At Blue Crescent, Lucianne dashed to the packhouse first while Xandar,
Juan and Hale took a little more time. She wanted to butter up her
overprotective adoptive father before he met her mate. Ken and Janice
didn''t live in this packhouse after retiring as Alpha and Luna but they
stayed here for the past month to babysit the grandkids. Juan and
Hale''s kids were still in school, so it was just the adults and the two
servants in the house now.
Ken was already waiting at the entrance when Lucianne ran into his
open arms as she called out “Daddy!” like a little girl. After squeezing
the girl he raised as his own, he managed a small smile and asked,
“Buying brownie points for your mate, baby girl?” 3
Lucianne showed her doe eyes and said, “Xandar is really nice, dad. And
I really love him. Promise to go easy on him?”Property belongs to N?vel(D)r/ama.Org.
Ken narrowed his eyes and retorted, “No man is nice, baby girl. I
thought I taught you that.”
“What about you, dad? You''re nice.” Lucianne continued to speak with
innocent eyes.
Ken sighed His heart always melted whenever Lucianne looked at him
like that, and he patted her twice on the head like he did ever since she
was merely a child as he said, “You know I''m only nice to my little girl.
As for your mate...if I kill him, I promise it''ll b e a quick death.”
Before Lucianne could protest, Ken smiled wider and said, “It was a
joke, Lucy. Lighten up. Go help your mother. She''s in the living room
arranging the cookie jars.”
Lucianne was not going to leave until he did. She knew Ken. In her
schooling years, guys havee over to the packhouse for tutoring
sessions since she did well in science and mathematics, and Ken was
strict with all of them even though Lucianne assured him that they were
just ssmates, nothing more. Now, Ken was going to meet her fiancé.
There was no telling how he would behave when he met Xandar.
Xandar, Juan and Hale were waiting patiently behind the father-and-
daughter pair, being careful not to interrupt them. They heard thest
part of the conversation, which did not ease Xandar''s anxiety at all. Juan
went to his father first, and the two shook hands like formal
acquaintances rather than embrace each other like father and son. Ken
then hit Juan at the back of his head with his palm, as if it was for
disobeying him.
Juan knew exactly what that was for. Ken had beenining non-
stop about Juan giving Xandar his blessing to propose to Lucianne
BEFORE Ken gave his own. And Ken didn’t even want to get started on
the fact that Lucianne was already marked BEFORE he met the idiot
who did it!
As Xandar watched Juan''s interaction with his father, he began to
wonder if Lucianne was really the adopted one. Maybe he would have
had an easier time courting Juan instead. 4
After Ken patted his daughter-inw on her shoulder to acknowledge
her return, it was Xandar''s tum to step forward. His animal took a deep
breath as Xandar approached the old man and shook his hand, trying
his best to not look too intimidated by his hard stare. Lucianne and
Juan exchanged tense nces, both hoping that Ken wouldn''t throw a
punch on the new addition to their family
Ken''s expression was unreadable, and when he released Xandar''s hand,
the Lycan King uttered a properly-rehearsed, sincere apology for not
making the effort to meet Ken and Janice sooner. That seemed to cool
Ken a little.
“At least he isn''t too egotistical to own up to what he did wrong’, Ken
thought to himself. He knew that Lucianne was watching, so the
adoptive father didn’t say or do anything that may upset his little girl
Everyone then adjourned to the living room, where Janice was.
Xandar presented Ken and Janice the gifts that he and Lucianne picked
out for them. Ken got a leather wallet, and Janice got a ne. Janice
was ted and impressed. Ken was not, but nheless grudgingly
thanked Xandar after being nudged by his wife.
Janice was more weing with Xandar. She even offered him a hug
before they all sat in the living room. The former Luna took a great
interest in Xandar''s life, and asked him all sorts of questions, from his
family to his hobbies. When Xandar sheepishly mentioned that he liked
reading anything on history, Ken was pleased despite not showing it. It
was almost impossible to find another person who loved to read as
much as his little girl did these days, so the seemingly-cold father
would admit that he felt... grateful Xandar and Lucianne shared this in
common.
When Janice ran out of questions to ask after two hours, Lucianne
talked animatedly about her dates with Xandar. She only told Ken and
Janice over texts and short mind-links before, so she was borating
further now. The sight of their adopted daughter glowing when she
mentioned that Xandar bought her all those books made Janice smile
wider, and made Ken scowl less. And when Lucianne got out her phone
to show them the reading wondend that Xandar built for her in his
vi, the ice in Ken''s heart
thawed a little more.
When Ken asked about their infiltration in Wu Bi Corp, Lucianne,
Xandar, Juan and Hale all knew they were walking on eggshells from
here. Juan and Lucianne agreed to share the details with their parents
face-to-face, and they were to do it together. Since Ken was softest to
Lucianne, she took the lead. Lucianne tried to water down the severity
of her situation but to no avail.
She couldn''t lie about it since Ken would just see right through her. And
Ken threw sharp res at Xandar and Juan when Lucianne reached the
part of the rogues pinning her to the wall before Jake tried to mark her
by force. Janice had to hold her mate''s hand when Lucianne reached
the part of the Oleander.
Lucianne tried to lighten the mood by speaking cheerfully about how
the Queen''s Authority could be emitted in her human form but was
strongest when she brought her animal forward tobine its strength
with her own. But even the mention of the Queen''s Authority didn''t
seem to make Ken any less enraged. If looks could kill, Xandar and Juan
would have died right then and there. When Lucianne finished the
story, even she held her breath to wait for Ken to say something.