AFFAIR

Lucien's POV:

I squished on it, watching the bodily fluid ooze out of it as I waited for the guard’s arrival.

I hated this place a lot, but I had no choice… not when Freya was in Duncan's custody and I knew what they were, or at least, I had a hunch.

There was a possibility that I was wrong, but I didn't want to take any risk. It made no sense to me why I wanted to keep Freya away from him, especially if they were what I suspected them to be.

My world wasn't like this.

She was definitely tilting it, and it was getting out of control.

The best thing would be to give her up b-

“The poor insect,” I heard Duncan say before I saw him.

I didn't mutter a word in reply and just stared at him, trying to figure him out. Duncan usually has a facial expression, but today wasn't one of those days.

Something was definitely wrong.

Could it be that she…

I didn't want to overthink things because I wasn't meant to care.

“Where is she?” I asked him when the guards finally let me step into their land, leaving behind the uncivilised and disgusting forest.

“That's not really yo-

“Duncan, I'm not here to play,” I cut him off, restraining myself from blowing up.

I can't remember the last time I felt this way and Duncan seemed to have realised the change with the way he raised a brow.

Duncan took us to the pack house which was filled with several werewolves that did an awful job at being subtle.

I wasn't really a fan of werewolves, which was the reason I separated our floors and Dundan knew it.

“Are you doing this on purpose?” I asked him a few seconds after one of his people bumped into me.

“Do you want to see her or not?” he asked with a deadpan look.

I looked away from him while internally hating the fact that he had the upper hand.

We walked through the crowded hall with Duncan leading the familiar way and passed the backdoor to another space entirely.

I let out a sigh when the gentle afternoon breeze blew my hair out of its place. I knew the layout of this pack really well, which meant I knew damn well that Duncan was just trying to get on my nerves.

“We didn't have to pass there,” I commented as we approached his house.

I could only hope he wanted us to discuss something private there and that was it. Freya was definitely not in his house.

“How does it feel to be a discriminator, Lucien?”

I stared at the back of his head for a while, wondering if beating his ass up would be too much right now.

“It's not discrimination if the people smell like a fucking latrine,” I spat, my nose scrunching at the mere thought of going back into that pack house.

Duncan's body went still before he continued walking. He was obviously pissed this time around and I couldn't care less since he had asked for it.

“At least tell me if she's okay.”

I knew to an extent that she was probably okay or stable, since Duncan still had this side of him, but that didn't mean that I didn't hate the suspense.

Duncan came to an abrupt stop this time and I unintentionally let out a groan. I hated how dramatic he was about everything.

He turned around with a serious look on his face… the most I've ever seen him since we grew up together as kids.

“Are you attracted to her?”

My heart flipped.

It was as if I had been caught doing something wrong. I tried to maintain my composure, but I felt like I had slipped already.

“I have my answer already,” he said before I could reply, then continued walking.

His stance has changed a bit now. It was more rigid.

“Do you like her?” I asked him even though the answer was clear.

Knowing Duncan, he would never admi-

“Yes,” he replied, and I froze.

Duncan let out a sigh, then turned to me once more with a look of distress, or at least that's what I thought it was.

“Does your father know?”

The look on his face darkened and that got me my answer. It was understandable that his father didn't bu-

“I fucking hate this. Who the fuck is she?” He seemed to be talking to himself and for some reason, I nodded, understanding his plight.

A girl from the human world who managed to turn our world upside down. Only one person had managed to do that before and now she was gone because of… me.

Duncan shook his head and finally opened the door to his house. It was exactly like his space on my estate.

Earthy and homely unlike mine.

I looked around hoping to find his little buddy, but it was not in sight, which meant his father had been here.

“Duncan, she's not in your house, right?” I asked with a frown, my eyes scanning the doors upstairs.

The thought of it left an uneasy feeling in my stomach that was growing uncontrollably with every single second.

“What if she is?”

I swivelled around and raised a brow at him, not uttering a word as I studied him. She wasn't here.

“Don't worry,” I muttered and slumped on his couch.

I was exhausted from running miles because a part of me felt like it was better than getting here through a car.

“You need to care less Lucien,” Duncan commented, as if he was doing any better.

I found his statement offensive and the long stare I gave him seemed to have passed that message across.

“It's different,” he said, pouring himself a drink.

He didn't offer a glass and even if he did, I wasn't going to take it. I was already insane with Freya's influence in my life already, and I didn't need more.

“How so?”

I watched him intensely as the expression on his face morphed as if he was trying to figure out the right answer or probably trying to hide something.

Something I already knew.

“She's my mate,” he blurted out, throwing his hands in the air.

I saw it coming and was ready for it.

“And you sold her out,” I stated blankly.

He could never redeem himself no matter the justification, because there were many other options.

“I didn't know she was my mate then,” he said, his tone filled with regret.

Duncan slowly sat on the table and took a sip from his cup before letting out a sigh.

It was clear that he was torn. He had a mate.

A mate that probably had a thing with his childhood… business partner.

His brutal father might not accept his mate. The outcast she would become if she was even accepted.

And once again, me. Because I can't see myself giving her up.

“And I did it to protect her,” he added, as if that was meant to help his case.

“You had better options, Duncan.”

Duncan threw daggers with his eyes, definitely not appreciating my negative and unsolicited comment.

“You also had options… you could have saved her,” he said softly, his voice almost breaking at the end.

His words hit me so hard that I felt my still heart tighten in pain. I hated the reminder and I hated the fact that he was right.

“Will you keep going that low?”

“I'm not going low, Lucien. She wasn't just your lover but also my friend,” he replied, his eyes seeming cloudy, or maybe it was my vision getting blurry.

“Friend that you fucked countless times,” I finally said them.

The words I've been trying to push away just to honour her memory.

The words that brought the same resentment that made me abandon her when she needed me.

History was happening again and I hated it.

I hated my feelings.

I hated my actions.

And the most important one, I hated how Freya looked almost just like her.