Lycan King's Regret: Punished The Wrong Daughter

Arabella Toussaint:

Lucien barely looked at me before turning to Bradley. ”I’ve been looking for you. Where were you?” he muttered. ”And why aren’t you answering your phone or replying to my messages?”

Phone? Messages?

What happened to the mindlink? I had seen wolves and Lycans communicate through mindlink, yet these two were apparently texting each other like humans.

”I was eating, man.” Bradley gestured toward his plate as if the answer should have been obvious.

Lucien gave him a look. ”For the last forty minutes?”

”I was waiting for Arabella and...” He leaned ahead. ”I like to chew my food.” He finished with a wink.

I lowered my face before either of them noticed the smile threatening my lips. I was aware Lucien treated Bradley more like a friend.

Lucien glanced at the file lying beside him. ”Did you receive the reports from the northern packs?”

”Most of them.” Bradley wiped his fingers on a napkin before reaching for the file. ”Red Creek still hasn’t sent the final numbers. Their Alpha wants another twenty warriors stationed along the eastern boundary.”

”Why?”

”They’ve had three more rogue sightings this week.”

Something shifted in Lucien’s expression. ”Three?”

Bradley nodded and opened the file. ”None crossed the boundary, but they were seen close enough for the patrols to pick up their scent. I’ve already asked them to double the night patrol until we know what they’re doing there.”

I continued eating while listening to them. I knew enough about pack life to understand that a few rogues wandering near the border wasn’t unusual, but judging by the way Lucien was questioning Bradley, three sightings in one week was too much.

”Send two additional patrol teams,” Lucien said. ”Not twenty warriors. If the sightings continue, we’ll increase the number.”

Bradley made a note in the file. ”I’ll inform the Alpha.”

Before he could say anything else, movement near the café counter caught my eye. Jasmine had just walked in.

She hadn’t noticed us and went directly to the counter with a clipboard in one hand and began speaking to the Omega in charge of the café, occasionally looking down at whatever was written on the sheet.

I glanced sideways at Lucien, who was still talking to Bradley. ”The western packs?” he asked.

”No new incidents. I spoke to Alpha Marcus this morning. Their border has been quiet lately.”

Lucien gave a small nod and reached straight for my plate. Before I realized what he was doing, he picked up one of my fries and ate it without even pausing his conversation.

I stared at his hand. My first instinct was to slap it away before he came back for another one, but then I remembered exactly who he was.

Obviously, His Majesty could steal whatever the hell he pleased to. I pulled my plate a little closer to myself and picked up my Coke. My attention had returned to Jasmine.

She was still talking to the Omega at the counter. Shouldn’t Lucien know she was there? I knew how sharp a Lycan’s sense of smell was. There was no way he hadn’t picked up Jasmine’s scent from across an almost empty café.

Yet he hadn’t looked at her once. Weren’t they fated mates?

I took a sip of my Coke and watched him from the corner of my eye. He was listening to Bradley while swallowing the fry he took from my plate.

For a man who was supposed to be engaged to the girl, he certainly didn’t seem very interested in his fiancée.

The last time I had seen them together, he had kissed Jasmine right in front of me. At the time I had assumed they were too involved with each other... like madly in love.

But now, when I thought about it, things didn’t quite add up. He had left her standing on that stage in front of the whole world and walked away. For the first time, doubts started creeping into my mind.

Did he kiss her to make me jealous? Maybe he had expected anger, jealousy, or some kind of reaction from me. Whatever he had expected, I hadn’t given it to him.

Now his fiancée was standing only a short distance away, and he couldn’t even be bothered to look at her.

I reached for another fry and chewed it slowly while thinking. I must be missing something. Whatever was going on between Lucien and Jasmine, it made absolutely no sense to me.

Still lost in my thoughts, I glanced toward the counter again. She was gone. I frowned and looked around the café, wondering when she had left.

”What are you thinking?” Lucien asked quietly.

My eyes snapped up. Bradley had gone back to the folder in front of him, completely absorbed in one of the reports and apparently forgetting the food on his plate.

Poor Brad!

I turned sideways and found Lucien watching me with the same casual expression he had worn since sitting down.

”Nothing.” I tried to smile.

His gaze remained on me for another moment. ”Did you find anything else about Blackthorn?”

The question caught me slightly off guard. ”Not really. They aren’t letting me meet Victor...” I had already asked my father to send Victor to the palace, but I had forgotten one thing.

Would Lucien even allow my brother to set foot inside the royal palace?

I pushed a fry around my plate, thinking about it. My father had avoided giving me a straight answer every time Victor came up. Whether that was because he genuinely didn’t know where he was or because he was protecting him, I still couldn’t tell.

”Will you allow it if I ask him to meet me here?” I asked Lucien, secretly praying that he would say yes.

Lucien leaned back slightly, his attention still on me.

”Your Highness. I’ll understand if you don’t,” I said with a huge grin. He closed his eyes for a few moments and let out a long sigh.

”Fine,” he said, ”Ask him to come and meet you here. Brad can arrange a royal order so that he has no choice but to show up.”

Thank the Goddess.

”Thank you, Luci... Your Highness,” I got to my feet and bowed my head before taking back my seat. This time there was no sarcasm. It was purely out of respect. While reaching for my Coke, another thought had already entered my head.

For a few seconds, I debated whether I should ask him about last night. If it had only been some bizarre dream, the question was going to sound ridiculous.

Still, there was something I needed to know. ”Umm... may I ask you something?” Before he could allow me, I asked anyway. ”Did you come into my room last night?”

Lucien stared back at me with a frown, and I waited, holding my breath. Bradley was still occupied with the file, and suddenly I was very aware of how loudly my own heart was beating.

Lucien frowned slightly. ”How do you know?”

Good Goddess. My breath caught in my throat as the realization slowly sank in. He did come to my room.

If Lucien had really come to my room, then maybe I hadn’t dreamed the rest of it either.