Spell Bound
Thirty-Seven

Arabella

“I don’t see why you’re coddling me I feel better.” I snap as I push Lucian out of the closet.

I slam the closet door and I smile hear his laughter through it.

As much as I appreciate his concern for me, I am not some fragile witch that needs him hovering over me and asking if I’m okay every few minutes.

I don’t need two Valentinas.

I’m going to have to tell her aren’t I?

Not telling her sounds really appealing. Though, she made me promise no more secrets.

I roll my eyes at that.

So now Valentina and Lucian will probably join together and try and tell me what to do.

I sigh before waving my hand, my clothes changing in a few seconds.

Another one of Lucian’s shirts and a pair of dark wash jeans.

I step out of the closet to see Lucian sprawled out on the bed.

“You can stop being dramatic.” I state before rolling my eyes.

He stands up before smiling brightly at me. “We’re going to meet Archer and Valentina for dinner.”

I freeze at his words.

Of course I want to see Valentina. Even though it’s only been two days it feels like it’s been a lifetime. Especially after everything that has happened.

“Can I just have dinner with Valentina? Then you and your brother can spend some time with just one another?” I suggest.

He grabs my hand and intertwines our fingers together. “No.” Is all he says before he pulls me out of the room.

How am I supposed to tell Valentina that the plan is off if he’s hovering around the entire time?

He leads me down the hallways, the same way that we went that we went the last time we had dinner outside of our room.

I begin trying to dislodge my fingers from his by pulling my arm. I don’t need Valentina bragging about how she knew that I wanted to be with the alpha in front of him and his brother.

I feel my cheeks flush at the thought of my humiliation.

He smirks as his hold on my hand becomes even tighter. “What’s the matter Bella? You worried that your friend is going to see that you have feelings for me?” He asks before throwing his head back and letting out a booming laugh.

I stop fighting and just glare at him.

“Actually yes. I am ashamed of you.” I fire back at him.

“All that means is that you have feelings for me.” He boasts. “I am glad that you can finally admit that out loud.”

I roll my eyes.

I’m going to have to endure the shame of Valentina knowing that I surrendered to the alpha.

It hasn’t even been a week.

At least I know no matter what she’ll stay by my side.

We step into the room, and I see Archer and Valentina are already sitting across from one another at the table.

She smiles at me until her eyes drift down and see my hand in Lucian’s. Her eyebrows raise and Lucian smiles brightly at her.

I groan as I finally dislodge my fingers from his, and go and sit next to her.

“It’s a long story.” Is all I say.

She nods her head.

At least she isn’t judging me.

Lucian places plates in front of Archer, Valentina and I before sitting down with his plate.

I hold back a laugh as Valentina rolls her eyes at the food. She isn’t a big fan of vegetables and the meals here always have a decent amount of them.

“I was hoping that you and I could get to know each other Valentina. Since we are going to be spending a lot of time with one another.” Lucian speaks up.

“I doubt that.” She says with a smirk before looking down at her plate and picking up her fork.

Lucian looks at me, obviously waiting for me to back him up.

Instead of doing that I pick up my fork and shove the cut up carrots in my mouth.

He narrows his eyes at me before a smile forms on his lips.

Archer sighs at our antics and focuses on his plate.

We eat in silence for a few minutes. I prefer the silence over me having to admit that I have feelings for Lucian.

Then I would have to deal with Lucian gloating while Valentina rubs in my face at the fact that she was right all along.

I think just using a small spell and telling her from a distance will be the best thing that I can do.

My thoughts are interrupted as I feel a foot slide up my leg.

My eyes widen and I almost drop my fork, catching it right before it clatters against my plate.

Lucian continues to eat his food, pretending that he isn’t being inappropriate at the table.

I glare at him before slamming my foot into his knee causing the entire table to jump. Some food spills off of our plates, but I don’t care as long as I get my point across.

Valentina and Archer both turn to me, waiting for an explanation but all I do is smile at them.

I shrug my shoulders as I continue to eat my food.

“Enough of this foolishness you two!” Archer chastises Lucian and I. He turns to Valentina. “Your friend tried to go through with the plan that you two had, but she is in love with my brother and didn’t follow through.”

“What?” Valentina exclaims.

“I am not in love with him!” I shout at the same time.

Valentina stares at me with wide eyes but I keep my glare trained on Archer.

Valentina shakes my shoulder. “You’re in love with him?” She asks.

“No.” I huff out.

“That’s not all. She almost died today because of the fire stone and she insists that I let her use it anyways.” Archer continued.

“Lucian!” I yell before gesturing to Archer.

He ignores my pleas and continues to eat his food.

“What!” Valentina screeches as she pushes her chair away from the table.

So the freak out begins. This is exactly what I wanted to avoid.

I place my elbows on the table and put my face in my hands. She is about to humiliate me, but I can’t say that I don’t deserve it.

“First I told you that we needed a solid plan to do what we needed to do and you swore that there would be no complications! But what’s even worse is that you put yourself in danger!” She yelled.

She continues to rant about how impulsive and dangerous I am to myself. I stopped listening after the first fifteen seconds.

The longest she has ranted at me about my behavior was around thirty minutes. I am sure she can go longer, but I am sure that she starts to feel pity for me after a while.

“Also you should also consider telling her that there are people who care about her and it would hurt them to see her in pain.” Lucian suggests when Valentina stopped to take a break.

I look up and glare at him as he smiles in my direction.

“Exactly, but she is just so damn selfish!” I feel her hand smack me on the back of the head.

“Ow!” I exclaim as I hold the area she hit. “I understand that you’re mad, but you don’t have to hit me!” I exclaim.

“Yes I do! It seems violence is the only way to get through to you!” She says before she hits me again.

Instead of protecting like he always swear he will , Lucian laughs.

“Alright I think that’s quite enough.” Archer cuts in.

Valentina glares at me. “Can we talk for a moment in private? I swear I won’t hit her anymore.”

Lucian and Archer both glance at one another before nodding and standing from their seats.

Lucian rounds the table, before placing his hand on my cheek tilting my face up before placing a soft kiss on my lips. I grab his arm, before closing my eyes and kissing him back. Savoring the affection between the two of us.

He pulls back, and turns to Valentina.

I follow his eyes and I see her eyes are wide and my mouth is dropped open. My cheeks flush as she continues to stare at me.

Damnit! I am probably never going to hear the end of this.

Lucian whistles as he strolls out the room, and Archer shakes his head as he follows behind him.

When the door closes Valentina points an accusatory finger in my face. “I knew that our plan would crumble and that you had feelings for him!” She pulls her hand back to cover her mouth as she gasps. “You’re in love with him.”

“I am not in love with him.” I roll my eyes. “And the plan might have gotten altered just a little bit. I helped Marisol, Lucian is going to help me kill my mom and other members of the coven, ending the war that the wolves have going on and the two of us will live together in a decent sized cabin on his lands.”

Valentina smiled at me. “One.” She raises up her pointer finger before sitting back down in her chair. “It’s okay for you to be happy and to love him. Two. I doubt that he would ever want to live a part from you. I mean I’m a few doors down and I barely see you. He literally hogs you.”

I laugh at her words. “I don’t love him.” I grumble.

“No secrets between us. Okay?” She reminds me.

I roll my eyes. “Fine. I have really strong feelings for him.” I concede.

She smiles before clapping her hands. “I knew it! Now tell me everything that has happened and don’t leave out a single detail."

“That was so humiliating!” I exclaim as I step into the room.

“I think it was rather enlightening.” Lucian says as he steps in behind me.

I turn and glare at him.

He smiles. “You can continue to deny your feelings for me, it’ll only make the moment you tell me you love me much sweeter.”

I go to walk away from him, but he encircles his arm around my waist and pulled me closer to him. “Your friend needed to know, about your plan derailing and what happened today. She is your family, you shouldn’t have secrets.” He said before placing a chaste kiss on my cheek.

“I know that! I was just going to tell her my own way. So I wouldn’t have had to deal with that!” I say before throwing my arm in the air.

He nestles his face into my neck before laughing softly. “You don’t need to be embarrassed. Archer still lectures me whenever I do things wrong. It’s an older sibling thing.”

I blush as his nose brushes against the mark.

“What was the last thing that you got a lecture on? Since you got to see my latest one live.”

He chuckles. “Alright.” He says before leading us to our bed.

We lays with his back on the headboard and my body curled into his. “Well, it was actually revolved around you.” He said.

“I must be a popular topic of conversation.” I tease.

He kisses the back of my head. “You are.” He confirms. “It was about my plans when it came to you. I told him how I planned to trick you into doing the ritual with me, and he attempted to talk me out of it.”

I smile at his words. Not only is he admitting to tricking me into the ritual, but it really does seem that Archer is his Valentina.

“He told me how reckless I was being, but when he realized that words weren’t going to sway me he told me to be careful, and that he loves me.”

I’ve never reached that point with Valentina. Probably because I always end up walking away from the conversation.

“That’s sweet.”

He chuckles. “Yes, well. After I abducted you he realized that you and I hadn’t completely finished the ritual.” He chuckles. “Him and I haven’t spared since he was training me to be an alpha, but I surely thought that he was going to try to kill me that day.”

“He would have been doing me a favor.”

She squeezes his arms around me. “You don’t mean that.” He says with a low growl. He squeezes his arms around me.

“You’re right.” Is all I say.

“Judah is worried about Marisol. I know you said it can take a while, but it’s putting him on edge. It will only be a matter time before the entire pack is put on edge by this.”

It takes a moment for me to absorb this information. I nod my head slowly. “I can do it.”

He places another kiss on the back of my head. “I know you can, and I’ll be there with you.”