Raven's P•O•V

They all stared at me, waiting. Dimitri had an angered look on his face while DeMalo looked at me with harsh eyes. Alec was still clenching his fists, on the verge of an outrage by the looks of it. Everything was too hazy for me, it felt as if I had to think too hard to even bring the simplest answers to tell them.

"I don't - I don't even know what happened..." I moaned as the pounding in my head made it too loud to even think. I closed my eyes tight as my head throbbed. "Why don't you ask your son?" I said finally, because frankly I wanted to know what even happened since I still had no idea. Piper inspected my face and touched my cheek. I flinched away as the skin burned at the touch. Dimitri saw my pained expression and looked at his son.

"What the hell did you do to her?" He snapped at DeMalo. Thankfully everyone stopped looking to me for the answer and turned their gaze to him.

"What did I do to her?" DeMalo retorted, saying this like he didn't deserve the critical looks toward him. "I told her the truth. I wanted her to realize that all of you are using her! Especially you, Brother." He spat. Alec growled at his remark.

"I'd never use Raven! If anyone is using her, it's you." Alec jabbed his finger at his brother and approached him again, fuming. Irina rushed to Alec and held him back.

"That still doesn't explain why you hurt her. You aren't making any sense DeMalo -" Piper said, but he cut her off quickly.

"Are you all that stupid?! Don't you see? I wouldn't have hurt her if she wasn't being so naïve -" DeMalo said in a tone of disgust, only for Alec to interrupt him.

"Watch your mouth, DeMalo." He said between gritted teeth. DeMalo turned to look at his brother and laughed cruelly.

"You're the dumbest of them all!" DeMalo stated. "You want to know what I told Raven? I told her that the second our precious father gives the order, you will turn her just so you can be on his good graces. You only care about yourself and you need to realize that."

Alec stood there panting as if he was going combust any second. DeMalo's words only enraged him even more.

"And even after everything I told her, this naïve little bitch still believed I was lying -" DeMalo scoffed as he spoke about me. It took only a second for Alec to rip out of their mother's grip on him and grab DeMalo by the throat.

"Don't speak of my Soulmate that way." Alec seethed, severely close to his brother's face. DeMalo chuckled barely seeming phased, but struggled against his hold.

"Do you really think that she'll ever truly be your Soulmate?" DeMalo countered and everyone went silent. Alec stared at DeMalo with a look that could kill. Dimitri yanked Alec away from him and grabbed DeMalo roughly. He shoved him over to two guards that I hadn't even noticed enter the room.

"Take him to the holding cells." He grumbled. The guards looked as if they were about to protest, probably because taking a royal to a cell was something they never did, but Dimitri glared at them.

"Go!" He demanded, causing me to flinch at how loud he was and they left with a very pissed off DeMalo.

Alec stood there clenching his fists; still staring at the huge hole in the wall where he had slammed DeMalo into. Dimitri stormed out of the room without another word and Irina followed him. Piper sighed and helped me to my feet. I staggered and held onto her, dizzy and disoriented from my aching head.

"Let's get you over to my room." She said and I nodded softly. Alec turned around and I caught brief eye contact with him before Piper and I left my room and crossed the hall over to hers.

The room looked the same as it had the first time when I cut my palm open. Still messy and clothes were everywhere. She brought me over to a chair in the corner of her room. I fell into the seat, tired and fading. She bent down so we were eye level and looked from one of my eyes to the other. She looked at me pitifully and sighed.

"Well, the good news is it's only a concussion." Piper said. "The bad news is that I can only heal your concussion by having you drink my blood." She said awkwardly.

"Guess I'm going to have to deal with my concussion." I laughed, completely ruling that option out. She chuckled.

"It's alright." I said, although I was wishing she could take the throbbing headache away. I smiled weakly at her. "Thank you, Piper."

"No problem. That's what friends are for." She said with a smile. I returned the smile.

I turned my head and could see Alec in the door, looking deep in thought. Piper followed my gaze and saw him as well.

"Can you go get Raven some ice for her cheek?" She asked Alec. He snapped out of his distracted state and nodded. He was gone in a gust of wind, then a second later he was beside me with some ice in his hand. He handed it to Piper.

"Thank you." She thanked him gratefully and held it to my cheek. I sucked in a sharp breath at how cold it was, but otherwise felt the pain dull.

I sighed and felt my eyes grow heavy. A pulsing headache now resided inside my skull as I struggled to stay awake.

"Don't you have any pain pills?" I asked with a weak voice. Piper shook her head.

"There is no use for pain pills in a castle filled with Vampires." She explained.

"What about the servants?" I questioned, my eyes now closed.

"They drink our blood whenever they're in need of a quick heal." Piper answered me. I nodded my head tiredly.

"Well that sucks." I mumbled and blacked out.

♱

I woke up in a familiar, soft bed. My eyes fluttered open as I regained consciousness and I flinched at the sunlight coming from the paned doors that led out to the balcony.

I instantly realized where I was and tried to sit up. I groaned as I got up too fast and felt my head start to ache from the sudden movement. I sat back against a pillow and rubbed my temples.

"Easy now," Alec instructed me and helped me sit back. "Your concussion is pretty bad." He told me. I rolled my eyes and tried to get up again.

"I know it's bad, but I'm not bedridden." I informed him and swung my feet over the side of the bed. I shut my eyes to fight the dizziness and stood. I felt pretty good and walked over to the doors and looked out onto the snow covered balcony. The snow was dazzling white and shining in the sun.

I wasn't too dizzy and took that as a good sign, until my head started to hurt out of no where. I clenched my teeth and turned around. I shook my head.

"I've had concussions before, they were never this bad." I told Alec.

"You got slapped by a vampire. I'm surprised your neck didn't snap." Alec replied. I sighed and started to walk away from the doors, only to have another spurt of a dizzying headache wave over me. I ignored it but stumbled the slightest bit. Alec was by my side in the blink of an eye, holding my shoulder gently to keep me up. I wasn't going to lose my balance in the first place, but he didn't seem to care. Something inside me knew it would always be an instinct for him to worry about me.

"I'm fine." I said in an unsteady voice, and cleared my throat. I sat back on the bed slowly, tired of this concussion already.

"How'd I get in your room?" I asked the question I had had on my mind since I woke up in his bed.

"I convinced Piper it'd be better for you to stay in my room rather than hers. It's too loud in the hall where you two are." Alec explained. I looked at him skeptically and scoffed at his excuse.

"Too loud?" I raised my eyebrow at him. He shook his head with a small smile on his face, knowing I caught him in his excuse.

"If you wanted me to stay in your room, all you'd have to do is ask." I said with a soft voice. He looked down at me, noticing the seriousness in my tone.

He sighed and looked away, directing his gaze ahead of him and focused on the snowy balcony. It was quiet for a couple minutes until he finally spoke,

"I can't stop thinking about his lips on yours." Alec muttered. I watched his expression as he spoke.

"For a brief second I saw him pinning himself against you, and all I could feel was pure rage. The strongest form of enragement filled my whole body and all I could feel was ... jealousy." He told me with a blank expression, then looked me in the eyes.

"I never want to see another man come near you." Alec murmured. His serious expression made my heart falter a bit. I studied his maroon eyes and felt the painful memory of him rejecting me in the stalls slip back into my memory.

"But you don't want me." I reminded him and looked away from his eyes. He grew quiet and for a second I forgot about the pain in my head and recognized the pain in my chest.

Alec's hand gripped my shoulder. He turned me so I could look him in the eye.

"Who said I didn't?" He asked and studied my eyes just like I had his.

"What about the things you said in the stable?" I inquired. Alec sighed, remembering.

"I was scared." He remarked. I furrowed my brow, wondering how such a man like him could possibly be scared of a kiss. He sighed and continued,

"I was scared that what I feel for you was just implanted inside of me. I chose you to be my Soulmate. How could I have known if my feelings for you weren't just an instinct?" I listened to him as he spoke, puzzled yet somewhat understanding his fear.

"So you were scared of not knowing if your feelings were real or not?" I guessed. He nodded. I felt sympathy for him once I realized what he was afraid of.

I sighed and embraced Alec, wrapping my arms around his neck tightly. He hesitated to wrap his arms around waist, but finally did ever so gently. He buried his head in my neck and for a second I felt my heart race at how close this bloodsucking man was to my carotid artery. The worry soon passed, as I placed trust in him.

"Does this feel real?" I whispered in his ear.

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