me that envelope. He asked me to hide it and never to talk about it with anyone, and when you called, I knew that it had to do with it."
I turned my gaze back to the envelope in my hand.
Was it that important?
My head snapped back to Brandon when he spoke again.
"Do you think my father is still alive?" He asked, his voice barely a whisper.
I shook my head with a sigh.
"I don't know anything anymore." I said, mostly to myself.
I thought that meeting Doyle would be the end of this, but I guess I was wrong.
"Can I take my mother and leave now?" Brandon asked as he held his mother tightly.
"Yeah." I replied, my calculating eyes never leaving the envelope.
I heard running feet coming towards me and as I raised my head up to look, I was engulfed in a tight hug from Janeen.
A small smile tugged at my lips and I hugged her back.
"You'll come visit me again, right?" She asked hopefully as she pulled back a little.
"Yeah, I'll visit." I replied with a smile, even though she can't see it.
Janeen grinned widely at me before she was pulled back by Brandon.
"Come on now mom, let's go home." He ushered.
They both then turned around and I watched as they disappeared into the distance.
Ever since I met Janeen, thoughts started roaming my mind.
If my parents were still alive, how would my life be right now?
Will I be happy? Would I have finished school and made a lot of friends?
It's not a far possibility since that's the normal life a teenage like me should've gotten.
My thoughts were cut short when I felt a pair of strong arms wrap around my waist and pulling me to a hard chest.
Tingles spread where our bodies made contact and I heard Rose howl inside of me in content. And truthfully, I didn't hate it one bit.
I sighed though. "What are you doing Lucian?"
"I'm sorry." I heard him apologize, ignoring my question and I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion.
"For what?" I asked.
"For thinking bad of you. I should've known that you wouldn't have done something like kidnapping and such." He explained.
"It's fine." I replied. "It's understandable. You-"
"No. I'm your mate, I should've trusted you more, especially since I decided that I would help you." Lucian said, cutting my words short.
Again with the helping thing.
I removed his arms from around my body and stepped forward.
"I told you to stay away from this. It has nothing to do with-"
My words were cut short again by Lucian's low growl.
I turned around to look at him with wide eyes.
Did he just growl at me?
"Why can't you understand that your business is now mine too? We're damn mates and should always be there for each other!" He snapped angrily.
"And why can you understand that I want to protect you!" I snapped back. "I've lost a lot of things in my life and I'm not ready to lose you!"
I cursed under my breath when I realised what I've just said.
I turned around once again just in case my forehead and around my eyes reddened along with my cheeks.
I didn't want him to see my embarrassed half face.
"And who will protect you?" Lucian asked in a voice that was barely a whisper.
His question caught me off guard and made me turn back again to look at him.
"What would make you think that I don't want to protect you? Why didn't you think that I'm not ready to lose you too?" He asked as he walked up to me, inching closer with each word.
I felt myself unable to move as my feet were nailed to the ground.
"How could you be so selfish?" He asked, his body now closer than ever. Our faces were inches apart and his breath fanned against my face.
It seems that with Lucian, I forget how to talk since for the nth time, I didn't know what to say.
Rose was urging me to accept his helping hand, well, she actually just wanted me to jump in his arms and never leave.
Stupid, horny wolf.
"Promise me." I started after a while of contemplating as my eyes bore into Lucian's chocolate ones.
"Promise me that you'll leave if things get too dangerous. Promise me that you'll stay safe and not endanger your life in any way, even if it meant leaving me behind." I spoke, almost pleading.
"You can't ask something so selfish t-" Lucian started but it was my turn to cut him off.
"Promise me." I repeated sternly, my eyes never wavering. I left no space for argument.
Lucian remained quiet for a moment and I started to think that he will just back down and leave.
"Okay." He sighed. "I promise." He said hesitantly with a small smile as he snaked his arms back around me body, flushing me to him. I knew that he wasn't being serious and his eyes weren't promising me genuinely, but I decided to just let it go.
"Now it's your turn to promise me that you won't do anything or take any step without me." He said as looked deeply into my eyes.
I nodded my head begrudgingly.
Lucian's smile turned into a grin that made my heart flip and my nerves to jumble around.
It was one of the moments where I felt happy and safe. I never wanted to leave his arms. But it seemed that I could never have one peaceful night as my happy moment was cut short when a shooting pain ripped through my left shoulder, making me gasp out.
"Rose!" I heard Lucian call frantically but all I could feel was numbness all over.
My shoulder burned like hell and soon the burning started spreading through my whole body.
The world started spinning around and black dots blurred my vision annoyingly.
The world around me started spinning and my legs lost all the energy in them as I felt my body being pulled down by gravity.
What is happening to me?
Lucian's face appeared before me as I felt his arms prevent my body from hitting the floor.
I saw him say something, more like yell it, but I couldn't hear what he was saying.
I tried hardly to keep my eyes opened but failed miserably as Lucian's worried face started fading before disappearing completely and all I could see was darkness instead.