17 - No, No, No

LIAM'S POV

I don’t know what Leon's issue was. Ever since Lucy got taken, he’s been acting strange. On top of that, I was disappointed that Lucy wasn’t my mate. I was so sure of it.

The way I felt like I needed to protect her was very abnormal, even more me. When she had the panic attack in my dad's office, it physically made my heart hurt. Leon always told me I was too emotional. Maybe he was right. I tried not to be agitated that Lucy wasn’t my mate, but it kept hitting me in the chest whenever the thought crossed my mind.

She was captivating. The second my eyes landed on her, my mouth watered. Her black hair was as dark as a new moon night, in contrast to her bright blue eyes, which made my knees feel like jello when she looked at me.

She was petit but curvy in every place that mattered. Her style was rugged and unique, not prim and proper like most she-wolves who often doted on me and my brother.

I was surprised when she snapped at Leon for how he spoke to her. She did it with tact and confidence, and it was so sexy.

She obviously cared about her job and wanted to make a good impression on my father. She would not let others step on her if she could help it. One interaction with her and she had me drooling internally.

My father was so confident that she would accept her position that he had her measurements taken to buy her a wardrobe of work attire. This worked out to my benefit, as I wanted to gift her something for her birthday that wouldn't be too extravagant.

The blue dress was perfect. I knew it would bring out her eyes. The way the slit went down the front of the dress sold it for me. I was dying to see her in it. 

I had one of the maids bring it to her room that day. I wanted to take it myself but didn't want to disturb her private quarters. I could tell that she was very reserved. When I realized she wasn't my mate at the gala, it made me feel like an idiot. Those feelings were quickly taken over by anger as I realized our guards were taking her away.

My brother was an entire mess. For starters, he dared to bring a stranger to Seth's office. Then, after all the weird shit that was happening, he wholeheartedly trusted this random girl who claimed to be Fae. Fae were known for being dangerous. Primarily because out of all of the supernatural world, the Fae were well hidden; their history and abilities were hardly understood, and we did not know as much about them.

At the end of the day, I trusted my brother, and I had to go off of that instinct, or else we would both go mad. I took a deep breath and let the trust and understanding roll through to Leon, letting him know I had his back. This unique bond we shared let us communicate without words. It instilled a trust I knew we would need for years to come if we were to lead this pack together.

I twitched as Tricia spoke up after Leon asked her what we needed to do now. "Well, we need to find Lucy. There are things about Lucy that she won't even understand. Now that she is 18, she will need guidance. We have been trying to track her down ever since she left. Where is she?"

I glared at her for the millionth time. I held back what I had wanted to say because, at this point, I was just irritated by everything.  I wanted to ask her why Lucy wouldn't understand things now that she was 18 because the girl I had met was very sure of herself; the Lucy I knew wasn't confused. My brother spoke up as I held my tongue. "She is in a cell in the dungeon." His tone was bitter, much like the taste in my mouth when he brought it up.

Tricia looked infuriated by Leon's comment. This was the moment I knew for sure that Tricia cared about Lucy. "SHE IS WHERE?" Her voice vibrated the entire room as she spoke. Maybe it was another freaky Fae thing, but I felt the vibration through my body and the heat coming from her as she questioned Leon's comment.

"No, no, no, no, no." She kept repeating the words over and over while pacing around the room. "This isn't how this was supposed to go; something changed things." She spoke more like she was talking to herself than to anyone else. My eyes darted back and forth, watching her go from one end of the room to the other. "What was she wearing tonight?" Tricia asked, suddenly looking from me to Leon.

"A blue dress," Leon's voice sounded shaky. "I got her a dress for tonight. I wanted her to have something nice since it was her birthday," I said, confirming my brother's statement.

She looked at me like I was stupid and unreasonable for buying Lucy a dress.  Leon looked at me with rage in his eyes. Apparently, he didn't like that I bought Lucy a dress either. "Neither of you should know," she said, shaking her head.

Know what? I thought to myself, but I continued to keep my mouth shut. "Why does any of this matter? I will talk to my dad; we can fix this," Leon explains. "No, it's already changed too much. Why is she in a cell?" She continued to ask questions, of course. "Alpha Kragen said she committed crimes in his pack." Tricia scoffed at Leon's comment, shaking her head harder. 

I finally stood up, exhausted from everything that had happened in the last several hours. "If you're here to help, how will you help? She is in a cell. We hardly know anything about her and I'm unsure why we care. Kragen seems to think she did horrible things she needs to answer for. So tell me, why should we even care?" My voice was bitter even though I hated this whole situation.