Chapter 130
Auren POV
“What do you mean?” Lucien practically snarled.
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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!”
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!”
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 Luna.” He looked at me and smiled. “While I do believe Luna Auren is beautiful, I was never flirting with her
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Chapter 130
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. Élder 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 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.
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