CONGRESS

Lucien's POV:

Duncan slowly dropped the glass cup in his hand, his eyes not leaving me for a second.

To think he thought he had been able to keep it hidden from me for years made me irritated.

He laughed with me after he slept with someone I loved.

Called himself my friend and now, he was about to start it all over again.

I wasn't going to let him even though I had no plans to make Freya min-

“Lucien, you didn’t let her die on purpose, did you?”

My body stiffened as the irritation I felt slowly brewed into anger in my chest.

How dare he! That was the best he could do after I just called him out for the most disgusting thing a friend could do.

“I swear to God, I'll drain your life source right now i-

“Enough with it boys,” a voice interrupted before the owner showed up.

It was Sophie and behind her was… Freya?!!

Panic filled my chest as I sat up, watching both of them walk slowly towards us.

Her facial expression was blank and no matter how much I tried to read her, I couldn't.

It made me panic more, but I made sure to school my facial features.

She seemed okay, but something was still off about her and I couldn't pinpoint what it was.

“How long have you been here?” I asked Sophie, but my eyes were still on Freya.

Sophie stalked towards me, obstructing my view of Freya. Duncan seemed as tense as I was, but I was doing a better job at hiding mine.

“Awwn thanks, I missed you too,” she replied with a fake smile before she rolled her eyes.

“Answer the question, sister,” the fake spite in Duncan's voice managed to get to Sophie.

If only the two of them would just admit that they didn't hate each other.

“Just now. Why? What are you guys hiding?” She asked, her eyes constantly shifting from Duncan to me.

I didn't realise when I let out a sigh before walking towards Freya. I stood in front of her, wondering if it would be out of character to touch her.

Stepping so close to her suddenly made it feel as if we were the only ones in her small world and I kind of liked it.

Her scent evaded my nostrils and took me back to that night. I wanted to hug her tightly and ask what she wanted.

“I'm sorry,” I whispered without thinking twice, bowing my head.

The whole room went uncomfortably silent, but I didn't really care.

“I shouldn't have let you go out,” I completed, clenching my fist tightly.

Freya whipped her head, her pretty brown eyes showing how surprised she was. I was sure that if things were different, I would have claimed her as mine by now.

However, she looked like her. Way too much.

It was scary.

The only difference was the eye colour.

I managed to lift the edge of my left lip up and said, “Are you okay?”

She nodded slowly, clearly not comfortable with the new me. It was understandable.

As much as I really wanted to hear her voice, I didn't want to push, so I stepped away but made sure to scan her body for any visible bruises.

I was going to have to ask Nora to check up on her later.

“Lucien, are you feeling good?” Sophie asked out of nowhere.

I knew what she meant, and I really didn't want to have that conversation around Freya, so I just ignored her.

Sophie clapped her hands, making Freya jolt. I let out a sigh and shook my head at Sophie's attitude while Duncan looked irritated.

“Well, back to the business of the day.”

Sophie looked around with a serious face that definitely didn't fit her carefree attitude. A serious Sophie meant bad news and I didn't like the thought of it.

“Father demands our presence,” she dropped the news, and it was indeed bad.

Duncan froze while Freya looked quite confused, clearly not aware of how bad the situation was.

Duncan hurriedly walked to Sophie, making her take a step back as she assessed his facial expression. He was beyond angry.

“Did you tell him?”

Sophie rolled her eyes then shook her head, “Seems like the guards did.”

Her eyes drifted towards me and I let out a cuss. I was the reason their father's attention was on Freya.

“You know what he's like, so let's go now,” she said, holding Freya by her wrist as if they've been friends for years.

Freya still seemed confused but didn't utter a word, as if she was in her own world.

“This is really bad,” Duncan huffed as he quickly downed a huge gulp of alcohol.

From my side view, I saw Freya obviously shrink at the act, a look of disgust on her face.

Everyone stepped out of Duncan's house. The only people who seemed calm right now were Sophie and Freya.

“Sophie, can you find the guard?” Dinxan said when we were almost at the congress building after being silent throughout the walk.

Sophie nodded and that was it. My thoughts went back to Freya, then the congress building.

I hated the place a lot after my last appearance there. The only thing the snubs there ever did was to mock and pick on every single thing, and I wasn't in the mood for that.

“Duncan, you need to remain calm,” Sophie said out of nowhere.

She was right though. Duncan also hated them, but unlike me, he made sure to show it by being aggressive, which doesn't really help matters.

“I know.”

He was definitely going to make a scene again.

We stepped into the building, the hot sun disappearing behind us as the guards shut the door.

Darkness engulfed us as tall gray walls tried to intimidate us. The first time I came here was when I was ten years old, and I had been intimidated.

“I don't like it here,” Freya let out a whisper without even realising it.

Her voice bounced in the empty room, making it ten times louder. The way her eyes went wide open showed that she hadn't been expecting it.

“Announce them,” Sophie commanded the guard standing outside the heavy door designed with history.

The guard made sure to give each one of us a glance before he pushed the large doors open and disappeared.

Only when he came back did the cold silence get broken, “Your request has been approved.”

Request? Leave it to the Congress to always make it seem like you're the one reaching out.

“Thank you,” Sophie said regardless and tried to enter first.

“Your name isn't listed,” the guard said in a monotoned voice.

I shook my head at Sophie as she let out a ‘hmph’ and gave up immediately.

“Let me know whatever they say,” she said just as the rest of us stepped in.

Duncan, who was behind, glared at her, then asked, “And why would we do that?”

Before Sophie could give him a comeback, the guard shut the door, obviously tired of their constant banter.

The congress was just like before. The Elders were sitting high up countless stairs, staring down at others no matter who they were.

Werewolves were definitely more obnoxious than vampires, but they weren't ready for that conversation.

“You demanded our presence, fa-” Duncan cut himself off just to acknowledge the rest of the Elders also sitting.

“Who is she?” One of the elders said almost immediately.

Evelyn. You did think being young would make her relate better, but she was the worst person.

Duncan's father shifted in his chair, looking uncomfortable with the current situation, as if he couldn't stop it if he wanted to.

Duncan's father isn't as bad as mine, but the issue with him is the fact that he is nothing more than a puppet. The exact reason he's still the Alpha instead of Duncan.

“She is my mate,” Duncan replied.

Everywhere went silent as Freya and I whipped our heads at the same time.

What was he trying to do?