Chapter 7

Lucian’s POV

I’m on a date with Jasmine when the media and social media explodes about ‘Sylvie’s Sweets’. My cousin, my aunt, and my secretary’s vicious slanderous remarks splash across the headlines. The constant ping of notifications fill up my phone, distracting me from my date. Instead of digging into my early dinner, I’m digging for more details on this and what happened.

Adam’s meeting with Emi had come and gone. He had confirmed leaving my business card with her when he left. I was expecting her anger, but I’m not expecting career suicide from her. I never needed to worry about her work ethic or professionalism. It never occurred to me that I needed to worry about scandal, because her shop and her professional reputation mean the world to her. It’s something that she and I both meet eye to eye on.

“Lucian?” Jasmine questions, reaching over to tap my hand gripping tightly on my wine glass. “You’re going to break that if you’re not careful.”

I glance at the wine glass and nod my head at her assessment. I drink my glass worth of wine down to attempt to drown out the headache that’s building, but alcohol isn’t my cure today. Jasmine raises her eyebrows in surprise at my actions while the server pops up out of nowhere to refill my wine glass with a healthy dose of it. I doubt it’ll work miracles a second time, but I’ll happy give it a try.

When the server leaves, Jasmine kicks me underneath the table. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing I can discuss in public,” I tell her honestly.

Her eyes widen as she slowly nods her head. “But you will tell me?”

My eyes focus on hers for a moment before I finally give her a curt nod. I look over my phone once more and wish I hadn’t. I glare at the new headlines popping up before I finally force myself to lock my phone and pocket it. This ruse of a courtship will make headlines if I’m not careful with the cliche of ‘trouble in paradise’. Four years of this courtship would’ve been wasted and I’m not going to allow my mate, my family, and apparently my secretary to screw this up.

* * *

“What made the Ice King Of Nonchalance crack?” Jasmine teases as the car door shuts behind us.

I sigh, shaking my head. “I should’ve asked for the entire bottle of wine.”

“I’ll pester you the entire night,” she tells me. Her eyes are light with playfulness. “You might as well tell me. You made a promise and I’m not allowing you to take it back.”

The car begins to move, driving towards my penthouse at the casino. I look out the window, watching the city flash by like a mosaic of lights dancing before me. I wonder if Emi has seen the absolute mess she just caused me. She probably has and I know this additional problem she made is an intentional message to me. I would’ve been proud of her attempt of deviousness and defiance, but she doesn’t know me well. Not yet.

“My mate has given me a lot of problems to deal with and fix,” I finally admit, causing Jasmine to inhale sharply at my confession.

“M-Mate?” she stammers in shocked awe. “You’ve met your mate?”

I chuckle. “I’ve known she’s my mate for over four years now,” I say, glancing over at the beautiful brunette next to me even the lights are ballerinas dancing across her skin. “I wouldn’t say what happened would be considered meeting — more like an unfortunate accident that was never supposed to happen. Ever.”

“What happened?” Jasmine has always been too curious for her own good.

I sigh. I might as well get this over with, because she’s relentless like a dog with a bone. I’ve got to focus on damage control instead of evading of Jasmine all night. My eyes meet hers and she’s waiting expectantly.

“She burst into my office a week ago,” I finally tell her and Jasmine’s mouth drops open. Her eyes go wide. “She was delivering samples and now she knows I’m her mate.”

Jasmine’s eyes narrow, searching my eyes. “Isn’t this a good thing though?”

“She was never supposed to know,” I tell her and her eyes betray her sadness and disappointment. Her eyes are asking why and I sigh in frustration. “She isn’t a part of our world. Our world will destroy her. It’ll chew her up and spit her back out. I wanted to save her from it so I never attended on making it known to her.”

She frowns in confusion. “Shouldn’t she decide that, Lucian?”

“I was doing this to protect her,” I growl out.

I’ve had a week or so to think through. Logic shouts at me to keep her at arm’s length, but everything inside of me wants to break the chains keeping me at bay. I still want what’s best for her even if that means I’m not good for her.

I sigh. “It’s not like I’m in a position right now or even back then to acknowledge her as my mate.”

When the car dips into the private garage below the business sector of my hotel, I watch and wait as my driver approaches the gated private section in the back only meant for me and guests I approve. Security allows us to go through. The car parks in one of the usual spots up front.

It isn’t until Jasmine and I are alone in my private elevator going up to my penthouse suite that she turns to me. I can see her peeking over at me and I sigh as I turn to her. She blushes at being caught.

“Out with it,” I tell her.

She swallows. “Am I the reason you didn’t claim her four years ago?”

I hesitate. I could lie, but she’ll know. She already knows the truth. There’s no point in hiding it from her. Would I have claimed my mate four years ago if it hadn’t been for my other best friend, Alpha King Cameron, begging me to somehow give him time to sort things out before going against his father’s desires?

Yes, I would’ve done so in a heartbeat. I would’ve ripped open that door. I wouldn’t have cared that she was just humiliated in front of everybody and covered in food and champagne in her catering uniform. I would’ve claimed her in that janitor’s closet and let the world know who she belonged to.

“You know the answer to that,” I finally say, not bothering to sugarcoat it. “If I hadn’t given my word to Cameron, I would’ve told him to fix his own mess and get his act together, but here we are still waiting on your mate to stop living in his father’s shadow and being ruled by his father’s iron fist.”