Page 21 of Forsaken Desire (Ruthless Wolves #1)

T he opulence of the ballroom was breathtaking. The floors were so pristine, the overhead chandeliers reflected off the shiny granite surface. I walked beside Lucian, squeezing his arm with a death grip, while I squeezed my little handbag between my arm and side.

“I have you, Josephine,” he murmured, and his hand settled over the mine holding his formerly neatly pressed sleeve.

“You’re sure I can be here?” The vulnerability in my voice was almost embarrassing, but I kept my spine poker-straight.

“You can be wherever you please.”

The soft words bloomed in my stomach. I inhaled, taking in his sweet smell.

The warmth in my chest pulsed, and it was enough to calm my nerves.

He guided me to the left of the extravagant ballroom.

Round tables were decorated with linen cloths, and plates were set up on the surface.

People in beautiful, luxurious clothing filled the seats, chattering and clinking their flutes as they laughed with abandon.

I didn’t miss the way Lucian attracted attention. I straightened my shoulders, stiffening my grip on his arm. So many of them.

A growl built in my throat, but I worked to swallow it. They could want all they wanted, but he was mine.

I lifted my chin and peeked at him from the corner of my eyes.

He watched me with a smile playing along his lips.

Had he seen my mini freak-out? I quickly averted my eyes.

Just in time for us to stride up to a table with five other people.

I stopped next to him, behind two empty linen-wrapped chairs.

With a quick scan, I took in two pairs of an older couple and . . . Cierra. I couldn’t stop myself from stiffening.

“What is she doing here?” he snapped.

The elegant woman sitting to the right of Cierra stared haughtily, the diamond studs in her ears and the necklace catching the light.

The facets of the stones glittered with her every breath.

She even had them in her neatly coiffed hair.

Cierra was just as elegant in a sleek red dress, the color so vibrant it made me want to slide into a hole in the floor.

“I could ask you the same question, Lucian,” the older woman murmured, her gaze pointedly staring me down.

My grip slipped from Lucian’s arm, and I smoothed my palms against the silk of my black slip dress.

Lucian’s upper lip twitched, nearing a sneer.

“You know what you’ve done,” was all he said, and his eyes seemed void of everything. The older woman stiffened, visibly.

“What is all this tension between mother and son?” Mother ?!

A heavy-set man on the seat one over from where Lucian stood said. His grin was wide, and food peeked from the crevice of his two middle teeth.

“David,” Lucian said, more relaxed as he turned away from his mother.

An easy smile spread across his lips, but I could tell he was anything but calm.

Anger vibrated off him, but the human’s lack of wolf senses meant they weren’t in tune to the supernatural.

At least not this human. Some were more sensitive and open to energy.

Lucian finished shaking his hand, and his arm went around my back, his palm splaying at my side.

David’s eyebrows rose high on his forehead.

“Meet my wife,” Lucian said, squeezing my waist pointedly. I barely caged my gasp behind my lips.

“Wife?” David boomed out a laugh. His gaze turned to Cierra and back to me. “Interesting. Very interesting.”

“Sit down, then.” The older man on the other side of his mom waved his hand to the free seats.

Lucian pulled it out for me, and I carefully dropped into it, plucking out my handbag and placing it on the table.

It was taking everything in me not to grab my phone out of it and scroll so I didn’t have to participate.

Lucian took his seat in an elegant movement. How could he move so smoothly?

I gripped the bottom of the chair and scooted myself in with little shuffles, but somehow, with every move, it caused an obnoxiously loud squeak. My mate’s mom stared with a single eyebrow raised. My face warmed, and I cleared my throat, lifting my chin and folding my hands in my lap.

“It’s nice to see you, Lucian,” Cierra drawled. Her smile held a bite to it. My spine became straighter. Her anger at my mate was clear to see. She was taking advantage that there were humans at the table.

Her message was for me. A clear snub. I narrowed my eyes. This was the type of woman you had to make your stand with.

Part of me felt bad for her. She’d expected a life with Lucian before me.

I couldn’t deny seeing it from her side, but she was a shifter; she knew how precious a fated mate was.

My mate crackled with energy. He shifted in his seat, his hand squeezing my thigh.

By the tension lining his body, I could tell he seethed with rage.

I pointedly met her eyes. The initial slap of her dominance weighed on me and urged me to drop my eyes, but I gritted my teeth, working to keep her gaze. She didn’t buckle, but the tension of Lucian’s fingertips pressing into my thigh told me he was likely staring her down.

“They’re fighting over you, Lucian,” David mused, his voice tinged with humor. His comment ripped me out of the challenge.

“It seems so,” Lucian mused and squeezed my thigh again.

On the other side of Lucian’s mom, a man, who was the image of an older Lucian, laughed, his bloodshot eyes glazed as they bounced over all of us.

“Henry,” his mom snapped, glaring over at him.

“I need to take a leak, dear,” David announced to the quiet human woman next to him. She helped him stand, serving as a prop as he staggered like a newborn foal.

As soon as they were gone, a low growl escaped Lucian. His eyes reverted to the blankness that sent chills down my spine.

“Out of my sight,” he bit out.

Cierra went pale at an alarming rate.

“Lucian,” his mother admonished.

“No, Elain,” he said, his voice gravelly. Did he call his mom by her name? I eyed them, but they didn’t seem like mother and son. Dominance pulsed from every one of his pores.

“Alpha.” She dipped her head so low her forehead almost smashed into the table.

“I hate these—Joey!” Alex’s voice was recognizable. A hand fell on my shoulder, but Lucian was there, yanking it off me.

A sharp growl spilled from Lucian while Alex flinched.

“Fuck, man,” Alex groused, hugging his arm to his chest. “I’m not stupid enough to make a pass at your mate. No need to kill me.”

Alex’s eyes pinched at the corners. The jab seemed targeted. Probably because of what happened at the community center.

Alex plopped down on Lucian’s other side, and I gave him a small wave.

“Now I see why you kept avoiding me when I asked you out?—”

Lucian gripped the back of his neck, the hold obviously threatening.

“Don’t push me,” Lucian hissed.

“Lucian!” his mom gasped.

I was already gripping his arm, tugging. Fortunately, he released his brother and smacked him on the back with a smile so that anyone watching wouldn’t think Lucian was threatening his brother.

“Your behavior with Cierra and Alex?—”

“Enough,” Lucian growled, his voice sharp. His mom clamped her lips shut, and her eyes lowered.

Henry’s lips twitched, and he tipped back another glass of champagne, simply watching everything.

“Joey?”

I turned to the familiar voice. One that I genuinely never expected to hear again. Whirling, I met Verity’s gaze. She was dressed in the clothes all the servers wore. White blouse and black slacks. Intricate tattoos of geometric shapes peeked out from her rolled-up sleeves and along her collar.

I wobbled unsteadily to my feet, using the table to stand, and I threw my arms around her.

The familiar smell of cigarettes clung to her hair. It was comforting. I squeezed her around the neck, hard, breathing her in. She was the only human I’d allowed close while in prison, and that was because she’d saved my ass after she’d taken the blame for me getting pulled into a fight.

I’d just gotten out of isolation, and they would have tossed me in for another thirty days if not for her.

When I pulled away from her, my hair snagged on her eyebrow piercing. She easily and skillfully untangled it. Verity’s gaze lifted to Lucian, who’d stood at some point. He pressed against my back, the tension in his body seeping into me.

“I have to get back to work, but give me your number and we can catch up.”

I smoothed my hands down my dress to get rid of the dampness, then grabbed my cell phone from my clutch.

Verity rattled off the number, and I texted it to myself.

Lucian’s palm squeezed my hip.

Verity’s eyebrow went up, and she scanned my mate analytically.

“Got yourself a boyfriend, huh?” She smiled. I pressed my lips together, and she laughed.

“Pst!” A waiter waved at her insistently.

“Fuck, I have to go, but we’ll talk soon. Don’t forget to call me.”

I watched her shuffle away as if in a trance. It wasn’t until Lucian tugged me by the waist that I snapped out of it, shoving my phone back in the bag.

“What an . . . interesting individual,” Elain sniffed, lifting her chin. The haughtiness rubbed me the wrong way. I hated how she stared at her.

“She really is. And she’s a fantastic artist. She did my tattoo.”

“A tattoo,” Elain’s eyebrows raised. “How . . . interesting.”

Cierra snickered and raised an eyebrow at me.

I was so taken aback, I could only blink. What did someone say to someone so utterly out of touch with reality? She lived on her perfect pedestal, not worrying while we struggled to make ends meet?—

The face of a scruffy middle-aged man flashed across my thoughts. A sharp pain stabbed my temple. I pressed my hand against the throbbing point, trying not to make a sound.

Henry caught my eye with a quizzical look.

“You all right, young lady?” he asked. The surprise of it allowed me to swallow down my nausea.

All these people weren’t the type I wanted to impress. Especially Cierra and Elain who continued to look at me like I was shit smeared under their shoe.

I’d give them something to be dicks over.

“Lucian’s never liked body ink—” Cierra offered, her smile catty.

“Prison gets monotonous,” I spat my truth out, cutting Cierra off.

“You’re a convict?” Elain’s eyes bugged.

I peeked up at Lucian. He remained frozen, his expression stiff; he looked like he’d been socked in the stomach.

I stiffened to the point of breaking, dropping my eyes to the table. My hands trembled on my lap.

“This can’t be right, Henry. The Moon wouldn’t saddle Lucian with a convict,” Elain huffed. She said it so casually, as if she were talking about the weather.

The judgment stung, and the tingle in my fingertips spread upward. My limbs were becoming numb.

Lucian still hadn’t said a word. The knot in my throat swelled.