Chapter 177

The water was relentless against the smooth tile, the steam so thick it turned the edges of the shower into a blurred limbo.

Lucian stood directly under the spray, his head bowed and his hands braced against the stone wall. The water was hot enough to turn his skin a localized shade of crimson, but he didn’t seem to feel the scald.

He remained motionless, Isabella watched him through the shifting veil of mist. Usually, their silence was a comfortable space where words weren’t needed.

But today, the silence was a bit heavy by the lingering tension of the East Wing and the metallic tang that still seemed to haunt the back of her throat.

She picked up the sponge while stepping into the direct path of the spray. When she pressed the lathered mesh against his shoulder, he didn’t flinch, but she felt the muscle beneath the skin ripple and lock into a defensive line.

"Lucian," she whispered, moving around to face him, the water cascading over her own shoulders. She had intended to offer him comfort, to let the steam and the intimacy of the moment soften the jagged edges of the morning.

She wanted to be his anchor, but as she looked up into his eyes, the questions she had been suppressing since he turned the lock on the bathroom door began to sharpen.

She reached up, her thumb wiping a stray bead of water from his lower lip. His eyes finally snapped to hers. She pulled back just an inch, her gaze searching his for honesty. "Why did his smell affect me like that, Lucian?"

The silence that followed was heavy, broken only by the drumming of the water against the floor. Lucian’s gaze remained fixed on her, his expression a mask of practiced neutrality that she was starting to see right through.

He didn’t blink, even as the water ran into his eyes. "He is an Alpha cub in a peak rut, Isabella," Lucian’s tone was neutral.

He reached for the sponge in her hand, his fingers brushing hers with a coldness that contrasted the steaming air.

"The pheromones of an Alpha rut are designed to overwhelm. Even for a human, the scent would be nauseating. For someone with your... sensitivities, it is simply more potent."

"Sensitivities?" Isabella repeated, her brow furrowing. She stepped closer, ignoring the way his posture stiffened.

"I’ve been around Alphas before, Lucian. I grew up in a pack house. I know what a rut smells like. It’s disgusting, sure, but it never felt like *this*.It didn’t make me feel like I was losing my mind."

Lucian turned away, reaching for the handle to kill the water. The sudden silence was jarring, he grabbed a towel and began to dry Isabella’s shoulders.

"You were trapped in a confined space," he said, his hands still cleaning. "The stress of the situation amplified your physical response. Nothing more."

Isabella watched the way his eyes were fixed solely on hers, she knew that tone. It was the one he used when he was closing a door on a subject.

But she wasn’t ready to let it go. "It felt like a pull, Lucian." Lucian froze, the towel draped over Isabella.

The sudden stillness in his hands was more damning than any confession. For a heartbeat, the only sound in the room was the drip-drip of water falling from the showerhead.

Lucian kept his gaze focused on the towel, his fingers tightening around the fabric until his knuckles turned white.

"Panic can mimic many sensations, Isabella. A ’pull’ is often just the body looking for the source of its distress."

He went to move past her, his shoulder brushing hers in a way that was meant to be a dismissal, but Isabella didn’t budge.

She snatched the towel from his hands and threw it onto the wet floor, "Don’t treat me like a child, Lucian," she snapped, her voice vibrating with a clear authority that made the shadows in the corners of the room flicker.

Lucian finally looked at her, his eyes dark and unreadable, but she didn’t flinch. "First, you still haven’t told me what really happened with Elena and Caleb," she said, her chest heaving as she stepped into his space, forcing him to acknowledge her.

"And don’t think for a second that with everything happening, I’ve forgotten. I’m just waiting. But now this? You’re trying to deflect again, talking to me about ’sensitivities’ and ’confined spaces’ as if I don’t know my own body."

"Isabella—"

"No!" she cut him off, her hand flying to her neck, fingers pressing hard against the mark that was still humming with heat. "Do you know what is happening to me or not? Because I can feel the truth through the bond, Lucian. I can feel the way your pulse spiked when I mentioned that pull. I can feel the walls you’re building up in your mind."

She searched his face, her eyes pleading but fierce. "Please. Don’t lie to me. Not about this. I felt like a different person in that bathroom. And it’s scaring me"

Lucian stood like a pillar of salt, his damp hair clinging to his forehead. Internally, he was a war zone.

He could see the budding Lycan strength in the set of her shoulders, in the way she stood her ground against a Sovereign without trembling.

The blood in her was waking up, provoked by the lies and it was becoming a flame he could no longer hide behind his back.

"Isabella," he started, his voice a warning, "some things are kept in the dark for a reason. Not to deceive you, but to keep you whole." 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

"I am not whole when I’m being lied to!" she whispered-shouted, a single tear of frustration escaping and tracking through the dampness on her cheek.

Lucian’s expression cracked for the briefest of seconds. The raw honesty in the bond was sending all her desperation and her need to be seen as his equal rather than his prize.

He reached out, his hand trembling before he cupped her face, his thumb catching the tear.