Chapter 74 74
CHAPTER SEVENTY-FOUR
LUCIAN'S P.O.V
Clang
The sound of my fork dropping to the table rang in the room, Ryder glanced at me with confused eyes. I coughed and picked the fork casually, but inside I was going off in panic. How the hell had he found out? Who told him? Gosh, that guy is indeed a monster!
"Sorry, please go on."
"Alright then." He continued, "The message only said that you guys should beware of who you bring into the pack...or whatever that meant."
"That's all?" Alpha Samuel asked, a crease in his forehead.
"Yeah, that's all."
"Alright, that's a..." He glanced at me worriedly, "...strange message but I'll be sure to heed to it."
"Cool" he nodded and went back to eating.
Eli and his two siblings had strained looks on their faces as they glanced at each other and back at me. My hands were white from squeezing my fork that I didn't even notice it was bent in half until I took a deep breath and stood up.
"I'm done, thanks for the meal."
With that, I turned and headed upstairs, not to my room but to Aurora's.
"Aurora, I'm coming in." I called out then pushed the door open. She was standing, facing the window with her arms crossed over her chest.
"Hey."
She turned to face me, her face was tight and her lips were trembling, that's when I noticed that her knuckles were white. I walked slowly towards her. She stared up at me, her eyes moist, I said nothing and just took her in my arms.
"Its okay." I whispered softly into her ears, taking a whiff from her hair.
She melted into my arms and let out a shuddering breath.
"Sorry, I guess I'm being a wimp huh? Leaving the room like that."
"No, you don't have to apologize. It's okay now. He now knows that you're not who he was expecting you to be."
She paused and raised her head to stare at me.
"Really?"
"Yep."
She frowned.
"Are you serious, if I see him again and he makes any weird comments or eyes at ne, I'm going full wolf."
I chuckled, she sounded cute when she grumbled with a pout.
"Yes I'm serious. He had a reality check after your outburst, so he's cool now."
"Oh, thank goodness." She sighed, letting out a shaky breath.
I felt bad having to give her another bad news but she has to know.
"So..." I started but then she suddenly smiled and shook her head.
"It really felt good to knock some sense into that smug face of his, you know. Did you see his face as I was speaking? Ha! He was so pale and shocked. I never knew I could see a guy go from totally smug to totally shocked in a matter of seconds." She giggled. Her eyes were in squints as she smiled up at me, her lips in a radiant smile.
I stared down at her, floored and also stunned by her smiling face, the breath in my chest whooshed out in the face of her raw, dazzling beauty.
"So what were you going to say?"
"Huh?" I blinked, she stared expectantly at me. I couldn't bear to see that smile and light in her eyes go dim.
"Um...I wanted to ask if...if you still wanted more food...yeah. Because you know...you left without taking seconds. Are you full?"
She laughed, a sweet sound in my ears.
"I'm fine, silly. Thanks for worrying about me."
She looked at me, I swallowed, staring into her eyes then letting my gaze drift down to her plump lips and back to her face. Her eyes were bright and getting closer.
Closer?
The next thing I knew, I felt something soft on my lips, it lasted a few seconds before she pulled away. Her cheeks were red as she moved back, a shy smile on her lips.
"Thank you."
I have no idea how I walked out of her room and ended up in the sitting room.
"So how did it go?"
I snapped my head up, my hand still on my lips.
"Huh? How did what go?" I asked dumbly.
Eli frowned.
"You went to tell Aurora right? About Alpha Desmond's message. He knows you guys are here."
"Oh, right. About that..." I scratched my chin.
"You didn't tell her?" Mirabel asked with a raise of her voice, she narrowed her eyes then hissed in a whisper. "Why didn't you tell her?".
"Because...wait a minute." I glanced around and noticed that everyone except Ryder was present. "Where's Ryder?"
"He already left." Jake shrugged.
I quirked an eyebrow as I sat down.
"Really? I thought he was going to spend some more days here with you guys."
"That's what we thought also, but he said that he had no more reason to stay here." Alpha Samuel explained.
I nodded. "Yeah, that's for the best."
Then Eli cleared his throat, his eyes narrowed.
"You were about to say why you didn't tell her."
Right.
"I couldn't do it."
"Why?" Luna Stellar asked with a tilt of her head
"Because..." I licked my lips and shrugged. "She seemed so happy and calm...I couldn't tell her that and then make her feel bad or worried."
Eli shook his head.
"So you'll prefer she doesn't know?"
"No, I'll tell her later. Myself. Just let me do it at my own time, okay?" I touched my lips softly, a faraway gaze in my eyes, "I promise I'll tell her and who knows, she might not feel too bad about it. Hopefully." I muttered the last word to myself.
"What shouldn't I feel bad about?"
Aurora suddenly called out as she descended down the stairs.
Shit!
I had no idea she came out of her room. I gave the rest a glare, they too had shocked looks on their faces. Their eyes wide as they stared at her, Alpha Samuel and Luna Stellar cleared their throats and hurriedly left, leaving us to fend for ourselves.
"A...Aurora, you came down already?" I asked then kicked myself for asking such a stupid question.
"Yeah, I feel better now." She winked at me, I could only smile uneasily. "So what shouldn't I feel bad about?" She stared at each of us with a curious eyes.
"Ummm..." I started"