Lucian’s POV

"What the fuck did you put in that cake?!" I roared, stepping directly into Ilya’s space, my chest heaving with a violent, protective rage.

Ilya stuttered, her face twisting into a mask of pure frustration as she looked down at the shattered plate. "The cake... it was meant for you to eat! And now it has been completely ruined!"

My eyes burned with absolute fury. The veins in my neck bulged as I clenched my fists, fully prepared to lash out at her, consequences be damned.

"I love you."

The sudden, deeply intense declaration shattered the tension in the room. I froze, my gaze halting instantly as both Boca and I snapped our heads down to look at Ragnar.

The violent convulsing and choking had completely stopped. Instead, Ragnar was staring up at Boca with an overwhelming, desperate intensity, his eyes wide and glazed over with a frighteningly soft devotion.

Boca shifted uncomfortably, trying to pull away from my Beta’s heavy grip. "What the hell is going on? Ragnar, let go of me."

"I have loved you since the exact day I first saw you, Boca," Ragnar murmured, his voice thick with an unnerving, sudden passion. He reached up, his large hands gripping Boca’s jacket tightly. "I want to be with you for the rest of my life."

Boca’s eyes widened in sheer disbelief. He aggressively pushed Ragnar’s hands off his chest. "Get the hell away from me! What the fuck is wrong with you?!"

"You can’t keep me away from you," Ragnar purred, entirely unbothered by the rejection as he tried to crawl closer to him on the floor.

"This is completely messed up," Ilya muttered, watching the display with a look of pure disgust.

I turned back to her, my voice dropping into a lethal, dangerous growl. "I am going to ask you one last time—what the fuck did you put in that cake, Ilya?"

"It was a love potion!" she snapped, her temper finally flaring to match mine. She threw her hands in the air, glaring at me. "It was meant for you! To make you love only me. Since getting engaged to you clearly isn’t doing the trick!"

"What the hell is actually wrong with you?!" I yelled, the sheer absurdity of her madness making my blood boil.

"What the hell is wrong with me?!" Ilya shrieked, her voice cracking as a manic, desperate rage took over her features. "You told me that you loved me, Lucian! And that was all a pathetic lie because of that woman! Wouldn’t it be actually better to just have you all for myself? To force you to love me and make things easier for both of us?!"

"You have completely lost your goddamn mind," I told her coldly, staring at her with absolute revulsion. "Listen to me, and listen well. No amount of love potions, spells, or dark magic will ever make me love you. My heart belongs to exactly one person. I am fully bonded to Alina. She is my love. You can threaten me all you want, Ilya, but you can never force me to love you."

My words hit her like a physical blow, turning her face a dangerous shade of crimson as pure anger and annoyance consumed her.

"Whatever the hell you did to him, you need to undo it right now!" Boca yelled from the floor, using all his strength to hold Ragnar back by his collar. "He is trying to fucking kiss me!"

Ilya let out a harsh, uncaring scoff. "No. I won’t undo a single thing. Ragnar is your problem now."

"Ilya!" Boca growled, his Alpha command vibrating through the room.

I placed a firm hand on Boca’s shoulder, shaking my head. "Don’t waste your breath or your time on her, Boca. Just take Ragnar out of here. It’s a potion—the effects will wear off soon."

"I fucking hope so," Boca muttered. He let out a heavy sigh, bending down to scoop Ragnar’s broad frame off the floorboards.

The moment he was lifted, a wide, deeply infatuated smile broke across Ragnar’s face. He wrapped his arms around Boca’s neck, sighing happily. "You lift me up so easily... you are such a strong, incredible man, Boca."

Boca shot me a look of pure, agonizing torment. "You better hurry up and handle this, Lucian, before I actually hurt someone."

"You know how incredibly hard it has been for me to pretend to care about you," I said, giving it to her completely straight. "So I am going to tell you the absolute truth. There will never be an ’us,’ Ilya. We are not getting married. I won’t be yours in this life, or in any life to come. Why don’t we just stop this pathetic game right now? Pack your things and get the fuck out of my territory."

Ilya stared at me for a beat before letting out a loud, jagged, completely insane laugh.

"Like you can truly force me out, Lucian," she sneered, stepping closer until she was inches away from my chest. "My plan to get you to fall for me might have failed tonight, but do not forget who I am. I am still Ilya. I am the most powerful wolf you will ever encounter in your life. So do not get too cocky with me."

Suddenly, her eyes flashed, lighting up with a blinding, supernatural blue hue.

A sharp, familiar pressure clamped down on my mind. My left eyebrow raised instinctively as a sudden wave of dizziness hit me.

"I only wanted one thing from you, Lucian," Ilya whispered, her voice suddenly echoing strangely inside my head. "And that is marriage. And it won’t just benefit me—it will also benefit you. Think about it. You can finally get rid of all your enemies. Those who lied to you. Those who accused you of the horrific things you didn’t do..."

As she spoke, vivid, agonizing images started violently ringing through my mind. Flashbacks of the betrayal, the whispers, the pain of being framed.

"Lucian, I am not your enemy... remember what my family did for you, okay?"

The echoed voices blurred my senses, making my chest tighten with a sudden, suffocating confusion.

Ilya smoothly took my hand, her grip surprisingly warm as she anchored me into the vision. She looked deep into my eyes, her voice dropping into a soft, manipulative plea. "You just need to trust me, Lucian. Let’s just go through with the ceremony. I promise you, immediately after we get married, we will get a swift divorce. I’ll take what I need, and I will never bother you or Alina ever again."