Chapter 175
Chapter 174 Stay Close
The marketplace entrance buzzed with the energy of the midday crowd. Lucien and I walked side by side, instantly drawing stares.
Like most Alphas, Lucien was born with tall, incredible physiques. He looked utterly out of place in his tailored dark suit, like a god from the underworld coming to earth and slumming it with us mere mortals.
There were murmurs around him, commenting that he looked like we had stepped out of a film, which caused passersby to do double takes. Even the hawking vendors forgot their chants, and some shoppers craned their necks, half expecting to spot hidden cameras.
“See, Lucien. I told you so,” I teased under my breath. “You do not belong here. Why did you not just wait in
the car? ”
Without missing a beat, he took the shopping basket from me, his tone leaving no room for argument.
“Absolutely not! It is too busy for you to be here alone, Claire p>
His words sent a wave of warmth through me. I yielded, and we moved together toward the butcher’s stall.
Lucien’s commanding aura alone made the crowd instinctively part for us.
When his sharp gaze swept over the burly butcher, the man visibly stiffened, rubbing his palms together nervously. “What can I get for you, Sir, missus p>
The term “missus” made my ears burn, but I had long since stopped correcting strangers and their perception of me and Lucien when we were together. Instead, I was playing it cool and pointed at the cuts
of meat.
“Two pounds each of pork belly and tenderloin. Make sure it is fresh, none of that injected meat p>
“Guaranteed fresh, ma’am! It was just delivered today!” the butcher said with practiced ease as he grabbed
a cut.
Looking up, I watched as Lucien’s eagle–eyed glance locked onto the display. “This tenderloin’s fascia is
not trimmed,” he stated, tapping the piece of meat. “Use the top sirloin beside it. It will be more tender p>
His pronouncement left both me and the butcher speechless. My pulse skipped a beat. Lucien actually
knew his cuts. His claim about working in markets and being a butcher in the past was real?
“Damn!” The butcher squinted, clearly impressed. “You really know your meat!” Under Lucien’s steady gaze, he hurried to weigh the premium cuts. “That will be eighteen bucks, sir p>
I barely had my phone out to pay when Lucien swooped in, paying the bill before my fingers could move. His actions were fluid and natural, as if he were thoroughly familiar with the process.
“Lucien,” I gaped, unable to mask my shock, “you seem incredibly familiar with the hustle of these types of
markets. ”
He gave me that trademark inscrutable side eye. “Like I said. I used to be a butcher in a market or two p>
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< Chapter 174 Stay Close
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“I still find it hard to believe that the dark and brutish Lucien Thorne would do something like this. How old
were you p>
“It was my second year after I ran away from my kidnappers. I escaped the jungle and had to hustle and make money to survive. I was around fourteen when I started. I had nowhere to go, so I worked under a
butcher for a year p>
Fourteen.
The image of a teenage Lucien spending a year surrounded by blood and carcasses made my chest tighten unexpectedly. Was this why he was as comfortable with blood, death, and torture as he was? Tears pricked at the corners of my eyes.
“Lucien, I am-” my hand found his of its own accord, the apology escaping before I could stop it. I was not even sure why I said it, only that the ache in my heart demanded words.
Something unreadable flashed in his eyes, vanishing before I could decipher it.
Just then, vendors jostled past us. In one fluid motion, Lucien tugged me into the shelter of his body. One arm secured my waist while his other hand cradled my head protectively. “Stay close,” he murmured.
In that moment, I felt it clearly: his defensive walls were crumbling, and the walls between us were
thinning. The Lucien who had once shielded me so fiercely was coming back, piece by piece.
I pressed closer, our hands locked together as we navigated the colourful chaos. Soon our basket
overflowed with groceries. This was a kind of simple, intimate moment I had always imagined a true
partnership would be.
Yet when I thought back to my mate bond with Liam, he had never once set foot in a grocery store with
me, let alone this vibrant, bustling marketplace. Without this comparison, I had not fully noticed the
absence.
But now, side by side with Lucien, all that remained was a crushing sense of disappointment in what my
relationship with Liam had never been.
Neither noticed me lurking behind them. I raised my phone furtively, its lens unwaveringly tracking their
every move. I don’t know why I was doing this; it was driving me mad with each click, but I couldn’t stop
myself.
Just as Lucien and Claire neared the market’s exit, a thunderous roar, thick with local dialect, split the air. “Get that creep p>
I flinched. But before I could react, a red reusable produce bag bulging with fresh fruits whistled through the air and connected with the back of my skull with a sickening smack.
“Ow!” I cried out. I nearly fell, my phone flying from my grip as stars exploded behind my eyes. My designer sunglasses hung crookedly from my face.
Chapter 174 Stay Close
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Before I could steady myself, a stout woman in a floral smock barreled toward me like a bull, jabbing a finger at my face.
“That is him! This pasty–faced creep in the sunglasses! He has been tailing that sweet couple forever, skulking around! I saw it clear as day; he was sneaking pictures of that young lady like some peeping Tom! If that is not a p t, what is? Someone call the cops p>
“The hell?!” someone shouted.
“Dressed fancy but rotten inside! Disgusting p>
“Police! Now p>
“Teach this sicko a lesson p>
Vendors and shoppers swarmed around me like angry hornets. A few older men were already rolling up their sleeves. I stood paralyzed, facing a level of public humiliation I had never experienced in my thirty years of privileged existence.
“No! It is not what you think! I was not-!” I stammered. I wanted to shout that I knew her, but the words
withered under the mob’s collective glare.
“Was not?!” The woman’s voice climbed an octave as she brandished a wilted cucumber, jabbing it toward my nose. “I saw you clear as day, creeping behind those cabbages p>
“Your eyes were glued to that girl like some kind of stalker! Your phone is right there in your hand! Caught red–handed and still lying?!” Her case seemed airtight, her evidence damning.
The crowd’s glares intensified, all focusing on the phone in my hand.
“This is a misunderstanding! You have got it all wrong! I am–I am her,” I sputtered, his face cycling from pale to scarlet before settling into a deep beet red.
My perfectly styled hair was now a mess, and behind my glasses, my eyes darted with a mixture of humiliation, fury, and raw panic. Even my wolf pulled away from me in utter embarrassment at my
behaviour.
1 shoved weakly against the mob, but the wall of furious onlookers was impenetrable.
Mark