Chapter 86: A Better Husband

​Olivia’s POV

​For several seconds, I could only stare at Lucian, wondering whether I was still dreaming. He was sitting on the couch opposite my bed, dressed in a black shirt and trousers, with one leg crossed over the other. His hair looked slightly messy, and there were faint dark circles beneath his eyes, making me wonder whether he had slept at all.

​"Good morning," he repeated when I didn’t respond.

​I blinked, tightening my grip on the blanket. "Good morning," I answered cautiously, glancing toward the door before looking back at him. What was he doing in my room so early? And more importantly, how long had he been sitting there watching me sleep?

​"Did you sleep well?" he asked.

​"Um... yes."

​"Good." He leaned back against the couch, his eyes remaining on me, and for some reason, his calm expression made me even more nervous.

​The last time we had spoken, Lucian had been furious with me. I had expected him to remain angry for days, possibly even weeks, yet here he was, sitting in my room and asking whether I had slept well as though nothing had happened.

​"Lucian..." I began hesitantly, unsure of what to say.

​"Come here," he said, patting the empty space beside him.

​I glanced at the spot before looking back at him. "Why?"

​"Because I want to talk to you."

​My stomach tightened immediately. There it was. I should have known he hadn’t come here simply to wish me a good morning. Whatever calmness he was displaying now, I was certain it wouldn’t last once he started questioning me about Owen.

​"About yesterday?" I asked cautiously.

​"Among other things."

​I hesitated for a moment before pushing the blanket aside and climbing out of bed. Since I was still wearing my nightdress, I quickly reached for the robe hanging beside my bed and slipped it on. Lucian waited patiently while I tied it around my waist, and when I finally approached the couch, I sat beside him, deliberately leaving a little space between us.

​For a few seconds, neither of us spoke. I kept my hands folded in my lap, wondering whether I should explain myself before he started asking questions. But before I could make up my mind, Lucian suddenly turned toward me.

​"Are you afraid of me?"

​I looked at him in surprise. "What?"

​"Are you afraid of me, Annabel?"

​The question caught me completely off guard, and I opened my mouth without knowing how to answer. Was I afraid of him? There had certainly been times when I was absolutely terrified of Lucian. Times when his anger made me wonder whether I would survive another day in his pack. But things had changed recently. He had begun treating me differently, and although I still found him intimidating, I couldn’t deny that I had started feeling comfortable around him.

​"Not exactly," I finally answered.

​Lucian gave a small nod, although he didn’t look particularly convinced. He looked away for a moment before letting out a quiet sigh.

​"I owe you an apology."

​I turned toward him so quickly that I almost hurt my neck. Of all the things I had expected Lucian to say that morning, an apology was certainly not one of them. This was the same man who had been furious with me just yesterday, yet here he was, sitting calmly beside me and admitting that he had been wrong.

​"I’m sorry," he continued, looking directly into my eyes. "For what happened yesterday. I shouldn’t have lost my temper the way I did, and I certainly shouldn’t have grounded you."

​"Lucian..."

​"Please, let me finish."

​I closed my mouth, watching as he leaned forward slightly and rested his elbows on his knees.

​"I spent most of last night thinking about everything that happened. About that man, the money, and the things he said."

​My heart immediately began pounding at the mention of Owen. For one terrifying moment, I wondered whether Lucian had discovered something about my identity. Had Owen contacted him again? Had he somehow revealed the truth while I was sleeping?

​"About Owen..." I began nervously.

​Lucian shook his head. "You don’t have to explain anything."

​I blinked in confusion. "What?"

​"That man. Owen." He paused briefly before continuing. "I don’t know what happened between the two of you, and I’m not going to force you to tell me."

​I stared at him, completely confused by his sudden change in attitude.

​"Whatever he was to you, whatever happened between you two, that’s your past," Lucian continued. "And I don’t care about your past, Annabel. What matters to me is that you’re here with me now."

​My chest tightened painfully at his words. If only he knew that Owen wasn’t some former lover I was secretly meeting. He was a man who knew the truth about my identity and was using it to make my life miserable. There were so many things I wanted to explain, but I couldn’t do that without revealing the very secret I had spent months protecting.

​"He’s not my lover," I finally said quietly.

​Lucian turned toward me, and I took a deep breath before continuing. "Owen isn’t my lover. He never was. He’s just someone from my past, and I promise you that there’s nothing romantic between us."

​He studied my face for a moment before giving a small nod.

​"Alright."

​I frowned slightly. "Alright?"

​"Yes. If you say he isn’t your lover, then I believe you."

​For a moment, I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Yesterday, Lucian had been ready to tear Owen apart, and now he was simply accepting my explanation without demanding proof or asking a hundred questions.

​"You believe me?" I asked.

​"Shouldn’t I?"

​I didn’t know how to answer that, and perhaps he noticed because he let out another quiet sigh before shifting on the couch until he was facing me properly.

​"That’s actually part of what I wanted to talk to you about. I haven’t been a good husband to you, Annabel."

​My breath caught at his unexpected admission.

​"Ever since you arrived here, I’ve done nothing but make your life difficult. I’ve accused you of things, shouted at you, questioned your every move, and treated you like someone I couldn’t trust." He paused, looking down at his hands. "And yesterday, I went as far as grounding you like a child simply because I was jealous."

​"Jealous?" I repeated, although I already knew the answer.

​Lucian gave me a faint smile. "Yes, jealous. I’m not going to pretend otherwise. When that man said he was your lover, I couldn’t think straight. All I could imagine was you being with another man, and it made me furious."

​I felt my cheeks grow warm, but before I could respond, he continued.

​"But after thinking about it, I realized something. I keep expecting you to trust me and tell me everything, but have I ever given you a reason to feel comfortable doing that?"

​I lowered my eyes, unable to answer. The truth was that Lucian had given me more reasons to fear him than to trust him, especially during my first few weeks in the Full Moon Pack. And although he had begun changing recently, I couldn’t simply forget everything that had happened between us.

​"If I had been a better husband to you, perhaps you would have felt comfortable telling me about Owen yourself," he continued. "Maybe you wouldn’t have felt the need to hide things from me. Maybe you would have trusted me enough to tell me whatever was bothering you."

​He paused, waiting until I looked at him again.

​"And that’s on me, not you."

​Something tightened painfully in my chest. I had spent so much time worrying about what Lucian would do if he discovered my secrets that I had never imagined him sitting before me and blaming himself for the distance between us.

​"I know I can’t change how I’ve treated you in the past," he continued. "But I can change how I treat you from now on. I don’t want you to feel like you have to hide everything from me because you’re afraid of how I’ll react."

​"Lucian..." I whispered, struggling to find the right words.

​"I’m sorry, Annabel. For yesterday, and for everything else."

​For several seconds, I couldn’t speak. I had wanted to hear those words from him for so long. There had been nights when I had cried myself to sleep because of the way he treated me, times when I had wished he would simply look at me as a person rather than the daughter of an enemy Alpha. And now, here he was, apologizing so sincerely that I didn’t know what to do with it.

​"Thank you," I finally whispered.

​Lucian frowned slightly. "For what?"

​"For apologizing."

​His expression softened. "You don’t have to thank me for doing something I should have done a long time ago."

​I offered him a small smile, and he returned it before reaching for my hand. I glanced down as his fingers gently wrapped around mine, wondering what else he wanted to say.

​"There’s something else I want you to know," he said.

​I swallowed hard. "What?"

​Lucian was quiet for a moment, almost as though he was gathering the courage to say something important. Then he looked directly into my eyes.

​"I love you, Annabel."

​My breath caught, and for a second, I genuinely thought I had misheard him.

​"What?"

​He smiled faintly. "I said I love you."