Chapter 13 - Ethan’s Calling
778 Words
*Lucien’s POV*
I sat alone in my study when the phone rang.
Not the pack line, my private number. The one reserved for problems requiring discretion.
Rain tapped softly against the tall windows behind me while amber firelight flickered across dark wood shelves lined with centuries of history.
I answered without greeting.
“She’s seeing someone.”
The human male sounded angry.
Desperate and weak.
I leaned back slowly in my chair.
“How unfortunate for you.”
Ethan Hale exhaled sharply through the line.
“You said she’d come back.”
I almost smiled. Humans were astonishing creatures. Give them the illusion of control and they willingly tied their own noose.
“She’s emotional,” I said smoothly. “These things take time.”
“No.” Ethan’s voice sharpened. “Something changed. There’s some guy always around her now.”
Of course there was.
Raiden.
His wolf had found her faster than I anticipated.
An inconvenience I could still salvage.
“And this bothers you because?” I asked mildly.
A dangerous pause followed.
“She’s ruining me.”
There it was, not love or grief but pride and greed.
I had recognized the type immediately the first time I spoke to Ethan. Narcissistic men were painfully predictable.
“She built trust with my clients,” Ethan continued bitterly. “Now they’re pulling out one by one because of the divorce.”
I remained silent, let the human unravel himself.
“It was one mistake,” Ethan snapped. “One f*****g mistake and she walks away like I meant nothing.”
Interesting.
Even now, the fool still believed betrayal was about s*x.
Not manipulation.
Not years of slowly crushing another person smaller.
“She embarrassed me,” Ethan muttered darkly.
I eyes cooled.
No. Elara survived you. That was different.
“She’s vulnerable right now,” I said carefully. “Fear may remind her where safety lies.”
Ethan hesitated.
“You mean scare her?”
I rose slowly from my desk and moved toward the window overlooking the dark forest beyond the packhouse grounds.
“Yes.”
“And this guy?”
My expression hardened slightly.
“Leave him to me.”
Silence lingered briefly before Ethan lowered his voice.
“You promised she wouldn’t get hurt.”
The human still thought he was negotiating. Still thought he mattered in this arrangement.
I smiled faintly into the darkness.
“She is… important.”
Ethan laughed once bitterly.
“She’s too stubborn to break easy.”
If only you knew.
I remembered another woman once.
Red hair.
Green eyes.
Power crackling beneath pale skin.
Seraphine had also been stubborn and look where it got her.
“You underestimate what fear does to people,” I murmured.
Ethan exhaled slowly.
“So what happens now?”
My gaze drifted toward the storm outside.
“Tomorrow,” he said softly, “she’ll be reminded there are worse things in the world than loneliness.”
The human swallowed audibly.
“You’re sure this will work?”
My eyes darkened.
No.
But it would flush out variables, force reactions and reveal truths.
And if Elara died accidentally during the attack—
Well.
Some loose ends solved themselves.
“You wanted her isolated,” I said smoothly. “This accomplishes that.”
Another pause.
Then quietly:
“What exactly are you planning?”
I almost laughed.
Stupid enough to ask.
Stupid enough not to notice the truth standing directly in front of him.
“That is for me to know,” he answered simply.
Ethan accepted that far too easily.
Humans truly saw only what they wanted.
“And afterward?” Ethan asked.
“If she survives, she’ll need protection.”
“And I step in?”
“Yes.”
The irony nearly amused me.
Ethan genuinely believed Elara would run back into his arms. Men like Ethan never truly saw women as people. Only possessions that wandered too far.
“She belongs with me,” Ethan muttered.
A low growl almost escaped my throat at the words.
I kept his voice calm.
“Then let us help her remember that.”
After the call ended, I remained standing at the window for a long time.
The storm deepened outside.
Far away—
Beyond the forest—
He could feel it faintly.
The old blood awakening.
Royal blood.
Mate bonds.
Magic.
Fate stirring after decades asleep.
My jaw tightened.
Raiden finding her complicated everything.
Because if he really is her mate, keeping the throne would be nearly impossible.
I poured myself a glass of whiskey, then spoke softly into the empty room:
“You should have stayed hidden, little princess.”
- Writer
