Felicity's Beas Chapter 173: Obsession And Duels

Chapter 173: Obsession And Duels

Shadow’s voice ca low. "Or preparation."

Rowan didn’t speak, but his attention stayed locked forward, tension settling into him in a way that suggested he understood more than he liked.

Lucan heard all of it. Every word. And unlike the others, he didn’t need to think about what it ant. Because the mont Voss had said he tried to mark her, sothing in him had already made a decision. His tail stilled. His pace didn’t change. Felicity didn’t notice anything at all as she rested lightly against him, completely at ease.

But beneath that calm, sothing had shifted into place that wasn’t going to move again.

And for the first ti since they entered Orange, Lucan stopped treating the town like a place they were passing through.

He adjusted his stride slightly, barely noticeable, just enough to keep her balanced more comfortably across his back. Her weight was light, but he tracked it constantly, every shift, every change in pressure, the way her breathing settled into a slow rhythm against him. He counted it without aning to. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. Consistent. Safe.

Good.

His ears flicked once, catching the movent of the others behind them, the subtle shift in formation, the way Leaf Team was still unsettled, still adjusting. It didn’t matter. They could be unsettled. They could be confused. None of that changed anything.

What mattered was within his range. On him. His words didn’t feel aggressive. It felt correct. Lucan’s gaze remained forward, but his awareness stayed split, part of him tracking the road ahead, the other locked entirely on the small fox sitting on him like the world hadn’t ended, as none of this existed beyond the warmth she had found in his presence.

She trusted him.

That alone was enough to break sothing in a man if he wasn’t built for it. Lucan was.

The apocalypse had taken everything. Structure, order, identity, the systems that had once defined strength and worth. It had stripped the world down to instinct and survival and whatever a person chose to hold onto when everything else was gone.

And then it gave her back. Not to him. To them. Lucan’s jaw tightened slightly. That was the part that mattered. Not ownership. or Distribution. But Protection. Felicity was not sothing to be fought over. She was sothing to be built around.

The others didn’t fully understand that yet. So of them felt it. So of them circled it. So of them reacted to it without knowing why. But Lucan saw the structure forming, the shape of it, the way everything bent around her naturally, like gravity had changed direction and no one had been told.

It would stabilise. It always did. The strong ones would align.

The weak ones would fall away. Leaf Team, his team . Lucan’s gaze shifted slightly, just enough to catch Richard at the edge of his awareness. Strong.

Disciplined. Controlled. Useful. Thane— Unstable, but seeing sothing. Dawn— Already adjusting. Exile— Lucan’s tail flicked once. Exile was the problem. Not because of weakness. Because of excess. Too much instinct. Too little control. But—Lucan exhaled slowly. He would be useful.

Exile didn’t need to be stable.

Felicity needed more. More bodies. More strength. More layers between her and anything that thought it could reach her. Snow Team wasn’t enough anymore. Not with the way things were moving.

Not with the Supre. Lucan’s eyes darkened slightly. That na sat wrong. Because of audacity. Touching her. Trying to mark her. Trying to take sothing that. Lucan’s thoughts didn’t spike. They sharpened. The worst mistake you ever made was touching sothing I’m obsessed with. He didn’t say it out loud. He didn’t need to. The decision had already been made. Night would co. When it did, he would leave. Quietly. He would find them. The ones who had been near her. The ones who had tried. And the ones who had thought, Lucan’s breathing remained steady. He would remove them. Exile would co with him. Not because he trusted him. Because he didn’t, and because Exile would enjoy it. Lucan adjusted Felicity slightly again,

Her heat, His eyes lowered slightly. Soon. He could feel it. Not physically. Instinctively. Her scent would shift. Her behaviour would change. The others would react. That would complicate things. Lucan’s mind moved through it quickly, organising, categorising. Food intake would need to increase. Rest cycles would matter. Positioning. The Leaf Team would need to be managed.

Snow Team already understood.

Victor—Lucan’s gaze flicked forward briefly. Victor understood enough. That was fine. They didn’t need to agree. Felicity shifted slightly against him, a small movent, her hand tightening faintly in his fur, giving him headpats.

Lucan stilled internally. Every part of him focused on that. The only thing that mattered right now was that she was on him.

Alive and Unhurt. Unclaid by anyone who didn’t belong. The rest could be handled later. Lucan’s thoughts slowed slightly, not softening, just narrowing, focusing on what was in front of him, what was within reach.

Lucan didn’t hesitate once he decided on sothing. Not anymore.

Not after the world had ended. Not after everything had been stripped away. Not after— he had been given sothing worth keeping.

Lucan adjusted slightly as Felicity shifted on his back, her voice soft and bright as she sang to herself, as if none of the tension around them existed. It wasn’t loud, not ant for anyone else, just a quiet, happy rhythm that didn’t match the world they were walking through, and that alone made several of the n nearby go quieter without aning to. Lucan didn’t interrupt her. He didn’t speak. He just listened, tracking the sound of her voice the sa way he tracked her breathing, committing it to so deeper place than thought as they moved back toward the others. Richard walked nearby, still alert even while giving her space, and the rest of the small group followed in a loose formation that looked casual but wasn’t.

Felicity leaned forward slightly at one point, clearly enjoying herself, completely unaware of the way every movent she made was being noted, asured, rembered.

By the ti they ca back into range of the main group, the atmosphere shifted almost imdiately. It wasn’t loud, it wasn’t obvious, but it changed, like sothing had been waiting and finally settled the mont she was back where she was supposed to be. Lucan slowed just enough for her to slide down when she wanted to, though his attention didn’t leave her even

then, and as she moved off toward the others, sothing in him tightened before settling again.

Victor had already noticed.

He hadn’t been looking for her specifically, but he had felt the shift anyway. His gaze moved once, confirming she was there, safe, and then it moved away just as quickly, not lingering, not drawing attention to it. That was control. That was practice.

Dimitri noticed the sa thing. Neither of them comnted on it.

Victor exhaled slowly, rolling tension out of his shoulders before looking at Dimitri properly. "Walk with ."

It wasn’t a request.

Dimitri’s gaze flicked to him, sharp and assessing for half a second before he gave a small nod. "You want sothing."

Victor’s mouth curved slightly. "I do."

They moved away from the group without announcing it or hiding it, just creating space as if it were the most natural thing in the world. A few mbers of Snow Team noticed imdiately and followed at a distance, not interfering, just watching. They understood what this was without needing it explained.

Dimitri spoke first once they were far enough. "This isn’t about strategy."

"No," Victor said simply.

Dimitri’s expression shifted slightly, sothing sharper entering it. "Good."

Victor glanced at him. "You’ve been holding back."

"So have you."

There was no denial.

No need for it.

The air between them changed, subtle at first, then heavier, as if sothing were finally being allowed to surface after being kept under control for too long.

Victor stopped walking.

Dimitri did the sa.

For a mont, neither of them moved.

Then Victor spoke, tone even. "Not a formal duel."

Dimitri’s eyes flickered with sothing that almost resembled amusent. "No witnesses that matter. No outco that matters."

"Exactly."

Then Dimitri nodded once. "Good."

Because it had been a long ti since he had been able to let go properly.

Most opponents broke too quickly.

Most fights ended before they were worth starting.

Victor, well, Victor would not, and that alone was enough.

The ground beneath them felt different now, pressure building without either of them fully releasing it yet, both of them holding control out of habit rather than necessity. Dimitri rolled one shoulder slightly, like he was loosening sothing that had been tight for too long, while Victor adjusted his stance just enough to settle his weight properly.

Neither of them rushed it and neither of them needed to.

Behind them, the others slowed, spreading out instinctively, creating distance without being told. They didn’t speak. They didn’t interfere. They just watched, because this was not sothing you interrupted.

Dimitri’s gaze sharpened. "You’re certain."

Victor t it evenly. "Yes."

Fast enough that most people wouldn’t have been able to track it properly.

For the first ti since the collapse, both of them stopped holding back.