CHAPTER 21
As soon as Lucian brought Rayne out, he opened the car door, pushed Rayne onto the passenger seat, then got in himself and started the car.
"What is this, Lucian? Your younger brother is still inside, and your friend too. How can you drive the car away?"
Lucian turned his head toward Rayne while driving. "Don't worry about them. Focus only on me. I am your husband."
Rayne wasn't able to understand anything, why Lucian was suddenly behaving like this. He wasn’t like this before. It really seemed like Lucian had changed.
"Lucian… did I do something wrong? Is that why you're acting like this and not letting me stay with your younger brother?" Rayne asked with a serious face.
"No, it's nothing like that. I just want to spend more time with you, Rayne. Can't I?"
Rayne shook his head, indicating no, he didn’t mean that. Lucian could spend as much time with him as he wanted.
Rayne glanced outside the car through the window. But Lucian kept looking at him while driving, noticing every single detail about Rayne.
And after a while, the car finally stopped. As it stopped, Rayne looked out and saw they were near the mountains. It looked like no one ever came here, it was so silent.
Since the jungle was nearby, the whole place had a different, strange vibe.
"Lucian… why are we here?" Rayne asked.
He glanced inside again and flinched, because Lucian had already unfastened his seatbelt and was looking at Rayne closely.
"Rayne, I know we didn’t get married because we loved each other, but that doesn’t mean we won’t fall for each other," Lucian said, his eyes fixed only on Rayne’s lips.
"What do you mean by this?" Rayne asked. Both his hands were on his thighs, clenching his t-shirt.
He was nervous… and he didn’t even know why he was nervous in the first place.
"I mean… I should mark you soon. You are mine now, and we’re going to spend our whole life together. So don’t you think I should already mark you? It will keep you safe too."
Lucian said this as he extended his hand, touching Rayne’s cheek with two fingers and gently rubbing them along his skin.
Rayne gulped when he heard that, and he looked down because he didn’t know what to say.
Anything about marking had never crossed Rayne’s mind. Nor had he ever thought that Lucian was willing to mark him.
Because Lucian didn’t even come to their first night, and later he said he just didn’t want to make Rayne pregnant at a young age. And now, all of a sudden, Lucian was talking about marking.
"Why are you suddenly talking about marking when you don’t even want to do it with me? Are you taking pity on me by any chance?"
Rayne said this because, of course, he felt that Lucian was only talking about marking him out of pity.
Rayne felt pathetic right now, because everything that happened earlier in his house kept repeating in his mind again and again.
"Rayne, what happened? Why aren’t you answering me? I’ve been calling you since earlier."
Hearing Lucian’s voice, Rayne realized he had been lost in his thoughts so deeply that he didn’t even hear Lucian calling him.
"How can you say that I’m pitying you? I’m just trying to do what every couple does. Why is it so hard to get along with you?"
Rayne looked at Lucian, and seeing that annoyed expression hurt him. He had been trying his best all this time, but now Lucian was saying it was hard to get along with him.
Rayne directly opened the car door and stepped outside.
"Where are you going all of a sudden? Rayne, come back inside right now!" Lucian shouted from inside the car.
Hearing those shouts only made Rayne even more angry. He didn’t stop, he just continued walking along the road.
On both sides, there was jungle, and big mountains surrounded the forest. But Rayne didn’t feel scared at all. He usually got scared of small things, but right now, he was feeling something stronger than fear.
He glanced back while walking and saw that Lucian had also come out of the car and was following him.
Rayne looked ahead again and kept walking, and just then he saw two black jeeps coming from the front.
Rayne was walking by the side of the road, so he didn’t pay much attention at first.
The guys inside the jeep said this as they drove past Rayne.
And on that road, it was only Lucian and Rayne, so it was clear those people in the jeep were definitely talking about them.
Rayne glanced back quickly and saw that the two jeeps had stopped beside Lucian, and two men were getting out.
Rayne’s heart skipped a beat in fear, what if something happened to Lucian?
He immediately ran over, reaching Lucian and standing beside him.
"Lucian, let’s leave from here now," Rayne said. But by then, those two men had already jumped out of the jeep.
"Where are you planning to run now, chickens?" one of the guys said, holding a baseball bat.
And seeing that baseball bat made it obvious to Rayne that these people were no ordinary men. They looked more like bandits or thugs.
"Wow, isn’t this cutie looking so fuckable? I want to ram him right away."
That guy said this while looking at Rayne from head to toe, licking his lips in a vulgar way. His eyes were dripping with lust.
He stepped forward and was about to grab Rayne’s hand, but before he could touch him, Lucian grabbed his wrist.
"Get away from my omega. Right now."
Lucian’s eyes were glaring at him like he could kill him on the spot.
"You fucking bastard, don’t touch me with your dirty hands. And do you really think you can fight me?" the man said.
He clearly believed he was the stronger one here. And since Lucian was wearing a suit and looked like a businessman, the man was confident he could take Lucian down easily.
"You dare to touch my omega? Do you think I would go easy on you?"
Even after hearing Lucian, the guy didn’t take him seriously at all. He just started laughing. Hearing his laugh, the people sitting in the jeep behind him also laughed together.
The situation wasn’t looking good at all from any angle, and Rayne was shaking while standing beside Lucian. He kept thinking that this was all happening because he left the car earlier.
If he hadn’t walked away, then they wouldn’t be stuck in this problem now.
"Lucian… I’m sorry. It’s all my fault," Rayne said, tears dripping from his eyes as he looked at Lucian.
Lucian smiled. "Silly, what are you apologizing for? It’s not your fault. But can you go and wait for me in the car? Make sure to lock the doors properly."
Lucian let go of the man’s hand, took out the keys, grabbed Rayne’s hand, and started pulling him toward the car.
"Wait, Lucian, I can’t leave you! Those people seem dangerous—we should call the police, I think—"
Before Rayne could finish, someone struck Lucian on the back of his head with a baseball bat.
Rayne was terrified seeing that. He didn’t want to go inside the car, but Lucian pushed him in and handed him the keys.
"Lock the door right now. And don’t worry about me," Lucian said.
Rayne closed all the windows and locked every door immediately. As soon as he did, Lucian took off his coat and covered the front windshield so that Rayne wouldn’t be able to see what was happening outside.
Since it was dangerous, he knew Rayne wouldn’t dare open the window, so he covered the only place Rayne could see through.
After doing that, Lucian touched the back of his head and saw blood on his fingers. He smirked at the sight and looked toward the men.
The one who had struck him with the baseball bat was standing there, still holding it. He was the same man who had tried to touch Rayne earlier.
"What is this chicken trying to do? Acting like a hero in front of his omega? This pathetic bastard needs more lessons," that same man said, raising the baseball bat again to strike Lucian.
But this time, Lucian grabbed the bat mid-air and glared at the man.
The man was shocked. He couldn’t move the bat at all or pull it free from Lucian’s grip. He tried with all his strength, but nothing happened.
Then Lucian suddenly snatched the baseball bat away from him. The man thought Lucian would hit him with it, but no, Lucian threw the bat behind him and kept walking forward.
And then, without warning, he side-kicked the man’s face. Blood splattered out of the man’s mouth, and when he spat into his hand, two teeth were lying there in a pool of blood.
With that bloody mouth, the man turned to look at his friends. But before he could even face Lucian again, he got kicked in the stomach so hard that his body flew and landed on the ground.
As the man crashed onto the ground, all his friends froze in shock. But before they could react, Lucian stepped forward.
All of them came out of the jeep to beat Lucian, since he had beaten their friend.
And when they stepped out, each of them was holding a weapon, some had baseball bats, some had knives, and some even carried hammers.
But even after seeing all that, Lucian didn’t look bothered at all. He still walked toward them. They all charged at him together.
But Lucian knocked all of them out. In just ten minutes, they were all lying on the ground, covered in blood.
Lucian walked back and wiped his bloody hands with his coat, removing it in front of the car.
When he did, he noticed Rayne sitting inside, crying. He went and knocked on the door. Hearing the knock, Rayne looked up and saw Lucian standing there. He quickly opened the door,
ran out of the car, and hugged Lucian tightly. "Thank God you’re fine… I was so worried about you… sob… this blood?"
"It’s not mine, don’t worry. I’m not hurt anywhere," Lucian said as he gently patted the back of Rayne’s head.
"Sob… I was so scared… and I’m sorry. Because of me, you were in trouble…"
Rayne was crying his eyes out, sobbing against Lucian’s chest.
"Rayne, I told you it’s not your fault. And don’t cry now." Lucian wiped Rayne’s tears, but Rayne’s hands still wouldn’t let go of him at all.
"Y-Yes… what happened to them?"
Mumbling, Rayne was about to look to his left side, remembering those men.
But just as he turned, Lucian pulled him closer and covered Rayne’s eyes with one large hand. His single hand covered more than half of Rayne’s face.
"Don’t look there. Keep your eyes closed, please, Rayne."
Rayne nodded at his words, and Lucian made him sit inside the car. Rayne didn’t open his eyes even once, he just sat there with them tightly shut.
Lucian fastened Rayne’s seatbelt and started the car.
"You can open your eyes now," Lucian said gently.
But when he reached over to adjust Rayne, he realized Rayne had already fallen asleep.
"He’s cute…" Lucian muttered, sending someone a quick message before continuing to drive.
After a while, they reached home. Lucian got out and carried Rayne in his arms. Even then, Rayne didn’t wake up at all, he just kept sleeping peacefully.
When Lucian brought Rayne inside the house and laid him down on the bed, he suddenly remembered something Rayne’s mother had once shared with him the day before their wedding.
She had told him that when Rayne gets extremely panicked or scared to the point he doesn’t know what to do, his body completely shuts down and he just falls asleep.
It had happened sometimes when he was a kid, so his parents had taken him to a therapist. That’s when they learned that Rayne needed someone he could rely on deeply.
That was why Rayne’s parents always took special care of him and stayed with him through every problem in his life.
But now that he was married, he had been scared and worried for Lucian and for himself, so his body reacted the same way and forced him to sleep.
Lucian realized he would have to do something about this. It wasn’t good for Rayne to fall asleep whenever he faced danger. It could even put his life at risk one day.
But for now, Lucian simply sat beside him, gently patting his head and tucking him under the quilt.