Chapter 60

Lucian’s POV

She called me Lucian.

That was the first thought to run through my mind as Aria opened the door for me at Cathy’s house. The second?

Why did her face fall so much when she saw it was me, and not Jasper? It was as if the bright light inside of her had been snuffed out. Did I truly provide so much displeasure to her that my mere presence would cause her glowing smile to entirely dim into a hard, gray frown?

“Lucian,” she said, correcting herself far too late. The damage was done. I knew now who she had been expecting to see – who she had been wanting to see.

Not me, but Jasper, my errant, playboy cousin. I’d always considered Aria a woman of discerning tastes. Why then had she yet to realize what an absolute cad Jasper truly was? He was not a man to be trusted, and certainly not one to be wanting to see.

Yet here Aria had been, excitedly saying his name, hoping for him at her door.

That I was an unwelcome sight, while Jasper would not have been, made my guts tie up into angry, uncomfortable knots.

This afternoon I had convinced myself that Aria had rejected Matt because she wanted to return to our marriage. Now, with growing dread, I was realizing she likely only rejected Matt to pursue Jasper instead.

With great discomfort, I forced out the words, “Do you love Jasper?” Despite my best efforts, I could not keep the outrage from my voice.

My anger seemed to spark her own. She opened her mouth to reply in what I was certain would be a cutting remark, telling me nothing, when another voice spoke first.

“Are you harassing my girlfriend again, cousin?”

I turned in time to watch Jasper approach, his car parked behind mine in the road. He had a spring in his step, a confident swagger, as well as a sharp smirk quirking his lips.

Walking around me, he moved to Aria’s side where he slid his arm around her waist. She looked shocked for a moment – maybe she hadn’t expected him to act so boldly in front of me – but then she eased into it, leaning into Jasper as a lover would.

Bile rose up in my throat.

I’d come here tonight hoping to at last convince Aria to return to her place beside me in our home. I hadn’t realized then that her path had already been set. She’d already made her choice, and her chosen future did not include me.

Jasper would hurt her. I was certain of that. But if I continued to push her, I would only continue to hurt her.

Odd that I never truly thought about her feelings before. I had been contented with how things had been before, so I thought that she would be as well. In her time away from me, I’d been hoping that she would come to realize how much she preferred being my wife.

Instead, the opposite seemed true, and in chasing after her in ways she did not want, I was only increasing her unhappiness.

The thought of losing her did not sit right inside of my chest, but neither did the thought of forcing her to do something she truly did not want.

Perhaps, for her sake, I needed to do something I truly did not want to do.

“You two are together, then?” I asked.

“Yeah, and have been for a while,” Jasper replied.

Aria did not verbally agree, but her continued silence was admittance enough.

Needle pains stabbing through my chest, I asked, “Did she tell you about Matt?”

Aria’s POV

At first, I had no idea what Jasper was playing at, putting his arm around my waist and pretending he was my boyfriend. We were friends, nothing more.

Yet, quickly I realized he was trying to help me deal with Lucian. Lucian was a stubborn man who would likely continue to pursue me forever. Even telling him I’d moved on with someone else might not be enough to convince him to let me go.

But with limited options, I decided to go along with it.

Jasper looked sideways at me. “Who’s Matt?”

“An old friend,” I told him, wondering why Lucian would even bother bringing him up. The only reason I could think of was that he was being petty, hoping to split up my new fake relationship. “He’s a warrior and on his way back to the borderlands now.” Looking at Lucian, I added, “Stop trying to sabotage things between Jasper and me.”

Jasper’s smile grew as he too turned his attention on Lucian. “I trust my girl, Lucian. If she says they are just friends, then they are just friends.” He laughed. “It’s not like you to try to pick away like this. Can’t you take a hint? Aria wants me, not you.”

For emphasis, he squeezed me against him. I placed my hand on his shoulder, going along with it for now. But he was in for a scolding later for taking so many liberties without speaking to me about them first.

Like he could read my mind, he grinned at me.

He kept that same cocksure grin as he looked back to Lucian. “You know, if it wasn’t for the mate bond between Aria and you, our relationship would be even stronger. It’s pretty selfish, don’t you think? Holding so tightly onto someone who doesn’t want you back? All you are accomplishing is making you both miserable.”

His grin added sharpness. “Plus I’m sure Sheila wouldn’t like it.”

Lucian seemingly ignored that last digging comment. His gaze slipped away from Jasper and settled on me. I straightened under it, wanting him to see how serious I was about this, even if in secret I was just pretending.

Looking at him, I expected him to be angry – furious, even. I expected him to rip me out of Jasper’s grip, pull me into his arms, and insist that I belonged to him, not Jasper – like how he had done with Matt.

Instead, as Lucian searched for something in my eyes, his own face started to fell. The fire in his eyes started to dim. The fury that had straightened his back and shoulders ebbed away like a deflating balloon.

I’d never seen him look this defeated before, and it triggered a fear inside of me. Wasn’t he going to fight back? Why wasn’t he saying anything?

My own resolve started to waver. The divorce was a necessity for us. Since he couldn’t love me the way I wanted, this was the only path forward to my true happiness. Yet in that moment, seeing him defeated, I wanted to take it all back.

Lucian was a proud, brave Alpha leader.

He wasn’t the kind of man to just give up.

Unless he thought this was truly what I wanted. No, even then he would fight. My feelings weren’t that important to him. While he’d never outwardly dismissed me, he had never seemed to consider me either.

“Very well,” he said, after too long of a moment. “I have a proposal, then.”

My heart was racing and sinking at the same time, simultaneously excited and filled with dread.

“Out with it,” Jasper prompted, when Lucian hesitated.

Lucian inhaled and exhaled slowly. Then he spoke, “Aria, we should mutually reject each other.”