Her King

Fourteen

I was walking along the side of the road that led out of the town I'd grown up, my arms hugging myself, my tears flowing down my cheeks. It wasn't often that cars came along here, the town was quite secluded and in the middle of a forest so it was rare for people to accidentally find us, meaning it would be unlikely that I would be able to get a ride anywhere until I was closer to another town.

It was cold and cloudy out today. I had no sense of time and the lack of sun didn't help any. It had clearly been raining recently as the ground was slick with moisture, the forest flood that was on either side of the road where I walked was muddy.

The sound of a car coming up behind me dragged me out of my slumped mood. I quickly swiped at my face trying to wipe away the tears  before turning and holding my thumb out into the road.

A black, fully tinted, Ferrari SUV came along, slowing down when it got near me then stopped directly in front of me. The passenger side window, which was directly in front of me, rolled down to reveal Claudius sitting in the drivers seat. 

"Rose." His voice sounds broken and raw. Claudius' door opens and in an instant hes at my side wrapping my green jacket around me. 

I cannot help but flinch away from him. 'Please let me go.' I sigh to him in plea.

Looking up at him finally I can see the pain in his eyes. "Do you really want to leave?" My head bobbles and Claudius sighs. "Let me drive you then. Just to make sure you get somewhere safe and I'll get you set up at a hotel for the night, or as long as you want and need so that you're not out when night falls. Just allow me to do that for you?"

I sigh shaking my head. 'I'm fine.'

"Rose, it's going to get really dark within the next two hours, and you're a three hour walk away from the nearest human town. I don't want you still walking this road when night falls and I definitely don't want you out on the street for the night because you have no money. Just... just let me take care of you and do this and then I'll go." His eyes are pleading with me now.

I roll my eyes to make it appear as if I think he's over exaggerating when in actual fact being out here at dark out scares me. I nod my head finally. 'Fine. But nothing else.' I tell him.

His head nods so quickly I fear it may fall off. Claudius opens the passenger door for me. "Get in, it's too cold out here for you." He tells me sternly.

I climb in the car while genuinely rolling my eyes at him this time.

"Rose actually loves the cold." A voice pops out from the backseat.

I just about scream, clutching my chest where my heart is racing to catch up. I slowly and cautiously turn my head to see Elliot sitting in the middle of the backseat.

"Shhh." Claudius says in a calming manner as his warm hand comes to my lower thigh which instantly causes my body to relax. "It's just your idiot friend." He tells me softly. With his other hand he manages to get my seatbelt around me and clipped into place.

I almost giggle at his way of describing Elliot, but stop myself when I remember I'm supposed to be scared of him. Honestly it's very hard being scared of someone who only relaxes me and calms me and makes me feel safe whenever they touch me.

Claudius softly closes my door and is in the drivers seat again in an instant.

I gape over at him confused. How does he keep doing that?

"You need to stop doing that before you give her a heart attack." Elliot sounds amused from the backseat.

Claudius glances over at me and lets off a small chuckle. "Sorry, kitten. Habit." He resumes driving.

I glance back at Elliot confused. What is he doing here? And why is he not freaking out that his cousin can move super fast? Does Elliot know, I mean they're family so he must know. But come to think of it they're family, what if it runs in the family. What if everyone in town who watched Claudius kill Darren is too, none of them seemed to freak out all that much.

A warm hand covers mine and the panicked thoughts disappear in an instant. "It's ok." Claudius tells me softly. "You're safe, Rosalie. Neither of us are going to hurt you. You're safe with us."

"Rosalie." Elliot sounds confused.

Claudius sighs. "Rose is short for Rosalie." He says in a duh tone.

Elliot watches me closely for a second before he nods. "She just always introduced herself as Rose so I thought it was just Rose. How did you know though?"

"¿De verdad crees que no voy a mirar dentro de mi alma para saber todo sobre ella, incluida esa farsa de adopción?" [Do you really think I'm not going to look into my mate to find out everything about her, including that sham of an adoption?] Claudius says with a sigh.

I scrunch up my face at him. 'English.' I sign, knowing Claudius isn't watching me but Elliot is and can tell him.

"Rose wants you to talk in English." Elliot pipes up for me.

Claudius squeezes my hand and glances over at me briefly before returning his fixed gaze to the road. "I just said that I looked into you after we met, I wanted to know everything I could about you." The way he says it, in a nonchalant tone, is as if it's a regular daily thing.

I sigh and turn my head to look out the window at all the trees buzzing by.

"Rose, you have to know how sorry I am for keeping this from..."

"Don't start with her Elliot. Leave her be." Claudius admonishes Elliot.

It makes me feel warm inside that Claudius is still looking out for me, even from his cousin. I pull my hand out of Claudius' as I turn my head to look at Elliot. 'So you are one too?' I ask.

Elliot nods. "I am."

I gulp and nod. 'Are you really cousins?'

"No we're not cousins. We are family, very distant relations but that's a long story." Elliot confesses quietly.

Claudius quickly snatches my hand back the second my heart starts pounding in my chest again. "That's enough Elliot!" His voice booms.