Bride of the Cursed Alpha - Chapter 27: Chapter 27

Lucien POV
Auren’s body went limp in my arms. One second, she was looking at me with those wide, golden eyes—full of fear, full of life. The next, she collapsed, her weight pressing against my chest.
A sharp, cold dread shot through me. It was like a blade slicing straight to my soul. My breathing hitched, my heart slammed against my ribs like it would jump out of it, and for the first time in years, I felt something close to panic.
I tightened my grip around her, cradling her fragile body as if I could keep her from slipping away. Her skin was burning, her breaths too shallow. A sickening feeling twisted in my gut. My world tilted, threatening to disappear into darkness.
“Wake up,” I growled, shaking her slightly in my arms as I rushed to my car. No response.
My wolf, Remus, snarled inside me, restless and angry. Do something. Fix this. Protect her. he had never been this restless before. Why did he want to protect her so much, it was beyond my understanding.
‘We can’t lose her,’ Remus hissed. My jaw clenched so hard it ached. No, we couldn't lose her. I refused to. Not my little dove.
When Finn said those words to me, the blood drained from his face as he realized that I didn’t believe his lies. Auren was so innocent that she had never been kissed or touched in her life. How could she demand them to fuck her? It was such a fucking insult to her that I felt like getting Finn back to life and then kill him again. Well, Jace and Cody were there. I was going to torture them so hard that their souls would be terrified of me. Uncontrollable anger and desperation flooded my chest. Her scream when he had hit her still echoed in my mind and it was the most haunting thing I had heard.
I lowered Auren in my lap as I sat in the backseat of my car. “Go!” I ordered Tarian who was already at the wheels. I opened my mind link with the doctor and ordered him to come home urgently.
When I looked at her face, I found that it was so pale. “Auren,” I called her with my breath lodged in my throat. I don’t know why but the trauma she suffered had me burning with so much rage that it wasn't going down. Unable to elicit any reaction from her, I just shifted her to a more comfortable position. In this position, she looked so vulnerable, so beautiful and delicate that I couldn’t stop staring at her. How was she going to bear my mark if this trauma was enough to make her unconscious?
I raked my finger in my hair, tension getting the better of me. If I postponed the wedding, Elders would make her leave and she would go back to her hell hole. I wasn't afraid of the treaty breaking but I was not going to let her go back to that shitty pack. And if I married her, I would have to mark her. Marriage with her meant that I had to mark her and if I marked her— I took a ragged breath in. “What do I do, Auren?” I muttered, staring at her face, worry swirling in my chest. I thanked the goddess that she was safely back in my arms. Because I couldn’t think of what would have happened if I had gotten a tad late.
“Marry her as soon as possible,” Tarian said.
I snapped my head to him. “What?”
Tarian steered the car toward the mansion. “Alpha Lucien, marry her at the earliest. That way you’ll be able to protect her from every unmated wolf like Finn and his friends. And trust me there are a lot like them. For whom an omega breeder is nothing but a whore.”
A muscle feathered in my jaw. Omegas really didn’t have a good place amongst werewolves. “But—”
“Alpha Lucien, you don’t have to mark her immediately. Just marry her and mark her when she is ready,” he suggested.
When we reached home, I took Auren to her bedroom and carefully lay her down. I took off her shoes and tossed them aside.
“The doctor is coming,” Tarian said. He moved aside and Dr. Barry strode in.
He bowed to me. “What happened to her?” he asked as he moved to her side.
“She passed out half an hour earlier and hasn’t regained consciousness.”
He moved closer to her and sat on the edge. I was surprised by myself how much I hated his nearness to her. “Is she sick again? Did she not eat food?” he asked. His eyes went to her cheek. “Someone hit her very hard,” he said in a low voice, trying his best not to look at me.
“Yes, a few wolves caught her at the Celestial Soirée and misbehaved,” I growled. “But you aren’t saying a word about it to anyone!”
“Not at all, Alpha,” he said, relaxing a bit. Then he examined her pulse and checked her temperature. “She just needs rest and so you have to take it easy for the next few days. If her condition worsens, let me know. But she suffered a trauma. For that you may want to talk to her nicely.”
“Yes, I will.” I let out a sigh.
As Tarian escorted the doctor out, I couldn’t help thinking that if this was what happened to me in an incident like this, what would happen if something worse happened? My eyes drifted to her face and I found myself sitting next to her as anxiety slashed through my heart. I don’t think I could leave my little dove alone.
“Can I get you anything Alpha?” Tarian suddenly asked, his tone laced with worry.
I shook my head. “No. You may leave.”
“There’s something I’d like to tell you, Alpha Lucien,” he said.
“What?”
“Sable’s father, Rizv Brown, is planning to approach the Elders for his daughter. I got the intel just now. Things are going to get complicated if you don’t make the right move now.”
I gritted my teeth. “I don’t understand it, Tarian,” I seethed. “Why has she become so interested all of a sudden, despite knowing the curse I carry?”
He shrugged. “I am baffled just like you, but you have to curtail Rizv before this goes out of hand.”
I let out a rough exhale. “Okay! Just keep an eye on them.”
When Tarian left, I weighed the events of the last few days. There was only one logical thing that I could do now.