Something woke Lucian.
He felt a huge space next to his bed, and even groping the space next to him, his fingers did not find any generously strong body radiating a warmth and a perfume of wine. The diamond eyes opened immediately, perceiving the emptiness at its side.
Lucian sat in bed and looked around finding Magnus drinking coffee on the table. Serene and stunning, with those crimson eyes reading some news in the newspaper and black hair like coal messed up as just out of the bath.
"And I thought you would keep me company in bed."
Lucian's hoarse voice caught the eye of the omega, who just took a sip of coffee before answering it.
"Don't blame me for your heavy sleep. Come and have coffee."
Lucian laughed low and stood up from his bed. Stretching his arm, the prince took the thick robe from the coat rack and dressed it to cover his nakedness, and crossed the huge room to reach his husband. The sun shone beautifully through the window, the sky without any clouds. It seems that your day would be magical.
Approaching Magnus, the prince was already about to plunge into the serenity of the honeymoon when he felt something.
Specifically a strange smell.
The prince frowned and smelled the air feeling a slight strong and intense smell hovering around him. That aroma made Lucian tremble slightly and shudder when he instinctively knew what it was. His feet crawled across the floor until he reached the source of such a smell.
Leaning over him, Lucian looked at him intently.
"May I know why you are smelling of another alpha?"
The cup that Magnus held stopped before his lips. Lucian noticed the surprise in those crimson as bright as rubies. Especially when his husband stared at him.
"What did you say?"
"I'm asking why I'm smelling an alpha's scent coming from you."
"Are you really smelling another alpha?"
"So clear that it gets annoying. Please tell me I'm wrong."
Magnus did not answer him promptly.
His delay was like a stab in his chest. There's no way that Magnus could have met someone else, now that! They spent the day together, made love and then went to sleep! Magnus spent the last hours by his side, there was no way he could be sniffing pheromones from another alpha other than himself.
In addition, Lucian's pheromones have always been weak and discreet. Even in that second, with the prince releasing his own smell out of pure jealousy, he was unable to overcome the other smell. It was stronger. Dominant.
This angered even more Lucian, who held Magnus' chin not giving him permission to look away.
"Answer me, Magnus. Did anyone dare to enter our room?"
"What is this nonsense you're talking about? No one came in here" Magnus pushed Lucian's hand.
"I want answers!"
"Don't you dare raise your voice to me!" Magnus slashed, also releasing the pheromones.
Generally, Magnus' smell was alluring. As if it were proof of how irresistible he was. However, at that moment what Magnus was doing was showing his dominance and not letting Lucian touch him. The smell of wine was as strong as the other pheromone that covered it. And the mixture of those two aromas made the alpha's stomach turn into nausea.
Obliged to take a few steps back, Lucian covered his own face so as not to feel the foul smell anymore. To aggravate his irritation, the eighth prince's body cowardly reacted to the pheromones.
How he hated that feeling.
"I have not been touched by anyone, and neither do I want you to think of unnecessary nonsense."
"Unnecessary? Then why don't you explain what left you covered by the smell of another alpha? In no way would that be done by me."
Magnus continued in silence, ignoring Lucian's question.
Was he really going through that?
Was Lucian really thinking that Magnus met someone else? And after they spent the night together? On their honeymoon?
It could only be a complete nonsense. Lucian shouldn't think about those things. Not when they got along so well, Lucian knew Magnus perfectly enough to trust his loyalty. As much as he was not loved by the omega, he would never betray him. Magnus would remain faithful.
He needed to cool his head. His chest hurt and his head was dominated by the instincts that wanted to dominate and subdue the omega. If he gave in, it would certainly increase the discussion further. It could even hurt Magnus and himself, despite his being pathetically weak.
Stepping back a few steps, Lucian turned his back and forced himself to go to the bathroom. A bath would be enough, wouldn't it? To silence the alpha instinct...
What madness was that?!
Lucian took off his robe and tucked himself into the tub of cold water. His body was trembling hard to hold its instinct, as when he was learning to control the pheromones of that body. Only that instead of forcing him to emit his scent, Lucian struggled to contain his own demon.
He wanted to go back to the room, possess Magnus and cover him with his scent.
Wanted to show him who it belonged to.
Wanted to dominate it completely!
All because he felt betrayed.
But the reason of Lucian argued inside his head with ferocity.
What betrayal? Magnus did not leave the room and no one must have entered. His sleep would never be so heavy as not to hear something. In addition, his body did not appear to suffer any sequela of drug use, which would eliminate another suspicion that his partner had drugged him to deceive him.
The mess that reigned inside Lucian's head was maddening!
How those omegaverse characters always managed to deal with it so naturally?
Lucian heard voices coming from outside the bathroom. He could hear a muffled voice that didn't belong to Magnus. Immediately he jumped out of the tub and covered himself again in his robe to storm out. And open the door of the bathroom, the eyes widened to notice Cadec there.
"What do you..."
As soon as the First Prince heard Lucian's voice, he turned and widened his eyes sighing.
"By the Goddess, Lucian, dress up!"
The trembling hands of the alpha tightened the collar of the robe pulling to cover his bare chest, but unbelief remained on his face when he interposed between Magnus and Cadec.
"What's going on? Why are you here?"
"I came to deal with some smugglers on our father's orders" Cadec replied avoiding looking at Lucian "Magnus helped me deal with that last night."
"Last night?" Frowning, Lucian took a few steps while looking at both "How so, last night? Magnus did not leave my side..."
"You didn't tell him?"
Magnus, on the other hand, kept holding the newspaper and drinking his coffee as if it were the most natural thing in the world. As if the fact that Lucian was clearly agitated did not bother him. The omega left the cup on the table and turned the page of the newspaper, folding it in the middle while reading the title of the next article.
"Why would I tell? Absolutely no one should know about it."
"Magnus this is..."
"Wait!" Lucian walked up to the two of them and looked exasperated "When was that exactly?"
"This morning, just a few hours ago. That's why I came here, to finish talking about the clues we got."
Lucian took a deep breath and passed his fingers between the strands of golden hair. Unbelief made him think a thousand times before speaking, although it was very little to prevent his frustration. There was a bit of anger held for Cadec, but at the moment the greatest frustration was for his husband who remained indifferent.
"Are you telling me that you left at dawn, while I was sleeping?"
Magnus raised his head to face him.
"I went out to catch some smugglers along with your brother. I did not tell you because it is a mission of the imperial knights and this requires total secrecy on our part."
"On our honeymoon? Really?"
"You knew I was going to do something..."
"I thought it was just the visit in mine, at most collecting information while we did shopping, but I didn't imagine that you would go out hiding to... do I don't know what! Am I the only one who sees this trip as something special for us?!"
"Lucian, no need to get nervous. I take full responsibility for this..."
"Why the hell are you talking to each other all of a sudden, huh?", Lucian stared at Cadec "And who said you could come up to our room?"
"It is not my intention to hinder your journey, my brother, but I have only come to portray matters before I leave with the..."
"Stop the drama, Lucian. I just took the chance of the trip to follow orders, and it has to do with people who are after you."
Lucian swallowed dry, forcing the knot in his throat. Deep down he knew that Magnus was right. If the Emperor ordered, Magnus was obliged to follow his order. Only that Lucian did not want to yield to reason. He had the right to be hurt.
Especially for feeling your husband smelling the pheromones of another alpha.
"By any chance, does this have something to do with that smell?"
"These are the pheromones of a guy from Geledel. He tried to use his pheromones to gain advantage in the fight."
Lucian sighed heavy with relief that it was not a betrayal, but he was still angry at the lie.
"Look, my brother, Magnus is not hurt. I apologize for the problem we created, but it is an extremely important issue that requires full attention."
"Oh, of course! Please continue. I will keep enjoying my fucking honeymoon with my imaginary husband. Have fun!"
Turning his back without saying a single word, Lucian went into the bathroom again to take a long and hot shower.
At the moment, he did not want to talk to anyone.