The Alpha’s Rebellious Fiancee novel Chapter 23

Lucien’s POV

The steel training blades clattered to the ground as I leaned forward, hands braced on my knees, breath heavy with frustration. The moon hung above the yard, casting long shadows across the worn field. Sweat clung to my skin, dripping from my hair, but I didn’t care.

The fight wasn’t outside me. It was inside.

Her.

Seraphina.

Every time I thought I had her out of my mind, she came back. In a glance. A breath. A memory. She was everywhere. And I hated it.

***

Flashback – 10 Years Ago

I was nine years old the first time I really cried. I had just been knocked face-first into the dirt during training. Blood ran from my lip. My elbow was scraped raw. And worse?

Everyone saw.

The older boys laughed. They were all bigger. Stronger. Meaner.

“Look at little Lucien!” one of them jeered, towering over me. “Alpha’s son? He fights like a pup.”

“Go cry to your mommy, soft boy!”

I did cry. I didn’t want to—but the tears came anyway. And then he appeared. My father.

Alpha Magnus.

He stood at the edge of the ring, arms folded, eyes hard like stone. He didn’t rush to comfort me. He didn’t even blink. He waited until the laughter died down.

Then he said in a voice that cut straight through my heart, “Alphas don’t cry.”

I froze.

“ Alphas conquer.”

And now she was leaving. And I should’ve been glad. Because without her, I could go back to who I was before. Unfeeling. Untouchable. Safe.

But all I could think about was the way her eyes looked when I said the kiss meant nothing. The way her hands trembled just a little. The way she turned away, pretending it didn’t break her, even though it broke me.

And it terrified me. Because she rattled the walls I spent a lifetime building.

And if those walls came down… what was left?

I stood in front of the mirror now, shirt half open, hair damp from sweat, chest still heaving from my midnight training.

I looked at myself—at the man everyone feared. Lucien Asher. My reflection looked haunted.

Because behind the steel in my eyes, behind the scars and the pride and the training—

Was a boy still hearing the words: Alphas don’t cry. They conquer.

And Seraphina?

She made me want to cry. To feel. To want. And I didn’t know how to survive that. I clenched my fists, jaw tight.

“I have to get her out of my system,” I told my reflection. “Tonight.”