Page 127 of Chaos At Second Sight

She was my peace.

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

YVAINE

Ruby had been sheepish with Logan, so much so that we’d forgotten the main reason we’d come: to mark him. It was no surprise—the first time I’d seen Logan at the wereball conference, I’d nearly needed a defibrillator and it’d taken several meetings to stop stuttering with him. Logan was just too much. Too tall, too handsome, too broad…too much of everything.

The moment Lucien sprang out? Home was the only word for it. I’d missed him more than I’d ever missed anything else, our time in Scotland a precious postcard my mind had wrapped in tissue paper, afraid to let time damage it.

Lucien looked startled, his mighty body stiffening, nostrils flaring madly as he gulped us in. Slowly, his lips pulled back in what I hoped was a smile—all sharp fangs glinting in the shadows.

Ruby’s heartbeat shot up and I couldn’t blame her; my own first encounter with Lucien hadn’t exactly gone smoothly…

“Mate…” he mumbled, voice throaty, transfixed.

Then the panting began as he tried to take in as much as he could of Ruby’s scent, of his lycan mate. Lucien’s breathing grew rougher as he circled us, switching between two legs and all fours, like he was trying to decide something. Ruby remained still, expecting her mate to do what she wanted her mate to do.

“He’s going to eat us,” I whispered as he paced in tighter and tighter circles.

“It’s normal lycan behavior. Don’t worry, I’ll manage him for us,” Ruby assured me in flawless English.

An eternity later, Lucien halted in front of us and rose to his full height; he was enormous, much larger than us.

Ruby tipped her chin up, hands propped on her hips. “Do you love me?”

He looked utterly blindsided, ears flattening. When a tiny croak left his mouth, he covered it, horrified at his own sounds.

I giggled at the cute sight.

“Of c-course…” he stuttered. “L-Lucien love Mate a-and⁠—”

Ruby remained stoic. “Why do you love me?”

His clawed hand scratched the back of his neck in such a human way my heart squeezed. “B-because…you are my m-mate?”

Ruby pursed her lips. “Only because of that?”

His red eyes filled with panic. “No! You, um…” He gulped loudly, reminding me of how he’d swallowed that half of a cow in Scotland. “Mate is beautiful.”

“Logan already told me that.”

“Ruby…” She had melted around Logan, but with Lucien? She was bossy and fearless. Our animal halves were entirely different beings.

“Mate’s fur is made of stars,” Lucien declared, with hope and determination.

Ruby pondered the compliment while I swooned. “That was a cute compliment, Ruby.”

“I’m a spheroid of plasma held together by its own gravity?”

I buried my face in my hands. Ruby had apparently inherited every lecture, textbook, and scientific obsession I’d ever accumulated. I could hear it in the way she spoke, too.

But Lucien hadn’t. My theory? Logan had spent his whole life suppressing that part of himself, never giving it room to develop.

“Sorry.” His shoulders slumped. “Lucien is very uninformed.”

His breath hitched when Ruby walked straight up to him, leaned in, and licked his muzzle.

“I’ll help you. I’m here now.”