LUCIAN’S POV
I sat across from my mother at the lunch table, pushing my food around my plate without really eating it.
My mind was elsewhere, drifting to her, to Nora, to the way she had looked at me with those warm brown eyes before I told her to call me Alpha.
I had been trying to stay away, trying to follow Jace’s plan, but it was getting harder with each passing day.
Greta chattered on about pack matters, about the upcoming festival, and about some minor dispute between two families, but I barely heard a word she said, as my eyes kept drifting to the empty chair beside her, the chair where Nora usually sat.
After a while, I could not help myself.
I had to ask.
“Mother,” I said, keeping my voice casual, “where is Nora?
I have not seen her around lately.”
Greta looked up from her plate, with a warm smile spreading across her face and said brightly, “Oh, didn’t you hear?
She has started working at the pack clinic.
She came to me a few days ago and said she needed purpose, something to keep her busy.
I thought it was a wonderful idea.”
My fork stopped halfway to my mouth.
“The clinic?” I asked in shock.
“Yes,” Greta said, nodding.
“She has been working with Mira, the head healer.
She seems so much happier, Lucian.
More focused.
I think it is good for her.”
I set my fork down, as my appetite suddenly vanished.
So that was it.
She had taken a job at the clinic to avoid me.
She had found a way to stay busy, to stay out of my sight, to keep herself from running into me.
She was avoiding me.
I should have been relieved.
This was what I had wanted, wasn’t it?
Space?
Distance?
A chance to let her come to me?
But instead of feeling relieved, I felt frustrated.
I was supposed to be the one pulling away.
I was supposed to be the one making her miss me.
Instead, she had taken matters into her own hands and made sure she would not have to see me at all.
“Lucian?
Are you alright?” Greta’s voice pulled me from my thoughts.
“You look pale.”
I forced a smile on my face and said calmly, “I am fine, Mother.
Just tired.”
She studied me for a moment, and narrowed her eyes slightly, but she did not push.
“Well, you should eat.
You need to keep your strength up.”
I nodded and picked up my fork again, but I barely tasted the food, because my mind was spinning, trying to figure out what to do next.
Later that day, I walked through the palace with Jace by my side, my hands shoved deep into my pockets, and my jaw clenched tight with frustration.
He had been talking about some pack matter, but I had not heard a word he said.
“Lucian?
Are you even listening to me?” Jace asked suddenly, stopping to look at me.
I shook my head and replied softly, “Sorry.
I was thinking about something else.”
Jace raised an eyebrow and folded his hands on his chest.
“Let me guess.
Nora?”
I did not answer, but my silence was answer enough.
“She is working at the clinic now,” I said finally.
Jace shrugged and asked lightly, “So?
That is part of the plan.
You pull away, she wonders why, and then she comes to you.
Just give it time.”
“Look, I do not know if the plan is working,” I admitted.
“She is not coming to me.
She is doing the exact opposite.
She is staying away.”
“Then you need to be patient,” Jace said.
“These things take time.
You can’t rush—”
I was about to respond when we turned a corner and heard voices echoing from a nearby corridor.
I recognized them immediately.
Lord Harry, Lord Christian, and Lord Williams.
They were standing near the council chambers, their voices low but clear in the empty hallway.
I stopped walking, and Jace stopped beside me, his eyes narrowing slightly.
I should have walked away.
I should have ignored them and continued on my way.
But something made me stop and listen.
“Well, she is not that bad-looking,” Lord Harry was saying, his voice sounding dismissive.
“If you ignore the size.”
Lord Christian laughed, a harsh, mocking sound that vibrated off the walls.
“Ignore the size?
Harry, the woman is huge.
I do not know how you managed to walk through the gardens with her without laughing.”
“I was being polite,” Lord Harry said, his tone smug.
“The Luna Dowager asked me to spend time with her.
What was I supposed to do?
Say no and risk my position in the court?”
“So you are just using her?” Lord Williams asked, his voice curious.
“Of course,” Lord Harry said.
“The Luna Dowager has influence.
If I can win her favor by being nice to her friend, I can get a seat on the council.
And once I have that, I can finally get the respect I deserve.”
Lord Christian snorted and said with disbelief.
“I can not believe she thought you would actually be interested in that woman.
Did you see the way she dresses?
She looks like she is wearing curtains.”
Lord Williams snickered.
“And her face.
She is not even pretty.
She is just…
there.
I am honestly relieved the Luna did not call me.
I would not have been able to hold in my laughter.”
Lord Harry laughed, a cruel, heartless sound, that I would have never imagined coming out from his lips.
“Trust me, I had to force myself to smile the entire time.
I kept imagining what it would be like to have to touch her, to lie in bed with someone like that.
Just thinking about it makes me sick.”
I felt my blood run cold.
“Look, I am not keeping myself pure,” Lord Christian sneered, “to end up with a woman twice my size.
That is not a reward.
That is a punishment.
If the Luna Dowager wants to throw her friend at someone, she should at least pick someone who is not desperate.”
“Maybe she is hoping someone will take pity on her.”
“Pity?” Lord Harry echoed.
“The only pity I feel is for myself, having to waste my time walking through the gardens with a woman whose thighs probably have their own gravity.”
I had heard enough.
I stepped into the corridor, my footsteps echoing against the stone floor.
The three lords turned, and their faces went pale when they saw me.
Lord Harry’s smirk vanished instantly.
Lord Christian’s eyes widened with fear.
Lord Williams looked like he wanted the ground to swallow him whole.
“Alpha,” Lord Harry stammered, “we were just—”
“I heard what you were just doing,” I said, my voice low and cold.
“Every.
Single.
Word.”
Lord Christian took a step back and stammered, “Alpha, we did not mean—”
“You did not mean what?” I cut him off coldly, and took a step closer.
“You did not mean to mock her?
You did not mean to laugh at her?
You did not mean to call her names?”
My fists were clenched at my sides, and my heart was pounding with rage.
I had tried to stay away.
I had tried to pull back.
But hearing them talk about her like that, hearing them laugh at her, hearing Lord Harry admit he was using her, it made something inside me snap.
“She is worth ten of you,” I said, my voice shaking with barely contained fury.
“She is kind, she is strong, she is more of a wolf than any of you will ever be.
And you, you pathetic excuse for a man, are not worthy of licking her boots.”
Lord Harry’s face went white, and he bowed his head nervously.
“Alpha, I didn’t—”
“Get out of my sight,” I growled.
“All of you.
Before I do something we will all regret.”
They scrambled away like frightened mice, their footsteps echoing down the corridor as they fled.
I stood there, breathing hard, with my heart pounding and my mind racing.
Then Jace walked up beside me silently with an unreadable expression on his face.
“So much for the plan,” he said quietly.
I looked at him, my eyes blazing and hissed.
“I don’t care about the plan anymore.
I am not going to stand by while people talk about her like that.”
Jace nodded slowly and sighed.
“I figured you would say that.”
Later that night, I stood alone in my chambers, staring out the window at the dark sky.
The moon was full, casting pale light over the palace grounds, and all I could think about was her.
She had been avoiding me.
She had taken a job at the clinic to stay away from me.
And now, after hearing what those lords had said about her, I could not stay silent anymore.
I could not pretend I did not care.
I could not pretend she meant nothing to me.
I had tried to stay away.
I had tried to pull back.
But she needed to know the truth.
She needed to know that those men were using her, that they did not care about her, that they were only pretending to be interested for their own selfish reasons.
She needed to know that I was the only one who saw her for who she really was.
And I would find a way to tell her.
Even if it meant breaking every rule I had made for myself.