Page 6 of The Cuddle Clause

Lucien smiled, all teeth. “Darling, you’ll find out soon enough. For now, just be prepared to perform and do what’s asked of you.”

I laughed under my breath. “When am I not performing?”

Lucien went still for half a beat, then he looked at me with something too close to empathy. It knocked the air right out of my lungs. “That’s what I’m afraid of.”

The words hit harder than I expected. Too close. Too true.

Perform. Pretend. Smile on cue. Charm the pack. Hold the center together while everyone else swayed. I was good at it. I didn’t know what I’d be if I stopped.

I didn’t belong in this machine, but I was tied to it, blood-deep.

Lucien smirked, and the moment vanished like it never happened. “Now run along. I’ve got an aromatherapy ritual to finish before our meeting in fifteen minutes.”

I swallowed my questions and walked out of the room with the faint scent of eucalyptus clinging to my shirt.

The air inside the main hall of the Velasquez mansion felt like it was choking me.

Too many wolves in one place. Too many minds.

The weight of magic saturated every inch of space and clung to the walls.

Sweat. Dominance. Pride. All of it crawled into my nose and settled at the back of my throat.

I kept to the edge of the foyer, tracking exits, marking the cleanest path out of the room if things got to be too much.

It was habit now. Ritual. One of the few ways I kept from coming apart.

This wasn’t where I wanted to be.

There were about a hundred other things I’d rather be doing.

Watching The Sound of Music. Alphabetizing the spice rack.

Literally anything that didn’t involve standing in the center of the pack’s political machinery with a fake smile stapled on my face.

But duty called. And when Lucien said jump, I jumped.

That was the job. That had always been the job.

My alpha. My cousin. My family.

My leash.

I was halfway to claiming a seat along the back row when I heard a woman’s smug, syrupy voice. “Roman.”

I didn’t even have to turn around. My spine knew the shape of her presence before my brain caught up.

Seraphina. My ex.

She drifted up beside me like she’d been waiting for the right moment to pounce. Her hand landed on my arm, fingers too smooth, too familiar. My muscles tensed, and my skin went tight. I didn’t like being touched unexpectedly. Never had. Not even by people I used to kiss.

Especially not her.

“I’m so glad to see you,” she said, the perfume of moonstone oil and expensive desperation curling around her. “Would you like to sit next to me at the meeting?”

I sighed. “I should probably sit with the other pack leaders.”

Her eyes sparkled, her teeth too white and too perfect when she smiled. “You know, if you had me on your arm, you could climb the ranks faster, right? Not to mention, I would climb you, which would be an added bonus.” She said it like a joke, but I knew she wasn’t kidding.

My soul tried to eject from my body.

I didn’t answer. I took a deliberate step away. She got the hint—sort of—and pivoted, her back to me now like I’d become invisible. Her curtain of perfect blonde hair caught the light as she flipped it over her shoulder, just in case anyone wasn’t watching.

Unfortunately, everyone was.

I caught the stares. A few of the elders tilted their heads, eyes gleaming with interest. I threw a sheepish little wave and pretended my ex hadn’t just offered to ride me into alpha power in front of half the pack.

Damn audience.

Inside the main chamber, the pressure doubled.

The room was wood-paneled and overly warm, the windows shut tight.

Energy coiled like a spring under everyone’s skin as pack members murmured in low voices.

Territorial magic crackled in the air, status games playing out through body language and pack hierarchy cues so subtle that outsiders would have missed it.

I slid into a chair near the others who held positions of power. As I adjusted my cuffs, I counted the beat of my fingers on my thigh in sets of eight. Breathe. Just breathe.

Lucien moved to the podium with the poise I’d seen a thousand times.

Imposing. Cold. Perfectly styled. His black suit was immaculate, and when he stepped forward, the room quieted before he even opened his mouth.

That was the kind of power Lucien had. He didn’t need to assert his dominance.

He was pure dominance. So much so that his presence was almost suffocating.

I respected him. I really did.

He was more than my cousin and my alpha. He’d been my anchor when my parents died. My protector. My mentor. My closest friend. The brother I never had.

But lately, I didn’t know where I ended and his vision for me began.

Lucien opened with the usual updates: Patrol routes, diplomatic talks, some minor economic notes.

I already knew all of it. Hell, I wrote half the damn report.

I tapped my fingers in time to my internal rhythm, forcing the rest of my body to stay still.

If I had to sit through one more line about enchanted livestock exports, I was going to chew the leg off my chair.

Lucien’s tone changed. “Now for the real reason I called this meeting.”

Silence fell over the room like a trap had snapped shut.

“There’s been a rift in the ley line that feeds the magic of our territory.

It started small. Glimmers of energy loss near the eastern edge and so on, but it’s growing.

If it continues unchecked, it will destabilize the enchantments that shield our borders and compromise the strength of our bond magic. ”

My stomach twisted. Why was I just now hearing about this?

Lucien’s voice was steady. “The elders believe that an imbalance in our collective resonance is causing it. Too many unattached, unsealed wolves and not enough grounding magic. Not enough connection. We’ve run the numbers.

It’s real. Additionally, as you all are aware, Nicholas, my beta, is very ill.

I am continuing my search for a replacement beta, as Nicholas is unable to fulfill his duties. ”

Resonance imbalance. The words looped in my mind like static.

Lucien’s sharp and unyielding gaze scanned the room. “We are officially initiating a mating mandate. All unmated wolves aged twenty-one and over have thirty days to form and seal a bond. It doesn’t need to be a fated match. It simply needs to be committed and magically stabilized.”

Gasps, murmurs, and questions buzzed across the room. It slammed into my head like a migraine, and I threw up my mental shields. It was too loud. Too much.

Lucien’s gaze snapped to me. “There will be no exceptions.”

Fuck. Fuck.

This was why I lived in the city. Why I rented that apartment. Why I kept a physical and emotional radius around myself like a moat. Because here, I was Roman Velasquez, Lucien’s cousin. Eligible. A strategic match.

And now?

Now they were coming for my autonomy.

A hand went up near the back of the room. “Alpha, does that include you?”

The room went still again. It wasn’t tension, exactly—more like everyone had collectively realized that the alpha had just been asked a very personal question.

Lucien’s mouth curved, but there was no humor in it.

“No. I’m magically self-sustaining. As you all know, my fated mate passed years ago, but the bond still holds residual magic.

As the elders will tell you, a true fated bond lasts eternally.

In life, in death, in every echo of magic that lingers between. ”

Nothing in his tone invited pity. No one spoke after that.

I kept my face neutral as the memories slid in.

The pack had grieved when Lucien’s mate died.

During the weeks of mourning, even the strongest wolves had gone quiet, moving like they were underwater.

Lucien hadn’t stepped away from his duties once, but everyone knew he hadn’t been the same since.

No one ever really talked about it. It was too raw.

Too personal. The pack had never really recovered, and the silence around his name had become part of the air we breathed.

I didn’t even hear the rest. My ears rang with a rising sense of dread. My whole body buzzed with panic. I needed out.

“Roman,” Seraphina said. She was at my side in seconds, her voice laced with sugar and satisfaction.

“This is excellent news. The perfect opportunity, really. You and I have always had a connection. It makes sense, don’t you think?

We’d be perfect together. Powerful. Balanced.

We’d be unstoppable, and we would rule the pack someday. ”

My chest tightened. I needed to breathe, but it felt as if the air was laced with smoke.

She leaned closer. “You don’t need to pretend anymore. We both know I’m the obvious choice.”

Too close. Too sure of herself. I couldn’t stomach this right now.

“I need to—” My voice cracked.

Eyes were on me.

Lucien. The elders.

I couldn’t let her win. Couldn’t let them decide for me, even if this was about the future of the damn pack.

“I’m already with someone,” I blurted. “She’s… human. Her name’s Maggie James. I plan to mate with her.”

Silence.

Seraphina blinked. Her expression twisted, hurt and disbelief curdling into something colder.

Me? I was smiling. Not because it felt good, but because I’d learned early on how to charm through panic. Mask harder. Smile tighter. Get out fast.

But on the inside, I was unraveling.

What the fuck did I just do?

Lucien arched one perfect brow, and I could feel the interest in the room shift toward him, like everyone was waiting for him to call my bluff. Instead, he gave me a thin, calculating smile.

“Good.” The warmth in his tone made the knot in my stomach tighten. “That leads us perfectly into the next item on our agenda.”

He pulled a sleek, obsidian device about the size of my palm from the inside pocket of his suit jacket. Its screen glowed faintly with a scrolling blue-green pulse, the numbers shifting in time with an unseen rhythm. Even from here, I could hear the faint hum of magic inside it.

“This,” Lucien said, holding it aloft so the pack could see, “is a ley line resonance monitor. It’s a very recent acquisition from a rather exclusive contact.

It allows us to measure the stability of our wards and the strength of the ley lines that feed them.

No more guesswork. No more relying on my own intuition—which, I’ll add, has been spot on. ”

He tapped the screen, and a sharper spike of light rippled across it. Murmurs of awe, curiosity, and skepticism swept through the room. “It reads fluctuations in real time and will tell us if our corrective measures are having the intended effect.”

Corrective measures. Mating mandate.

I didn’t move a muscle, but my mind was already chewing on the problem. If that device said the wards weren’t improving, Lucien would double down.

Lucien’s gaze slid over the pack, lingering just long enough on a few of the unmated to make his point. “I will be carrying this with me. The betas patrolling the perimeter will also be using it. When the bonds start sealing, we should see the proof right here.”

His smile widened, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “If the readings don’t improve… we will take further steps. But for tonight, we celebrate the beginning of a stronger, more connected pack.”

Applause rippled unevenly across the room. I didn’t move, didn’t clap. My eyes stayed on the tracker in his hand. The glowing numbers seemed to breathe.

Somewhere in my chest, that rising dread turned into nausea and an urgent need to escape the confines of this room.