Pursuing My Rejected Alpha
Chapter 23

"Adorable," Ronan said in response, chuckling while giving Lucien a peck on the cheek.

Lucien's face turned sour. Ronan was not even taking him seriously! Did he think that Lucien could not do it? The insolence! The arrogance!

The man curled his fingers into fists. The more Ronan looked down on him, the more he wanted to make it happen!

One by one, the alpha wolves who had not been disqualified poured out of the forest and returned to the entrance. Every single one of them was greeted with cheers from the excited spectators.

About half of the alpha werewolves were eliminated during the one hour. Most of them were young and inexperienced.

When no more wolves showed up after fifteen minutes had passed, Alice declared the end of the game. They could now start counting the lockets that the alpha werewolves managed to collect for one hour.

The excited ladies had begged Alice to allow them to help. Everyone was itching to know who the winner was. After they were done counting from every leather bag, they had a winner. It was one of the lead warriors by the name of Lowell.

The handsome man might already have his own group of fans before the hunting game began, but at the end of it, he was practically a hero among the she-wolves.

"Mrs. Clearwater," Clara, one of those who counted the lockets, approached Alice.

.....

"Yes?"

"Um, two lockets are missing. One belongs to the first young man who came out of the forest. The other one should belong to Lucien."

The poor young man was scared shitless by Landon's aggressive approach.

Alice Clearwater furrowed her brows in confusion. Had Lucien not come out yet?

It definitely took some time to cross the forest from end to end because the area was quite huge. Then again, they were talking about wolves here. Just how long could it take Lucien to get back?

Alice Clearwater was about to search the forest for her son when Beta Jake from the Infinite Eclipse Pack made his appearance at the forest entrance.

"Good evening, Mrs. Clearwater," he greeted politely.

"Good evening," Alice returned the greeting. "My apologies, I did not expect anyone from the supporting packs to arrive tonight."

Jake hastily corrected the misunderstanding.

"Incorrect, Mrs. Clearwater. The others will start arriving tomorrow. Only Alpha Ronan and I are here tonight."

"Oh."

Speaking about Alpha Ronan...

Alice cleared her throat.

"Where is Alpha Ronan then?"

Jake cut Alice an uncomfortable smile. "He went into the forest."

"Why?"

"I believe he wanted to participate in the hunt."

"Oh."

So only Lucien and Ronan were still inside the forest.

Jake and Alice exchanged knowing looks. What to do?

"Let me try contacting my Alpha with Mind Link," Jake offered.

"Please do," Alice said, thankful for Jake's help.

'Alpha? Are you there?'

Wonderful. Ronan shut off his Mind Link. Jake fantasized about kicking Ronan in his mind.

The Beta turned to face Lucien's mother and shook his head in regret.

"I can go into the forest and try to replace them," Alice said, grabbing an oil lamp as she spoke.

"Why don't I come with you, Mrs. Clearwater," Jake quickly offered. He was pretty sure that Ronan, the lecher, held Lucien back. The fool should have known that there would be people looking for them! Could he not wait until everyone went to bed or something??? Jake could not stop cursing at Ronan in his head.

Alice Clearwater herself was filled with trepidation after listening in on Ronan and Lucien the previous night. Honestly, she didn't want to witness anything inappropriate between Lucien and Ronan.

And she thought she knew her son! Since when did Lucien start engaging in lewd activities? Her son was pure and innocent! It must all be Ronan Silverback's bad influence. Who in the werewolf community did not know about his infamous womanizing way??? Alice and Jake were thus more than relieved when the two giant wolves emerged from the forest a few minutes later.

"Lucien," Alice breathed a sigh of relief. She approached her son and covered him with a huge blanket. Lucien transformed back into his human form soon after.

Ronan did the same after Alice gave him another piece of blanket. The Alpha winked at Lucien, who shot him a glare and turned away from him without a single word.

This attitude was quite incomprehensible.

Jake turned to look at Ronan, his gaze full of unspoken questions.

"What?" Ronan asked innocently.

"Nothing," Jake replied. Ronan's love affair was none of his business. He was merely concerned about the war and nothing else.

Relieved that her son did not do anything inappropriate with Ronan in the forest, Alice decided to have a heart-to-heart talk with her son that night. Judging from the way Lucien looked at Ronan just now, she was sure that Ronan would not be in Lucien's room that night.

After she changed into her night attire, Alice made her way to Lucien's room. She brought a glass of warm milk tea on a tray with her. It would help Lucien to sleep better after they had their talk about his relationship with Ronan Silverback. Alice was sure that Lucien was going to need it. If the conversation was embarrassing enough, she might need one for herself.

"Lucien?" Alice knocked on Lucien's door.

"Lulu?"

There was no answer.

Alice waited for a while before knocking a second time but there was still no answer.

Did Lucien fall asleep as soon as he hit the bed due to exhaustion?

In Lucien's defense, he must not have gotten enough physical exercise after leaving the pack. Today was just the first day of training. He would feel better with each passing day.

Alice yawned. It was also a tiring day for her. They should all just rest for the night. The talk could wait. The elder woman lifted the glass of milk tea that she brought for Lucien from the tray and drank up the entire content of the glass right away.

She was forever thankful to the Moon Goddess that she already drank most of it when she heard something that gave her the chills.

"What is it?" Came Lucien's taunting voice from behind the guest room door.

“།

I thought you wanted me to practice. Come on, stimulate me all you want."

Alice almost choked on the remaining milk tea. She hasted back to her own bedroom and slammed the door behind her.

The next morning, Alice learned something new.

The milk tea did not help at all with sleeping.

Inside the guest room, Ronan was sitting on the edge of the bed. He stared at Lucien who just said the provocative words that were so unlike him.

Ronan was not sure whether he was in heaven or hell. At a glance, there was Lucien who willingly came into his room to seduce him and be seduced. After a closer and more thorough look, he found out that Lucien was there for the sake of training and not to have S*X.

In fact, Lucien Clearwater was not at all interested in having s*x. He just wanted to use Ronan as a trainer slash stimulator so that the former could hide his scent from the latter.

It was the first time ever that Ronan wanted to throw Lucien out of his bedroom. But how could he?

Lucien was dressed in a white shirt and white short pants. He looked so pure. So innocent. So captivating. He was basically asking to be touched and pampered.

"It is too late for this kind of training," Ronan tried to get out of this dire situation. He did not have the confidence to control his urge.

"Oh? Then what time is good for you?"

Lucien was unwilling to give in.

Ronan crossed his arms before his chest to steel his mind.

.....

"I don't know, we will see," the Alpha said with a shaky voice.

"Ah."

Lucien narrowed his beautiful eyes at Ronan. He then scratched the floor with his toes slowly, forming invisible circles on the floor.

"I thought that you are the only one who can help me in this regard. Are you telling me that I should practice with someone else?"

Ronan furrowed his brows, his face darkened in an instant.

"Which 'someone else' do you have in mind?"

"Oh, I don't know," Lucien trailed. "A lot of alpha wolves outside. And more coming," he added.

Ronan's lips parted in bewilderment. He would rather die than send Lucien out there to get stimulated by random alphas! How many of them could resist Lucien's temptation? What if they ended up bedding him instead? "Come here," the Alpha growled in displeasure. He extended his hand after Lucien, who took it despite his growing hesitation.

He spouted big words, but he was also aware that he put himself in a dangerous situation. He might not make it out of Ronan's bed safely that night.

Ronan tugged at Lucien's hand, pulling him toward the bed.

Lucien fell like a block of wood. Ronan raised an eyebrow. Lucien had both his eyes closed and his brows furrowed in concentration. It did not require a genius to guess what Lucien was concentrating on.

So the challenge was to seduce this block of ice and melt the cage that prevented the sweet orange scent from leaking out.

Ronan licked his lips in anticipation.

Interesting.

Since Lucien was being such a hardworking student, he as the teacher should be generous and give him a very good lesson.

Ronan slid a naughty hand under Lucien's shirt. He planned to play with Lucien's nipples, but his hand was quickly caught by the latter.

"Wait!" He shouted. "Not that far yet. Let's start with kisses and caresses through clothes. You can't touch my skin."

What kind of rules were those?

Whatever.

Ronan pulled Lucien's legs apart and positioned himself in-between. Then he lay on top of Lucien and bumped their lower regions against each other. "Mmmf...!"

Lucien put both hands against his mouth, his brows were scrunched up in painful endurance and sweat started to form on his forehead.

But there was no scent yet.

Lucien was doing so well.

Ronan's lips curled up in a wicked smile. He lowered his head and bit into Lucien's earlobe. Sucking on it, pulling at it, bullying the tender flower petal like a maniac.

Lucien gasped a few times. He instinctively moved around to free himself from Ronan's onslaught, but the man refused to let go.

In the end, Lucien grabbed Ronan's face with both hands and pulled him for a kiss instead.

Hahaha, so cute.

Lucien's limbs were wrapped around Ronan's body, locking him in a sweet trap that Ronan did not wish to escape from.

Just as Lucien wished, Ronan obediently kissed him while rubbing their bodies together with the annoying clothes in between. An evil thought formed in Ronan's lust-addled mind. He could rip both their clothes open before Lucien even knew it. And then he could slide inside Lucien's body. The latter was so busy trying to suppress his scent that he might not even notice it.

Ronan laughed at himself.

Look at him. He was dying to f**k Lucien. He slept with so many women before, but he was never this thirsty for a single person. Only Lucien was able to make Ronan constantly horny, constantly thirsty for him.

Ronan's breathing grew heavy with unvented desire.

No, he could not do it.

He should not do it after all. They were so close to the war. He should focus on winning the war instead. Only six more days... No, five. Then he would have Lucien in his bed. Day and night, he would make Lucien fulfill his promise again and again. "Ah... Stop... Stop!!!"

Lucien pushed Ronan away and rolled off the bed.

He was all hot and sweaty.

"Sorry, that's all for the night," he said before he rushed out of Ronan's room.

Ronan stared at the bedroom door in disbelief. Did Lucien just give him blue balls and escape like a cunning thief?

The Alpha groaned into the pillow.

He did not think that he could stand more of this kind of training session.

The dejected Alpha dragged himself into the bathroom. He pulled his zipper down and his erect p***s sprang free.

Ronan sighed and let go of his suppressed pheromones. They flowed out like crazy.

"Oh, Lucien. You will be the death of me," the Alpha mumbled in consternation.

It only took a few strokes until Ronan came with a loud groan. His essence splattered against the toilet bowl, the thick whitish liquid coming out in form of intermittent, violent spurts.

The same training program resumed as usual the next day for the normal werewolves. Lucien was particularly happy to detect a positive change in the pack members' mindset, both in terms of confidence and endurance.

At the end of the third part of training on the previous night, it was discovered that the alpha werewolves displayed a huge range of performance, starting from very bad to excellent.

This was naturally an outrageous result that required immediate correction.

Gamma Acatha had come up with a new training regime for specifically alphas. She planned to split the alphas into three groups: the beginner group, the intermediate group, and the advanced group. The training program for each group was tailored according to the abilities of the alpha werewolves in said group. This was done to ensure that everyone got just the right exercises to build their muscles and endurance.

"This is good," Lucien commented when he read through the proposal that Gamma Acatha had prepared diligently overnight. Gamma Acatha beamed at the compliment.

"Then, I shall proceed, Alpha."

"Hmm, please do."

It was only for the war, but Lucien still felt weird when the others addressed him as the Alpha. He felt like he didn't deserve it. It for sure did not make Catherine Clearwater more fond of him. The elder woman made sure to give Lucien an evil eye whenever their gazes met.

After Gamma Acatha left, Ronan came over and sat next to him.

.....

They exchanged a peck on the lips.

"Good morning."

"Good morning," Lucien said in response. "We are continuing with the training today. Acatha made some impromptu changes after what happened yesterday during the hunt."

"Sounds good. The representatives from the fourteen packs are due to arrive today. I checked with your mother and she said that she had already prepared the necessary accommodation. Let's have a strategic meeting to discuss our preparation tonight." "Alright." Speaking about preparation, Lucien had something else in mind.

"Can I come to your room tonight as well?"

Ronan almost choked on his spit. Lucien gave him a look full of expectations. Ronan never felt more miserable. He did not think that he had enough self-restraint in him to prevent himself from attacking Lucien for real, should they repeat the same kind of "training" that night.

"About that. Maybe we can do it differently."

"Like what?"

"Let's have a practice fight instead. The kind of stimulation that you will experience during the war is not a s****l one after all."

Besides, Ronan did not want Lucien to start developing the habit to suppress his scent when they were in bed. He loved inhaling Lucien's fresh orange and honey scent during s*x.

Thankfully, Lucien agreed.

"Oh, alright. Makes sense. Maybe we can do that for the other alphas too."

"Yep. And do that in wolf form."

"Oh, good call."

Lucien started to make some notes at the bottom of Gamma Acatha's proposal. "Can we arrange to have cross-pack training once everyone arrived?"

A gentle smile appeared on Ronan's face.

"Why not? It is a very good idea. And do you know what this reminds me of?"

Lucien chuckled. Of course he knew what Ronan was referring to.

"The Alpha Camp?"

"Yeah."

Lucien only visited the Alpha Camp once, so he only had precious memories from that one year. Ronan, on the other side, visited for many more years. At first as a camp participant and later as a mentor to the younger alphas.

"We had war simulations a few times, too. They were mostly done to prepare the older alpha werewolves for emergencies."

"What did it look like?"

"The alphas were split into two opposing groups. Each group elected an 'Alpha' to lead the war. The 'Alpha' was responsible for setting up the command structure and making the final decision on the war strategy that the group wanted to implement." "Sounds good. I assume you played an 'Alpha'?"

"Yeah."

Of course he did. The other alpha werewolves did not dare to appoint another one out of fear of offending the Infinite Eclipse Pack. Ronan himself could not care less.

"The other 'Alpha' was played by Kinnon."

Just like the alphas in his group did not want to offend his pack, the alphas in Kinnon's group also did not want to offend the Night Prowler Pack.

Ronan and Kinnon were put in opposing positions since they were young. It was no wonder that the rivalry between the two packs carried on for another generation. "How did it go?" Lucien asked with a grimace.

"It always ended with me and Kinnon engaging in a duel."

"Really. Who won in the end?"

"Sometimes I did, sometimes he did. We usually carried on until one of us was unable to stand properly anymore."

Lucien widened his eyes in shock. "It was just a simulation! Why did you and Kinnon hurt each other for real?"

Ronan gave Lucien a meek smile. It was not as if Lucien did not know the aggressive nature of alpha wolves.

"It could not be avoided. Lucien, it happens. We were hot-headed young alphas. Our wolves screamed for a bloody fight. We just went along with it."

Suddenly Lucien was worried about having both Ronan and Kinnon facing each other in the upcoming war. If a war simulation was enough to make them beat each other up, imagine what the actual war could do.

Lucien placed his hand on Ronan's upper arm and said, "You should not fight against Kinnon at all in this war."

Ronan took Lucien's hand and pressed a chaste kiss on his knuckles reverently.

"In that case, then you must not lose against him."

In a war, the opposing Alphas would engage in a duel. The one to fight against Kinnon would be Lucien, not Ronan.

"I won't," Lucien promised.

"If you do lose, I will step in as your second-in-command."

"We won't get to that point."

Lucien was pretty sure that his fight with Kinnon would be less intense than Ronan's. After all, he and Kinnon used to have a good relationship with each other.

Right?

Heavy feelings settled at the bottom of Lucien's stomach when he recalled his last interaction with Kinnon during the hearing.

Was Kinnon very offended by Lucien's decision?

Would Kinnon seek to kill him like he killed Deacon?

The change of expression on Lucien's face must be quite obvious because Ronan reached out to pat his back.

"Don't worry, my love. I will always be there to protect you."

That was exactly what Lucien was worried about.

This was originally the war between the Silent Walkers Pack and the Night Prowler Pack. Whatever the outcome of the war was, it must not affect the Infinite Eclipse Pack's standing. Lucien was determined to not drag Ronan down with him.

Ten alpha warriors from each of the fourteen packs that swore to support the Silent Walkers Pack arrived in groups from late afternoon until after dinner's time. As the custom demanded, each pack must send a lead warrior to act as the group coordinator.

The Infinite Eclipse Pack went a few levels higher. Their Alpha personally led the representatives from his pack, which were not regular alpha warriors but the best lead warriors from the pack. They were personally selected by Quinn, the best of the best fighters in

the

pack.

Before Jake left for Blue Hill City, Quinn pulled Jake aside to tell him that everyone was really excited about the upcoming war and would give their all to win the war.

Although no one dared to voice it out loud in front of Ronan, the whole pack was pretty sick of the constant discordance between the Infinite Eclipse Pack and the Night Prowler Pack.

They were dying to demonstrate their pack's supremacy once and for all.

The fact that the Alpha dared to openly challenge the Night Prowler Pack like this, the sheer brilliance of grasping the opportunity was reason enough to praise the Alpha for days. And weeks to come if they won the war. No, AFTER they won the war. With Ronan's determination, victory was practically within grasp.

While listening to Quinn gushing about their magnificent Alpha, Jake the Beta merely nodded repeatedly in agreement while saying a lot of "Yes" and "That's correct" and "Definitely".

That was all he could do in order to not grab Quinn by the shoulder and shake her around to wake her up from her beautiful daydream.

What brilliance?

What supremacy?

Ronan Silverback was literally pulling all the stops to impress his fated mate, Lucien Clearwater!!!

Against his wishes, the poor Beta had had to witness the many embarrassing occasions when his Alpha chased after Lucien relentlessly. Ronan was thick-skinned.

Hopefully, that thick skin would help him in winning the war.

Maybe not even Kinnon's claws could pierce through that thick skin of Ronan.

Although Jake was not participating in the war, Ronan asked him to stand guard in the Silent Walkers Pack House anyway. That was the official order that the Alpha gave. The unofficial order was to coordinate the lead warriors in Ronan's stead while the latter spent his time with Lucien.

Sigh.

That was why Jake was also invited to the first strategic meeting that they held that night.

Although Lucien was the one who led the meeting, it was quickly apparent who the real leader of the operation was. It was Ronan Silverback.

Why, you might ask?

It was because the lead warriors from the thirteen packs had the same instruction from their Alphas: "Do whatever Ronan Silverback tells you. If he wants you to jump, you ask how high. If he asks you to run, you ask how far."

They were expected to display total obedience toward Ronan.

How lucky that Ronan was on Lucien's side completely, so that Lucien did not have any problem telling the lead warriors what to do at all. In fact, the biggest resistance that Lucien faced while preparing for the war came from his own pack, much to his chagrin.

After all pack representatives had been distributed to the five group leaders, Lucien finally could breathe for a bit. The major preparation was done. The next item on his to-do list was to make sure that all the warriors were perfectly aligned with each other during

the next two days.

Both Ronan and Lucien agreed that they could use some more sleep for the night, so they parted with a good night kiss and headed toward their respective rooms.

When Lucien opened the door to his bedroom, his stomach started to growl. Apparently, he had forgotten to take his dinner. Lucien thus headed toward the pack kitchen to get some snack for the night.

Before he even entered the kitchen, the fragrant smell of mushroom soup wafted from between the slightly ajar kitchen door and tickled his nose. Someone was cooking late at night.

Lucien stepped into the kitchen and saw Kendra at the stove, cooking something inside a pot. The woman whipped around in fright when she sensed someone else in the kitchen.

"Oh. It's you, Lucien."

"Hey, Kendra. Did you also miss dinner?"

Kendra laughed.

"You can say that. Would you like to eat together?"

"Only if you have enough," Lucien replied with a smile. "Can I help?"

"Yeah, uh... Why don't you help me fry the steak? That is the last thing we need to do," Kendra said.

"Sure."

Lucien took a frying pan from its hook and poured some oil into it. After the oil was hot enough, he put the seasoned steak slices into the pan and let them sizzle for some time before flipping them.

A gentle smile appeared on Kendra's face when she observed Lucien.

"You are not bad," she praised.

"This? This is nothing. You were the one who did the seasoning. The credit is yours."

Kendra shook her head. "If you burn the meat, even the seasoning cannot save it."

Kendra turned off the stove and ladled out two bowls of creamy mushroom soup and put them on the table, next to a big bowl of noodles.

Lucien took the fried steaks out of the pan and cut them into strips before serving them on a plate. He also took two round plates and two sets of cutleries for their use.

"Mmm," Kendra sniffed at the steaks with delight.

"I hope they are edible."

"I hope so too," Kendra joked as she bit into the juicy steak strip. "Ohh, yummy. You should cook more often for me."

Lucien laughed. "You contribute the most to this excellent dinner. I should be the one saying that."

Kendra poured the bowl of mushroom soup into her noodles and started to mix them thoroughly.

The woman already twirled the noodles around her fork and lifted it to her lips before she thought about something else and put the fork back on her plate.

"Say, Lucien. Should we get married?"

Stupefied by what he just heard, Lucien too dropped his fork and stared at Kendra. A soft pink color crept toward Kendra's cheeks and she dropped her gaze to her plate.

"Too soon? Haha..." She forced herself to make fun of the situation. She should have waited to breach the subject. But then the atmosphere was so good. She could not help it. It just came out.

Sitting opposite of her, Lucien swallowed hard.

"Kendra, what are you thinking...?" Lucien asked.

He wanted to be kinder, but he did not know how to conceal his surprise.

Kendra twirled the noodle on her plate into a huge nest around her fork.

"The pack needs an Alpha," she slowly said. "As of now, you are the best candidate to fill the position."

Kendra pushed a strand of hair behind her ear and raised her eyes to meet Lucien's.

"As a widowed Luna, I have the right to appoint the next Alpha. Otherwise, the next Alpha will be appointed by means of fair competition among all alphas inside the pack."

.....

"You and I know that the strongest alpha werewolf does not automatically make a good Alpha. I fear that the throne will fall on the lap of someone who does not deserve the position."

Kendra bit into her lip. There was a subtle hint in her words that pointed out late Deacon Clearwater's flaw as the previous Alpha.

"Kendra, I am honored. Thank you for considering me for the position, but I don't share the same sentiment."

Kendra moved her hand and touched the ring on her left hand. Lucien recognized the ring. The 3-carat diamond ring in cushion cut was an heirloom of the Clearwater family.

Originally, it was supposed to be given to Lucien when he ascended as the next Alpha. After Lucien left the pack, the ring was given to Deacon instead.

Lucien and Kendra continued eating in silence.

After they were done, Lucien offered to help with the dishes, to which Kendra agreed. She took off her ring and set it on the table before she grabbed the dishwashing sponge. Lucien took the soapy dishes from her to rinse them with water.

When Kendra handed Lucien the last plate, she held on to the plate and looked up at Lucien.

"If you had not lost your wolf, you and I were supposed to get married."

Lucien sighed in his heart.

Of course, he knew that.

His grandmother and Kendra's grandmother were the best of friends. Before she passed away, she told her sons - Gordon and Marcus Clearwater - that whichever grandson inherited the Alpha position must take Kendra as his Luna. The ring was to be given to

Kendra as her wedding ring.

And so Deacon got the Alpha position, the ring, and then Kendra as his wife.

Ever since she was but a young girl, Kendra had thought that she would marry Lucien one day. Lucien was kind and gentle. He was mature for his age. He always protected Kendra when the latter was being bullied by Deacon.

Who would have guessed that she ended up marrying Deacon instead of Lucien?

"I know," Lucien said in response. Disappointment was clearly seen in Kendra's beautiful features when Lucien had nothing else to add. The beautiful woman pursed her lips in exasperation. Had she not been obvious enough? Lucien was not dumb. Surely he knew what Kendra was trying to say.

"Lucien, you..."

"Kendra."

Kendra shut up immediately. Her gaze bore a certain expectation. Unfortunately, Lucien could not respond to her feelings.

The man took the ring from the table and slipped it on Kendra's ring finger.

"I am sorry, I am in love with another person."

Kendra sucked in a deep breath.

"Who?" She demanded. "Is it someone from the pack?"

Lucien shook his head.

Kendra trembled slightly.

"You have been away for years. Did you... Did you go to another pack? Did you start dating a woman from another pack?"

That would make sense, really. Lucien was old enough to settle down. He was too ashamed to go back and court any girl from the Silent Walkers Pack. He must have decided on another woman. A good girl from a good family in another pack. One that did not mind

that he lost his wolf.

Lucien shook his head again.

"A rogue she-wolf then???"

Kendra was about to lose her patience. It was not her fault that she ended up marrying Deacon. At any rate, she was a much better choice than a rogue she-wolf. Just what was Lucien thinking??? His grandmother was going to turn in her grave!

Instead of answering, Lucien merely shook his head again.

"Well???" Kendra demanded. If Lucien thought that some cheap rogue she-wolf was better than Kendra, then Kendra wanted to know who exactly the woman was.

Before Lucien managed to utter a single syllable, a man's voice was heard coming from the kitchen entrance.

"Lucien? Can we talk?"

Both Lucien and Kendra stared at the uninvited intruder.

It was Ronan.

His blank expression morphed into a polite smile when he slowly approached the two people who stood by the sink.

"Am I interrupting?" He asked, shifting his gaze from Lucien to Kendra.

"No," Lucien said.

"Not at all," Kendra said despite cursing Ronan's inopportune appearance. Did Ronan even need to ask? If he had the slightest decency, he should have left right away.

Ronan held out his hand in Lucien's direction.

"Shall we?"

Lucien took Ronan's hand, but he did not move from his spot. He turned to face Kendra instead. Infuriated, the woman already turned her back toward him.

"Kendra," Lucien called. "You want to know who the person is, don't you?"

Kendra turned around immediately. "Yes," she answered, her eyes full of curiosity. "I want to know."

Lucien subsequently tugged at Ronan's hand and drew the Alpha closer to him. He then grabbed Ronan's collar and forced the latter to lean closer to him. Without any warning, Lucien tilted his head and gave the stunned Ronan a passionate kiss on the lips.