The Rogues Who Went Rogue
Chapter 57

Lucianne linked Christian, 'Help Greg!'

Christian seemed hesitant before his queen's order came out fiercer in her weakened voice, 'Help Greg Claw, Your Grace. That's an order.

He nodded in compliance and left to join the effort to stop Xandar, shifting on the way. Xandar punched Greg to the ground before landing two merciless blows on his face and abdomen. He then held Greg by his neck with one hand and lifted him off the ground. His fingers were slowly tightening, and Greg's dazed animal began losing air. Christian thought to himself, 'I'm so sorry for this, cuz. He then plunged his claws right through Xandar's arm, earning an angry growl and forcing him to drop the other duke.

Greg was visibly surprised, but not for long. After exchanging a knowing glance with his distant cousin, both dukes pinned the king to the ground on either side. Their combined forces seemed to hold him. Just when Greg was about to ask Ivory to knock Xandar out, the king growled again and flicked the dukes away like they were mere insects.

Both their bodies flew and knocked against trees at a significant distance away. The impact hurt their spines and head, and they were trying their best to heal as quickly as they could.

In that time, Xandar sped for Lucianne in strides so large with a force so strong that it knocked away anyone standing in its way. When he reached Lucianne, he pinned her neck to the tree. She knew mind-linking him wouldn't work, so she resorted to using her Authority. She directed the power to his mind, focusing on connecting with his animal. Right there, in the centre of his animal's control room, she helped him push away the manipulation effects just like how she pushed her own earlier. It was a little easier with him because the manipulators had already left. There was no one pushing back her efforts. It was just her broadening his view again.

Xandar was shaking his head, trying to fight it off with her, and eventually, he did. His grip around her neck loosened, and Lucianne gently removed his hand off that area. The lilac shades returned to his eyes, and the sight of his injured mate petrified him. 'BABY! WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU?! WHO DID THIS?!'

Lucianne sighed in relief and her animal cooed as it pressed its forehead against his. When she still heard the snarls, howls and shouting, realization dawned on her that the battle was still ongoing. She detached herself from Xandar and emitted her Authority on the rest of them, removing the effects of the manipulation, and the manipulated ones came to an abrupt halt in their attack as they looked at their ally, colleague or friend in utter confusion. Some weren't even embarrassed to ask, “Uh...what am I doing?"

'BABY! TALK TO ME!' Xandar urged, and his animal whimpered as it gently shook her by her forearms.

'Get me to the river, please. I need to wash this off,' she motioned to the blood stains on her face. It was just so much more visible with her white fur.

Xandar's black-furred animal carried her ever so gently and dashed to the riverbank, nuzzling her face in sadness along the way. Her lycan was drained from the physical and mental battle, and retreated from exhaustion. By the time Xandar reached the river, Lucianne was in her human form, naked.

It was the first time Xandar and his animal were not aroused by her fully-exposed body. Their worry and anger at Lucianne's injuries took precedence. After sitting by the riverbank, he shifted back as well just to be able to talk to her easier. When Lucianne was done cleaning her face and abdomen with the river water, she covered her breasts with her arms and Xandar's broad arm covered her lower area.

He sat butt-naked on the ground when his onyx eyes pierced into hers and asked, "Who did this to you, Lucy? Tell me." He felt her animal's exhaustion and the insides of her abdomen were still healing as well.

One of her hands reached for his face as she said, "It was the vampires, Xandar. Really."

"No," Xandar knew she was lying. "You wouldn't be this injured if it were a vampire. Their claws wouldn't have made a wound this deep. Tell me who did this, Lucy." His best guess was another wolf or lycan. Maybe Draxon brought friends that none of them saw at first? "Darling, it really was the rogue vampires, the proditors. The decip—"

Xandar looked her dead in the eye and asked again in a low snarl, "That's enough, Lucy. No more trying to protect someone else over yourself. Who. Did. This?"

Greg's cold voice came from behind, "If you let the queen finish, cousin, you'd know that the one who injured her was you."

Xandar turned and growled at his cousin who didn't even flinch like many others did before the king declared in a low, firm voice which held nothing but ferocious certainty and devotion, "I would NEVER hurt MY WIFE!" "Cuz..." Christian's ominous look and careful interruption made Xandar second-think what he just said.

Then, everything started to come back. How he felt his mind being invaded when he was climbing the tree where a female vampire was climbing; him falling to the ground; his mate's white lycan coming to him; him...plunging his claws right through her abdomen, the very area that was still in the midst of healing when he carried her to the riverbank, and him...scratching her face. One of the scratches was so close to her right eye that he could have blinded her had she not turned away on time. He almost blinded and killed the very creature he swore to protect His sights moved back to his mate, his hand gently touching her now-healed abdomen, and his fingers gently ran across her now-flawless face. He could still see the scratches he made there in his mind even though they were no longer visible after Lucianne healed and washed off the bloodstains. His breathing got heavy as the memories of the real events came back, and his eyes glistened in hot tears as his heart squeezed in agonizing pain.

Lucianne cupped his cheek and made him look at her. Despite her weakened physique, her voice was still strong when she said, "It wasn't you, Xandar. You would NEVER do that to me. You love me. You and your beast would never hurt me. That wasn't either one of you. It was the decipio-proditors. They manipulated you to do what you did. We'll deal with this. We'll talk to Pelly and Octavia, and we'll end this. Okay?"

Xandar's face was still hard and eyes were still filled with tears. His jaw clenched before his head slowly turned to the left, where Christian was, before his voice came in a low, shivering command, "Tell the empress we're meeting her in her castle within the next hour. I want her entir governing body and security forces ready to meet us. I want full access to every corner of their empire to hunt down the proditors who were here and those they work for. I want every answer to every question we'll have when we land. One absentee, one rejected request, one vague or wrong answer, and I WILL declare war to annihilate EVERY decipio in existence."

"On it," Christian noted and ran back to get his phone in his trousers among some torn-up garment somewhere.

Lucianne tried to calm Xandar a little by stroking his arm, but it was clear that it wasn't working. He planted a deep kiss on her forehead, and Lucianne felt his hot tears fall on her hair. She cooed, "Shh...I love you. I love you. We'll get through this together. We always will. I love you."