Chapter 5

LUCIEN'S POV.

She's lying on the floor. Knocked out. Parts of her body are bleeding and the guards swarming around her do not seem to realize that they have to stop whatever it is they are doing. I'm sure this was my father's order. 

To have her tortured till death.

Dad can make very cruel decisions when he is upset regardless of whether he is wrong or right and that's one of the things that make me fear him very much because even the fact that I'm his son and future heir does not spare me from his ruthlessness. 

The only person father could compromise or bend his morals for was my brother who's now dead.

My temper gets the better of me as I watch the guards still pounding on my mate despite the fact that she has gone unconscious. 

My wolf stirs in anger within me and without thinking twice, I rush over to them with trembling hands and yank away the first guard my hands come in contact with off Aurora's body and shoot him to the other end of the room. The man shouts in agony as his body crashes against the wall and hits the ground. 

That gets the attention of his colleagues and the moment they see me, they stop pounding on my mate, but it's already too late. I'm already too angry to let the issue go. I beat every single of them mercilessly despite them trying to explain that my father was the one who had given the orders.

It was such a stupid order and since I can't go over and vent my anger to my father, these soldiers will be the scapegoats.

"Arnaud, get these idiots out of here." I order my Beta whom I came in here with and immediately, he starts rallying the groaning soldiers out of the area and I quickly walk over to Aurora who is helplessly lying on the floor and bleeding all over.

I can't believe this is happening to us.

If she wasn't being accused of murder, things would have been so different. She would have been in my house by now, getting spoiled.

I carry her bridal style in my arms and look at her face with a broken heart. I hate seeing her in this situation, but I can't just smuggle her out of it because I have no idea if she's guilty of the crime or not.

I, however, hope she isn't.

"Where are you going to take her?" Arnaud asks when I start walking towards the door. I stop in my tracks and he catches up with me.

"To my place of course, she's badly injured." 

"You can't do that." He shakes his head.

"Why not?" I ask with a frown.

"Alpha Lucien, despite the fact that this girl is your mate, she's still the prime suspect for the murder of her sister and your brother, Mael. While there might be a chance that she's innocent, there's also a chance that she committed the crime. And most importantly, your father, the Alpha, is very angry right now and if he hears you've taken the prime suspect to your place, all hell will break loose. Even the fact that she's your mate won't stop him from bringing the wrath of hell upon all three of us. We have to tread cautiously, Alpha." And this is why I hate Arnaud. He's always thinking rationally.

All what he just said makes so much sense. Father will be pissed if I take Aurora out of this dungeon at all, not to talk of my place. Things are still very heated up right now and I really don't wanna provoke my father.

"Fine!" I say after a long moment of contemplating. "I'm going to take her over to the dungeon infirmary. You summon the pack doctor so he can come have a look at her. She needs medical attention."

"I'm on it." He leads the way through the hallway and we separate when we get to the main door.

It doesn't take long for Arnaud and the doctor to meet us in the infirmary. The doctor immediately proceeds to have Aurora checked up and my heart sinks into my stomach when he connects an IV to her hand. Arnaud is paving about, muttering prayers in his heart.

Prayers for my father not to get a hint of what we are doing because we'll be in big trouble.

 I'm watching the doctor clean up and treat Aurora's wounds. When he's done, he turns to me.

"The injuries weren't too serious. She fainted out of mostly mental exhaustion. The IV she's taking will help her regain her strength and her wounds will heal soon." All I do is nod my head and I stand by her bedside. "And speaking of wounds, I've noticed a lot of older and deeper wounds on various parts of her body that are still trying to heal."

"What?" I ask, looking at him intensely. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"She's either being tortured in her home or she's undergoing some very rigorous training. These wounds are not normal wounds a girl would casually incur." I grit my teeth and swallow dryly.

The thought of Aurora being tortured doesn't sit well with me.

I know nothing about her family so I can't say what it could possibly be, but I hope it isn't torture. I have no idea what I'll do if it happens that my mate  is being tortured by her own family.

"Thank you for checking on her doctor. You can come back later to monitor her. For now, I  need some alone time with her." He simply bows and exits the room. Arnaud does the same. Now, it's just Aurora and I in the room and I have no idea what to do.

I don't know if I should hold her hand, or stroke her hair, or kiss her forehead…

"Mark her!" My wolf, Kol, shouts in my head out of nowhere. Out of fear,  I take a step back from Aurora.

"What? No! Are you crazy?" I ask aghast and he starts pacing about in my mind. Unlike me, Kol just wants to carry Aurora away from this dungeon.

Well, technically, we both want the same thing, but I'm trying to be reasonable by  weighing the consequences of my actions, but Kol, if given the chance, would act without thinking.

"Because that's what you should be doing."

"Don't fucking read my mind Kol!"

"I really don't care what's on your mind. All I want is for you to take our mate away from here and protect her. Take a look at her, Lucien." I try to look away, but I don't succeed. I look at her helpless self on the bed and my heart skips.

She looks miserable and I hate seeing her in this situation. 

She doesn't deserve to be here.

The funniest thing is, I'm not even sure of what I'm saying. She could be guilty of the crime she's being accused of.

Goodness! 

Why does everything always have to be complicated for me?

I used to be so eager for the day to come when I'll find my mate and now the day has finally come and I don't know what I'm feeling.

"Kol." I call as I take a step closer to Aurora's bed. He's forcing me to do this. "I understand that you want us to take full responsibility for our mate. Trust me, I want to do that too, but you know she's being accused of murder. We can't just let that slide. We won't even be given the chance to let that slide. Until she's proven innocent, I don't want to have any sort of relationship with her. I don't want to be disappointed in the end." I try to explain things to him, but I can hear him roll his eyes in my mind.

"Spare me that crap, Lucien. Relationship or not, you will be disappointed all the same. Go ahead and possess her right now. Mark her as ours!" He keeps urging me and I swear I feel like doing it. 

Calmy, carefully, I lean dangerously closer to Aurora's who's lying in the hospital with her eyes closed. 

She looks so peaceful while asleep.

I can stare at her gorgeous face all day and night without batting an eyelid.

I stretch my hand towards her thick black hair and slide my fingers into it, gently stroking as I watch her sleep. Her hair is as soft as melted chocolate. Her skin is as white as snow and her lips… oh her lips are everything.

Pink. Plump. Succulent.

I can bet they taste like strawberries.

"Alright then, if you don't want to mark her, how about a kiss on her forehead? That's nothing too serious." Kol keeps pursuing me in my mind and I finally give in. 

I bring my face closer to hers as carefully as I can,with the intention of giving her a quick kiss on her forehead and acting like it never happened, but that plan is completely ruined when her eyes snap open.

Our eyes met and I freeze as her lips pry open to say…