The Rogues Who Went Rogue
Chapter 42

Upon hearing that Desmond didn't get everyone he was out to con, Lucianne frowned and commented, "Well, that's a bummer."

Greg snorted and Desmond chuckled before the latter said, "Yea. Tough playin' superhero when ya play alone, ya know what I'm sayin'?"

"I do," Lucianne gave a firm nod with a smile, and glanced at Ivory, Hailey and Alissa before she added, "Good that you have a team now, then."

"Oh, this ain't the team, ma'am. We're just the top four. Boss's team is huge!" Desmond said with pride.

Lucianne turned to Greg before she said, "I guess I shouldn't expect anything less."

Xandar then whispered into her ear, "But if it's so huge, how have they been moving about? We have policemen and warriors on constant duty in all corners of lycan territory." She whispered back, "They probably used clever disguises and scent sprays, darling."

Desmond clapped once like he just won a game of bingo and pointed at Lucianne as he said, "Ya're good, ya know that?! Man, if ya ain't queen, boss will definitely take ya in." Xandar's hand went from her waist to her abdomen as he held her even closer. Lucianne then spoke to him in a gentle, assuring voice, "Darling, relax. That was purely hypothetical."

Greg begged to differ. He would have definitely taken her in...no, that wasn't an accurate way of putting things. If Lucianne weren't the queen, she'd be the first creature Greg would beg to let him take under his wing...but she might have to humiliate him before a crowd first, like what she did in the dining hall when they first met. It was her creative comeback and killer retort at that time that sparked the interest Greg had in her, and the interest turned into admiration before it deepened into something far greater than anything he could ever imagine feeling. "Shh...Xandar, we're okay. We're okay. Shh..." Lucianne's hushed cooing brought Greg out of his thoughts, and the duke finally noticed that his cousin's glare was on him while Lucianne was stroking her husband's cheeks. Realization dawned on Greg that he had been staring at the queen for too long. With extreme difficulty, he rolled his eyes before looking the other way to avoid having to see Xandar peck a statement kiss on Lucianne's forehead.

When that was settled, Greg asked where Lucianne would prefer meeting the rest of his people to discuss the plan. At this point, Lucianne expressed her wish to go to the rest instead of having them come to her. Greg seemed reluctant to allow Lucianne make the trip to the Den but when Alissa and Ivory mind-linked him about how it was better to bring Lucianne there, and to come clean of everything they have in their arsenal from the very start, the duke gave in.

Ivory tossed Greg the car keys, which the duke swiftly caught like he had done it a hundred times before, and the two of them along with Alissa got into Greg's car. Xandar and Lucianne tailed from behind; Hailey and Desmond behind them; and Laurent, Katie and Dave behind them in two separate police cars.

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As Lucianne looked out the window, Xandar reached for her hand as he asked, "How did you know to trust them?"

"Hm. What was that, darling?" She blinked herself out of her daze when she asked.

The shine in her eyes never ceased to make his heart skip a beat. With one hand on the steering wheel, he lifted her hand and pecked a kiss before he asked, "Greg's team, baby. How did you know to trust them?"

Lucianne shrugged and said, "They had more to lose than to gain by backstabbing us. Besides, it didn't feel like they were up to no good."

As he stroked the back of her hand, he continued to question, "How did you..feel it though?”

"Like how anyone feels it, Xandar. There's this...instinct built in our subconscious that tells us whether someone is good or...not so good. Humans have it, too. Ours is better, of course, thanks to our animals' heightened awareness of any creature's energy." "So...you just...felt that they were...okay?"

"Yeah. You did too."

Xandar snorted because he thought Lucianne was joking, until she didn't laugh along, which was when he said, "Babe, c'mon. We both know that's not true.”

Lucianne looked at him quizzically before she said, "You're doubting the animal instinct of the most powerful creature in the kingdom, My King?"

He pecked another kiss on her hand before he declared with a smile, "For the record, the most powerful creature in this kingdom is you, my love. And I never doubted yours or your animal's instinct."

Lucianne muttered to herself, "You've got to be kidding me."

She sat up and, as her husband drove, continued explaining, "Xandar, your animal didn't feel any danger from them. If it did, it wouldn't have let me stand so close to Ivory and the others. You would have pushed me to the back, using your body as a shield, like when we thought the vampires were going to attack the other night in Polje."

Xandar felt his animal concede, but something still didn't sit right with his human part. "I wasn't completely comfortable back there, though."

"Yeah, but was that because of them or because of your cousin?" Xandar's grip instantly tightened before he sighed and loosened his hold and continued stroking Lucianne's hand affectionately.

"Let's try this, Xandar: when you heard about their pasts, what did you feel?"

"What do you mean?" Xandar doubted he felt anything.

"Did you feel the threat of danger, sadness, happiness-"

Without a second thought, Xandar exclaimed, "Goddess, definitely not happiness. What happened to them is wrong in so many ways."

"Exactly," Lucianne uttered. "If they weren't good people, you wouldn't feel like they had been wronged after what they did. Think about it, you've met many creatures in your years as Crown Prince and King, how often have your preliminary instincts about creatures you just met beer wrong, especially as you aged?"