Page 30 of Elusive Mate

LUCIAN

He watched as his mate sauntered down to her clinic. She hadn’t been here long, but long enough that he wanted her more settled than she was. He didn’t believe that she had accepted her life was here with him. She swore to both him and Zaiden that she would never practice medicine in the clinic he had built for her, but he knew it wasn’t true. She had already seen a few patients and had ordered enough supplies to see them through any war they might get into with the Shadow League.

At times she seemed to be settling in well, but at others she snarled and snapped at everyone, leaving their people to tiptoe around her. At first, he had tried to smooth the way; then he had reprimanded her. Finally, he just let it go and figured she could make her own apologies.

Each night she pointedly locked the door between them, and he laughed at her from the other side. And each morning she woke to find him in her bedroom, leaning against the dresser with a mug of coffee in his hand and another one sitting on the night table beside her. She had thrown the mug full of coffee at him the first day.

The second day, she’d picked the mug up and practically inhaled the steaming brew. When he’d quirked a brow in question, she had explained it was a waste of good coffee and a nice mug, and he wasn’t worth it.

Progress was progress.

He and Zaiden had decided to go for a run to the northernmost end of their territory and had clothes taken up there to change into as there were some things they’d want to look at as humans. As usual, he was waiting for Zenya when she woke.

“Do you have any idea how adorable you are when you’re asleep?” he asked as he sensed her rousing.

“Do you have any idea how annoying you are and how much I despise you?” she countered, taking a sip from her coffee. She rolled off the bed and took herself and her coffee into her private bath.

“Zaiden and I are going for a run.”

“What does he want to talk to you about that he’s worried that I’ll overhear?”

Lucian had wondered the same thing but ignored her question. “Would you like to join us?”

She came back to stand in the door frame with the door hiding everything but her head. “I think I’d rather have a root canal. Hopefully, you two will get injured or assassinated, and then I can do the new alpha a favor and leave here forever.”

He chuckled. “You don’t know much about clan politics do you, sweetheart? Any alpha wanting to take over this clan, especially if he killed Zaiden and me, would want to claim you as the daughter of the alpha before me and as my fated mate. You wouldn’t be his fated mate, and I very much doubt he’d treat you kindly, but trust me, you would be bonded and claimed before Zaiden and I had a chance to get cold. So be careful what you wish for.”

He was torn between wanting to laugh at the way all the blood drained from her face and wanting to go and comfort her. But maybe it was a good thing that she actually thought about what her life might be if something happened to both him and Zaiden. Lucian hadn’t been lying, but he already had plans in place so that if something happened to him and Zaiden, Zenya would be safe. Colby Reynolds had laughed himself sick when Lucian had approached him but had agreed for an exorbitant sum of money that he would see that she, and any children they might have, would be safe.

Lucian retreated to his room, opened the door out to his deck, removed his clothes, shifted, and rushed out the door and off the deck, landing on all fours and roaring so that everyone and everything in his territory would know the alpha was on the prowl. Zaiden dashed out of the home he would one day share with a mate and children of his own.

They charged out through the main gates, leaping up from the driveway and charging up the hill toward the tree line. Once in the forest, they navigated the rough terrain of grass, rock, underbrush, and fallen trees to make their way to the river, which was running fast and cold. Lucian found it invigorating. He turned back, sweeping his paw in the river to catch some of the water and splash Zaiden, who returned the gesture, both of them growling in a playful way as they drenched one another.

Bounding up the other side of the riverbank, they made short work of the climb to the top of their territory. Once they crested the hill, they moved under the shelter, shifted, and pulled on their clothes.

“I really need to get up here more often,” said Zaiden as they stood, looking down at the expansive estate laid out before them.

“I know. I feel the same way, and I probably get up here more often than you do.” Lucian turned to his beta. “So, what did you want to talk to me about?”

“I’m not very subtle, am I?”

“Not at all, would be more like it. You’re so bad, your sister asked what it was you didn’t want her to hear.”

Zaiden laughed. “How are you two getting along?”

“I’m getting along fine as long as I take two cold showers a day and work out for a couple of hours.”

“Yeah, several people have mentioned you hitting the gym on a far more regular basis.”

“My mate,” he tried to avoid referring to Zenya as Zaiden’s sister, especially when they were talking about sex, “is a beautiful and alluring woman, and I’ve waited a long time for her.”

“You have. I know few men, much less alphas, that would have shown your patience and restraint.”

“She is my fated mate. I want her to be happy. We have coffee every morning in her room.”

“Do I, as her brother, want or need to hear this?”

Lucian chuckled. “I wish you didn’t, but I have taken to getting two mugs of coffee. I put one by her bed and then lounge against the dresser with mine. The first morning, she threw the coffee and mug at me, but it was only the one time.”

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