Chapter 16 LUCIAN
LUCIAN’S POV
Sleep was a damn myth tonight.
I turned over for what felt like the hundredth time, my sheets tangled around me, skin prickling with heat. The entire room smelled like her, wild honeysuckle and soft jasmine, threaded with the faintest trace of forest air. Aria. Her scent clung to me like a second skin, delicate and sweet but maddening in its persistence.
Every breath I took filled my lungs with her, and every exhale brought back flashes of her touch, her small hand brushing over my wrist, her nervous eyes refusing to meet mine, the trembling sound she made when I marked her in return.
“You’re torturing yourself,” Varos muttered in the back of my mind, his voice half-growl, half-laughter.
“Tell me about it,” I muttered, dragging a hand over my face.
“You loved it,” he said. “We both did. The way she smelled, the way she looked at us. You should’ve gone further.”
I groaned, sitting up. “She’s not ready for that.”
Varos huffed. “She was close, though. You felt it too. Her body wanted it…”
“Enough.” My tone came out sharper than I meant, but it silenced him. “We’re not doing that to her. She’s been through enough. We take her pace, not ours.”
For a moment, all I heard was the rustle of leaves outside my window and the steady thud of my heartbeat. Varos was quiet not angry, just simmering in that wild, restless way he always did when I forced restraint.
But even he couldn’t hide what we both felt: satisfaction.
Because for the first time since meeting her, I carried Aria’s scent, not faintly, not imagined, but real. Marked by her.
I leaned back against the headboard, eyes half-closed, replaying every moment of the night.
At the lake, it had taken everything in me not to lose control. The way the moonlight hit her skin, the way her laughter drifted across the water… It was too much. Even with her scent dulled by whatever she was doing to it, I could still sense it, faint but there, like a whisper against my wolf. And suddenly, I wanted to breathe her in, to have her scent wrapped around me everywhere I went.
The thought had burned through me so fast, I nearly asked her right then. But she looked so shy, so unsure, that I held it in. The entire walk to her house, I kept rehearsing it in my head, how to ask without scaring her off.
By the time we reached her door, I was half convinced I’d chicken out. Then she looked at me with those eyes, trusting, soft and when I asked, she didn’t hesitate.
She said yes.
The memory of it nearly undid me.
Her fingers against my wrist. Her scent seeping into my skin. That quiet sound she made when I returned the gesture, half gasp, half sigh still echoed in my head like a song I couldn’t stop humming.
I smiled faintly, despite the ache sitting heavy in my chest. “You’d think scent-marking wouldn’t feel like this,” I whispered.
“It’s her,” Varos said simply. “She’s different. She’s ours.”
“Yeah,” I breathed, sinking back against my pillow, exhaustion finally beginning to win. “She is.”
Sleep finally came heavy, sweet, and filled with the scent of honeysuckle. And when dreams found me, she was there too. Laughing, running through the trees barefoot, her hair catching moonlight like spun gold. Always just out of reach.
\---
The morning had came too soon.
Darius didn’t pull his punches, he never did. My back hit the training mat hard enough to rattle my bones, and his grin told me he’d enjoyed that more than he should have.
“You’re distracted,” he said, offering me a hand up. “Or maybe it’s just that flowery perfume you’re wearing that’s throwing you off.” His tone mocking.
I scowled, grabbing his hand. “It’s not perfume.”
He laughed, clapping me on the shoulder. “Sure, Alpha. Whatever helps you sleep at night. You smell like a damn meadow.”
Varos snorted in amusement, and I shoved Darius playfully, shaking my head.
“I’m serious,” he went on, circling me as we reset. “You’ve got every unmated female sniffing around trying to figure out what the hell that scent is. Even Josie said you smell like a girl.”
“Josie was always interested in my business,” I muttered, blocking his next hit.
We traded blows in silence for a while. Sweat, dust, the sound of fists against flesh. For a few minutes, I managed to lose myself in the rhythm, until Darius ducked low, swept my leg, and I hit the ground again.
“Shit,” I grunted, rolling to my feet.
“Not bad,” he said. “You’ve been out of training too long, Lucian. You’re softening.”
I threw him a glare that made him laugh harder.
But beneath the teasing, I could feel the weight of all the eyes around the training yard. They were subtle about it, but I caught their stares curiosity, confusion. Some recognition. They all knew what the scent meant.
I didn’t care. Let them know.
We wrapped up sparring not long after, and as we headed toward the benches, I tossed Darius a bottle of water.
He caught it easily. “So,” he said, after a long drink. “You gonna tell me what’s going on with you and that mate of yours or do I have to guess?”
I sighed, leaning against the fence. “You’re not subtle, you know that?”
He shrugged. “You’re not quiet. And you look like a man who finally found something worth not fighting.”
That made me pause.
“I mean it,” he said, grin softening. “It suits you.”
For a moment, we just sat there, letting the breeze cut through the heat.
Then I asked, “What do you think of Malrik?”
Darius frowned, clearly thrown by the shift in topic. “Malrik? Haven’t thought about him much. He was close with Adrian, right?”
“Yeah,” I said. “Too close.”
Darius’s eyes narrowed. “You think something’s off with him?”
“I don’t trust him,” I admitted. “He’s hiding something. I can feel it.”
Darius leaned back, thoughtful. “You want me to keep an eye on him?”
“And dig around a bit,” I said. “Anything you can find about his past, connections, records, whispers. Start quiet.”
He nodded slowly. “Any particular reason?”
“Just a gut feeling,” I said. “And you know my gut’s usually right.”
“True,” he said, finishing his water. “Alright. I’ll see what I can find. But only if you buy lunch. I’m starving.”
I huffed out a laugh, shaking my head. “Fine. Lunch it is.”
We started toward the cafeteria, the air between us lighter now. Still, as Darius launched into some story about one of the new recruits, my mind drifted back to her.
To Aria.
Her laugh. Her scent. The way her fingers had trembled when they touched mine.
The ache in my chest returned, softer now, but insistent. And I realized that no matter how much time passed, or how many things demanded my focus… I’d always carry her with me.
Quite literally.
Because every breath I took still smelled like her.