Chapter 189

189 The Radio Silence

Lucien woke up the next day to Ralph’s excited cries.

The little boy ran into their connected bedroom to wake him and Annalynne up.

“Mommy Mommy Mommy, let’s go to the water park again!!!” the little boy shouted as he pulled at Lucien’s blanket insistently.

Ralph’s nanny was aghast to see what Ralph was doing. She quickly pulled the little boy away and apologized profusely.

“No need to be sorry,” Lucien dismissed her with a wave of his hand. “We need to get ready anyway.”

Lucien grabbed his sister’s shoulder, prompting the latter to groan.

“Anna, wake up. I thought you wanted to play again.”

“Mmmmm...”

“Go and take a shower,” Lucien told her.

.....

After much persuasion, Annalynne finally dragged her feet into the bathroom.

Lucien’s phone lay just next to his pillow. He had expected to see a reply to his message from Ronan, but there was still nothing at all.

For some reason, Lucien felt restless.

It was unlike Ronan to cut him off like that. Or was Ronan maybe that busy at work?

Lucien tried hard to distract himself throughout the day. It worked for maybe an hour at most before he was back thinking about Ronan again. His mood gradually grew worse with every hour of radio silence from Ronan’s side.

At last, the day ended.

After thanking Lucien and Annalynne for the fun vacation, Ralph and his nanny left on Kinnon’s helicopter. Lucien and Annalynne took a car to go back to their pack house.

Inside the car, Lucien’s expression was as dark as the approaching night. Annalynne squeezed Lucien’s hand and asked out of concern, “Lulu? Is everything alright?”

Lucien had been out of it the whole day. Only a blind person would not notice.

“No, it’s just...”

Lucien ran his fingers through his hair. He looked lost. At last, he pressed his lips together and gestured toward the phone in his hand.

“Ronan called yesterday. My phone was dead the whole day so I missed it. After that, I kept calling and sending messages, but he did not reply at all.”

“...”

Annalynne gaped at her brother.

“What kind of attitude was that? Is he that childish to get mad over one missed call???”

Lucien shook his head.

“No, Anna. We often missed each other’s calls. And we also do not have the habit to reply to messages as soon as possible. There is nothing irregular about that.”

“So... what could it be?”

Lucien shrugged in exasperation.

“I don’t know.”

They were supposed to meet up at the Werewolf Council Headquarters the next day. As of now, Lucien did not know what to think about the whole thing.

Annalynne could easily guess her brother’s train of thought. She squeezed her brother’s hand again and asked, “Lulu, do you still want to go tomorrow?”

Lucien did not answer right away.

He wanted to go. He agreed to go. But was Ronan even going to come? Where did he go off to? Why did he suddenly go off the radar?

“Why don’t we give Beta Jake a call?” Annalynne helpfully suggested. “Maybe something happened to Ronan and they failed to inform us. We should grab some initiative.”

Lucien could barely believe his ears.

Annalynne was right. Why did he not think about that?

Jake would know where his Alpha was.

Without waiting for Lucien’s answer, Annalynne dialed Jake’s number and made a call. Unfortunately, Jake also did not pick up. Lucien sighed and groaned into his hands.

“I don’t understand. Should I go to Great Lake City to take a look?”

Annalynne bit her lip. “No... what about this? Let’s not fret. Why don’t I accompany you to the council headquarters tomorrow? If Ronan does not show up, we march straight to the Great Lake City, alright?”

“Mmm... okay.”

At night, Lucien barely slept a wink. He kept looking at his phone, hoping to receive any news from Ronan. Unfortunately, his hope was dashed.

Early the next morning, he and Annalynne left the pack house to go to the council headquarters. The agreed appointment time was at noon.

By the time the siblings arrived, Ronan had yet to appear.

After waiting for more than an hour, Lucien lost his patience. He turned to Annalynne and spoke in an aggrieved tone, “We should leave. He is not going to come.”

Annalynne gritted her teeth in fury.

“Lulu, do you want to go to Great Lake City?”

The man next to her was unable to answer. He tried to make up reasonable excuses on Ronan’s behalf, but none of them make sense.

There was only one possible reason why he did not show up.

Ronan changed his mind about the wedding.

“Lulu. Lulu!”

Lucien snapped from his dazed state.

Annalynne was pulling at his arm. “Your pocket! Your phone is vibrating!”

Lucien widened his eyes in anticipation.

Ronan!

Lucien quickly took out his phone. When he saw the name on the screen, though, his spirit plummeted to the ground. It was not Ronan. It was Jake.

“Hello? Lucien?”

Jake’s voice trembled slightly over the phone.

Despite Lucien’s initial conviction that Ronan changed his mind, he could not help but bombard Jake with questions.

“Jake, what happened? I tried calling Ronan so many times...”

At the other end of the line, Jake was heard taking a deep breath.

“Oh, Goddess....” he whispered into the phone. “Lucien, where are you? Did no one contact you?”

“I am at the Werewolf Council Headquarters,” Lucien informed the Beta. “Ronan and I agreed to meet here today. Where is he? Why is he not coming?”

Panic could be heard in Jake’s voice when he spoke next.

“Lucien, you know what? Let me go there okay? Please don’t move. I will come as fast as possible.”

The phone call ended just like that without further clues.

Although Jake said that he was coming as fast as possible, he still needed two hours to arrive. Lucien and Annalynne had meanwhile retreated to Hapsborough City, intent on staying overnight before heading back to Blue Hill City.

When Jake finally caught up with them, he was not his usual self. He seemed to have not slept for days. There were dark circles around his eyes. On top of that, he was also restless and irritable.

“Jake, what... what’s wrong with you? You look...”

Awful. That was the word that crossed Lucien’s mind, but he did not want to say it out loud. On the other side, Jake could not care less. He had something more important to tell Lucien.

“Listen to me,” he hissed, grabbing Lucien’s shoulders hard. “Lucien, Lady Adele Fangblade passed away two nights ago.”