Fereste-mã, Doamne de prieteni, cã de dusmani mã feresc singur.
God defend me from my friends; from my enemies, I will defend myself.
“Will you please sit by the door while I step outside to speak with my wolves?” Vasile asked Auriel with what he hoped came across as sincere politeness.
“Of course, Alpha. I will watch after her; I will protect her with my life.”
Vasile was slightly taken aback by the passionate answer, but he simply nodded and then with one final hesitation he walked out of the cottage.
Nicu, Ion, and Alin were waiting for him several feet from the front door. The grim looks on their faces did not inspire any kind of confidence that they were any closer to finding Serghei than they had been when they arrived.
“How is your mate?” Ion asked, genuine concern filling his eyes.
Vasile’s jaw tightened as he thought about Alina’s reaction to her memories. “She is safe, alive, and in my care where she belongs. That is enough for this moment.” Obviously picking up on his desire not to discuss his mate, they did not ask him anything further.
“Her parents are in the gathering hall. The members of this village helped take care of them and prepare them for their resting place. Her home has been cleaned.”
“Her parents’ home,” Vasile interrupted. “Her home is with me.” He was on edge. He was feeling extremely possessive and he needed to get a grip. “Continue,” he finally said letting out a long breath.
Nicu picked up where Ion left off. “We have been questioning the pack members and they are all telling us the same thing. The village was being check weekly for signs of anyone assisting us. Alina’s home seemed to especially be a favorite for Emilian’s warriors to stop by, particularly Serghei. No one had ever seen him be harsh with her nor did they ever appear to have a disgruntled conversation. Today was the first time they had ever seen Serghei become violent.”
“What changed?” Alin asked. His eyebrows drew together as he considered his own question. “Something changed that set him off.”
“Alina’s markings have appeared,” Vasile answered quietly. All three sets of eyes snapped up to his neck.
“So have yours,” Ion breathed out. “But they were not like that earlier today.”
Vasile rubbed the bridge of his nose as he ground out, “I completed the Blood Rites. That is probably why my markings finally changed.”
“You what?” Nicu coughed.
“I had to,” Vasile defended. “I did not know if she was going to live and I was not going to live without her.”
“What about your pack? What about us?” Nicu asked.
“I love this pack. You three have become like brothers, but my mate will always, without question, come first. Besides, without her, without my true mate, I would not have been able to truly lead the pack like I should. My father proved that.”
They nodded in acknowledgment and he could see the understanding in their eyes, though he also could see that they would miss him if he died. That was not something he had expected.
“What should we do now?” Alin asked.
“Ion and Alin, I need you gather any males willing to fight. Emilian will know that we are here very soon if he does not already. He will not challenge me because he knows he cannot win.”
“He will fight dirty,” Ion agreed.
“Nicu, I want you to go to the castle and scout it out. Bring back any information that will help us. We need to know if he has a plan or if he is scurrying around trying to get prepared because he never thought I would return. If he is not prepared we need to strike now. If he is battle ready, then we will find a way to gain the upper hand. Alina is healing but it is not her physical wounds that concern me.”
“You take care of your mate, Vasile,” Ion told him. “We will get everything ready.”
“I trust that you will. Thank you,” he told them as they turned to go. He watched them be swallowed up by the night. Knowing he could trust his warriors to do what needed to be done, he started to breathe just a little easier until a shrill scream pierced the darkness and straight into his soul.
He turned and ran for Alina’s room. Auriel was banging on the door attempting to open it but it would not budge. He could hear his mate’s cries of pain, and it was making him frantic, but it was the smell of burning flesh that cost him his control. He rammed his shoulder into the door as he roared, “ALINA, OPEN THE DOOR!” He was afraid to use his power and basically blow the door open because he did not know where in the room she was. If she was close to the door, she could be hurt, so he relied on the strength of his wolf. She screamed again and he hit the door as hard as he could. He saw a tiny sliver of a crack as it began to give way under his strength. Bolstered by the progress he hit it again and again and again while over and over she whimpered and snarled and cried out in pain. Finally he shoved as hard as he could and the door, and the dresser that had been holding it closed, gave way. He was in the room a split second later, and his heart crashed into his ribs as he looked at his mate.
She was on the floor, her night gown and shift torn so that they fell away from her neck and shoulder. Her hand was wrapped around the candle he had left burning on the night stand, and the skin where Serghei’s bite had been was burned beyond recognition. He realized as he hurried to her side, his eyes locked on the wound, that she had been burning herself for a lot longer than she had been screaming.
“Mina, why?” His words were a whispered plea as he took the candle from her shaking hand.
She looked up at him and the look of utter despair tore at his soul. Everything inside of him begged for violence, to maim and kill and destroy the one who had put that look on her beautiful face.
“I felt dirty and soiled. I just wanted it off,” she told him through the tears that streamed down her face. “I would rather my skin be scarred and disfigured than bare another’s mark.” Her shoulders shook as she sobbed.
He pulled her onto his lap, wrapping his arms around her and holding her tight against him. “I do not want you to endure any more pain. To hear your screams and not be able to take it away is complete agony. If I could take away every terrible memory, every scar that reminds you of the nightmare you endured, then I would.” After sitting there in silence for several moments, Vasile stood with her in his arms and laid her back in the bed. Auriel was there without him having even asked with a cloth to clean the wound. It would heal but there would be a scar.
Vasile cleaned the wound as gently as he could. She never made a sound, just simply sat looking up at him. “I am not going anywhere, Mina,” he tried to reassure her. To his surprise and complete relief she reached up and grabbed his arm. She pulled until he sat on the bed next to her. One small hand reached up and cupped his face, and he naturally leaned into her palm as if he had done it a thousand times.
“I love you, Vasile Lupei,” she whispered to him never taking her grey eyes from his.
“Say it again,” he pleaded.
“I. Love. You. My Alpha, my mate.”
Her words and the passion with which she said them had him wanting to kneel before her, honoring her in a way that he would never bestow on anyone else. “As soon as you are ready I want to complete the bond. I need to know you are mine in every way. I need,” he choked up on his words as he tried to express to her just how urgently he wanted her.
“I know, and I understand. I just wish you did not have to bind yourself to someone so broken,” she admitted.
“Time and love heal all things. Let my love heal you―body and soul. Let me cover you in my adoration. You are everything that I need. Just as I am everything you need so we will get through this. I believe that down to the marrow of my bones, but I cannot do it without you.”
She dropped her hand from his face and took his hand in hers. “I am not going anywhere.” She repeated his words back to him. She took a deep breath and bit her bottom lip to keep it from trembling. Finally she asked, “Vasile, where are my parents?”
Alina attempted to brace herself for what he would say, but no matter how she tried to prepare for the news, it was still as if someone had punched her in the gut.
“I am so sorry that I did not get there faster.” His voice was tight with anger. “They have gone on to the other side. I would have told you sooner but I did not want to cause you more distress. Their bodies have been cared for and are ready for burial. I did not want you to have to deal with that after all that has happened.”
“It was Serghei.” She was not asking. She knew who had done it but she needed to hear it.
“Yes,” he answered anyway.
Alina squeezed her mate’s hand that she still held. She clutched it like a lifeline as the sea of turmoil and despair threatened to pull her under. She wanted to mourn for her parents, but she knew that for now she would have to put her pain aside. They had a pack to reclaim, a tyrant to remove, and a murderer to bring to justice. For now she had to be Vasile’s mate, the female Alpha of their pack, and when all was done, then she could be the mourning daughter.
“Please do not feel responsible, Vasile. I shut the bond because I did not want you to expose yourself. I did not think Serghei would go so far. Thank you for coming for me. Thank you for caring for my parents when I could not.”
“It is my honor to care for you. Tonight we will rest. I will be completely inappropriate and lie in the same bed with you holding you in my arms because any distance between us is not something I can endure right now.” His honesty and boldness did not surprise her, not anymore. She knew her mate. When he wanted something, when he had made up his mind, there would be no swaying him. And if she were to be completely honest, she did not care how improper it was, she wanted to be in his arms.
She watched as he removed his shirt but left his breeches on. His muscles flexed with every movement and she was enraptured by the sheer beauty and perfection of his form. The remaining light from the gas light flickered and cast a soft glow over him, making his skin appear smooth as silk. She ached to touch him, to feel the warmth of his flesh against hers. He left the light burning and climbed into the small bed beneath the covers with her. She had to nearly lie on top of him for them to both fit because of how large he was.
Vasile pulled her tight against him and her cheek was pressed to his bare chest. He smelled incredible, masculine, and musky like the forest. Alina pressed a soft kiss just above his heart and heard his breath catch. She liked knowing that she affected him just as much as he did her.
“Never again will we sleep apart,” he whispered into her hair and then pressed a kiss there. “I love the way you feel against me, the way your scent covers me. Never in a thousand years could I have imagined the joy of having a true mate not just anyone but you, my precious Alina.” He used their bond and she knew it was because it was an intimate form of communication. It was completely theirs alone. Their bond exposed them to one another, revealing all of the emotions and the depth they contained for each other.
“Skin on skin, Vasile,” she whispered boldly. She knew he wanted her to be honest with him about what she needed and so she would. In that moment she needed the healing power of touch that only her mate could give. She felt him unbutton the back of her night gown and then slip his hand beneath it. Her breath caught in her throat as his large palm spread across her back. He rubbed her gently, sending shivers throughout her body, and when she felt his touch change to his fingertips tracing the markings that ran up her spine, she could not hold back the soft moan.
“Your markings are beautiful.” His warm breath blew across her hair and face as he spoke. “I saw them when you were leaning over the bed, and I wish I could say that I gave you your modesty and looked away, but I will not lie to you. They captured my attention the second I saw them, and had you not been sick I would have touched you then.”
She felt the heat of her blush, and only the curiosity she had about his markings had her not burying her head in his chest to avoid looking at his face. Instead she pushed back and up on her elbow to look at him. Alina gently tilted his head to the side baring his neck, something he would have never allowed for anyone else, and stared at the beautiful markings that now traveled up his neck, down his right arm, and across the right side of his chest all the way down to his waist. It was truly incredible. When she looked back up at his neck, she felt her wolf perk up, and Alina knew her eyes had begun to glow. Her wolf wanted to bite him, taste him, and mark him. Though the bite would fade, just knowing it had been there was enough.
“You drank my blood,” Vasile suddenly told her. “You were lying there so still and I knew the only thing that would help was my blood and so I gave it to you. But as I held you, unsure of whether or not you would survive, I knew I could not live without you. I should apologize but I cannot because I would do it all over again.”
“You completed the bond?” she asked, though she was pretty sure she had known before now. She had felt how strong their connection had become, something only the sharing of blood or bodies would cause.
He nodded as the hand that was not on her back reached up and traced something on her neck. “I bit you here,” he said as he gently tapped her neck. “I only took a little blood because you had lost so much already, but it was enough.” He paused and then added silently, “You taste incredible.”
That time Alina did bury her face in his chest and he chuckled at her modesty. “Sleep, my love,” he told her. “When this is all done there will be time enough to savor each other. Your wolf will have to be patient a little longer,” he teased.
She pinched his side which only made him laugh more. She tucked herself in as close as she could without actually crawling into his skin. There, protected in the haven of his arms, she slipped quickly into sleep.
The dark shadows of night concealed Nicu’s presence as he moved silently around the exterior of the castle. His ears were pricked, drawing on the hearing of his wolf, listening for any sound of conversation. As he came around the corner just below where he knew the library to be, he heard voices. He stopped and looked up at the small balcony that extended out from the room. The drapes were drawn closed so he could not see in, which meant they could not see out. Nicu leapt effortlessly to the ledge and pulled himself up and over, never making so much as a whisper of sound.
“So you killed her parents, and you might have killed her as well?” Emilian’s enraged voice carried through the balcony doors.
“She had markings, and since no male in the village had claimed her, there was only one explanation. Vasile was indeed her true mate. I thought you did not want their bond completed because it would make him stronger.” Serghei’s voice had Nicu biting back a growl.
“We could have used her as leverage to draw him out you imbecile,” Emilian paused. “Do you know if he came for her?”
“I left as soon as her parents were dead.”
“Whether she is alive or dead is of no consequence now. Vasile is smart, but his anger will make him act quickly. Take four wolves with you back to the village. Do not let yourself be known, and see what you can find out. Do not engage him in any way if you see him,” the Alpha warned. The low guttural growl made it clear that there would be dire consequences if Serghei disobeyed.
Nicu did not wait around to hear more. He had to get back to the village and warn Vasile. He dropped back to the ground and turned for the cover of the forest. He let his wolf take over and ran as hard as he could, knowing he had to beat Serghei and the other wolves. He would not stop until he was standing in front of his Alpha.
Emilian paced the library, finally alone after dealing with the idiot pup who had been so stupid as to leave Vasile’s mate behind. She would have been the perfect bait. But he could not dwell on it; other plans would have to be made to deal with the former Alpha. The problem was so many of the dominant wolves were out of control that getting them to fight for him might prove difficult.
He rolled over possible solutions in his mind. Finally, like the breaking of the dawn, one came to the forefront. It just might work, he thought to himself. He would announce a pack tournament, non-lethal of course. Since so many young wolves were vying for higher ranks in the pack, the dominants would flock to the competition, including Serghei. Then he would openly invite the winner to challenge him for the title of Alpha, removing all doubts about who should lead the pack. Because of Vasile’s dominance, every wolf present would want to challenge him. He did not think that even one such as Vasile could continually best every wolf in the pack. Whoever was left standing would have to immediately fight him for the Alpha title or risk being forever labeled inferior by his pack mates. No matter who was left standing, they wouldn’t have enough strength left defeat him, especially since he didn’t plan on fighting fair.