Chapter 134-(Bonus)-A bone to pick

Chapter 134: 134-(Bonus)-A bone to pick

"You’re not making any sense, Luan. Please, just speak calmly."

Lumi rubbed her temples, trying to keep her composure. She felt like she was losing her mind trying to keep up with him.

Luan, however, looked as though he were one breath away from tearing the entire guestroom apart.

His eyes remained fixed on the titanium ropes and ribbons scattered across the bed, he restraints Lumi had painstakingly undone moments ago.

The sight alone reignited his anger. The last thing he remembered was practising his air magic. One moment, he had been focused on controlling the currents around him.

The next, everything had gone dark, and when he woke, he had been lying in the guestroom, bound tightly with titanium ropes and wrapped in ribbons, completely helpless.

He had no idea how he’d gotten there, no idea who had done it, and, worst of all, he had apparently lost an entire night.

Luan’s jaw clenched. He had been unconscious for hours, and during that time, something could have happened to him without his knowledge. He didn’t know where he had been taken, who had restrained him, or what the person responsible had intended to do.

The uncertainty only made his anger worse. His mood had turned ice-cold, the fury beneath it barely contained. Whoever had dared to pull such a stunt on him had made a very serious mistake.

"I have a feeling Kayden did this," he repeated.

Lumi sighed heavily. "Luan, you’ve said that three times already."

"And I’ll keep saying it because I’m sure of it."

"Why would Kayden do this to you?" She asked. "Just think. Why would he do this to you?"

"He hates me."

"That’s not exactly evidence to accuse someone of kidnapping you."

Luan shot her an irritated look. "I know he’s the one who messed with me. Who else would pull a trick like this?"

Lumi folded her arms. "You don’t know that and until you do... I would prefer you don’t accuse someone like Kayden of it. The queen has practically handed him more power than you and I can handle."

"I know enough," Luan insisted in a state of anger. "I know that he can’t stand me, and he would do anything to put me down and humiliate me."

"Luan..."

"No." His voice hardened. "Think about it. He already dislikes me. He has every reason to want to humiliate me, and he’s the only person I can think of who would pull something this ridiculous."

Lumi stared at him for a long moment, and then she glanced down at the restraints on the floor.

"Luan, whoever did this, managed to knock you unconscious without you noticing, restrain you, bring you here, and leave you asleep for hours," her expression became more serious. "Before you decide Kayden is guilty, maybe we should figure out what actually happened."

Luan wasn’t having any of it. Every argument Lumi offered only seemed to fuel his frustration. He rolled his eyes and inhaled sharply through his nose, his patience wearing thinner by the second.

Deep down, his instincts had already settled on an answer. He was certain that Kayden was responsible for that heartless prank.

Luan couldn’t think of anyone else in the hacienda who would pull a stunt like this. The hatred between them was hardly a secret, and to Luan, it was more than enough to make Kayden the obvious culprit.

"I’m not wasting my time standing here trying to figure out what happened," he declared. "I’m confronting him. Right now."

"Lu..."

But before Lumi could finish, Luan was already gone. He tore across the fields at frightening speed, his anger pushing his air magic to its limits. Grass bent beneath the force of his movement as he raced toward the mansion, barely paying attention to where he was going.

He was too angry to slow down and too determined to think. He reached the mansion and rushed into the hallway.

Only to collide with someone coming from the opposite direction at almost the same speed.

BAM!

The impact sent both of them tumbling across the floor. Luan reacted on instinct.

His arm immediately wrapped around the person he had collided with, shielding them as they rolled. His right hand protected their head from striking the ground, while his left arm braced carefully around their back.

They finally came to a stop. For a moment, there was silence and then Luan looked down at the person, he wanted to know who it was.

His breath caught. The vampire turned out to be his goddess, Addessa. Their eyes met in that moment and all else seemed to slow down.

Both of them were carrying anger, but there was something different in Addessa’s gaze. A hidden pain under her fury. A deep, carefully concealed pain that made her expression look almost hollow.

Addessa lay beneath him, his right hand still cradling the back of her head while his left arm supported her back. From an outsider’s perspective, the position looked almost intimate.

Once upon a time, Luan would have treasured a moment like this. Before he knew that Addessa had zinged with Maisa, and before he had been forced to confront the truth about where her heart belonged. He might have mistaken the closeness for a sign from fate.

Now, all he felt was the ache of something he was slowly learning to let go of. Even though he was trying to move past his feelings for Addessa, seeing her still hurt.

"Are you okay?" he asked quietly.

Addessa didn’t answer him. She couldn’t bring herself to speak of her current mental state. Inside, she was falling apart.

The walls of her world seemed to be closing in around her. Her mother’s message, the mark on her arm hidden under her sleeves and her brother’s name that was used to trigger her pain and guilt. Everything was pressing down on her at once.

No, she wasn’t okay. She was nowhere near okay but before either of them could say another word, footsteps sounded from the hallway.

Kayden had been making his way toward Taratoya’s quarters when he rounded the corner. He stopped dead when he saw them.

His entire body went rigid as his eyes landed on Luan and then at Addessa whom the male was holding. The way Luan was holding her hurt his eyes to witness.

For a moment, Kayden couldn’t breathe. The sight struck him with a sharpness he wasn’t prepared for, twisting painfully somewhere deep inside his chest.

The boy he loved was holding Addessa as though she were something precious, as though protecting her came naturally to him.

Kayden’s eyes began to glisten. He had spent so much time trying to convince himself that he could endure it, that eventually, his feelings would fade, that seeing Luan with someone else wouldn’t hurt so much.

But this... it hurt more than he expected. His throat tightened as he stared at them. ’Why?’ His fingers curled at his sides. ’Why is it always her?’

Addessa pushed Luan away and rose to her feet. She dusted her leather pants and jacket free of dust. "Thank you," she let out.

"No, problem."

"See you," she went along. She still had unfinished business.

Luan watched her leave with an ache in his heart. After she disappeared, he turned around and caught Kayden, the vampire he was looking for.

"You!" He pointed aggressively. "I have a bone to pick with you!"