Chapter 59
Chapter 59
After a twenty minute drive, a large skyscraper came into view. Xandar parked on the lower ground floor and they took the elevator up. Xandar’s hand never left Lucianne’s waist as he led her out through the elevator doors, and as soon as they turned around the corner, Lucianne halted in her steps at the sight before her.
“Woah.” She muttered as her black orbs sparkled at the sight of the large space filled with endless shelves of books. As she adjusted to her surroundings, she took small steps forward t o look around. The carpeted floor absorbed any sounds of footsteps, making the place quiet enough to read. The lights lit up the place enough to give it a sophisticated look. The music playing subtly in the background puts one in a mood to relax and dive into whichever book held their interest
Lucianne’s eyes snapped back to Xandar’s elated lilac ones as she exclaimed in a whisper,“ This is La Librairie, isn’t it? The largest bookstore in the Kingdom!” 1
Xandar’s eyes were also shining at the sight of Lucianne’s excitement, “It is. You‘ve clearly heard of it.”
Her eyes continued to scan the place while she explained, “I’ve read about it and seen pictures of it in the news. But the sight is still breathtaking.” She looked at the ceiling which was said to contain engravings of reputable authors of the past. She then looked at the pillars which had the most famous quotes of each century. She then uttered, “The twenty-eight-floor building which holds every book known to Lycans, werewolves, vampires and humans. All in one place. This is amazing!” 1
“Yes, you are.” Xandar said from her side. Lucianne turned back to find his sincere and affectionate gaze fixed on her. She was moved. She heard about this place for years but never got to come because it was in Lycan territory so she didn’t think it would be wise to enter as a wolf. She didn’t want to be kicked out and appear in the news for it. But Xandar brought her here without her having to ask.
She then asked in curiosity, “How did you even know that I’m crazy about books?”
He chuckled softly before he took her hands in his, “Well, you were reading some very heavy material while I slept after the Jewel Pack incident. And if I recall correctly, Cummings once tried to give you a book in the dining hall. In your room, there were three 300-page books on the couch, all heavy material. I’ve never known a person to pack books for a trip.”
Lucianne rolled her eyes and said, “Behavioral science is not heavy material.”
Xandar held her close and retorted, “Babe, the name itself feels heavy. Light ones normally have only one word for their genre like mystery, romance, humour, adventure…” Text © owned by NôvelDrama.Org.
“What about biographies, history, literature…” Before Lucianne could list out the one-worded book genres which could arguably be considered heavy material, Xandar squeezed the flesh o
n her waist and made her giggle.
When he was satisfied with the wide smile and red tinge on his mate’s face, he kissed her forehead and said, “Go on, pick your spot to start. We can stay here the whole day if you want. There’s a restaurant on the twenty-eighth floor. We’ll just stop for lunch up there, and you can come back down here to continue your book hunt.” 2
Lucianne squealed softly in excitement before dashing to a display rack nearby. ‘Adorable’, Xandar thought to himself. His animal was howling in happiness inside him.
From the display rack, Lucianne took out a copy of the map showing the outline of the entire place. ‘Wow. She even knew that existed.’Xandar thought to himself in awe. It was then he realized that she must have wanted to come here for years, probably ever since she heard about the place. But due to the friction between their species, and the store being in Lycan territory, she never could. His heart hurt at the thought of how little the werewolves had access to the things that Lycans always took for granted. 1
His tension eased when he saw her serious look as she studied the map in her hands. Without looking back his way, she walked towards the north wing. Xandar chuckled to himself before following her. He made a point to glare at any male scanning his mate’s body with lustful eyes.
Those who didn’t know who he was quickly looked away from his murderous scowl. Those who found him familiar were furrowing their brows as they tried to recall where they had seen him before. And those who realized who he was flinched in fear before offering an apologetic bow. He nodded curtly in return but his eyes remained stern, a warning to never look at his mate like how he caught them to have been looking.
Lucianne finally stopped at the second-last row of shelves. She checked the map in her hands and turned right. Xandar read the label at the top of the shelf. ‘Species Biology’. He chuckled as he thought about their conversation on heavy materials just a moment ago.
Lucianne ignored him as she skimmed the titles. She then extracted a brown hard-covered book before flipping it over to check the contents. Her finger ran down the chapter titles, and then she turned the book over to check the price. Xandar then said, “Baby, you can take whatever you want. You don’t have to worry about the cost. I’ll take care of it.”
She smirked, “You already brought me here, Xandar. I have enough savings to pay for my purchases.” He then pulled her by her forearms to get her full attention, “No. This is a date. Let me pay for them, Lucy. That was the point of bringing you here in the first place.” He then pecked a kiss o n her forehead as he uttered, “Let me buy them for you, Lucy. Just let me.”
She looked hesitant as she muttered, “Okay.” He pecked a kiss on her cheek. And she uttered a shy ‘thank you’, which made him smile wider. When she continued to hold the brown book, Xandar understood that she wanted it so he held it for her. He had a look at the title: ‘Lycans i n Human and Animal Forms: Strengths, Weaknesses, Peculiarities and Blind Spots.’
Xandar chuckled before he asked as he lifted up the book in one hand, “Sweetheart, should I b e worried about this?”
Her perplexed eyes met his amusing ones. When she saw what he was referring to her cheeky smile showed. “Well, now that I know what the largest and strongest Lycan looks like, I have to start planning my wolf’s best forms of attack and defence. Thank you for bringing m e to the largest source of reference to help in my venture to take your animal down.”
It was the first time in a long time Xandar heard his animal laughing in joy as it rolled over in pure happiness. His Lycan was utterly ecstatic that Lucianne was not only unafraid of it but that she also wanted to train and interact with it with her wolf. And she was even confident that she could beat it when everyone else would ultimately give up!
Xandar failed to suppress his radiant smile as he said, “You are…” he sighed in pure admiration and amusement, “… absolutely amazing.”
Lucianne narrowed her eyes and said, “That’s not something a sane person would say to someone who just threatened to beat you up, darling.”
He kissed her temple as he uttered, “You’re right, I’m not a sane person when it comes to you. I’m undeniably and shamelessly insane about you.” She started blushing again, and she pecked a sweet kiss on his jawline before returning her sights to the shelf.
After four hours, Xandar had to make Lucianne stop the book hunt so that they could have lunch. They left her books at a ‘Keep Here and Collect Later’ locker, and made their way to the twenty-eighth floor.