I shuddered. “Lucien,” I almost cried out, trying to make him move, fuck me again, push me to the brink of ecstasy.
But his next words were like a cold bucket of water over my head. “I love you, Drew,” he whispered hoarsely, “and it’s killing me inside.”
Chapter 29
How to Convince an Alpha
Lucien was off me the second after his soft, painful, heartbreaking confession. Slowly, I rolled around to my back, staring at him with wide eyes, full of disbelief.
But if I thought I heard him wrong, the moment I saw his agonized face as he sat back on his knees, looking at me as though I was the best and worst thing that ever happened to him, I knew I couldn’t deny it.
Lucien told me he loved me.
Lucien told me he loved me.
“I l-love you,” I blurted out in a stuttered whimper, tears welling in my eyes, and shook my head, sitting up when he looked at me with frustration. “I love you, too, Lucien—”
“You don’t!” he cut me off with a desperate expression that felt like a knife to the gut. “You don’t really love me, Drew! You’re myEteria—you’remagically wiredto fall for me, even if I were the worst person in the world!”
His words were true, but they hurt nonetheless. “But you aren’t,” I begged, lifting myself to my knees before him and cupping his face in my hands so he wouldn’t be able to look away. “You are a good person,Lucien. The best man I’ve ever known. I love you. I really do.” My voice broke as the tears I tried to hold in burst out.
He grabbed my wrists, face twisted in unbearable pain. “How can I trust your words when you don’t trust them yourself?” he asked in a devastating whisper.
I traced his face with my shaky fingers, unable to answer. Because he was right. I couldn’t trust my own emotions. That was the logical way to think.
But in truth, the way I felt when he was looking at me like he did now, when he claimed me with his cock, when he touched me, and still did, as if I were precious and fragile ...
He’d protected me from Chase when he was still heavily wounded.
He treated me with respect and affection like no one ever did before.
When he smiled at me, I felt like I was ten feet tall.
When he laughed at my jokes, I wanted to see him laugh all the time.
I hurt when he hurt. Both physically and emotionally.
I cried when he cried.
He comforted me when I didn’t even realize I needed comfort.
He looked at me as if I mattered. As if I was important. As if he needed me.
And I needed him too. I needed him so much that it took my breath away.
How could all these emotions be the result of some magical manipulation, when they felt so fucking real?
“I love you,” I said, feeling like a broken record, and pressed my lips against his. “I love you, Lucien.I love you.”
His hands were around my neck as he kissed me, and I could feel the pain in him when he murmured against my lips, “Who are you trying to convince?”
I pushed at his chest, angry at him but even more at myself for being unable to refute his words. “What about you, then?” I snapped, wiping my tears as I glared at him. “Do you actually loveme? Do you think I believe it?”
He growled, glowering back, as he pushed me down to the mattress, his naked body pressed against me, his arousal still hard, hot, and thick near my wet entrance. “I’ve wanted you from the moment I first saw you,” he almost snarled, eyes holding mine. “Your kindness, warmth, beauty ... I couldn’t help but be drawn to you from the start.”
I shook my head, even as my body betrayed me, my legs widening up on their own to accommodate his heavy, gorgeous body between them. “You’re lying.”
“You must be clueless, then,” he hissed, eyes clouding with lust as he rested his cock along my slit, making me gasp as arousal rose within me again. “You have no idea how extraordinary you are, Drew. How beautiful of a person you are, both inside and out. You are everything I have ever wanted. Everything I’ve ever needed.”
