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Chapter 130
Chapter 130
Auren POV
“What do you mean?” Lucien practically snarled.
Magnus whipped his head toward me and then back at him. “Alpha Lucien, you shouldn’t have treated Luna Auren so horribly, Sh–she is pregnant with your pup. And with what you’ve done, I feel she deserves better. Had it been me-”
“What the fuck are you saying?” Lucien snarled. He was halfway to launching himself at Magnus. His nostrils flared and his eyes were glowing with wild fury. He rolled his sleeves up his muscular arms, and the tension in the air was so thick that I felt suffocated.
Why was Magnus speaking like this? What had Lucien done? I just could understand what was going on as I looked at both of them like a ping pong, with wide eyes and a mortified expression. I tugged at Lucien’s sleeve, trying to calm him down, but he barely noticed.
Magnus raised both hands, his voice rising in panic. “I–I meant no offense!”
“Are you trying to steal my Luna?” Lucien growled in a barely contained rage.
“What?” It was Magnus’s turn to widen his eyes in shock. “I would never dream of–of stealing your Luna!”
Lucien growled again, “You literally just asked who the father of her child is!”
Magnus blinked. “Yes, because I thought you had-” he looked between us, totally baffled. “Wait a second.” His gaze flicked past me, behind me where Lila stood.
I followed his gaze and saw that Lila stood there, glued to her place, visibly mortified, and pink from the ears down.
Lucien just growled at Magnus, his hand shooting to this throat. Magnus was petrified.
“Wait!” I shouted.
“Auren, this bastard is trying to take you away from me!” Lucien snarled in protest as he held Magnus’s throat. Silence bracketed the room.
I rolled my eyes, understand the whole situation. I so wanted to laugh seeing Magnus’s face, but I stifled it and shook my head. “Alpha Magnus is not talking about me, you overgrown, oversized, buffoon!” I snapped and pulled Lucien’s hand away from Magnus’s throat.
Magnus jerked his head back. “I was talking about you as well!”
Gods above. If only men had more common sense, the world would’ve been a better place to live.
I sighed. “Magnus isn’t talking about me. He isn’t flirting with me.”
“I wouldn’t dare to!” Magnus interjected. “I don’t have a death wish!” he said, glancing at Lucien.
I pointed with my thumb over my shoulder. Lowering my voice, I said, “He is talking about Lila.”
A beat of silence followed.
Lucien narrowed his eyes. “Wait. What?”
I bit my lip, trying not to laugh. “He was talking about Lila this whole time. He thought that you impregnated her as well as
me!”
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Magnus stared at me. “Yes, that’s what I thought!” Suddenly, he smacked his forehead and a blush rose on his cheeks, “Oh God! I thought he was saying that Lila is with his pup.”
“Are you fucking insane!” Lucien shouted.
“But you agreed to it when I was looking at Lila!” Magnus said in his defense.
“How am I supposed to know that you were looking at Lila?” Lucien said, his brows furrowed. Thankfully, his claws had retracted.
Magnus blinked once. Twice. Then he nodded slightly as he scratched his forehead. “I guess there was a mistake in understanding.”
“Yes!” Lucien growled. “For an Alpha of bear shifters, you are birdbrains!”
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Magnus looked offended but he didn’t say anything. “Sorry…” he muttered. “But it’s not my mistake alone. It’s your mistake as well. You just thought that I was flirting with your 1 Luna.” He looked at me and smiled. “While I do believe Luna Auren is beautiful, I was never flirting with her.”
Lucien narrowed his eyes. “Before I wring your neck, Magnus, go away from here. Take your Lila anywhere, but don’t you come into my field of vision!”
Magnus clenched his jaw. He bowed to Lucien and quickly left. And then I burst into laughter. I laughed so hard that my eyes watered. “You both are fools!” I remarked. Honestly, I felt that they both were good friends because by now if it had been any other Alpha, Lucien would have already been fighting with him.
Lucien looked at me, then at Lila and Magnus who were going out. His expression shifted from suspicion to reluctant realization and then something like embarrassment flickered in his
eyes.
“I’m going to kill someone,” he muttered.
“Please don’t kill Magnus,” I laughed. Then I patted his chest sweetly. “See? He wasn’t trying to seduce me. Come on, the pack members are waiting for us to start the celebrations!”
Lucien and I walked to where we had to cut the ribbon for the festival’s inauguration. The whole place erupted with cheers and music started as soon as we cut the red ribbon. And just like that the festival started.
Lucien and I walked hand–in–hand through the entire venue watching children dashing between stalls, their cheeks painted like foxes and owls, giggling as they bobbed for apples or chased after floating candles in the air. All the Elders sat in a tent around a massive bonfire, trading stories of past harvests and old pack legends. Elder Ryna looked at me and smiled, lifting her glass of wine. I nodded at her with a smile.
Lucien hadn’t left my side, his hand resting protectively on my lower back, his eyes flicking with sharpness every time someone stepped too close.
Later in the evening, dance began under the full Harvest Moon. Around one bonfire, I watched Lila twirling around, with her hand caught by Magnus. Tarian joined us as we stood watching them.
“Are they mates?” I asked, confused.
Tarian chuckled. “No, but they both scratch their itch when needed. When Magnus was here last time, he and Lila hit it off.”
“Oh!” I was surprised. I couldn’t imagine a bear and a wolf being mates.
Third POV
Beyond the circle of lights, a shadow stood, staring at Lucien and Auren, hidden among the trees. All the joy of the festival didn’t reach him. His eyes, burning with jealousy and emotions, tracked every movement of Auren as she laughed with him. When Lucien leaned in to kiss her, resting his hand possessively on her belly, his jaws clenched. His nails bit into his palm
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and rage festered in his chest. He wasn’t just watching. He was waiting. Waiting for the right time.
He turned and walked away toward the forest quietly. “Soon, Auren, soon,” he muttered.
Chapter 131
Chapter 131
Third POV
(+50)
The morning sun filtered through the window of his bedroom, but the lights did nothing to warm the frost between Bram and Maris. It had been two months of their marriage, and yet Bram couldn’t think of anyone other than Auren.
On their wedding night, Maris had insisted that he marked her in front of every pack member to show that this marriage was solid. He marked her, but ever since, he just couldn’t bring himself to claim her.
Maris was happy in her own bubble. At least she was marked and now she was the Luna of the Crimson Howl pack. Her father was off her back, and her reputation was better in her pack. It took her several days to settle into the role of being a Luna. She loved ordering omegas, punishing them when needed and also asserting her superior position on everyone. Bram was least bothered about it because he was busy with pack business. With Auren’s wedding to Lucien, their treaty was in place. So the pack was protected. Life couldn’t be better. All she needed was an heir. And to keep her secret, a secret.
She sat on the edge of the bed, brushing her glossy red hair that she had dyed recently. She hummed softly to herself as she brushed them, while Bram stood by the window with his arms crossed across his chest, and his jaw clenched.
She lifted her gaze to him and said, “You should smile more. Your Alpha position is secure, and you have everything you wanted.”
He didn’t respond. His gaze remained fixed on the treetops that swayed beyond his house. He wanted to tell her that everything he wanted had slipped through his fingers the day Auren accepted his rejection and then marked Lucien. He wanted to tell her that she smelled like a dead rat and that every time he was near her, he wanted to vomit. But how could he say all that? Considering his situation, he was in a fix.
He was still the Alpha of his pack, because he was married to her. Because she was the daughter of the Alpha of the Iron Pine pack. And because she could give him powerful heirs. The problem was that he was not ready to claim her. Every time he thought of sex, all he could think of was Auren. Her beautiful gray eyes and those lustrous golden hair.
Maris rose from the bed and walked to him, the silky hem of her robe brushing the floor. She went and stood behind him. She trailed her red painted nail along his bare arm. “You haven’t claimed me since you’ve marked me, Bram. People talk. They wonder if our bond is real.”
His muscles tensed beneath her touch. “I don’t care what people wonder,” he replied, anger lacing his voice. Though inside he knew that his pack members were looking for his heir.
“But I do,” she snapped, dropping her sweet voice. “I didn’t fight to become Luna just to be ignored by you.”
“You didn’t fight,” he snapped. “You schemed. Because of you I rejected my true mate.”
Maris’s eyes darkened. “So what? Sable schemed too. And look where she is now–killed.”
That earned her a hard glare from him. “Don’t compare yourself with Sable. She was better than you in many ways.”
Jealousy stabbed in her heart but she ignored it. She smiled slyly, stepping in front of him. “I’m smarter than Sable. I know when to push, and how much to push. I know how to use that opportunity for the best. And what about you?”
“What about me?” he asked, his brows furrowed.
She kissed him, slowly on his jaw, then on his cheek. Bram didn’t kiss her back because of her horrible smell. “You used to love me. We used to have sex every day when Auren was here. And then some after she left. But now–after the wedding, you aren’t interested. What has gone wrong, baby?”
He closed his eyes and tipped his head up. All he could think was Auren. He had sneaked in the territory of the Shadowfang pack two months ago during the Harvest Moon festival. He had taken great precaution to keep his scent away. Even though he did it at the risk of being killed if Lucien or Tarian saw him, he still went there. All he wanted to do was see Auren. And she looked beautiful. The way her hair shone, the way her skin gleamed–she looked so beautiful that his breath hitched. But
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then Lucien placed his hand on her baby bump. Jealousy like nothing reared its head inside him. He wanted to kill Lucien, wanted to pluck that pup away from them, and take his Auren back. That should have been his pup in her.
“Give me an heir, Bram,” she lowered herself on her knees, and opened his zipper. “Make me proud.” She kissed his shaft and then started sucking it. Bram imagined that to be Auren. With his eyes closed, he wrapped her hair around his hand, fisted it and shoved his hard cock inside her mouth. She whimpered, gagged, but she sucked him hard.
“Fuck!” he rasped. “I knew you would be so good!”
Maris removed her mouth and got up. She held his hand and made him lie on the bed. Then she opened her robe and removed his pants. Once he was naked, she slid on top of him. “Fuck me, Bram,” she said in a hoarse voice as she moved up and down on him. She increased her pace and he came inside her with the name of Auren on his lips.
Maris clenched her jaw and felt like slapping him, but she knew that if she did that, he would never come back to her. He missed Auren, but that wasn’t her concern at all. All she wanted was his heir. Things would become normal again.
As they lay together in silence after that, Bram stared at the ceiling with Maris curled into him. There was no fire, no spark, just emptiness.
He went for his training duties as Maris handled his house. Later that day when they were having dinner, a warrior came in. He bowed and said, “Alpha, a message has come from Shadowfang pack.”
Bram’s heartbeat increased. Was Auren coming to visit them? “What is it?” he asked.
The warrior hesitated before speaking as he glanced at Maris. “Luna Auren has gone into labor.”
Maris stiffened as Bram clutched the edge of his table, his vision turning red. She was having his pup. Before he could control himself, he got and with one hand threw everything on the table on the floor.
Maris screamed as she ran to the side. Bram strode to the warrior and grabbed him by his throat. “You fucking bastard!”
The warrior started sputtering. “Alpha, I—”
Bram was so furious that he hurled him away from him. He stabbed his fingers in his hair. Auren was giving birth to Lucien’s pup. The ache in his chest twisted deeper. He started pacing the room as the storm inside him raged.
As for Maris, she ran away from there to her bedroom. And began to plan.
