Chapter 210

210 Lucien’s Jealousy

Ronan tightened his arms around Lucien and buried his nose in Lucien’s neck. His mate’s sweet scent instantly flooded his lungs, its calming effect was a thousand times stronger after they abstained from intimacy for five days and five nights.

“Sorry,” he choked out, breathing against Lucien’s collarbone. “Have you been waiting?”

“Mm.”

Lucien reciprocated the hug, but the Alpha could feel that the anguish in Lucien’s heart was far from being extinguished.

“Lulu...”

Luckily, Lucien never liked to beat around the bush. The time off that he requested had passed, so it was time to talk about the huge elephant in the room.

“When you bit me again that night, I was very upset.”

The hands that pressed against Ronan’s back turned into claws.

“What you did was despicable.”

.....

The jut at Ronan’s throat bobbed up and down nervously.

“I thought, you must have done something terribly wrong if you were so afraid of me leaving you.”

Ronan clenched his teeth together.

I didn’t!

Lulu, I didn’t!!!

Please, please, please just trust me!

“And I wondered if you were going to be insecure for your whole life. It is very disconcerting.”

Lucien sighed.

“While we are apart, I see some development between you and her.”

The word “development” sent Ronan into a panic. He hastily interrupted Lucien. “Lulu, if you are talking about the red roses, they mean nothing. It was just for show. Please don’t be angry.”

“I am not that petty,” Lucien loosened his embrace, his gaze sharp and unyielding. “I don’t get upset because of some red roses.”

“I know that,” Ronan made a sharp U-turn shamelessly, taking Lucien’s hands and squeezing them to his chest.

Lucien furrowed his brows in displeasure.

“But for once, for a split second, I wished you were in front of me so I could mark you again and kick her out of your mind.”

The red-blonde man pulled his hands free from Ronan’s grip and wiped the ends of his eyes.

When he sat together with the three interns during lunch, the thought crossed his mind so quickly. It was as if an unknown entity emerged from the depth of his heart and clawed its way out.

The jealousy might have always been there, but Lucien always suppressed it.

Once it came out, it scared him with its intensity.

Ronan reached out to touch Lucien, “Lulu...”

“It’s just dust,” the man in front of him snapped. “I am not crying.”

Quite frankly, Ronan could not care less whether it was dust or not. He welcomed Lucien’s tears, whether they existed or not.

“Baby, you can bite me again. No, I beg you, please bite me again.”

If Lucien’s pheromones could keep Ronan’s feet planted on the ground and alleviate Lucien’s temper, Ronan gladly exposed his neck to Lucien any time, any place.

“No,” Lucien refused. “I don’t want to employ an underhanded tactic to keep you around me.

Ronan Silverback, you asked for five months. I will give you five months.”

Ronan had not even exhaled out of relief when Lucien held up a hand in front of his face and continued, “But, as your mate, I deserve to know if you have a change of mind. These five days were supposed to be for the both of us to ponder about the continuation of our relationship.”

Ronan shook his head fervently.

“Lucien, I don’t need these five days. Not in the past, not in the present, and also not in the future! I am in love with you. You are my one and only. I will never fall for someone else!”

Lucien’s gaze softened when he heard another of Ronan’s powerful love declarations.

“I know,” he said, patting Ronan’s cheek with his hand and smearing some paint on it in the process.

“But, if ever you do, I want you to tell me directly,” Lucien said. “Promise me that.”

Ronan nodded solemnly. “I promise.”

Lucien smiled at Ronan. His eyes wandered from the stain on Ronan’s cheek down to his soiled front.

“Now, if you will please follow me. We really need to clean up.”

Ronan did not immediately understand what Lucien said until he saw the colorful stains on Lucien’s apron. He then looked down at himself. His expensive suit was covered with blotches of various colors. One look sufficed to know where the stain came from. The front side of Lucien’s apron was full of colors.

“...”

“Have you just realized it now?” Lucien could barely conceal his laughter.

“You silly Alpha. Come now,” Lucien dragged Ronan toward the glass door.

After passing two doors and a dimly lit corridor, the two men landed in Lucien’s studio.

The room was relatively empty when Ronan first took Lucien there, but after five days it looked a lot more like a real studio.

In other words, it became rather messy.

Color tubes and palettes lay on top of the counters. A sketchbook was open on top of a pile of art books that Lucien bought to add to his collection.

There was a half-finished clay sculpture on one side of the room, and an empty easel on the other side.

Lucien was spick and span again after washing his hands and taking off his apron. The Alpha was not that lucky. His suit was soiled and he had no clothes to change into.

Lucien did have some clothes inside the wardrobe, but they were too small for his mate.

“Poor you,” Lucien sneered out of schadenfreude as he stood in front of the Alpha. Ronan looked as if a rainbow-colored unicorn just puked all over his suit.

Ronan raised an eyebrow at the man before him. Before Lucien knew it, he was already pulled back into Ronan’s arms. Only that this time the Alpha deliberately rubbed off the stains on his suit onto Lucien’s white shirt.

“Ronan!!!”

Lucien pushed Ronan away and glared at him.

“This is my favorite shirt!!!”

“Was,” Ronan snickered. He wrapped his arms around Lucien from behind and rubbed at him again.

“...”

Lucien was about to smack Ronan for his childish action, but the latter grasped Lucien’s jaw with a hand and kissed the back of his neck.

“Can I?” He asked, his lips brushing at the thin skin over Lucien’s scent gland.

Lucien closed his eyes.

“Yes,” he said.