99 Times for Alpha’s Bestie novel Chapter 149

LUCIEN POV

In the shadows of the hospital parking lot, my black sports car sat quietly.

The window slid down halfway, and the half-smoked cigarette was held between my fingers. The glowing tip blinked in the dim light.

I watched Claire briskly exit the building. A faint residue of annoyance and weariness lingered on her face.

She scanned the surroundings for her Uber.

I knew she wouldn’t call Liyah or Carson this late at night.

She wasn’t the type to bother others, which was part of her problem and also made her a magnet for all the wrong kinds of people. She was the light, and people around her were the greedy moths drawn to her.

Then again, I was the worst of the worst. A demon in darkness, seeking out the only light offered freely.

I didn’t honk or get out. I inhaled deeply, letting the acrid smoke swirl through my lungs before exhaling slowly.

The curling smoke blurred the chill in my eyes.

Claire didn’t notice the lurking shadow, her attention consumed by waiting. The slump in her shoulders told me she was barely hanging on. She needed to seclude herself before she broke. That’s just how Claire was.

Her phone rang abruptly, and she answered on speakerphone. My wolf and I listened as the driver apologized, stating that something had come up, and the ride was cancelled.

The call cut off, and by the way her posture curled in on her, I knew that a wave of inexplicable frustration gripped her.

The streets at night were empty and silent. Yellow streetlights stretched her shadow thin. She wandered in confusion. She was always the most fascinating yet frustrating thing in this world to me. I was quick to unleash, but I couldn’t stay away from her.

The evening wind carried away the hospital’s antiseptic scent but could not dispel the heaviness in my chest.

***CLAIRE POV***

Liam’s hysterical accusations, Lucien’s horrible games with my heart over dinner, and my greedy cousins, whose faces stirred both hatred and disgust.

The day’s fatigue from endless running around hadn’t even dissipated, yet one grotesque spectacle after another refused to relent.

I had once thought that Lucien was the only person in this filthy whirlpool who could offer me warmth and protection.

But the memory of how he had toyed with me tonight, as if watching a show, now coiled around me like poison vines.

This overwhelming humiliation twisted my stomach, a dual torment of body and mind that nearly crushed

“Ugh-

I could no longer hold it in. I bent over a dim streetlamp, vomiting violently. My stomach was empty, only the bitter acid burning my throat.

Tears streamed uncontrollably.

Suddenly, a sharp beam of light illuminated the ground at my feet.

A car had stopped steadily beside me. A pair of polished black shoes appeared in my blurred, drooping

vision.

I struggled to catch my breath and lifted my head.

Lucien’s tall figure was silhouetted against the harsh headlights, his face hidden in shadow.

He stood a few steps away, hands in the pockets of his black coat, calm and detached, as if passing by and only coincidentally witnessing my distress.

I looked at the indistinct outline in the darkness, my throat burning from acid, my heart sinking into an icy abyss. I was such a fool to believe in him.

I spun abruptly, desperate to escape this suffocating gaze.

I had barely taken two steps when a large hand gripped my wrist with irresistible force.

Immediately, a heavy coat-still carrying his warmth and faint tobacco scent-was draped over my shoulders.

At my ear, a low voice carried a rough threat, yet strangely laced with an almost imperceptible hint of possessiveness.

“Wandering alone at night, aren’t you afraid your cousins will find you? Do you even know where you are?”

The cold threat cut straight to the cruel truth.

This was Calgary-the power-entwined, all-encompassing stronghold of the Reese family.

From the moment I set foot here, I had known better than anyone that my so-called “relatives” would be lurking in the shadows, waiting to strike.

They would never let me go.

My steps froze, nailed to the spot.

Lucien seized the opportunity, turning my body to face him.

I stubbornly turned my head away, violently shaking off his hand, my voice hoarse from retching.

“Lucien, enough with the games! Did you come out in the middle of the night just to watch me make a fool of myself? Congratulations, now you’ve seen it- are you satisfied?”