Lucien Volkov:
My family was mad at me, but I still joined them for dinner. The moment I entered the dining hall, the conversation died.
I pulled out a chair and sat down at the head of the table. The servants immediately started serving food, but the atmosphere remained tense.
Nobody was looking at me, except Aliya, who was glaring at me openly. When I kept ignoring her, she dropped her fork, "Brother. What exactly are you doing?"
I didn’t look up, "Eating dinner. Why?"
"Don’t do that, Lucien," she placed her hands on the table, "You know what I’m talking about?"
"No. Enlighten me," I took a spoonful of rice to my mouth.
Her eyes narrowed as she chuckled humorlessly, "You took a slave into your chambers, brother. And then you publicly humiliated our mother."
I placed my spoon down, "Humiliated? I corrected a mistake."
My mother tossed her napkin aside, "A mistake? You gave me that girl, Lucien. You said it yourself."
By now, my patience was already thinning, "I gave you a slave. Not a punching bag."
My mother exchanged a look with my sister, "You’ve never cared about slaves before."
That made me pause.
Those large hazel eyes surfaced in my mind. The eyes that never begged. Never cried. It seemed like she was mentally ready to be treated this way.
Zorro stirred, "She’s awake, Lucien."
I ignored him and looked up only to find my mother staring at me, "Why are you doing this, Lucien?"
The entire table waited for my answer. My whole paternal family was there, including my uncles, aunts, and cousins.
To buy some time, I reached for my glass when I got a mindlink from my beta, "Lucien. Our investigator is back from the Blackthorn pack."
I slammed my glass on the table and left the chair, "I’ll be back in a while. This is important."
My Beta was waiting for me in my chambers, "Bradley!" I went to hug him before taking a seat on the couch.
The scent of limes hit my nose again, reminding me that she was resting in the next room.
"Lucien. I looked into it. But this Toussaint family is quite messed up."
With a frown, I asked him to continue.
"Victor Toussaint. When he killed Anika, he wasn’t alone. A dark-haired girl accompanied him. We found the clearer footage. The earlier footage was too blurry and grainy to identify her face."
He headed to the table to bring his laptop and opened it to show it to me, "See," I moved ahead and watched the video.
Something I didn’t want to do. But I owed this much to my sister.
We saw Anika talking to Victor and a girl in the hotel’s lobby, but her face wasn’t visible. Only her dark hair and a silver locket that she was dangling around her index finger.
"Pause it, Brad," I told him, and when he did, I pointed towards the screen, "Zoom it. I need to see this locket clearly."
Bradley did what I asked him to do. He not only zoomed it but also enhanced it.
A locket that had a silver serpent.
"What is it? Seems like someone customized it," I whispered as I looked at it closely.
"Hold on," he dialed someone’s number and then started talking, "Hey. I just sent a picture. It shows a serpent. The tiny Ruby attached to it... it’s your style. Or someone copied it from you?"
Brad got quiet, listening to the other side.
"Fine... Are you sure about it?" After a few minutes, he disconnected the call.
"What is it?"
He shrugged and pointed to his phone screen, "I guess we are lucky. It’s a customized locket and was ordered several years back," Bradley raised his phone, "He’s the one who made it."
"Wow!" I leaned back into the couch when Zorro’s ears perked up, "Lucien. Why don’t you listen to me the first time? Go to our mate. She’s awake."
"Is it Zorro?" Bradley must have seen my eye color turning to fiery orange, "Hi, Zee."
Zorro only growled. He wanted her.
"Are you alright, my friend?" Bradley was studying me as he asked the question. He was also very much affected when we lost Anika.
I had an inkling that maybe he liked her, but could never say it in front of me.
When I didn’t say anything, Bradley sat across from me, leaning ahead and placing his elbows on his knees, "Is it about that slave?"
"Ask her not to talk about her like this!" Zorro warned me, and I gave a slight shake to my head.
"I’ve heard that you marked her? The queen is pissed, Lucien."
"So, you already met mother..." I sighed and closed my eyes, "She must have told you the reason."
"Yes. Because the girl might try to run away," he chuckled, "Do you think the queen is that dense? Brother. You’ll need to come up with something more convincing."
"Yeah. And you need to come up with better timing. I had to leave my dinner midway."
"Sorry about that!" he raised his palms, "So, where is she?" he whispered, "In your room?"
I bit my inner cheek before looking at him, "Not exactly."
The best thing about Bradley was that he never tried to ask questions I didn’t like answering. He knew his boundaries.
I started discussing border patrol reports with him when the door to my bedroom opened. I didn’t pay attention at first when the scent of limes drifted to my nose. But Bradley suddenly went quiet.
I frowned and followed his gaze, only to find her standing in the doorway.
She was wearing a cotton gown that loosely hung on her small frame. It barely reached her bruised knees. Her black hair, which seemed to be dyed, was loose around her shoulders, and my Lycan suddenly wanted to leave my body and go to her.
The moment she noticed us, her eyes widened. I almost thought she would fall over.
"I ... your highness... my apologies... I ... I just needed water."