Chapter 46: A Family Mark

Olivia’s POV

​Ever since yesterday, when I discovered the real reason why Lucian hated the Blood Moon Pack, I had been seeing him in a completely different light. I understood his anger now. I didn’t justify the way he treated me, but I understood him to an extent.

​As for Lucian himself, I hadn’t seen him since the incident in the Forbidden Forest. I hadn’t seen his brother Lucas either. And then there was Owen, who had magically disappeared after asking me for money. My supposed mother, or the woman who looked just like her, had also left the pack house with Lady Rebecca. Sometimes I wondered if that woman was just a look-alike, or if something deeper was going on. I couldn’t explain it.

​I stared out the window of my room. It was unusually hot outside today, and Doctor Vance wasn’t at the clinic, so I wasn’t working. Feeling completely suffocated by the heat and my own racing thoughts, I decided to take a walk.

​I left my room and walked down the stairs. The servants eyed me with their usual cold expressions, but I was used to them by now.

​I walked around the pack house grounds, exploring parts I hadn’t visited before, until I came across a massive, clear swimming pool surrounded by smooth stone tiles.

​I swallowed hard, staring at the refreshing blue water. I didn’t really know how to swim, and after what happened in that flooded pit during the storm, any sensible person probably would have stayed far away from deep water. Thankfully, there were wide steps leading into the shallow end, and I had no intention of going any deeper. I didn’t need to swim. I only needed to sit near the edge and cool down without drowning. Surely I could manage that much.

​Looking around to make sure nobody was nearby, I unbuttoned my clothes and stripped down until I was wearing only my bra and underwear. I walked over to the shallow end, took the steps down into the water, and let out a soft sigh as the cool liquid touched my heated skin. I rested my arms on the tiled edge and closed my eyes, relaxing into the quiet atmosphere.

​For the first time in days, my mind actually became quiet. No Lucian. No Lucas. No Owen threatening to expose me. No mysterious woman who looked exactly like my missing mother. Just cool water and silence. But it lasted less than a minute.

​A sudden movement in the water shattered the peace. My eyes snapped open, and my breath caught in my throat when I saw Lucian standing in the water directly in front of me, his wet dark hair clinging to his forehead and water dripping down his broad chest.

​I gasped and pressed my back against the pool wall. "What are you doing here?"

​Lucian raised an eyebrow, his intense gaze sweeping over me. "I should be asking you that. This is my private pool."

​"You weren’t here when I came in," I argued, frowning. ℯℯ𝑙.

​"I was," he replied calmly. "I was under the water."

​"You could have made your presence known!" I snapped, crossing my arms over my chest to cover myself.

​Lucian only stared at me as though I were the strange one. Of course. Why would the man simply announce that he was underwater when he could nearly scare ten years off my life instead?

​He ignored my complaint entirely and moved a little closer through the water. I swallowed hard and growled quietly under my breath. I had found this spot too, and I wasn’t about to get out just because he was here. Thankfully, Lucian turned and swam toward the deep end, moving easily through the water before pulling himself out onto the ledge.

​My eyes traitorously drifted over him, and I froze. Fuck. His muscles were defined, water glistening off his broad shoulders and tight abdomen. I quickly looked away, feeling my cheeks flush with heat. Absolutely none of my business. I fixed my eyes on the opposite side of the pool and tried very hard to remember that this was the same irritating man who had practically interrogated me after I escaped the Forbidden Forest. Unfortunately, my eyes and my brain seemed to be having two completely different conversations.

​A moment later, Lucian slipped back into the pool and swam over to where I was standing, keeping a short distance between us. He rested his arms on the edge of the pool and looked at me.

​"Why are you in the pool? Aren’t you on your monthly flow?"

​I swallowed hard, my heart skipping a beat. How the fuck did he remember that? That was the lie I had used days ago to get away from the summit.

​"It’s over," I lied quickly, keeping my voice steady.

​Lucian stared at me, his dark eyes studying my face. As he adjusted his arm on the tiled edge, my gaze fell on a tiny, detailed tattoo etched into the skin near his shoulder.

​My brows furrowed. Something about it looked familiar, but I couldn’t immediately understand why. I stared at it a little longer, following the strange symbols and small curved lines with my eyes, and then a blurry memory suddenly flashed through my mind.

​The dark woods. Four years ago. The stranger.

​My body went completely still.

​I had never seen his face clearly that night. Between the darkness, the poison in my body, and how weak I had been, most of my memories of him had faded into broken pieces over the years. But I remembered touching his arm. I remembered my fingers passing over a small, raised tattoo on his skin.

​A tattoo that looked almost exactly like Lucian’s.

​No, I thought, my chest tightening in sudden realization. It can’t be.

​"Why are you staring at my tattoo?" Lucian asked, snapping me out of my thoughts.

​I quickly looked up at him and swallowed hard, trying to hide the panic rising inside me. "It’s... it’s beautiful. It looks like a word written in a strange language."

​Lucian glanced down at his arm. "It’s a family mark. A royal bloodline tattoo."

​"A family mark?" I asked, looking at it again. "So that means all of you have it?"

​"Every male in the royal family gets it."

​My heart started beating faster. "At the same place?"

​Lucian’s eyes returned to mine. "Yes. The exact same place."

​Oh, no.

​My thoughts immediately went to Lucas. The strange feeling I sometimes had around him. The way something about him had seemed familiar from the beginning. The way my silent wolf had reacted when he held me inside the Forbidden Forest. And then there was that kiss, which I was still trying very hard not to think about.

​If Lucian and Lucas had the exact same tattoo in the exact same place, then the tattoo proved absolutely nothing. Wonderful. I had somehow found an answer that gave me even more questions.

​"Does Alpha Lucas have it too?" I asked.

​Lucian frowned, his eyes narrowing. "Yes. In the exact same spot. Why do you ask?"

​"Oh, nothing," I answered far too quickly. My mind was spinning now, and staying here while Lucian watched every change in my expression suddenly seemed like a terrible idea. "I’m leaving."

​I turned toward the steps, but before I could take a single step, Lucian moved. His hand closed firmly around my arm and pulled me back toward him. I gasped as my back met the tiled wall of the pool.

​"Lucian!"

​He stopped directly in front of me, his hand still around my arm. "Why did you ask about Lucas?"

​"I told you. It was nothing."

​"That wasn’t nothing," he frowned.

​I swallowed hard. My mind was officially a mess. One minute I had been trying to cool down, and the next I was wondering whether the stranger from four years ago had been Lucian or Lucas. Because apparently having one impossible possibility wasn’t enough. I needed two.

​"Let me go," I said, pushing him away with all my strength.

​I turned around again, ready to climb out of the pool, but before I could take a single step, Lucian moved again with blinding speed. His hand shot out, wrapped firmly around my arm, and pulled me back toward him again.

​He slammed my back gently but firmly against the tiled wall of the pool, trapping me between the stone and his massive body.

​A gasp escaped my lips as the water sloshed around us. My eyes widened in shock when I felt something thick and hard pressing between my thighs.

​Lucian was entirely naked under the water, and his hard, fully aroused cock was pressed flush against my center.