Chapter 69: Lucien’s Mate
Sienna, as the other two women had addressed her, had fiery red hair that burned like a thousand suns. It raced down to her lower back, and she seemed to wear a permanent sneer on her face as she turned around and scanned me from head to toe.
Whatever she saw, she evidently didn’t like, for her scowl only worsened.
"Who let her out?" she asked, her tone snappy.
"We don’t know," Georgia said, coming forward. "Isabella and I were just manning the roast when she suddenly came over."
"Alpha Lucien isn’t back yet," the other woman, Isabella, said. "Maybe it was Zeke?"
Sienna scoffed. Her hands rested on her hips as she stared at me. Finally, she said, "Get Josiah to bring the silver cuffs. We can’t have prisoners running about the camp just like that."
"Wait just a minute," I said, stepping slightly away from the three women. "I am not a prisoner of war."
"And what else would you be?" Isabella asked, rolling her eyes. "Alpha Lucien doesn’t keep survivors. You are merely leverage waiting to be used against the Alphas of Shadowclaw."
I nearly scoffed at the irony of it all. Even if they truly wanted a prisoner to be used as leverage, I was the furthest thing away from their best choice. Violet would’ve been the most viable option. As if they would be able to bargain anything out of the triplets using me as their hostage.
"There must be some sort of misunderstanding," I said, awkwardly laughing in an attempt to lighten the tense atmosphere. "I am actually Lucien’s mate."
For once, it felt refreshing to be able to admit something like that so openly. Rowan, Soren, and Cassian practically forbade anyone to even breathe a word about us possibly being each other’s fated mates. As such, even though there was a rumor, it was never officially acknowledged.
It didn’t matter, anyway, considering the three of them had already found a chosen mate and a Luna. To top things off, they didn’t plan on replacing this chosen mate of theirs with anyone else― at least certainly not me, their fated mate.
On the other hand, Lucien had admitted to it so openly. I had been so worried that he would be like the others, choosing to hide this fact as though it were a stain on their pristine reputation. It felt refreshing for him to acknowledge it so quickly, so much so as to pout when he thought I might consider rejecting him.
Just the thought of him brought a flutter to my chest. It would’ve been so much simpler to explain the situation if he were here.
All three women stiffened. They blankly stared at me with surprise in their eyes, rendered speechless. Then, they turned and looked at each other, wordlessly exchanging stares.
For a second, I wondered if they were using the pack link to communicate, but the expressions in their eyes didn’t seem like they had a single thought behind them. I quickly ruled out that possibility.
"You?" Georgia said. "Alpha Lucien’s mate?"
Isabella’s face looked red, though not with anger. Quite the contrary, she looked as though she was about to burst into laughter.
Eventually, she couldn’t resist and chuckled out loud before slapping a hand over her lips to physically stop herself.
"My, aren’t you a delusional little one?" Isabella said, the corner of her eyes already wet with tears of laughter. "Where did you even get such a ludicrous idea? Just because Alpha Lucien is good-looking doesn’t mean that you can just go around calling yourself his mate, you know!"
I instantly frowned.
"No kidding!" Georgia said, chortling. "You sure are bold. Do you even realize who you’re talking to?"
"Should I?" I asked, folding my arms across my chest. All feelings of hunger had quickly subsided in my stomach. I had lost the appetite that had built up previously.
"Should you?" Georgia echoed after me, looking gawked. She exchanged a look with Isabella. The latter rolled her eyes.
"Ladies," Sienna finally said, stepping in. Georgia and Isabella instantly kept silent, turning their attention to Sienna as though she were their queen bee. "It’s normal for uneducated people not to know. After all, she hasn’t been here for long, nor will she be."
I furrowed my eyebrows. Why did I have a feeling I knew where this was headed?
"What?" I said with a snort of my own. "Are you going to tell me that I can’t possibly be Lucien’s mate because you are his mate?"
The three girls chorused into laughter.
"So she does know who she is talking to!" Georgia said, clapping in amusement.
"Turns out she isn’t so hopeless after all!" said Isabella.
"Indeed," Sienna agreed, nodding. "I am Alpha Lucien’s mate. That makes me the Luna of the Bloodmoon Pack. You do know that this is the Bloodmoon Pack, right?"
I raised an eyebrow. While I didn’t like her, I tried my best to stamp down the budding feelings of jealousy inside me. After all, it seemed like she was about to offer me the information I needed.
"Actually, I don’t," I confessed.
It was the truth. Lucien, Ralph, and Zeke were unwilling to share more information about this pack, other than the fact that Lucien seemed to be the Alpha of it. He most certainly didn’t mention having a Luna.
If Sienna was going to piss me off anyway, I might as well milk some information out of her while I was at it. At least then, she would be useful for something.
"Do educate me then," I said. "I have never heard of the Bloodmoon Pack before."
Georgia huffed. "The Bloodmoon Pack is filled with the most savage fighters here in the north," she said.
Sienna moved her hand to flick her hair. Just then, I caught sight of a familiar symbol on her forearm that made me stiffen. On her pale skin, there was a red brand that seemed seared into her flesh. It was the symbol of a jagged crescent moon, the mark of disgraced wolves cast out of their packs to become rogues.
