Total pages in book: 59
Estimated words: 56786 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 284(@200wpm)___ 227(@250wpm)___ 189(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 56786 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 284(@200wpm)___ 227(@250wpm)___ 189(@300wpm)
“Don’t be ridiculous,” he said with a wry smile. “In a hundred years, you’ll have a giant family of your own to take care of. An old omega who was once married to your father will be at the bottom of your priorities.” And never mind that the thought brought a strange surge of panic inside him. It was stupid. Of course Aksel—and his siblings—would eventually acquire their own families: children, grandchildren. Mates. Royce had married recently. Aksel would be next.
Lucien looked away, disconcerted by how much the idea unsettled him. It was probably natural to feel left behind when the others in the family married, but still, he’d never thought he was that bitter. He’d thought he was a better person than that.
“You’re the one being ridiculous if you really think that,” Aksel said. Pushing Lucien’s shirt up, he nuzzled his bare belly.
Lucien squirmed self-consciously, trying to yank his shirt down. Although he was relatively in shape, he didn’t have the flat stomach and sculpted abs of young omegas Aksel’s age. His bone structure was narrow, but he had more body fat than he would have liked. His stomach was a little soft and his breasts and buttocks embarrassingly plump. Although Lucien no longer felt disgusted by his body, he still didn’t like it, and he usually wore loose clothes to conceal the curves. He didn’t want anyone to see what was under his clothes.
But Aksel completely ignored his feeble attempts to push his head away and yank down his shirt, nuzzling Lucien’s bare stomach in a way that was... that was... as if it were a religious experience. Lucien could barely watch it, his stomach quivering.
“Fuck, I missed your skin...” Aksel kissed his belly button. “So damn soft. Just gorgeous.”
Lucien blushed. His face wasn’t the only part of him that felt warm—his chest did too. He’d forgotten how good Aksel could make him feel about himself. With Aksel, he never felt lacking or disgusting. Aksel was always blunt and brutally honest, to the point of rudeness. He’d never lie to make Lucien feel better about himself. Lucien loved that about him.
“I need to lose some weight,” Lucien said, clearing his throat a little.
Aksel scoffed, his grip on his waist tightening. “Don’t you dare,” he said, rubbing his face against Lucien’s belly, his beard creating delicious tingles all over it. “You’re perfect as you are.”
Lucien laughed. This again. “Hardly.”
Before Aksel could say anything, someone cleared their throat.
Lucien froze.
Turning his head, he found Vagrippa staring at them from the doorway, her lips thin with disapproval.
“Aksel, I was looking for you,” she said sharply.
Aksel turned his head to look at his mother, but the movement was almost lazy. He didn’t remove his head from Lucien’s stomach. “Why?” he said, without much inflection in his voice.
His mother didn’t seem pleased by his lack of attention. “I wanted to speak to you. In private.”
“You can speak to me here,” Aksel said in the same uninterested tone.
Vagrippa glared at Lucien, as if it were his fault.
Lucien tried not to squirm under her gaze. Vagrippa never failed to make him feel like he was still the fourteen-year-old kid intruding on her family.
As if feeling his discomfort, Aksel tensed up, his gaze sharpening as he studied Lucien for a moment. “On second thought, I’ll speak to you later, Mother,” he said, without looking away from Lucien.
“But—”
“I said later,” Aksel snapped, his scent flaring.
Vagrippa flinched and instinctively stepped back, out of the room. “Very well,” she said, once she recovered her wits. Her tone was very dignified, but Lucien didn’t miss that she was angry. It would be hard to miss.
“You shouldn’t antagonize her,” Lucien said with a sigh once the sound of her footsteps faded.
Aksel shrugged. “I’m not antagonizing her. She just needs to learn that I’m not Royce. I don’t have the patience to tolerate her overbearingness. The sooner she realizes that I’m not someone she can manage, the better it is for everyone involved.”
Lucien looked at him thoughtfully before touching Aksel’s hair. “I know her attitude toward you being a Xeus was... not the best when you were a child,” Lucien said. “But she loves you.”
Aksel’s lips twisted.
“Darling, she does,” Lucien said and cringed inwardly. He didn’t know why it was so easy to use endearments with Aksel. After nearly eight years apart, this man should have felt like a stranger. After what Aksel had confessed—that he desired him physically—Lucien should have felt uncomfortable and uneasy in his presence. But he didn’t. There was still no other person in the world who made him feel so safe, cared for, and comfortable.
“I’m sure she does,” Aksel said. “And I do love her—she’s my mother—but I don’t care for her attitude toward you. It makes me like her less.”
Well. Hopefully the expression on Lucien’s face wasn’t as adoring as he felt.