Lonely Road

LUCIAN

I can feel Liana’s distancing herself. I glance across to the passenger seat and my heart twists for her. She’s curled up with her knees against her chest as she stares out of the window.

“Baby…?” I press gently, and reach over to put my hand on her knee. “You okay?” She nods silently but doesn’t look at me, just keeps staring out of the window, shutting herself in. It hurts to see her like this.

We end up driving half the way in silence; I don’t know how to make this better.

“Lucian…” she murmurs after some time, and I look across to her but she doesn’t look at me. “I should tell you…”

She looks at me, finally, but quickly glances down at her hands.

“I’ve slept with Zeke… We kind of had a mutual understanding and he kept the other males away… I jus—” she murmurs, then sighs, sounding ashamed.

The news doesn’t exactly make me feel great… It’s not like I’ve kept it to myself all these years, but now we’re mated, it makes me angrier than I expected to think about her with another man. Sighing to myself, I flick on my turn signal and pull over on the side of the road.

~“Kia.”~

She stiffens up beside me and looks across at me. I sigh again, running a hand down my face. “Lucian?” she asks quietly and I look back at her.

“It’s nothing to do with you, baby, okay? I just… I’m going to run back. Kia’s going to drive you.”

“Lucian, please don’t—”

“It’s nothing personal, babe. I just need to stretch out. I love you.” I lift her hand off her knee and press my lips to her knuckles before sliding out of the car. As I pass Kia, I say, “Take it steady.”

He nods once, standing straight. “Yes, sir.”

I watch as he slides into the driver’s seat and pulls the car away. Next to Kia, Liana scrunches back up in the passenger seat.

“Sir? Do you need us?” Trevor asks from the SUV that was following us.

“No, I’m going to run back. Follow them and keep her safe,” I tell him, still watching the car taking Liana up the road.

“Yes, sir.” The fleet of cars follows them as they pull away, leaving me standing alone as they disappear into the distance.

I growl out my frustration and tug off my clothes, shifting quickly into my wolf form. That would be the cherry on top if a human caught sight of a giant lycan running through the woods.

I lift my nose into the air, checking for any stray wolves. Smelling none, I take off for the trees to clear my head.

***

Only when I arrive back on home grounds do I slow my furious pace. The angst has left my body, and I decide to walk back through the trees toward the house. My nose fills with her scent as it’s carried toward me on the soft breeze.

Emerging from the tree line, I look to the house and see Liana sitting on the front step with Kia standing off to the side, his hands clasped behind him. The way her eyes meet mine reminds me of the one thing I seem to have forgotten… She is ~my~ mate. No one can take that from us, not her father, not her ex-lover, not even her entire pack.

~“You are relieved, Kia,”~ I link him, and he gives a dip of his head.

~“Yes, sir.”~ Relinquishing his post beside Liana, he walks into the house, leaving her on the steps.

I walk toward her slowly, still in my wolf form. She stands before making her way over to me. Once in front of me, she gets down to her knees and bows her head so I’m looking down at her.

I sit back on my hind legs, and she scoots forward on her knees before wrapping her arms around my neck and burying her face in my fur.

“I’m sorry I just blurted it out like that…” she says. “I just thought you should know.” Pulling back a bit, she keeps her hand on my shoulder, stroking through my fur and twisting her fingers in the deep, black strands.

Admittedly, it is giving me goosebumps but I’ll let her finish. “I just don’t want you to think that it makes any difference to me. I know I took my time to come to terms with this, but you’re my mate, Lucian. The past is exactly that. Before you…it’s like there was nothing, no meaning, just…existing. I ~love you~. Nothing can change that.”

Dropping her hand, she moves back slightly and gives me the room to shift. I do it quickly, but I don’t need my words. I simply pull her into my lap and cradle her body against mine. I stroke my fingers through her hair, massaging the scalp gently before tugging on her roots a little to tilt her head back and press my mouth to hers.

“I love you too, baby. I’m sorry,” I murmur softly against her lips. Then I scoop her up into my arms and carry her into the house.