CHAPTER 39: _THEY’VE BEEN FUCKING

Lucian’s POV

*****

"What do you think it’s about?" Aurora asked him after the voice making the announcement stopped but the alarms persisted.

Lucian grunted, turning on his heel and walking out of the garden. "I don’t know but if I’m about to take a wild guess, it probably has something to do with the second assassin attack."

Just when he was about to reach the garden entrance—an arched doorway laced with curling vines and blooming flowers—Estella walked in with a smile.

"Prince Lucian, I was thinking about this evening. Maybe you and I could..."

Before she could even continue, Lucian brushed past her, his face expressionless.

He eventually got to the part of the palace grounds where the guards were gathering. It was a large open space training ground, with carpet grass beneath their boots.

The guards arranged themselves in an orderly form, but Lucian couldn’t see any signs of the Council of Fang. They’d all left after the war room meeting.

The only one who would be available within the palace would be...

"It’s Beta Axel and that omega." A female guard in front of him whispered to her male friend beside her, her voice dripping with amusement.

Lucian turned his head and indeed spotted Axel walking toward the gathering of guards, donned in his sleek golden and blue armour.

Walking beside him with a seemingly innocent expression was Elian who wore a white blazer with golden collar edges and flaring golden rune designs etched all over it.

Lucian looked past the forming crowd and glared at the two of them as the whispers and murmuring continued.

"Beta Axel looks... Okay. I thought he was injured earlier?" The female soldier in front of him whispered.

None of these morons had noticed that the Alpha Prince was standing right behind them. It was annoying how they noticed Axel first.

"I mean, he does naturally have quick healing abilities. Maybe he took himself to one of the palace—"

"The palace doctors? Nope. I’m just coming from the infirmary and he wasn’t there." The female soldier revealed, causing Lucian’s jaw to clench as he glared at Axel and Elian who stood at the far corner of the crowd to the right.

Elian looked up and for a second, their eyes locked. The omega didn’t flinch. He only tilted his head slightly, as if to say: Yes. I know what you’re thinking. And no, I’m not sorry.

He fucking knew it.

He could smell it coming off them and was sure any werewolf with a working nose would be able to smell it too. Their scents, their pheromones... It mixed together and clung to their skins like a nauseating miasma.

"Those two have been fucking..." Lucian whispered to himself, his Alpha Prince aura slowly flowing out of him in invisible waves that soon made the guards in front of him involuntarily tremble.

They glanced back but then froze, their eyes quivering as if they had been caught in a serious crime. But Lucian completely ignored their existence even when some tried to greet him.

Suddenly, a presence descended on the training grounds belonging to none other than the Alpha King himself. Lucian furrowed his eyebrows when he saw his father walking out of an entrance in the palace and then standing in front of the crowd.

He hadn’t expected his old man would involve himself directly with whatever was going on.

"Hmph, he’s probably trying to save face. As usual." Lucian snorted silently as the murmuring died down.

The only sound that could be heard now was the chirping of birds above.

"Good afternoon, people." The Alpha king began and everyone—except Lucian— bowed simultaneously.

"Good afternoon, Alpha King."

Lucian’s face remained stiff, even when his father’s eyes flicked to him briefly.

Eventually, the Alpha King continued. "I believe everyone here has heard of the attack which happened at the Solarrine restaurant over an hour ago. Just outside the palace grounds..."

He paused, scanning his gaze around. The disappointment behind his voice at the end was hard to miss.

All the guards beside Lucian either lowered their heads with shame or tried to avoid eye contact with the Alpha King.

"Moonhaven is the capital city. The seat of power of the empire." Arian continued, his voice full of glorified dignity. "What do you think it says of the empire if such a thing is happening so close to our palace?"

Silence.

Lucian’s arms were folded in front of his chest, and he was beginning to wonder why he was even standing here to begin with.

"Sir." Beta Axel’s voice sounded from the far right just then, causing all eyes to turn to that direction.

Lucian arched an eyebrow, watching the Beta raise his hand before continuing. "From what the soldiers investigating the situation have gathered, it’s clear the assassin was tailing Elian from the moment we left the palace grounds."

A few guards began murmuring again.

"The second assassin today who attempted to kill him." Someone muttered.

"How unlucky can someone be?"

"If it weren’t for his mates he would’ve been dead..."

Lucian clenched his jaw when he heard that last one. Because at both times... He actually wasn’t available. He didn’t want to be.

But now that he was growing this unnatural possessiveness for the omega...

"Enough." The Alpha king said with a firm tone, instantly bringing silence. "The rogue king of the dark lands will be coming here in twenty-one days, during the next full moon. If this is what we have to show for it, we might as well shut down our military force."

The sarcasm in his voice was clear.

Lucian let out a breath when suddenly, his father called out to him. "Alpha Prince Lucian. How’s the committee I told you and Beta Axel to create shaping up?"

All eyes turned to Lucian but then most of them looked away just as quickly when they saw the look in his silver eyes.

Lucian raised his head, staring directly at his father whose expression was plain as always.

Fuck it...

"Uh, sir..." Beta Axel spoke up yet again, hoarding the spotlight to himself as always. "We’re working on it."

Arian didn’t seem impressed. "Working on it? Two assassins in one day, Beta. Both targeting your mate and the second one endangering the lives of civilians in the process."

Lucian drew in a breath, curling his hands into fists but his father was far from done.

"I want to know who’s hiring them and I want to find them as soon as possible." Arian fixed his gaze on Lucian, his eyes narrowing. "And remember what I told you in the war room, Alpha Prince."

Lucian gritted his teeth but his father went on to address the guards for a bit before dismissing all of them and leaving himself, his cape flapping behind him like wings.

When everyone had left, the only two who lingered around were Axel and Elian.

The latter smiled warmly at the Beta who was whispering gods know what into his ears. Lucian stared at the two of them, his irritation bubbling.

He had had enough.

"What exactly are you trying to prove here, Elian?" Lucian bit out, waltzing toward them. "You trying to make me jealous, or do you just like putting on a show?"