Chapter 152
The Duke suggested, “I’ll mind-link Annie, and we’ll see if you can find your way in.”
Lucianne seemed ufortable when she asked the Duke and Duchess, “Are you sure?”
Annie scoffed as she said, “Lucy, what’s there to be unsure about? You’ve only ever looked out for us.
We’ll give it a go if you want to.”
Lucianne still felt it to be wrong as she took a breath and muttered a reluctant ‘okay’. Their eyes started
to ze over, and Lucianne tried her best to enter their link. After a whole minute of failed attempts, she
gave up. Everyone was a little disappointed but they couldn’t me Lucianne for not being able to do it.
She could already do more than every single one of them.
“I can’t. I couldn’t find a way in. I’m sorry.” Lucianne said guiltily.
Xandar stroked her hand as he said gently, “Maybe it’s because you can’t find it in your heart to find a
way in, Lucy.” Hisforting lc eyes peered into her sad, ck orbs as he exined, “You told me
that you feel this ability you have is invasive and wrong. And you told me that you’ve only hacked into the
pack leaders’ group link twice. Both times, you had a dire need to stop Juan, to defend those he was
yelling at.”
After pecking an assuring kiss on her hand, he continued, “Maybe you have to see a need to hack into
the link between Christian and Annie, sweetheart. A dire need, where you feel like you need to do this to
protect or defend someone.”
Lucianne internalized her mate’s words, and she felt like a mental block was removed from her mind.
When she came up with a reason she hoped would be good enough, she turned to Christian and Annie
and asked, “Can we try it again?”
They smiled and nodded, their eyes zed over again. Lucianne took another deep breath as she stared
at the notepad in front of her and focused on her reason to hack. In less than ten seconds, her eyes
zed over, and the alliance started to get excited as Toby wowed in awe and Zelena squealed in
delight.
Xandar smiled in pride as he watched his mate’s zed-over eyes. ‘Unbelievably amazing’, he thought
to himself.
When the Duke and Duchess’s eyes cleared, so did Lucianne’s. She narrowed her eyes and smirked in
Christian’s way as she said, “No, Christian. I cannot hackputers with my mind like how I’m trying to
hack mind-links.”
The Dukeughed in response, as did some of the others. When theughter died down, Lucianne
asked more seriously, “Did either of you feel me when I entered?”
Christian’s smile faltered a little when he said, “Unfortunately, we could, my Queen. Not that we knew it’s
you per se but we knew that there was someone in our link with us. The feeling is simr to being
watched. You came in when I was talking about the wine, did you, my Queen?”
Lucianne’s eyebrows raised in surprise as she said, “No, I entered before that, when you and Annie were
talking about how much to tip the delivery guy who’sing in ten minutes with the surprise birthday
cake that we agreed to split. And I’m good with sixty dors. The guy is working on a holiday after all.”
To say that the Duke was shocked would be an understatement. Xandar was the first to scoff andugh
at his cousin’s widened eyes and gawked mouth.
Christian looked at Lucianne in annoyance andined, “Seriously, my Queen? Couldn’t you at least
use a codeword for ‘surprise birthday cake’? The term was self-exnatory. It was meant to be a
surprise!”
All the wolves were already chuckling at the Duke’s reaction. He was more annoyed with the spoiled
surprise than he was impressed with her ability to hack mind-links without being detected in the early
stages of his link with Annie.
Lucianne tried to press back a smile as she said, “Well, I really thought you didn’t mind me being privy to
that information since you and Annie kind of invited me in.”
“That’s because we didn’t feel you there at that time!” Christian defended, which even made Annieugh
with the others. Lucianne couldn’t help it anymore, and she burst outughing with everyone else with
the Duke’s demeanor that only showed upset betrayal.
Christian’s sights moved to his cousin, and he said in annoyance, “Cuz, you’ve gotta admit, this is getting
out of hand. It was supposed to be a surprise!”
Xandarughed a little more before he pecked a kiss on Lucianne’s temple and looked deeply into her
eyes as he dered, “I love you.”
Lucianne blushed as she uttered in a shy voice, “I know. I love you, too.”
Christian threw his hands in the air and muttered in mock irritation, “And this love is going to be the death
of all birthday surprises.”
After another stream ofughter followed, they concluded that Lucianne could hack into links for a little
while before being detected. The next question was: how long could she eavesdrop on a link before
raising suspicions? To test this, they put Toby’s n into action.
Basically, they would watch Lucianne as she tried to hack into the link. The moment her eyes ze over,
Toby will start the timer on his phone and only stop when either Christian or Annie tap on the table to
indicate that they feel an external presence in their link.
In the first round with Christian and Annie, Luciannested thirty-one seconds before Annie tapped on
the table when she felt Lucianne’s presence. In the second one with Zeke and Zelena, Luciannested
thirty-five seconds. In the third one with Zeke and Raden, shested thirty-seven seconds.
But in the fourth one between Zelena and Raden, shested only nine seconds before she left the link,
and her hands supported her head with her elbows anchored on the table.
“Baby, are you okay?” Xandar asked in worry as he moved closer to her and started stroking her
shoulders.
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“Mm-mm.” She moaned in fatigue.
“She’s exhausted. That’s the downside of the gift.” Juan said in dismay as he strode to his sister’s side.
Xandar rubbedforting circles on her shoulders as he watched her helplessly. Only after three
minutes was Lucianne able to open her eyes. Her head still felt heavy when she looked at Toby and
asked, “Round four was the worst, wasn’t it?”
Xandar sighed in relief when he heard her voice again. Toby then said, “Cut yourself some ck, Lucy.
You were just worn out.
“How are you feeling, sweetheart?” Xandar asked.
“A little nauseous and…dizzy.” Lucianne muttered.
Xandar gave her his ss of water, and he helped her hold it as she took a few sips but she didn’t feel
any better.
Christian’s phone beeped, and he uttered softly, “I’m going to go get the cake.”
After he left the room, Lucianne had to close her eyes again because the dizziness seemed to be
worsening. Very carefully, Xandar lifted her off her chair and ced her on hisp, holding her body
close to his chest like how he held her on his jet. As Lucianne felt his warmth and took in his scent, her
dizziness subsided and the feelings of nausea dissipated. The mate-bond helped her recover from her
fatigue quicker than if she did it on her own.
Her eyelids lifted slowly and she was immediately met with her mate’s worried lc orbs. Lucianne smiled
as she reached for his cheek and uttered, “Thank you.”
“Are you feeling a little better, baby?” Xandar asked.
Lucianne nodded and exined, “The mate-bond helped me recover faster.”
Xandar, Juan and everyone else felt their tension eased when they heard that. Christian came in just in
time to witness Lucianne trying to get up, and the Duke said, “Thank Goddess you’re okay, my Queen, or
this would’ve been a sad surprise-spoiled birthday party. At least now it’s just surprise-spoiled.”
With her regained strength, Lucianne argued, “No, it isn’t. There’s still mmph…” Juan’s hand came
quickly t o cover his sister’s mouth before anything else came out of it. It was then Xandar noticed that
more than half of the alliance members had disappeared, maybe about the time Christian left the room
when Xandar was focusing on Lucianne in his arms. Even Annie wasn’t there. 1
When the wolves and the Duchess re-entered his office withrge containers of fragrant food, Xandar
gaped in surprise. The wolves who stayed back in the office went forward to help them. It was clear that
the alliance nned a surprise potluck lunch for Xandar’s birthday.