Page 23 of Forbidden

“Did something happen, Aksel?”

“Just a bad day at work. I need to de-stress.”

Lucien frowned. “What happened?”

Aksel’s wide shoulders moved in a shrug as he shoved his face even tighter against Lucien’s belly, as if he wanted to crawl into it. “Another day, another Xeus attempting to attack the prime minister. Nothing new.”

Lucien pressed his lips together. Prime Minister Taube’s disgusting prejudice against Xeus alphas was well known. Unfortunately, he got more approval for his views than hate.

“You must loathe it...” He ran his fingers through Aksel’s hair gently. “Protecting a bigot who doesn’t deserve protection. Working for him must be hell.”

Aksel made a noncommittal noise. “He’s no different from most people. You learn to ignore it.”

It made Lucien’s heart ache. No one should learn to ignore hatred and bigotry.

“Besides, I work for the Opal House, not him personally.”

Lucien shook his head. He knew Aksel was downplaying it. Aksel wouldn’t need to de-stress like this if the events of the day hadn’t gotten to him. He could only imagine what it felt like, to be forced to protect a man who despised him for what he was—a man he despised too.

“Hopefully Royce becomes the next prime minister, and you won’t have to deal with Taube anymore.”

Aksel just hummed, but he didn’t need to say anything for Lucien to pick up the unsaid words: it wouldn’t matter. For every good person like Royce, there would always be ten bigots. It was so fucking unfair.But they didn’t live in a fair world.

“You don’t need to work if you don’t want to,” Lucien said. Aksel’s job for the government was very high paying, but the Cleghorns were ridiculously wealthy. Aksel didn’t need to work a day in his life if he were so inclined.

A chuckle. “Neither do you.”

“It’s different,” Lucien said, pulling a face. “I’m not really a Cleghorn.”

“Don’t be stupid,” Aksel said, his thumb slipping under Lucien’s shirt and stroking the bottom of his belly. “You’re pack.”

“Everyone knows my marriage to your father was a sham,” Lucien said. His stomach was quivering. His body felt overly warm.

“It doesn’t matter. You’re—ours. You’re entitled to the money my father left for you.”

“I don’t feel like I earned that in any way.” Lucien knew Vagrippa resented him for inheriting such a big sum for doing nothing.

Aksel made a harsh sound. “And earning it on your back for my father would have made a difference?”

“Don’t be gross,” Lucien said, making a face. The others in the family had treated him like a sexless, fragile thing for so long that he’dforgotten how crude Aksel’s language could be with him.

Aksel lifted his gaze. “You know I’m right. If your marriage had been real, that’s the only thing you would have done to ‘earn’ the money.”

“A mate does more than that,” Lucien said. He felt flustered and uncomfortable, and he both hated it and loved it. Aksel was the only person who made him feel a wide range of emotions, the only person who pushed him out of his comfort zone. It was maddening but oddly exhilarating too. His life had been so safe and dull for years that being thrown off balance and flustered actually felt good, in a twisted way.

“Yes,” Aksel agreed. “A mate also cares for the pack’s young. Which you did.” His gaze dropped to Lucien’s chest, heavy-lidded and unreadable. “You breastfed Belinda. And then there was me, for months.”

His face burning, Lucien barely suppressed the urge to cover his chest with his hands.

“Maybe,” he croaked out, and desperately tried to search for another subject. A safer, less confusing subject. “But it doesn’t matter. I won’t touch the money Garrick left for me. It doesn’t feel right.”

“All right,” Akselconceded, his expression inscrutable. “I understand why you would feel that way about my father’s money. But you still don’t have to work. You’re an omega of a prosperous pack with alphas who can provide for you.”

Lucien made a face. “I feel no different about accepting money from Royce than I felt about accepting it from Garrick.”

“What about me?” Aksel’s blank expression shifted into something different. His blue, intense eyes seemed to look right into Lucien’s soul. His voice dropped. “I could take care of you.”

Lucien’s stomach clenched.

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