Chapter 58

Xandar made sure he held his mate’s hand tighter to intensify the sparks for this next phase. He clearedhis throat and began, “The Kyltons are a distinguished family. And they have been a close friend of theroyal family for generations. But for the longest time, their heir was a male. When the most recent Kyltonwas an heiress, my father had this insane plan to…pair u

Lucianne shifted in her seat and averted her gaze. Xandar kissed her fingers while still holding on to herhand as he continued, “My mother, being the doting wife that she was, supported it without question.When I went up to my father about the…issue, he told me that I’ll grow to understand why he was doingwhat he was doing. It was all about saturating as much power as possible for him. When I went up to mymother and begged her to persuade m y father to change his mind, she just…told me that everythingwas going to be okay. That the… engagement was not going to be a bad thing, that things wouldeventually work itself out.”

Lucianne was biting her bottom lip at this point to cope with the feelings of unworthiness, and Xandarstroked her hand tenderly, trying to assure her that his heart had only ever been given to her. “Baby,hey.” She still couldn’t bring herself to look at him.

She felt uneasiness tingling in her chest and subconsciously placed her free hand over her heart, likeshe was shielding it from getting hurt. The sight made Xandar’s animal whimper. I t felt like she wasshielding her heart from him. He felt the helplessness from the previous night all over again.

Cautiously, he kissed her fingers deeply as he linked, ‘Lucy, I don’t agree with what they did. I neverhave. It felt wrong from the very start. I’ve never loved anyone the way I love you. Please, baby, look atme.’

Lucianne took a moment, and swallowed the lump in her throat before meeting his pained gaze as shewhispered, “So what happened next?”

He managed a sad smile when he saw how strong his mate was trying to be. “Grandpa Brock threatenedto cut all Blackfur ties with the Claws if my parents kept insisting that I was to marry someone I didn’twant. The Blackfurs dominate many industries, mainly shipping and

transportation. So to keep the amount of power and influence that my father already accumulated, thelate King grudgingly gave in.”

Xandar’s eyebrows furrowed as he looked at their hands. “But things were never the same between myfather and I after that. He never masked his anger and disappointment when we were in the same room.Christian and Aunt Reida were the only people I turned to at that time. I even stayed over at their placefor a while because my own home became too… hostile. The Blackfurs supported me and looked out forme when even my own mother couldn’t see, o I didn’t want to see, that what I wanted wasn’t what theywanted for me.”

He watched Lucianne and gave her a moment to take it all in before she asked in a small,

doubtful voice, “So, after that, the Kyltons just…left?” She recalled Christian saying that the family hadn’tbeen in contact for over two decades.

Xandar nodded ominously, “But not without throwing a lot of curses at the Blackfurs, especially atGranpa Brock, saying how much they were going to regret destroying their

plans.”

Lucianne nodded in response before she whispered in worry, “Did anything bad happen to Granpa Brockor Aunt Reida after that?”

Xandar chuckled at how Lucianne was more concerned with the well-being of his cousin’s family thanher own state. Humour filled his eyes when he said, “Nah. It was an empty threat from the start. GranpaBrock died a peaceful death from old age. Aunt Reida passed on from cancer. On Granpa’s most

boastful days, he would even flaunt how his threat to my father was the best thing he had ever used hispower for.”

Lucianne managed a smile, “That’s good.”

He returned her smile and said, “He would’ve loved you. Aunt Reida was his favorite daughter becauseshe always spoke her mind, exactly what you do. Well, you do it with more poise and grace. Aunt Reidacouldn’t care less if she threw remarks like a madwoman.” Lucianne chuckled, making Xandar’s animalwag its tail in glee. He then added, “Granpa Brock himself was very merciless with his words when hewas moody, calling my mother ‘mindless Vera’ even after she became Queen.”

Lucianne’s smile faltered and her back shot upright in shock at what she just heard. Xandar chuckledlightly and said, “Like I said, babe. He would’ve loved you. I can imagine the grin on his face if he had thechance to watch you take down Greg, the Cummings, Whitlaw, Caunterberg, Langford and even theKyltons, all three of them at once. You would probably be the next thing he’d boast about to the peoplearound him.”

Lucianne’s posture relaxed and her lips curled upwards. She gave a slight shake of her head a s shesaid, “Well, it’s comforting to know that I would’ve been accepted by one of the late elders of the family.”

Xandar knew exactly what she meant so he firmly insisted, “You really don’t have to think about my lateparents, Lucy. If you saw what everyone sees in you, you’d realize that the late King and Queen are notworthy of your acceptance. You’re too good for them. You’ve done more in your years than they havedone in both their lifetimes combined. I’m rather relieved that you don’t have to meet them, to be honest.They wouldn’t have respected you or treated you well. You might have rejected me after you’ve metthem, and I don’t think I could blame you for that.”

Lucianne chuckled. “It’s impressive how well you know me when it comes to that.” She teased as sheemptied her cup.

He grinned, and got up to lean across the table to peck a kiss on her cheek before declaring in a deepvoice, “I love you.”

She looked at him shyly and said, “Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me, baby. Tell me you know that I love you.” He insisted as he pressed their foreheadstogether.

Lucianne blushed under his stare as she uttered, “I know.”

His smile widened as he pecked a kiss on her forehead and said, “Good.” He then went around the tableto her side before holding out a hand for her to take. “Come, we should move on to our next stop.”

When he was helping Lucianne up, she asked, “Where’s that?”

There was a glint in his eye and he whispered into her ear, “It’s a surprise.”

At the opposite end of the café, a man wearing a cap and sunshades looked up from the newspaper hewas pretending to read. He watched Xandar and Lucianne as they left through the doors. When theywere out of sight, he sent out a text message to his comrade, and finished up his coffee before leavingfive minutes later.

Tip: You can use left, right keyboard keys to browse between chapters.Tap the middle of the screen to reveal Reading Options.

If you replace any errors (non-standard content, ads redirect, broken links, etc..), Please let us know so we can fix it as soon as possible.

Report