“Of course.” He smirked at her. “You didn’t give me much of a choice.” The smirk turned into a warm smile. “Though I’m glad I did. It’s nice to see you.” When his gaze flickered behind her, his body tensed. “Who’s this?”
“Oh.” She looked back and saw Darius had stood up. “This is Darius.”
Darius bowed his head. “It is an honor to meet you.”
“Darius Corvinus, right? Julianna’s told me all about you.”
Huh. What could her sister possibly have told him about Darius?
“She said you were keeping a close eye on Adrianna,” Lucas continued. “Thank you.”
“It is my duty to serve my Alpha. If you’ll excuse me, I’ll give you some privacy. I shall be waiting right outside the door.” Darius bowed his head again, then strode out the door.
“Interesting guy.” Lucas had a dark brow raised at her.
“Sit,” she said, hoping to not have to discuss the subject of Darius.
Lucas sat down across from her in his usual seat. “So, are we having greasy, cold burgers or soggy, salty fries?”
She laughed. “How about the usual?”
He called the waitress over and gave them their order—a vanilla milkshake for him, chocolate for her, and a plate of onion rings to share.
“So,” he began. “Why did you want me to meet you here?”
“Why have you been ignoring my calls and my messages?” she shot back.
He leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m not ignoring you.”
“Yes you have,” she insisted. “What’s wrong?” She cocked her head at him, trying to look him in the eye. “Tell me. You know I’ll find out one way or another.”
His shoulders tensed for a second, then slumped. When he finally did look her straight on, she saw it. Or maybe, she felt it. Doubt. Uneasiness.
“Lucas?” Was he having second thoughts about taking over Fenrir Corp. from their father? Or being Alpha? Ridiculous. Lucas had been born to be Alpha. He never had any doubts. But now he seemed off-kilter. “Please. Tell me what’s the matter.”
“It’s nothing.” He suddenly found the menu very interesting, despite the fact they probably never changed the items and they’d seen it a million times.
She’d seen this only once before in her brother. Placing her hands on the table, she leaned over. “What’s her name?”
His head snapped up, and he looked like an animal caught in a trap. “No one you would know.”
Ah, she was right. “And why wouldn’t I know her?” Lucas kept a very small circle of friends and acquaintances. He almost lived like a monk.
“Because she’s human.”
“Oh.” Wow. This was something else. No wonder Lucas was acting strange. He barely tolerated humans, much less felt anything for them.
“And she’s investigating me for a murder.”
“Oh.” Double wow. Well, this certainly wasn’t what she expected. “What are you going to do?”
“I don’t know.”
Self-assured, confident, and capable Lucas Michael Anderson didn’t know what to do. This woman really was doing a number on him.
“What about you? What’s the deal with that Darius guy?”
“Huh?” That question came out of left field. “What about him?”
“Don’t play innocent with me, Adrianna.” He gave her that know-it-all smirk that irritated the heck out of her. And he knew it too, which is why he used it a lot. “No bodyguard looks at their client that way. Or the other way around.”
“This isn’t fair.” Her cheeks were on fire. Damn Lucas. He always was too smart for his own good. “It’s nothing.”
“He’s part of The Family, right? Those people causing trouble for Mama in Jersey?” His voice took on a serious tone.
“We’ve taken care of it,” she said.
“It’s your territory and your business.” He reached out and placed a hand on hers. “I know the women in our family are capable and strong. None of you would stand for me and Papa coming in like white knights, but promise me you’ll tread carefully. Especially around that one.”
“I—yes, I promise!” She hated to sound like a petulant child, but she also hated being treated like one. “But you have to promise me that you won’t ignore me again. That really hurt, Lucas.”
“I’m sorry, Adrianna.” He squeezed her hand. “I swear I won’t do that to you again.”
“Good.”
Thankfully, their waitress arrived with their order. She didn’t want to press him anymore about this woman because she was afraid she’d have to open up about Darius. Things were too complicated and messy right now, and she suspected it was the same for him. Besides, it had been forever since they’d just hung out like this—teasing each other and laughing, talking about nothing. Just two normal siblings without a care in the world, like that first time they sat here so many years ago.
“Let me get this,” she said when the waitress put the check on their table. “I invited you, after all.”
He chuckled and held his hands up. “Whatever you want.”
They walked over to the cashier and she handed over some cash. “Did you drive by yourself here?” she asked.
“No, but I had Zac with me, so we didn’t have to get anyone on the Lycan Security Team to come and follow me.” Their father would certainly not be happy if he found out they were disobeying his orders to not be in the same place together. “He’s waiting outside.”
“He is? Why didn’t he come in with you?” Zac was their oldest friend. They were all practically raised together.
“Don’t worry, Astrid’s with him. He couldn’t lie to her and then she insisted in coming. Besides, she took one look at the reviews of this place and gave a hard no. Do you want to say hello?”
“It’s okay.” She gave him a dismissive wave. “You guys should go before anyone suspects anything.” Besides, she didn’t want to get the third degree from Zac and Astrid about Darius.
He enveloped her in a hug. “This was nice, Adrianna. I really needed this. Thanks for telling me to come here. I knew
