Roses Wither: Into the Darkness
Twenty-three

Rosa

I loved my throwing knives. They were my chosen weapon, not swords.

The swords were Matthias’s idea today.

I hadn’t fought with them much, because when it came down to it, no one dared to harm me.

Matthias loved the idea of it though, saying that I healed, so it wouldn’t kill me. Then he added, “As long as you open your vampire.”

The asshat genuinely seemed to light up at the idea of possibly being able to run me though. Which normally wouldn't happen, except for the fact that I was off today.

I had this feeling that something bad had happened back home, as though someone had left the pack. Someone I was close to.

My heart was breaking and my wolf was on the forefront. She was urging me to break free and howl. My father could even sense it and hadn’t left my side all morning. He told the others that it was to spectate, but I knew otherwise.

I had told him when I woke up this morning that I felt something was wrong. I knew he was worried about Mother and Marcus when we couldn’t reach them by phone. We knew that if I was urging to shift, someone was trying to send my wolf a message, but I couldn’t shift again. It would set my vampire back on all the progress I had made recently.

Matthias swung the sword and I countered, pushing it back and jumping into the air, to get the upper hand.

I landed and was about to strike upward when I felt the searing pain in my abdomen. It was a pain so deep that I doubled over and screamed from shock.

I looked at where Matthias stood, looking at me in confusion, his sword in hand, unbloodied. He hadn’t struck me, so why did it feel like I was being stabbed through?

I cried out and fell to my knees, as Chase and Tati ran to my sides, but the pain grew worse and blood began to choke it’s way out of my esophagus.

“Rosa?!” Tati was shouting, as I screamed out again. It was the worst pain I had ever felt, like something was being ripped from my soul.

“Are you okay?” I heard Chase ask as I continued my scream. They were pulling my hands from my side but I fought against them. I couldn’t take it, it hurt so much.

“Fuck!” Tati shouted, “He broke the mating!”

“He did what?!” Chase shouted over me.

“He broke their connection!” Tati spoke hurriedly as Chase’s massive arms swooped me up, “His marking is poisoning her!”

I cried in pain and curled into myself as another spasm hit me.

“Your pain is hurting me.” Chase mumbled.

“He’s killing me!” I began to sob as my insides felt like they were being set on fire.

“Bring her to her rooms! We need to cut it off! Someone replace Clara! We need her!” Tati threw out orders to the guards.

“We need to cut it off!” I heard Clara shouting as she came nearby.

“Cut what off?!” Matthias shouted over my cries.

“I wish I could help you.” Chase whispered as he laid me on something soft.

We must have been in my rooms already, but he’d moved so soft, so smoothly that I was all turned around.

“Go away!” I cried out as my father came at me quickly with a knife.

“Rosa, my baby, look at me!” Tati handed someone the blade and gripped my head to hold my face to his as he spoke in Romanian.

“Cut off the wolf off her stomach.” He ordered.

“NO!” I screamed and tried to kick at someone.

“I can’t!” Chase responded in the same tongue.

“No!” I began to sob, “Not him!”

Anyone but Chase. Anyone but him!

“If we don’t, it will kill you, my baby!” Tati shouted at me, but the look in his eyes wasn’t the usual, calculated, bloodthirsty one. It was full of pain and tenderness. Something that I never saw from my father anymore.

“What is this?!” Someone rushed in, shouting. I didn’t recognize the voice, but they spoke Romanian.

“You need to cut it off now, Chase!” Tati shouted as I cried and thrashed around.

“Please no!” Was all I could say, “Not Chase! Not Chase!”

“Can’t we just give her blood?!” Matthias shouted, “He obviously doesn’t want to hurt her!”

“Nicolae!” The foreign voice shouted, “Who is this?!”

“My daughter! The wolf is killing her!” My father screamed still in Romanian, “The infection is spreading fast! Chase, do it now or I will! It needs to come off!”

“Hold her hands!” At my father’s order, I felt Matthias grip my hands and I kicked even harder.

“Not Chase!” I sobbed, “No! No! Not Chase! Please!”

“Start the spell!” My father shouted orders again, “Grab her legs!”

My father was gone in an instant and Chase was there. They’d switched places and Chase was now leaning his forehead against mine as I sobbed.

“Rosa, look at me,” He whispered, “Please, look into my eyes. I am right here. I won’t. I can’t hurt you.”

I opened my eyes and instantly calmed. It was as if those deep brown orbs absorbed my pain and pulled me away. That is, until Tati sliced into me and I screamed out in pain again.

It was the worst pain I had ever felt. It was as though the pain that I was in had been amplified by ten.

I continued to cry and scream out, vaguely aware of the energy coming from the vampire that held my legs.

I heard Chase swear under his breath as the pain subsided now, leaving just the gaping wound behind.

“What are you doing?!” Matthias shouted.

“Giving her blood.” Chase mumbled as I felt the heated liquid slide onto my mouth, “Open, my love. Slow, deep swallows.”

I didn’t even register where the blood was coming from as the pain slowly subsided and I began to slip out of consciousness, unable to keep myself awake.

The last thing I saw before I passed out were Chase’s eyes, brown and so full of pain, as they bore into mine.

Chase

I watched her drift off, and as soon as she was unconscious, I laid her head onto her pillow.

I could feel it in the energy that pooled around her now, as her vampire half took over from there, and Clara stopped mumbling and began to her business as Rosa’s nurse, cleaning her healed wound and trying to tidy up.

The rage that had been boiling in her father exploded with a shout that reverberated off the stone walls of the castle.

“I want that wolf dead!” He shouted, “I want his head brought to me!”

I looked around at all of her blood. It was all over the sheets, her skin, the floor, us. I was too concerned for Rosa to be angry at this point, but I knew once it set in I would hunt him, and I always found my mark.

My concerns now though were far from her physical state. What would happen from here? Would she be okay, or would this be a connection that she always missed? That she always felt pain from?

“Nico,” Vladimir Dracule addressed my sire, “She is not the first wolf this has happened to.”

“This is my daughter!” Nico hissed, “His son did this to her!”

“And the last one that this happened to, was his father.” The king glared at his son.

“Do you feel her?” The prince pointed to where his daughter lay unconscious on the bed, “She is not just wolf, father!”

“I know what she is, Nicolae,” Vlad’s eyes silvered over, “We will discuss this matter later, without so many ears. The child needs to heal.”

“Clara, you will tend to Rosa,” Nico’s eyes glazed over as he looked back to his daughter.

He walked to her side, smoothing her hair from her bloodied face and gave her a kiss on the forehead.

“My beautiful baby.” I mumbled before turning and leaving the room.

Once he and Vlad were out of the room, Clara pushed me aside and began to examine Rosa.

“She’s healing well enough,” She swallowed a tearful breath, “You can go now.”

Something in me couldn’t leave her, as I looked onto her pale face. She still looked so ill, and all I wanted to do was help her.

“I said leave.” Clara glared up at me with tears in her eyes.

“Why are you crying if she is safe?” Matthias asked with a sadness in his tone.

“Because,” She sniffled, “When she wakes up, I have to tell her that Alpha Taima, who she viewed as a second father, is dead. Our boarders have been crossed, her brother went after Yuma and hasn’t been seen for hours, and the man that did this to her, is now the Alpha of her guard. A guard sworn to protect her.”

Rosa

It took me a week to wake up and two more days to feel well enough to get out of bed and move around my quarters.

The physical pain was gone as soon as the marking was removed, along with my wolf. She couldn’t stand the fact that my mate had cheated on me and had turned her back on me. That hurt just as much as Aiden’s betrayal.

Sure, I'd felt a connection to Chase, but I had never acted on it. I stayed true to my mate. I wish I could have said the same for him.

When Clara told me about Alpha Taima’s death though, I was devastated. I couldn’t believe he was gone. She said that he died fighting off Yuma’s attack on my mother, but that didn’t make it any better.

I was now completely disconnected from the world that I once knew. Aiden’s betrayal had killed my wolf, and I couldn’t even feel my mother through our connection anymore. I was completely cut off. Half of my life, the half that I had loved, was completely gone. It had been ripped away from me and that wasn't the worst part.

No, the worst part was that I needed to call the new Alpha, per protocol, to welcome him and replace out where my guard stood after their loss, but could I bring myself to do it?

If I didn't, my mother's teachings would mean nothing. Our people could lose their faith in me and my mother and brother could lose their protection.