Lucian's POV
I was the happiest that I could ever be as I stood there with Rose in my arms.
She fit in between them perfectly and I couldn't help my sigh in content.
My heart swelled when she revealed why she was pushing me away. She wanted to protect me but like I said, who would protect her, and it was obviously my job to.
She finally allowed me to help her but to promise to leave her behind if something happened.
She was insane! Like I would really ever do that.
I didn't argue back with her as she looked at me sternly. I weighted my options and decide to promise but not before crossing my fingers first.
I know that she would probably have my head if she found out, but I had no choice.
How can she expect me to leave her and save myself?
As I looked down into her beautiful emerald eyes, I couldn't help but want her to remove that dreadful mask so that I could see her full face.
Our moment was cut short when she gasped out, her face quickly contorting to that of pain.
I instinctively called out to her as she seemed to have started losing response.
I shifted my gaze to her now bleeding shoulder only to find an arrow protruding from it.
I growled angrily as my eyes searched for whoever did it.
I couldn't search for long though since I felt Rose's body limp and started falling as her legs failed to hold her anymore.
I quickly caught her body before it touched the hard ground.
I was calling out for her, pleading for her to stay awake and not slip into unconsciousness.
She didn't answer though, and no matter how much I called, she wouldn't respond.
I watched as her eyes rolled to the back of her head before her eyelids closed.
My heart ached at the sight of her like that, but my emotions soon turned to those of rage.
Whoever did this to my mate is dead.
I heard footsteps running towards us and with a menacing growl I snapped my head to the culprits.
I looked in shock as I saw my father's guards approaching in their blue and black uniforms.
A couple archers were marching up the front, their arrows readily aimed at Rose.
Vilkas growled loudly inside of me, his growl erupting from deep within my chest.
They were aiming at my mate, at my Rose!
I didn't wait for them to come any closer or for one of them to hit her with his arrow again. I copied my mate's actions and jumped with my werewolf speed and strength to the neatest tree branch, holding Rose's limp body in my hands.
I heard the sound of one of the archers readying to shoot but then someone whom I noticed as my father's beta, stopped him before he did.
I jumped from tree to tree just like how I saw her doing and realised why she loved doing it so much.
It was a fast escape and the obstacles above weren't as much as on the ground, plus, it was good way to hide.
I felt the cool night air hit my face as I hurriedly jumped around.
I noticed that Rose's hood fell, showing her beautiful dark red hair that swayed with the wind.
I scrunched up my face as I looked at it. I know that I've seen this hair colour somewhere, but I can't exactly put my finger on where.
Soon, I reached my destination. My own secret cottage in the woods.
I built that cottage when I was about seventeen years old in order to find some freedom.
The palace was always packed with people and it was hard to have some privacy when several maids entered your room throughout the whole day to 'clean'.
This cottage was my salvation, my own little haven and now, it was Rose's too to use and own.
I fumbled with the lock since it was hard to use the hands that were carrying my mate.
Eventually, I was finally able to open the door and enter.
The vintage styled cottage wasn't much though. It only had one room with a bed if I wanted to rest, a small living room with a TV and my game consoles, a bathroom and an open kitchen that was stacked with food.
I gently placed Rose on her stomach and proceeded in helping her with the arrow stuck out of her back.
I tore the shirt that she was wearing but only a little enough to show her injured shoulder. I hissed in pain as my hands burnt upon touching the small part of the arrow's head that wasn't impeded in Rose's skin.
Alarms went off inside my head.
Silver. The arrows were silver coated.
I cursed under my breath.
I thought this would be just a normal wound that would heal quickly but I thought wrong. Maybe that's why Rose didn't take time to fall to the ground. The silver weakened her.
Silver weakens werewolves and it might kill if it reached the heart before getting it out of the blood stream.
I ran to the kitchen and grabbed the bottle of olive oil that I had in the cupboard.
I poured some in my mouth to act as a protective coat before swallowing it to protect the rest of my organs.
I held onto the arrows wooden shaft and pulled out before quickly placing my mouth on Rose's wound and sucking all the blood out.
I spat, in an empty bowl that I got, all the tainted blood from Rose's body.
Her blood had grey patches indicating that the silver bonded with some of her blood cells and coagulated.
I kept on sucking and spitting until the blood that I spat last turned clear with no silver detected.
I placed a clean towel on her wound and pressed firmly to stop the bleeding.
I was gasping heavily for air as my eyes turned to Rose's face.
Sweat coated her forehead and her skin was as pale as that of a ghost.
She lost too much blood but at least I know that she won't be dying from the silver anymore.
After I regained my breathing and my frantic heartbeat came back to normal, I opened the first aid kit and gently started stitching Rose's wound. It thankfully didn't require many stitches and soon, I was wrapping it up with bandages.
I had already removed some of Rose's weapons, so I proceeded to move the rest.
Damn, she had a lot of gadgets to use. It feels like she's on a mission to end this world. It was crazy.
I removed her shoes and socks too to free her little toes then started wiping the sweat out of her forehead with a warm towel.
I contemplated on removing her mask but then shook the idea off. I must wait until she decides to remove it herself and finally allows me to see her face.
After making sure that she was comfortable on the bed, I pulled the duvet and covered her tiny body.
"Good night my princess." I whispered as I bent down and gently kissed her forehead.
I didn't exactly want to leave her, but I knew that she'd be hungry when she woke up, so I had to go prepare something for her to eat. Especially that she'll need a lot of food to recover well.
With a sigh, I turned on my heels to leave the room, but I was stopped short when I heard a phone ringing.
I checked for my phone, but no one was calling me. I furrowed my eyebrows deeply and followed the sound of the ringing that lead me to Rose's backpack.
She has a phone?
I opened the bag and fished out for her phone before quickly taking it and leaving the room so that I won't disturb Rose.
The caller ID was unknown, but I didn't care as I pressed the answer button.
"Hello." I replied in a strong tone.
"Prince Lucian." A male voice answered from the other line.
"Who is this?" I asked sternly, hoping that it's not someone that means any harm to Rose otherwise I'll be having their head for dinner.
"I'm Alpha Rose's friend and I believe she's in good care with you right?" The male replied.
I breathed in a sigh of relief, but the pang of jealousy didn't escape me.
But then his words registered.
Alpha?
"Of course she is." I muttered under my breath.
"What happened to her?" The man asked. His voice sounded pained and worried which increased my jealousy.
An uncontrolled, low growl erupted from my chest and I heard the man sigh.
"Rose is a sister to me prince Lucian and I just want to make sure that she's okay and know what happened to her." The man sighed.
I took in a deep breath and calmed Vilkas. He's right. I'm her mate and it's not like Rose isn't allowed to have any friends.
"She got shot by a silver arrow, but I was able to get all the silver out of her system in time." I replied.
The man gasped in shock.
"I-is she okay now? Where is she?" He asked worriedly.
"She's okay and is sleeping it off right now." I answered as I ran my hands through my hair.
"Where is she?" He asked again.
"That's not for you to know." I replied calmly.
I wasn't ready to tell someone that I don't know about our place here. Plus, this is my only chance to be alone with Rose and I wouldn't ruin it for the life of me.
The man growled angrily making me growl in return at his disrespect.
"I want to know where she is!" He all but yelled ignoring my warning growl.
I hate this guy already.
"Listen to me, pup, you might be Rose's friend and all, but I won't tolerate you disrespecting me. Rose is fine and with me and that's all that I'm going to say." I growled at him before hanging up, not waiting for his rude response.
I ran my hand down my face and took a deep breath to calm myself down.
When I was back to my senses, I added my phone number to Rose's contacts and rang myself to have hers in return.
The thought of being able to talk to her on the phone made a sly grin to draw itself on my face.
I placed the phone on the counter before heading to the kitchen to prepare some food.
I started making all sorts of food for Rose since I didn't know what she liked and what she didn't like.
I was humming a song happily as I placed the pasta in the hot water not aware of the person standing behind me.
"Lucian." The angelic voice that I love to hear filled my ears making me turn around quickly.
A wide grin adorned my face when I saw her, and I quickly ran to her side.
"Rose, baby, are you okay? Are you still hurting?" I asked all at once as I looked into her eyes.
She shook her head gently and I saw the top part of her cheeks that wasn't covered by the mask go up to her eyes, telling me that she was smiling.
I didn't waste time to pull her to me in a tight hug.
"Thank god." I whispered into her neck. "I was so worried."
"Lucian." I heard her call.
"Yes baby?" I answered as I pulled only enough to look into her eyes again.
"What happened to me?"