Chapter 127: The First To Find His Miracle

“And sir,” Daniel continued, his tone shifting into a lower, far more serious register as he stepped closer to the seating area. “We just intercepted a high-level transmission broadcast across the shadow network. Alongside it, an urgent, priority-coded message arrived directly from Councilor Ophelia’s private office.”

That instantly snared Lucien’s interest. His platinum head turned slowly, his blue eyes sharpening like freshly honed steel. “Oh? What news could possibly be deemed ‘urgent’ by Ophelia? The woman hasn’t raised her voice since the French Revolution.”

Daniel glanced uncertainly toward the two tactical operatives cowering on the sofa, his mouth tightening as he hesitated to speak in front of human Aegis captives.

Lucien caught the hesitation and let out a light, musical laugh, his charming facade instantly sliding back into place. “Ah, where on earth are my manners? Dan, Mark… allow me to introduce our newest acquaintances.”

He gestured airily toward Elena and Dave, who stared back at the two terrifying werewolf lieutenants in mute, bewildered horror..

“This is Goldilocks, and that rather miserable-looking gentleman beside her is Sourface. They came all the way from Aegis to visit me, armed with a remarkable collection of weapons and an even more remarkable lack of common sense.”

Elena stared at him, and Dave looked as though he had just been insulted in a language he couldn’t quite identify.

Lucien continued as if nothing were amiss.

“Go on, Daniel, speak freely,” Lucien urged, a coy smile dancing across his lips. “I am simply getting acquainted with our new houseguests. They’ve been kind enough to explain a few things about their organisation, and I’m currently deciding whether to reward their honesty by allowing them to leave this house alive. And I also haven’t quite decided whether I shall grant them a permanent residence or turn them into garden fertilizer just yet. So, please, don’t let their presence discourage you. Whatever you have to say, you may say it freely.”

Mark cleared his throat, stepping forward. “Ophelia’s message states that Lord Alexander convened an emergency Conclave at the Blackthorne Estate last night. High Council members and all regional true-blood Alphas were summoned.”

Mark paused, drawing in a breath as if he still couldn’t quite process the words he was about to speak. “Lord Alexander made a formal, binding declaration to the court. He has found, marked, and claimed his fated mate.”

An absolute, pin-drop silence crashed over the grand drawing room.

The clinking of ice in Lucien’s glass ceased. The playful, mocking curve of his mouth flattened into complete, stunned immobility. For the first time in centuries, Lucien Blackthorne—the master strategist, the unshakeable negotiator, the man who was never caught off guard—was utterly, visibly speechless.

He sat motionless, his luminous blue eyes wide with unvarnished shock, staring at his Beta as if Daniel had just spoken in a forgotten ancient dialect.

“He… has found… his mate?” Lucien repeated, the words leaving his lips in a hushed, breathless murmur.

“Yes, sir,” Daniel confirmed quietly. “The news is currently sending shockwaves through every territorial network across the globe. According to Ophelia, Lord Alexander has already instructed her to initiate the formal protocols for the Acceptance Ritual. Preparations are actively underway as we speak.”

Lucien remained frozen for several long seconds, his chest expanding as he drew in a deep, heavy breath to anchor his suddenly racing pulse. The staggering weight of the revelation settled into his mind, shattering every calculated prediction he had built over three thousand years.

“I cannot believe it,” Lucien whispered, a breathless, dark chuckle escaping his throat as he ran a hand over his platinum hair. “Alexander… of all people. My stern, unyielding, brooding brother was the first of us to imprint. How on earth is that even possible?”

He stood up abruptly from the leather chair, the Movement so sudden and fluid that Elena and Dave flinched backward. The lingering boredom and theatrical detachment had completely vanished, replaced by an electric, burning intensity that radiated off his skin.

He turned toward his Beta and Gamma, his command absolute. “Daniel, prepare the private jet immediately. Route us directly back to Seattle. I need to see this miraculous creature with my own eyes.”

“At once, sir,” Daniel replied without a moment’s hesitation, turning on his heel to execute the directive.

Lucien stood in the center of the grand room, his gaze fixated on the dancing flames of the fireplace as his mind spun in overdrive.

It was a miracle. A genuine, impossible miracle.

Three thousand years of immortality without the one thing that might make eternity bearable.

For three thousand agonizing years, the progenitor bloodline had been bound to a dark, haunting existence—cursed with immortality, forced to endure the gnawing, hollow ache of a missing soul, doomed to watch empires crumble while living in eternal, lonely misery.

The curse had given the Blackthorne brothers endless life, but it had denied them the one connection their kind was meant to possess.

They could survive wounds that would kill ordinary Lycans, endure centuries without ageing, and watch the world change around them. They could accumulate fortunes, build empires, and command the respect—or fear—of nearly every supernatural faction in existence.

But none of it had filled the emptiness left by the absence of their fated mates. It had been a cruel joke, one they had learned to carry differently.

Alexander had buried himself in responsibility and control. Lucien had perfected the art of charm, filling the centuries with negotiations, games of power, and carefully cultivated distractions. Damien had become increasingly protective of the only family he had left, his loyalty hardening into something that few outsiders dared challenge.

But beneath their differences, the curse had bound them together in the same quiet misery. They had long since buried the hope that their fated mates even existed in this modern, fractured era.

And now Alexander had found a way out…. He had found his anchor. His brother’s dark, volatile beast had finally been brought to peace by the touch of a single soul.

A strange, unfamiliar warmth bloomed deep within Lucien’s chest, a flicker of something he hadn’t felt in millennia.

If Alexander can find his miracle in this vast, chaotic world… Lucien thought, a slow, breathtaking smile curving his lips as his blue eyes burned with newfound purpose, then perhaps… just perhaps… mine is waiting for me out there, too….