30 Let’s Explore
Mara
We spent the rest of the day like two people trying to remember how to be around each other-watching movies, talking about everything and nothing. It was easy in a way I hadn’t expected. No pressure, no pretense.
When it was time to sleep, we settled on opposite edges of the bed like bookends-close, but untouched. And that’s exactly how we stayed until morning.
The next day, the sun spilled into the room warm and slow. Breakfast had been delivered, and we moved through our routines quietly. Peacefully.
Lucian walked out of the bathroom in shorts and a loose white shirt, half-buttoned. The soft fabric clung just enough to his chest to reveal the curve of a tattoo. He looked unfairly good-relaxed, confident, untouchable. I caught myself
staring.
He caught me, too.
A half-smile curled on his lips, and then he said, “You can look, Mara. Trust me-I do. Every night when you’re asleep, I end up covering you with the blanket, but not before I get my fill.”
Heat rushed to my face. I was in nothing but an oversized T-shirt and lace panties-ones he bought for me, no less. He hadn’t tried anything, hadn’t even hinted, but it was clear now he noticed everything.
He wasn’t just trying. He was paying attention.
I stayed quiet, unsure what to say. Embarrassed, but not in a bad way.
“How do you like your coffee?” he asked, already pouring a cup.
“Sugar and cocoa,” I said, and he blinked, clearly surprised.
“That’s… creative,” he said, tilting his head, amused rather than judgmental.
“I’m lactose intolerant,” I explained. “So I’ve had to improvise a lot.”
Something in his face shifted. He didn’t laugh. Didn’t brush it off. He looked… thoughtful.
“So, you love the taste of milk, but your body treats it like poison?” he said, more to himself than to me.
I nodded.
He placed the cup down gently and met my eyes. “No more milk, then.”
I raised a brow. “Lucian, you can still have milk. It doesn’t affect you.”
He shook his head, smiling softly. “You love cream, but your body rejects it. That’s already torture. I’m not going to sit here and sip a creamy latte in front of you like it’s nothing. I’ll drink my coffee with cocoa too. Maybe I’ll get used to it.”
His tone was casual, but the meaning behind it hit deeper than I expected.
It was such a small thing. A cup of coffee. A choice. But no one had ever made that kind of choice for me before.
He noticed. He adjusted. Just to make it easier for me.
My heart tugged, even though I was trying so hard to keep it locked up.
Maybe he really did want friendship. Maybe he wasn’t full of it like they said. And maybe-just maybe-this was the beginning of something that wouldn’t end in disappointment.
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30 Let’s Explore
I hoped so.
God, I really hoped so.
I watched Lucian prepare the coffee, adding cocoa with a quiet sort of determination. He took a cautious first sip-his
face said everything.
It wasn’t love at first taste. Still, he didn’t complain. By the second sip, it looked like he was starting to tolerate it. Maybe
even like it.
We had breakfast in a calm silence, the kind that felt… settled. Comfortable. Then, out of nowhere, he asked if I’d like to take a walk along the beach.
I agreed.
I slipped into the turquoise bikini he’d bought me, pairing it with a short, white crochet jacket that skimmed high above my
knees.
As I stepped out, I caught him staring. Not in a disrespectful way-just curious, appreciative.
He looked away when I noticed, but not before a faint smile tugged at the corner of his lips.
It was cute. He was cute. And I hated that it made me feel seen.
As we walked barefoot in the soft sand, the sea rolling gently beside us, Lucian spoke.
“Mara, have you thought about going back to healing school?”
I blinked at him, caught off guard. “I’m training to be Gamma,” I said. It came out more like a question.
He stopped walking and turned to me.
“Everyone knows you joined the academy because of Darian,” he said, not cruelly, just honest.
“You’re good at it, but I’ve also seen the way you read medical texts. The way your eyes light up when you talk about anatomy, healing. You could do both. If you wanted.”
The fact that he noticed stunned me. Not just noticed-I mean, paid attention.
“I can’t afford it,” I said quietly. “Even if I wanted to go back, it’s too expensive.”
“I own Steel Corp,” he said simply. “I’ll pay.”
1 shook my head immediately.
“No. I don’t want to bring Martha’s wrath on us both. You know she’ll find a way to punish you. She already pushed your
father to strip you of the Alpha title. She might even come for your position at the company.”
He let out a low laugh, the kind that sounded more tired than amused.
“You really are selfless, Mara. I wish we’d met properly-without the politics, the arrangement, the mess, I wish I’d courted you the way you deserved.”
Then his tone shifted, became more serious.
“Steel Corp is untouchable. It belonged to my mother. The Nighthorn fortune, too. My father gave everything to me, not just out of duty, but guilt. Martha’s reach ends at the gates of Steel. That’s why she’s clinging to Tiffany Northwood’s child -she wants a piece of what she can’t control. She doesn’t care about Darian or the baby. She never has.”
I stared at him, absorbing it all.
“I thought you were just another rich heir playing boss,” I said quietly.
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He smiled, but there was something sad behind it.
+ Points>
“I could’ve been. But I’m choosing not to be. I’m working my way up from the ground-not for appearances, but because I want to understand the company. Its people. Its systems. I want to make it better.”
He paused, then added, “My mother and father built it with purpose. I want to honor that.”
It was the most honest thing I’d ever heard him say. The picture of him was shifting in my mind-less of the arrogant stranger I married, more of a man quietly fighting for meaning in a world full of noise.
“What about Darian?” I asked. It wasn’t about my old feelings-I was genuinely worried for him. This would be a bitter pill
to swallow.
Lucian’s expression faltered, just for a moment. Then it smoothed back over like it had never cracked.
“He’ll be Alpha,” he said evenly. “And the right-wing of the Nighthorn mansion is his.”
I nodded slowly. I wasn’t stupid. That wasn’t a consolation prize-it was a well-placed distraction.
Alpha Vander might have bent to Martha’s will publicly, but privately, he gave Lucian the real crown.
Money, power, control-it was all Lucian’s.
Titles were just words. Eventually, Darian would have to come to him for resources, for decisions. And when that happened, the Pack would see who the true Alpha really was.
Lucian hadn’t lost. He’d just changed the game.
And for the first time, I wasn’t sure if that made him dangerous-or brilliant.
Maybe both.
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