Pursuing My Rejected Alpha
Chapter 29

Once Annalynne calmed down, she finally agreed to return to bed. Her tears kept falling while the doctor cut the bandages around her head. Strips of bandages came off and revealed Annalynne's swollen face.

The left side of her cheek was torn cruelly by an opposing werewolf, leaving three long cuts that extended from her ear to her chin.

Although the cuts have healed, scars in form of three lines remained.

Annalynne sat there while the people around her stared at the scars, unsure what to say.

For the first time in days, Anna spoke up.

"I want a mirror."

A nurse pulled her lips into a tight smile and handed Annalynne a hand mirror.

The woman stared at her reflection. Her fingers traced the glass, touching the scars through the mirror. And then she touched the scars on her face gingerly.

.....

The three lines were so ugly.

She was so ugly.

Annalynne's face crumpled and tears started forming again.

"Big Brother, Dad, Mom, I am so ugly now," she lamented.

"No, you are not," Alice said softly. "You are still my most beautiful girl."

Gordon pulled his sobbing daughter into a hug. "Don't be sad, Anna. We can do something about the scars. Stop crying, alright?"

At loss, Lucien rubbed at Annalynne's shoulder. He did not know what to say. He was a man, after all. He did not care much about scars. But Annalynne was not the same. Although Lucien wanted to, he would never be able to understand Annalynne's anguish. When visitation hour was over, Kendra, Acatha, and Desmond were kicked out of the ward.

Alice and Gordon too were asked to leave for the day.

Only Annalynne and Lucien were left in the ward. Lucien lay on the bed, cuddling his sister in his arms while she sniffled softly.

Anna kept rubbing against the scars on her cheek, as if trying to erase them.

"Anna, don't," Lucien grabbed Anna's hand and put it aside. "The wound is not entirely healed yet. You should stop touching it. The doctor already said that we need to rub some ointment on the scars."

Lucien climbed off the bed to grab the tiny ointment jar from a table.

Annalynne grumbled.

"It's not like they will disappear."

Lucien patiently scooped some of the ointment and smeared it on Annalynne's cheek. "At least it wouldn't get worse," he tried to comfort her.

Annalynne pursed her lips and looked at her brother.

"Lulu, I... We are now no longer twin beauties. We are the beauty and the beast."

Lucien shook his head.

"Don't say that."

Annalynne was too fixated on her scars. Lucien needed her to stop thinking about her scars, and even better, stop wanting to touch her scars.

"Anna, is there something that you want to do? We can watch some television. Do you want to look at trending videos? Or..."

"I would rather eat something good."

Lucien rubbed at Annalynne's hair lovingly. "What do you want to eat?"

"What about some Honey BBQ Squid from the Food Market?"

"Alright, then I will go there to get you some."

"Get three portions. We will share," Annalynne demands.

"Alright, three portions it is."

After Lucien left, a nurse came in and asked whether Annalynne wanted to have her ward cleaned. They were unable to clean in the afternoon due to the many visitors.

Annalynne agreed. She thus left her bed and went for a walk in the hospital garden. Thankfully only one leg of hers was broken. She could still move around with crutches.

At 6.30 PM, there were still a lot of patients that were walking around in the garden. When Annalynne saw that many people around, she suddenly felt self-conscious about the scars on her cheek. She would love to hide the scars behind her hand, but Lucien would not be happy if she smeared the ointment.

Annalynne thus made a U-turn to go back into the hospital building. She could just wander around the corridors until her room was done.

As luck had it, she just had to come across the one person she did not want to see at all.

"Annalynne?"

The voice behind her caused Annalynne to freeze on spot.

Because she didn't turn around, Kinnon Youngshaper made a point to walk up to her and look at her face.

Her scarred face.

Annalynne looked up and gave him a burning glare.

So what?

Why did she have to hide?

Anyway, the wound was caused by someone from Kinnon's group.

The Alpha from the opposing side was stunned to see the three long lines that marred Annalynne's face. He reached out to grab Annalynne's chin, but the latter dodged his hand. "Don't touch me," she hissed.

Kinnon sighed.

"Leave us," he said, addressing the male nurse who was tagging along behind him.

After the nurse left, Kinnon grabbed Annalynne's shoulders to take a better look at the scars. The woman could not free herself because she had to hold on to the crutches under her armpits.

"I know a very good plastic surgeon," Kinnon muttered as he moved Annalynne's chin left and right to get a better look at the scars. "He can make the scars disappear for good."

"I don't need you to do that," Annalynne replied. "You don't have to concern yourself with me."

"I am not trying to be nosy," Kinnon explained. "I am just offering to help."

"I don't need your help," Annalynne frowned at Kinnon. "If you wanted to help, you could have stopped the war."

"I couldn't," Kinnon said.

Of course he could not. He barely managed to free the Clearwater siblings from suspicion when the rogue werewolves attacked him and Anna. He could not do that the second time around when the city was full of werewolves who spent the night after the Moon Banquet. "It is not that simple, Anna."

Kinnon did not mean anything when he said the words, but Annalynne was quickly enraged. Those were the exact same words that Kinnon used when he rejected Annalynne's advances. It was like adding salt to injury.

"Fine!!! I am a stupid simpleton who doesn't know anything! Are you happy now, Kinnon???"

Annalynne bumped against Kinnon's shoulder and stormed into the hospital without looking back.

Don't cry don't cry don't cry... She kept chanting in her heart. Unfortunately, her tears were not listening to her. They fell freely across her cheeks and blinded her sight.

Coincidentally, Lucien just got back from buying the night snack that Annalynne wanted. He was standing in front of Annalynne's empty ward, wondering where she ran off to when she stormed toward him. "Anna, where did you... Huh...???"

Annalynne grabbed her brother by the wrist and dragged him into the ward, slamming the door close behind them.

"Why are you so agitated? Why are you crying? What happened?" Lucien demanded to know after he put the snack on the table.

"I met Kinnon," Annalynne confessed. "That a*****e, pretending to be a gentleman and offering to fix my face! Who does he think he is?"

Lucien was a little confused. He himself had thought about offering the same thing to Annalynne while he was out buying food. Who would know that Annalynne was strongly against plastic surgery? "Well..."

.....

Lucien took a seat on the bed, next to his sister.

"How did that offend you, again?" He hopelessly asked, and that earned him a glare from the woman.

"Lulu, you are... Ahhhhh you men are all so...!!!"

Annalynne buried her face into a pillow and whined.

Lucien was speechless.

"Do you want to eat first? Then we can talk?"

Annalynne whipped her head and gave her brother a menacing glare. "No. But do leave the Honey BBQ Squid behind."

Lucien heaved a sigh. Ever since Annalynne grew up, it had been increasingly difficult to understand her. Annalynne's mood was not the best today, so Lucien decided to give her some space. He grabbed the jar of ointment from the table and put it in front of Annalynne.

"Then eat when you want to eat. After that re-apply the ointment and go to sleep early, alright?"

Annalynne grunted to signify that she heard what Lucien said.

Lucien then left and went up to Ronan's VIP ward. Each VIP ward was equipped with a bedroom for one caretaker. Ever since Lucien came back from the Shadow Mist Creek, he had been sleeping there every night. It was rather convenient because then he could be there for Ronan whenever Ronan was awake. Convenient for Ronan, to be precise.

Ever since they discovered that they could communicate using Mind Link, Ronan had been using it to summon Lucien on spot.

He did not wake up a lot throughout the day due to the sleeping drugs, so he often woke up at night to bother Lucien like a spoiled three-year-old boy.

'Lucien.'

'Luciennnnnn...

'LULU!'

'WHAT!!!!'

Lucien tossed his blanket aside and marched out of the caretaker's bedroom to take a look at Ronan. The Alpha had been allowed to lie on his side instead of his stomach, but he was still strapped tightly to the bed.

A shameless grin spread on Ronan's face as he looked at the fuming Lucien.

"I am bored. Come and entertain me."

"Do I look like some clown to you, Alpha???"

Nevertheless, Lucien still climbed into Ronan's bed and slid under his blanket. Ronan pulled Lucien close and buried his nose into the latter's collarbone. The sweet scent of orange and honey instantly filled his lungs. He sighed contentedly. Lucien wrapped his arms around Ronan's neck, searched for Ronan's lips, and kissed them.

"How are you feeling?"

"Excessively bored," Ronan answered with a flat tone. "Tell me what is happening. I want to hear it."

"I went to see Kinnon today," Lucien told him. "He agreed to surrender after much persuasion, but..." Lucien sighed.

"But what?"

Ronan coiled a strand of Lucien's hair around his little finger playfully.

"But after we talked, we found out that there was a third party in this war who was doing things unknown to us.

There had been an attack on Ralph. At the same time, I received a fake call from Ralph."

Ronan widened his eyes in surprise.

"The call was fake? And that little boy was attacked?"

Lucien nodded. "Kinnon thought that you did it."

Ronan scoffed and rolled with his eyes.

"Sorry to say but Kinnon isn't exactly the peacemaker that he believes himself to be. Do you even know how many packs he offended???"

And here comes the difficult part, Lucien thought.

"The assassin had a belt that bears the Silverback family sigil. It was found among his belongings."

Ronan was quiet for a while. He looked deep into Lucien's eyes and said, "I didn't do it."

Lucien smacked at his forehead. "I know you didn't do it, silly."

Ronan grabbed Lucien's wrist and pressed it against his lips.

"What I am trying to say is that this enemy is the common enemy of both packs. If you say that Kinnon is a warmonger, can you think about someone or some people that might be out to hurt your pack?" "Uhhh..."

Ronan thought for a while, but he could not come up with any concrete name.

"Both my and Kinnon's pack did not become the two strongest packs because other packs support us, that's for sure. I am sure that the others harbor a certain amount of enmity, but I don't know who would be so bold to launch a scheme against both packs at once." "What about the third strongest? Fourth?"

Ronan shook his head.

"After Infinite Eclipse Pack and Night Prowler Pack, there is a layer of equally strong packs. There is no third or fourth per se."

"Can we check those packs one by one?" Lucien offered.

"It would be around twenty-something packs, then, Lulu. Besides, how do you plan to check?"

"Well... We can track the packs that ever received a belt with your family sigil on it?"

"Our family doesn't keep a record."

"What about the raid that happened in the past?"

Ronan's mood turned sour in an instant.

"Who told you about the raid?"

Lucien had nothing to hide.

"Your mom."

Ronan's face darkened. He was not in the mood to cuddle anymore. He wanted to pull away from Lucien, but he was still strapped to the bed so he had nowhere to escape to.

For once, Lucien did not plan to leave Ronan. The Alpha had no other option than to continue the conversation.

"Heh. Well, the belt might be stolen during the raid, indeed."

Lucien watched Ronan's expression with growing interest. "It seems that you know the responsible person behind the raid."

Ronan scoffed. Of course he knew. He knew more than Lucien thought.

"I also know their father."

Lucien was stunned. Thinking that Ronan was trolling him, he drilled Ronan with a judgmental look. To Ronan's great consternation, Lucien did not catch on at all until Ronan resentfully added, "I am talking about my father."

Oh.

Dane Silverback.

Without realizing it, Lucien already stepped into a landmine that was the Silverback family's room full of Dane Silverback's dirty laundry.

This explained why Ronan hated talking about the raid. It not only happened shortly after his appointment, but was also caused by his father's illegitimate children.

It kinda made sense. Maybe the perpetrator's target was not the entire Infinite Eclipse Pack but only Ronan.

"Ronan, was there any dispute regarding your legitimate claim to the Alpha position?"

If there was a second candidate, they might as well check that person first.

"No. My father passed the Alpha position to me without considering anyone else."

Lucien pursed his lips. Tough luck for the other illegitimate children.

Also tough luck for them because now they had to check every single one of those children.

"Okay, out with it. How many are there?"

He was of course referring to Dane Silverback's illegitimate children. Ronan pulled a disgusted face.

"How am I supposed to know? Do you think I am the manager of my father's whorehouse???"

"You don't even have a number?" Lucien frowned at the man in his arms. He could hardly believe it. Ronan must know to a certain extent. He just didn't want to list them out. "Fine, can you at least name the more prominent ones?"

Ronan rubbed at his eyes and muttered some curses under his breath. Why must they talk about Dane Silverback's heinous extramarital children while they were cuddling on the bed? Ronan was about to lose it. After taking a deep breath a few times, the Alpha was finally willing to talk.

"My father had two lovers before he married my mother. They were already pregnant when my parents got married."

Ouch.

"They were low-borns, so they were quite happy to receive monthly allowances for them and their children. But then after I was born, they started to get greedy. They wanted to become a Luna and not just side lovers." Ronan heaved a deep sigh.

"According to my father, he fell into a trap and ended up having s*x with the both of them. According to my mother, he willingly had s*x with them. Anyway, both women got pregnant again. One had a miscarriage, the other gave birth to twins." "So at that point, my father had three illegitimate children by a woman, another illegitimate child by another woman, and one legitimate child by my mother."

"The woman who ended up with three children demanded to be the Luna because she bore three of my father's children. That was when my mother asked for a divorce and rejected my father to end the mating bond between them."

"But your father never made the woman his new Luna," Lucien said. If he did, Lucien would know. The whole werewolf community would know. The news would have blown up for weeks or months to come.

"No, and that's why the women became angrier and angrier. They then expected my father to pick one of their eldest sons to be the next Alpha. Mind you, at that time my relationship with my father is as rotten as it can be. Those women must be quite confident." "Of course when that did not happen, they were as angry as a bunch of harpies."

A cruel smirk was plastered on Ronan's face when he recalled the huge ruckus that happened shortly before he took over the Alpha position.

The shameless women had barged into the Great Lake City and demanded Dane to hand over the Alpha position to one of their sons. He refused to, and they kicked up a huge fuss.

"The women had an agreement with each other. Whichever son became the Alpha, both women and the other children would be accepted into the pack. That was the main goal of the whole scheme. The second one was, of course, riches."

"And that brings us to this raid that you want to know about. The women brought their adult children and came to the bank to access the Silverback family's treasure vault. Don't ask me how they got the key to the treasure vault. They took as much as they could and escaped to Europe."

Against Lucien's initial guess, the raid was done out of greed and not to destroy Ronan. They must be delighted to be able to use the belt to frame Ronan years later.

"Then what happened?"

"My father asked me to let it go."

"Huh?"

Ronan rolled with his eyes.

"They only managed to steal some gold and some less valuable items anyway. There was only so much that four people could hoist out of the treasure vault. The high-end family heirlooms were locked in a second layer deposit box that only the Alphas could open." "So this belt..."

Ronan shrugged.

"I cannot tell you anything until I get to see the belt with my own eyes."

Lucien had already predicted that.

"I know, so I got Kinnon to cooperate with us. Let's take a look at the belt as soon as we can."

Ronan heaved a sorrowful sigh in his heart.

It did not seem as if they could get Kinnon out of their life anytime soon.

Two weeks after the war ended, a funeral was held at the Eternal Sleep Lake at North Ridge Forest.

Werewolves were born in different packs. They might leave and join other packs throughout their life. But when they died, they all returned to the Moon Goddess in the same way.

Representatives from each pack along with the family members of the deceased laid the body of their fallen heroes and heroines into cedar caskets.

After that, one by one, the caskets were pushed into the water and set ablaze by a flaming arrow.

It was especially heart-wrenching to see the families that were left behind, especially if the pups were still so young that they could not comprehend what death was. For them, the funeral was when the werewolf community collectively killed their parents. A lot of them were throwing a tantrum and screaming hysterically when they saw their sleeping fathers or mothers being set ablaze.

Lucien too could not help but cry when he and Annalynne held back a young boy from the Silent Walkers Pack who lost both of his parents in the war. He was only three years old, too small to bear the burden of such loss.

Lucien swore to never go to war again, no matter what.

At the funeral, they all met Kinnon Youngshaper again.

.....

The war had ended, so all packs greeted each other amicably. At least on the surface.

"Hello, Anna," Kinnon greeted.

Annalynne hid her scowl behind a scary smile. "Hello, Kinnon," she said before stomping away, leaving Lucien and Ronan to speak with Kinnon.

"Do you have the belt?" Lucien asked directly.

Kinnon nodded. He snapped his finger and Bjorn came over with a long box.

Inside lay a modestly designed belt made of supple buffalo hide. The silver plate with the sigil served as the belt buckle.

Ronan's fingers ran along the belt and touched around the edge of the buckle slowly.

"Well?" Kinnon asked after a while. "Have you seen it before?"

Ronan took a while to answer. He kept turning the belt around back and forth, as if looking for some clues. At last, he had to give up.

"Sorry, I have never seen it before. I was hoping to replace the year it is made, but it is nowhere to see."

"If you haven't seen it before, does it mean that it is not one of the high-tier heirlooms?" Lucien queried.

"It isn't," Ronan confirmed.

"Then they might be lost during the raid," Lucien postulated.

"Maybe, maybe not," Ronan replied.

It did not help at all. They were right back at the beginning.

Lucien took out his phone and snapped a few pictures of the belt. And then they returned the belt to Bjorn and the Beta packed it away.

"We will keep searching for clues," Lucien promised.

"Hmm," Kinnon grunted. "Likewise."

He extended his hand toward Lucien. "Peace for now?"

Lucien gratefully took his hand.

"Peace for now and hopefully forever."

Kinnon flashed Lucien a bright smile.

Ronan quickly separated their hands.

"No need to hold each other's hands for so long," he reasoned. Ronan did not want Kinnon to develop funny ideas about Lucien.

Unfortunately for Ronan, Kinnon indeed harbored some thoughts about Lucien.

"By the way, we are not completely done yet," he announced dramatically.

Ronan furrowed his brows and stood in front of Lucien. He acted like a possessive boyfriend who was trying to hide his lover from the other man's indecent thoughts. "What else?" Kinnon ignored Ronan and looked at Lucien instead.

"This war was to settle the night in Hapsborough City. We are yet to settle the debts that the Silent Walkers Pack owed the Night Prowler Pack from the first war."

Ronan stared at Kinnon in disbelief.

Amidst the chaos and preparation for the second war, Kinnon still remembered old debts!

Kinnon gave him a shifty smile.

He could read Ronan's expression accurately.

"This does not concern Alpha Ronan, so kindly keep yourself out of this matter."

"Everything about Lucien concerns me," Ronan said, narrowing his eyes at Kinnon. "Alpha Kinnon, just so you know, Lucien already agreed to be mine. Don't you try to seduce him."

Lucien smacked at his own face in embarrassment. He pushed Ronan aside and spoke to Kinnon directly.

"You are right. How should we settle it?"

Kinnon straightened his long coat and regarded the two of them with a cool look. He then said, "I will come to Blue Hill City next to discuss this matter. You shall receive a notification before I depart."

"Very well."

Lucien did not have any objections toward Kinnon's visit, but the Alpha that he was dating was not very delighted with the prospect.

As a result, Ronan refused to go back to Great Lake City and demanded to go back with Lucien instead.

"Why?" Lucien asked in confusion.

"I don't want you to meet with Kinnon alone. He is an old, sly wolf," Ronan said it like a deeply guarded secret.

Lucien was speechless. Kinnon was only one year older than the both of them!

Jake, the poor Beta, was close to tears. He had been managing Ronan's tasks for weeks! The Alpha did not even feel the slightest guilt upon overloading his poor Beta!

Desperately, Jake tried to infuse some wisdom and sanity into his Alpha, but said Alpha was immovable.

"I still need to recover from my injuries, Jake," he reasoned. "For the time being, I will stay with Lucien. You can take care of both the Silverback Corporation and the pack for me. If there is anything urgent, you are allowed to contact me."

...

Injuries?

What injuries?

Ronan recovered completely a week ago!

Jake shot Lucien a pitiful look, but Lucien could not help him out.

Ronan shamelessly put his arms around Lucien and shifted his weight unto the latter.

"Lulu,

I am feeling dizzy. Hold me tight."

Jake's pitiful look morphed into a sympathetic look. On second thought, it might be good to have Ronan out of his way for some time. At least then he had one less person to boss him around.

Against Ronan's expectation, Lucien did not choose to return to Blue Hill City. He instead wanted to go to South Bedford City.

Worried, Alice pulled her son aside for a talk.

"Lucien, Landon is now back with you. Should you not abandon your life among human beings? Come back and live in the pack," she begged him.

Lucien shook his head gently and hugged his mother.

"Mom, I still have some unfinished business in South Bedford City. I will come back soon."

He said he would come back, but he said nothing about relocating to the pack house for good.

Since Ronan was also present, Alice decided not to push the matter further and let them go.

"What are you planning to do now?" Ronan asked once they were out of earshot.

"I am thinking of taking a little vacation while reorganizing my life," Lucien replied. "You said that you wanted to accompany me, right? Then just come with me."

.....

Ronan shrugged.

They walked toward Ronan's black Porsche. Noah was already waiting inside. Instead of getting into the car, Ronan knocked at his window instead.

The window rolled down and revealed Noah's confused face.

"Yes, Alpha?"

"Noah, go home with Jake," Ronan told his driver while fixing his cufflinks. "I will take the car."

"Very well, Alpha."

Noah got out of the driver's seat and bowed deeply before he went in the direction of the Eternal Sleep Lake to replace the Beta.

Ronan slipped into the driver's seat and Lucien climbed into the front seat.

"I didn't know that you can drive," he pointed out. "You have been chauffered since you were a child. When did you learn how to drive?"

Ronan broke into laughter.

"I started wrecking my father's cars when I was ten. By the time we met, I was able to drive pretty well."

"Have you ever gotten into an accident?"

"A few, yeah. In case you are wondering, no one has ever been heavily injured or killed. It was mostly me crashing against some inanimate objects. Trees, street poles, walls..."

Walls.

Lucien stared at Ronan.

"How did you not see that there was a wall in front of you?"

"I was in a hurry."

"... No need to hurry when driving today."

Ronan flashed Lucien a grin. "Where does Mr. Clearwater want to go precisely?"

It did not come off as a surprise to see that Lucien's house was in a dilapidated condition.

"My house," Lucien answered. "I haven't been there for a while. I want to know if everything is alright."

During the months that Lucien was not at home, the area became victim to occasional storms that turned the garden into complete chaos. Pots were upturned, the larger plants lay pitifully across the unmanicured lawn.

The wind was so strong that it managed to unhinge the front door from its frame.

Wind and rain crept into the house through the door crack, turning the walls moldy and ruining the furniture.

The paintings on the wall were lying on the floor in a heap of wet mess. Lucien squatted and tried to salvage them but they quickly crumbled into shreds.

""

...

Ronan pulled a grimace when he looked at the moldy walls.

"We can't stay here. Come on, let's go. I will ask people to come and fix your house."

"It's fine," Lucien said. "I don't plan on going back here anyway."

Ah.

So Lucien did not intend to resume his life in South Bedford City.

Lucien rose to his feet. Ronan expected to leave the wrecked house in the next second, but Lucien went into what remained of his bedroom instead.

"Lulu, what are you doing?"

"I need to pick something up," Lucien mumbled.

He reached into various drawers and cupboards, stuffing random things hastily into his pockets.

Ronan raised an eyebrow.

"Looks like you are not attached to too many items in here."

Lucien

laughed.

"How can I be attached? They are all destroyed and turned to pulp."

Once Lucien was done taking whatever small items he could salvage from his house, Ronan grabbed him by his waist and led him outside.

It was already the end of October. The strong gust of wind that blew through the area carried the strong scent of winter.

Although both werewolves wore coats and shawls, they unwittingly shivered from the blowing wind.

They quickly stepped into the car. Both of them sighed when their numb frozen fingers slowly turned warm and they could feel blood circulating through their bodies again.

"Let's go to Carlton Bay, alright?"

"Sure."

During the car trip, Lucien was eerily silent. He was busy with his phone, only replying with unfocused "Hmm" and "Yes" to whatever Ronan said.

Whenever the Alpha tried to take a peek at what Lucien was doing, he was shot down by the latter's annoyed expression.

"Stop peeking and drive properly!" He chastised the Alpha.

Afterward, Ronan did not peek anymore.

They arrived at Carlton Bay Hotel soon after. As soon as an attendant saw who it was who graced their hotel with his presence, he quickly greeted, "Welcome, Alpha Ronan."

He shot Lucien a curious look, not sure how to address him.

The hotel manager was more knowledgeable.

"Good day, Alpha Ronan and Mr. Clearwater," he said with a polite smile. "The suite is ready for use. This way, please."

Lucien gave Ronan a look.

"Do you have your own suite in every Carlton Bay Hotel?"

"More or less. Used to be my father's."

"Ah."

When they got to the room, Lucien went to sit on the couch and busied himself with his phone again. He looked like a little boy who was immersed in the newest gadget and Ronan the parent who wanted to cut off his screen time.

"Lulu," Ronan pulled Lucien into his arms and kissed the side of his neck.

"You are cold all over. Let's take a bath together."

The Alpha's magnetic voice was alluring and tugged at Lucien's heartstrings.

Ronan took the phone from Lucien's hands and tossed it on the bed.

Before Lucien knew it, his coat and his clothes were swiftly taken off his body and left to pool around his feet.