Chapter 89: It’s She

Olivia’s POV

I stood frozen, staring at Lucian as my mind struggled to understand what was happening.

"Lucian, I—"

Before I could finish speaking, Lucian marched toward me, grabbed my arm, and pulled me behind him. The movement was so sudden that I stumbled slightly, but he immediately steadied me with one hand before turning to face his brother.

"What the hell are you doing here, Lucas?" he demanded, his voice dangerously low. "What are you doing in my wife’s bedroom?"

Lucas didn’t answer immediately. He simply stood there, staring at Lucian with an expression I couldn’t quite understand. He didn’t look frightened or even particularly bothered by his brother’s anger. Instead, he seemed distracted, as though his mind was still somewhere else entirely.

"Lucas, I’m talking to you!" Lucian snapped, taking another step forward. "Have you suddenly gone deaf? I asked you a question!"

"Lucian, please," I tried to interrupt, reaching for his arm. "It’s not what you think."

He turned toward me immediately. "Annabel, stay out of this."

"But you don’t understand. Lucas was only—"

"I said stay out of it!" he interrupted, although his voice softened slightly when he saw my expression. He took a deep breath before turning back toward his brother. "I want to hear it from him."

I swallowed hard and looked at Lucas, silently begging him to say something. The last thing I wanted was another fight between the brothers, especially after everything that had happened with Owen the previous day.

And this time, things were even worse.

Lucian had caught his own brother holding my hand in my bedroom. I could only imagine what was going through his mind.

"Well?" Lucian demanded. "Are you going to explain yourself, or do I have to drag the answer out of you?"

Lucas finally seemed to snap out of whatever thoughts had been occupying him. He looked at Lucian, then at me, before shaking his head.

"Lucian, calm down," he said.

"Calm down?" Lucian repeated incredulously. "You sneak into my wife’s bedroom, I find you holding her hand, and you’re telling me to calm down?"

"Lucian, will you listen to me?" Lucas suddenly raised his voice. "There’s something you need to know."

"Then start talking!"

Lucas looked past his brother and stared directly at me. There was something strange about the way he was looking at me, something that made my stomach tighten.

"Annabel is the woman I’ve been searching for," he finally announced.

For a moment, nobody said anything.

I blinked, wondering whether I had heard him correctly. What did he mean by that?

Lucian frowned. "What?"

Lucas swallowed before continuing. "She’s the woman I told you about. The one I’ve been looking for all these years."

I stared at him in disbelief. All these years? What was he talking about?

"What the hell are you talking about?" Lucian demanded, clearly just as confused as I was.

Lucas took a deep breath before looking his brother straight in the eyes.

"Lucian, Annabel is the woman I met in the woods four years ago. The woman I slept with that night, the one my wolf claimed with my royal mark. She’s the woman I’ve been searching for all these years."

Lucian went completely still.

I could feel the tension in his body as he stared at his brother, and for the first time since he had entered the room, his anger seemed to have been replaced by something else.

Shock.

"Are you telling me..." Lucian began, but his voice trailed off.

"Yes," Lucas interrupted. "I’m telling you that Annabel is that woman."

My heart began pounding.

Wait.

Four years ago?

A forest?

My thoughts immediately returned to the strange scars on my neck, and I instinctively raised my hand toward them.

No.

That couldn’t be possible.

I remembered that night. How could I possibly forget it? Four years ago, I had been attacked in the forest and had met an injured stranger. Somehow, one thing had led to another, and I ended up spending the night with him. When I woke up the following morning, he was gone. He had disappeared without leaving a single explanation, and all I had been left with were two painful marks on my neck.

For years, I had wondered who that stranger was and why he had disappeared without saying goodbye. But never in my wildest imagination had I expected to discover that the man I had spent that night with was Lucas.

Lucas?

I stared at him in disbelief, struggling to connect the man standing before me with the stranger I had met four years ago.

How was that even possible?

"Lucas..." I whispered, barely recognizing my own voice. "It was you?"

He looked at me, and his expression softened immediately.

"Yes, Annabel," he answered quietly. "It was me."

I stared at him in disbelief.

Lucas?

The man who took my virginity four years ago was Lucas?

Goodness! How was that even possible? All this time, the mysterious stranger I had spent that night with was none other than Lucian’s older brother.

I immediately covered my mouth, completely shocked. I had spent four years wondering about that man, never imagining that fate would bring us together again under such circumstances.

And now he was standing right in front of me, telling me that he had been searching for me all these years.

I slowly turned toward Lucian, expecting him to be furious, but what I saw made me pause.

He looked frightened.

His face had gone pale, and his eyes kept moving between Lucas and me. His hands were clenched into fists, and for the first time since I had met him, Lucian looked genuinely afraid.

And that confused me even more.

Why was he so scared?

I had expected him to become angry after discovering that I had slept with his brother four years ago. I had even expected him to accuse me of hiding something from him. But fear?

That was the last reaction I had expected.

"Lucian?" I called softly.

He didn’t answer.

Instead, he continued staring at Lucas, his jaw tightening as though he was struggling to control himself.

There was something about his expression that made my stomach twist. It was almost as though he already understood the meaning of everything Lucas had just revealed, and whatever it meant was frightening him.

But why?

What did he know that I didn’t?

"Annabel, the scars on your neck aren’t ordinary scars," Lucas continued, drawing my attention back to him. "My wolf marked you that night with my royal claiming mark."

I instinctively touched my neck. "What?"

"My wolf claimed you as his own. It’s a powerful royal mark, and he placed it on you so I would recognize you if we ever met again."

I stared at him in disbelief. "But does that mean we’re mates?"

"No. It’s not a fated mate mark, Annabel. It’s a royal claiming mark. They’re different."

I swallowed hard, struggling to understand everything. For four years, I had carried that mark without knowing what it meant, and now I was discovering that Lucas had been the one who had given it to me.

"That’s enough, Lucas!" Lucian suddenly snapped, his eyes flashing gold.

Lucas turned toward him. "Lucian, she deserves to know the truth."

"I said enough!"

I flinched at the anger in his voice.

Lucian took a step toward his brother, but Lucas didn’t move. The two men stared at each other, and for a moment, I feared they were about to fight.

However, something about Lucian’s expression continued to bother me.

He wasn’t just angry.

He was scared.

And no matter how hard he tried to hide it, I could see it.

Suddenly, Lucian turned toward me. "Annabel, let me see your neck."

I blinked in confusion. "What?"

"The mark," he said, his voice unusually serious. "I want to confirm it myself."

I swallowed nervously, looking between the two brothers. I was still trying to understand everything Lucas had just told me, and Lucian’s reaction was only making me more frightened.

"Please, just turn around," he said.

I hesitated before slowly turning my back to him and gathering my hair over my right shoulder, exposing the mark on the left side of my neck.

For several seconds, Lucian said nothing.

The silence was so uncomfortable that I almost turned around to see what he was doing.

Then I heard him gasp.

"No!"

I immediately turned my head slightly, trying to see his face.

"Lucian?"

His eyes had widened in shock, and he was staring at my neck as though he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. His face had become even paler, and for a moment, he looked as though he had forgotten how to breathe.

Then, without saying another word, he took a step backward.

"Impossible," he whispered.