Or what I thought was my father, only to discover the person looking back at me was myself. I leap at the mirror trying to look intently at myself.
Marcus head snaps up and stands in attack position, he grabs my forearm and turns me around so I collide with his hard shirtless back as he stands protectively in front of me.
Even though I enjoy this position I snatch my arm out his hand and stare into the mirror.
"Rose what the hell? what's wrong?!" He ask still looking around the bathroom, I can't tear my eyes away from the mirror
His eyes, my eyes all in the same. He would come home almost every night with the eyes I'm looking at right now, the same red blood shot eyes that now I have. I am him, I keep repeating to myself, over and over, I drank and now I'm turning into him after I said I never would. Millions and millions of memories come back to me, I go to punch the mirror not wanting to see my eyes like this but Marcus's hand comes up to mine in a heart beat, my hand just an inch away from the mirror. He pulls my wrist back and I fall to the floor, I break out in sobs again. How could I do this after I knew what alcohol does to people.
"Rose" Marcus says bending down fast and holding me "what's wrong? what happened?" he ask in a hurry, brushing the loose strands of hair out of my face
"I'm him, I'm exactly like him!!" I scream and bury my head in his chest
"Who Rose who?!" He asks stroking my uninjured cheek
"My father" I say realizing I have never spoken to Marcus about my father, I hardly speak to anyone about him
He stays quiet, probably wondering what I'm talking about. I'm tired of crying I've cried all night, I want some peace, some rest. Every time he hit, punched, cussed me out, cut me, and kicked me comes rolling back to me and I continue to cry.
*
I don't even realize that I have fallen asleep with tears still in my eyes until I feel myself being lifted and carried, I can't even move. My body and mind won't let me, I feel paralyzed from exhaustion. I am placed on a fluffy comforter and silk sheets with a warm cover placed over me. The light source that was on the side of me is turned off and darkness surrounds me.
I curl up to the pillow and inhale his scent causing me to smile sleepily. I feel warm lips come up to my forehead and press lightly staying there from a moment
"Goodnight Rose...I love you" he whispers in my ear
I don't have time to think about what he said or try to realize the meaning of his words; I fall back to a deep, much needed sleep.
Marcus's POV
I listen to her sobs as they calm along with her slowing heart rate letting me know she has finally fallen asleep. I didn't want to put her to sleep, being the selfish vampire I am I wanted to spend time with her even if it was listening to her cry, I was at least here to protect her.
One of the worst feelings ever is hearing your mate cry out in pain. I wish I could fix it and erase it from her mind and I could if I wanted to, which I do but it would be wrong without her permission.
I wipe the tears off her makeup stained eyes and cheeks. What could her father have done that made her like that? It was obvious she wanted to be nothing like him. One day I'll know the reason and if he harmed her in any way...I will find him and kill him with my bare hands.
I lift her sleeping body and carry her to my bedroom. I lay her down on the silk sheets and pull the covers over her. She has a small smile on her face as she takes a deep breath, even though her hair is messy and her makeup smeared partially covering the yellow green bruise on her cheek...she still manages to look absolutely beautiful.
I lean down next to her and kiss her forehead, I move to her ear and whisper "Goodnight Rose, I love you"
I'll make things ok, I will fix things and I will tell her everything soon. I have broken out of Caine's little game, I couldn't and would never just leave her there or not come. I'm sure I'll get an ear full of it very soon, but I don't care. I won't please my brother by being apart from her forever, I can and will defeat him if it means being with my soulmate.
I want to crawl in there with her so badly, I want to hear her soft breathing and watch her peaceful face but to respect her privacy I go to the room next door.
It's just a simple guest room Lucia helped me decorate, I bought this house a while back and needed a woman's touch so Lucia insisted on the decor. I like it, it's modern and nice, I let her use plenty of money to make it look good and I approve. It looked like Rose liked it to, she surly wanted to see everything and seeing as it will be her future home I will have to show her around soon.
I take off my jeans leaving me only in my boxers and climb into the queen size bed and try to sleep but it feels impossible. I want to be with her. She's so close yet to far away from me, I don't want her out of my sight even if she is in my house and sleeping in my bed it's not good enough.
The hours tick by and I'm still awake, listening to every sound checking if there's anything in the woods or in the house. I want to sleep so I can pass the time till I can talk to her again, I'm sure tomorrow she will be ready to talk.
The sun begins to shine in the window and I watch the sun rise shining through the trees, I remember the first day I met her she said she loved sunsets and ever since then whenever I see one I think of her.
I look over to the clock and it's only 5:56 I've been laying here for over two hours, at least Rose is sleeping soundly.
She asked about my tattoo, I of course couldn't tell her it was a tattoo that protected me from the sun. She would think I was crazy and I didn't want to tell her last night, it would have been way too much.
I get up knowing I won't get to bed any time soon and decide to go to my office to catch up on some paper work, both with school and vampire business. I put on my jeans and walk quietly through the house, careful not to wake Rose. I go through the numbers and I already have over a thousand vampires set up to serve me if there is going to be a war. I hope there will be no need for one and Caine will just back off but knowing my crazy ass brother the chances of that happening is very slim.
I record the crime that happened to Rose in the file writing down as many details as I can. I can't decide if he was working for my brother or not, he never made it clear and when my anger took over all I wanted was him dead.
I finish up grading my students work that I hadn't done this week and wrote down some fighting technics I want to teach the 'army'. I let out a deep breath now even more exhausted than before, I lay my head down on the hard wooden desk and begin to drift off to sleep, but not until I hear a blood curtailing scream.
My eyes shoot open and I jump up out of my chair, I know immediately the scream came from Rose and I run as fast as possible to my room where I know she is. I don't have time to think what could be wrong I just run to her, I get ready for any possible thing on the inside of that room.
I yank open the door almost breaking the hinges and look over to Rose sitting up in my bed. I flip up the lights switch and light floods the room allowing me to see what's in front of me. I look around franticly trying to figure out why Rose screamed, maybe there was a person, my brother or someone else, but there isn't. I smell the air and only mine and Rose's scent is in the room. I look back at her confused but when our eyes meet I'm at a loss of breath at her appearance.
She's completely flushed and sweaty, her hair is matted, tears are rolling down her cheeks. Her eyes hold so much fear...It scares me. I rush over to her and cradle her light shaking body trying to get her to calm down, I'm guessing she woke up from a nightmare.
"It was just a dream Rose, it's ok, I'm here" I say quietly in her ear
She runs her fingers down my chest and looks up at me scanning every inch of my face, trying to see if I am real or not.
"You're safe Rose, it's ok" I try to sooth her, she nods and her heart rate goes down a little as each moment passes, her beautiful eyes are wide from shock and she snuggles into my chest.
I run my fingers through her hair smoothing it down. I move my hand out of her hair and under her shirt to her back, my fingertip graze her soft skin lightly and goosebumps appear on her body and her sobs calm.
"Rose?" I ask
Her teary, beautiful blue green eyes look up at me, the red that stained her eyes before has subsided, but only slightly due to the new tears that had formed in her glassy orbs. A small pout is on her lips making her look absolutely adorable.
"Are you alright?" I ask quietly
She takes a deep breath and nods "yeah I'm fine, I'm sorry if I woke you" she says with a shaky voice
"What? Rose of course not, don't apologize" I say hugging her closer to me, astonished that she would ever need to apologize to me just for having a nightmare
We sit in a comfortable silence, the sounds of Rose's calm breathing, the crickets chirping outside and an owl hooting.
"It was horrible" she says choking up
"What was?"
"My dream...they were there, both of them"
"Who?"
"My father and...that man, I...I was in a room...trapped. All alone and chained up just hanging on a wall, it was hot and I was so scared" her voice cracks and she pauses "then they dragged you in the room all chained up, beaten and battered. My father threw you on the floor and kicked you! The man walked over to me and tried to take my shirt off" She says and I can tell she is close to full on tears soon, my anger grows just thinking about that ever happening, but I stay calm and let her finish "you kept telling them to stop and when my dad came over and started hitting me....like he used to-" she says looking away
My jaw automatically clenched at her words "What" I say through my teeth, I'm so angry I swear I could kill a million men right now, starting with her fuck up of a father
She looks back at me practically begging me to stay calm and let her finish. I take a deep breath and decide we can discuss that another time...very very soon.
"It hurt so bad, but when the man began to hit and punch you, you looked horrible...I thought...I thought they were going to kill you. Icouldn't stand it ,I begged them to leave you alone and hurt me...just as long as they wouldn't hurt you" she says, her eyes staring off in a random direction, almost like she forgot I was here, she buries her head in my chest, holding on to me, I can feel her wet tears on my bare chest sliding down my hot skin
"Rose I will never let that happen" I put major infuses on never "I promise, you are mine and I will protect you with my life, you are my everything and I refuse to loose you ever again" I say finally telling her the truth I had known all along. I take her hand in mine and sneeze gently, feeling like a complete failure of a person after allowing my mate to cry three times in one night.
A small smile forms on her perfect lips and she nods, I lay my head on hers and inhale her amazing vanilla scented shampoo but her natural smell of honey suckle makes me sigh in happiness.
After a couple more minutes and light talking about anything but the events of the night she finally seems calm "Do you want to sleep? we can talk later ok?" I ask knowing she's probably still exhausted
She nods her head and I smile down at her, I wipe the remaining tears that have yet to fall down her face and the wet trail down her cheeks. I release her from my arms, instantly feeling the loss of warmth and set her down softly. She closes her eyes and grips the pillow, her dark red hair sprawls across it looking like beautiful waves of dark curls "so gorgeous" I say under my breath looking at my amazing breathtaking love.
I stand there and just stare at her perfect self, I love the way my clothes look on her she just looks so fucking sexy. It takes all of my control and will power to turn away and leave her again.
I walk to the door slowly, not wanting to leave...but then I ear music to my ears "wait...Marcus, don't leave me" she says and I can't help the smile that stretches across my cheeks
I turn around to face her, she's sitting up and she has a hurt and regrettable look on her face until she sees my smile. I walk over to the side of my bed and begin to unbutton my jeans, her eyes widen an she looks away blushing causing me to smirk at her innocence.
I kick the jeans off my feet an lift the covers so I can climb in next to her. I lay down on my back and wait for Rose to lay down, she looks at my chest with her mouth hung open, I stifle a chuckle and decide not to make a comment. She lays her head down on my chest and her hair tickles my arm. Her cold hand rests on my abs and I wrap my arm around her small body securely. She tangles her soft legs in with mine and I fight the urge to run my fingers up and down them. I can feel her hesitation as she try's to move away but I don't let her, I hold her close and refuse to let go.
We lay like this for a while and I know Rose is still not asleep, her breathing is uneven and her heart beat is not calm. "Rose, love, you can sleep, I'm here no one can harm you" I assure her
She nods and in minutes I can tell she is back asleep. I smile and kiss her forehead, I have waited for this ever since I met her, better yet ever since I was made into a vampire and found out about mates. I have always wanted my other half and now, I have finally found her.
I soon follow in the most amazing sleep I have had in over three hundred years. All due to the fact that the girl who is made for me is in my arms.
A/N
Hey guys! So how do you like this chapter? I kinda like it! Hurray for them being together! Forget Caine right?...Smart or dumb move? You'll find out soon! Thank you for reading
Vote and comment!!
-Madi