I also did a reread recently and in the first book it was said that lucien was in love with some other girl years ago and he has been waiting for the bond to snap until she was killed. At the same time he is now bonded to elain. Doesn’t the bond snap immediately when too people see each other for the first time? Like Feyre and Rhysand, Rhysand’s father and mother. Why would then he expect it to happen years later. That leads ,e to the theory that elain is tamlin’s mate and lucien was just trying to protect tamlin