002 Guest At My Own Home

Lilith’s POV

I woke up in my own bed, to a string of banging of the chair against the floor. It was Rosie and her routine chores. She was the omega assigned to serve me.

According to my estimation, her sweeping cut the life of the furniture at least in half.

“Glad you are awake, Miss,” Rosie said, as if not aware that the noise she created was the reason why I was awake, “I’ll let The Lady know right away. She was worried when we found you on the staircase.”

She left without waiting for my answer, her nose stuck up in the air.

I wasn’t going to answer anyway.

I had come to realize that even though The Lady assigned her to “serve” me, Rosie had never seen me as her master. None of the omegas did. To them, I was all but an orphan runt who was overstaying her welcome.

I never said anything to The Lady. Her life in the pack was awkward as it was, and I definitely didn’t want to make it harder.

“The Lady” was her title, one created for her, because while she was the Alpha’s fated mate who gave him a son, she was NOT the Luna.

Titles were for respect, but hers came with sarcasm.

When the Alpha met Orion’s mother, he was already married to his Luna and had kids. The Lady was pregnant when she found out about this, so she left her mate and raised Orion all by herself.

Yes, Orion is the Alpha’s illegitimate son.

Three years ago, the Alpha found out about the existence of Orion. The Lady took Orion back to the pack, reluctantly, leaving me to guard our old home. Orion promised that he would get the Alpha to take me into the pack in time, and I had dreamed about that magical reunion since.

But now I realize, I met Orion again, I just never reunited with the boy who loved me.

“How are you feeling, Lilith?” The Lady walked in, with her LONG, fancy dress still inches out of the door.

Three months since I came to Orion’s pack, I still was not used to the woman who held me in front of the fireplace in our old leaky house with ash on her face, wearing gowns on a daily basis.

“I’m all fine, Lady,” I sat up straight and beared my neck tamely. A lot of these “manners” I picked up after I got here. Through painful lessons. I was raised wild, and as much as I could remember all these rules, I never liked them.

But Orion did. So I put them on. I thought that could please him, but I should have known it was not my manner that he no longer loved, it was me.

“Still like the reckless little girl I picked up in the woods,” With a smile, the Lady rubbed my hair, shaking her head slowly. Her nails long and painted, too delicate to even shift, I thought. But then again, the Lady of the pack had no need to shift, most of the time, “I still remember when I just brought you home. Every morning, I had to search the whole house for you, because you would sleep anywhere BUT the bed.”

I barely remembered that. I was eight when she took me home, but I lost my memory before that day.

Containing the urge of tears and throwing myself into her arms, I just nodded with a smile. Crying was not a good manner for a “proper lady”. Apparently, that was what I was now.

Or, what I should have tried to be.

The Lady nodded at me this time, satisfied with my behavior.

I lowered my eyes, unable to smile genuinely at her approval. I felt like I was losing a bit of myself every time I chose the Lilith they wanted over my true self.

“Orion is not out there having fun,” The Lady suddenly said. I looked up in surprise. My heart started racing.

Did she know what happened already?

The Lady smiled at my reaction, “The Alpha is about to choose his heir. Now is a crucial time for Orion, more than ever.”

Ohh. Yeah. That.

The Alpha had two sons and two daughters with the Luna, and one son with The Lady. Apparently, he named his oldest son the heir at birth, only to rip him of that title three years ago, around when he took Orion back to the pack.

With the oldest prince out of the picture, it gave Orion a 50-50 chance at that title, and Orion was dead set on seizing it.

“I wish he could get it, too.” I lied.

I knew how much Orion wanted it. He saw that title as the final approval of the father he had longed for. He stripped the boy I loved out from under his skin in the past three years, picked up all these formal manners as a real elite boy raised by wealth, and found himself only in the company of the heirs of high ranks.

But I didn’t know if I wanted him to get it all heartedly. Because the closer he got to the title, the less I could recognize the boy I loved in him.

I feared that if Orion got that title, the boy I loved would cease to exist.

“Honey, he WILL claim you at the right time, but right now he needs your support,” The Lady said, bending down patiently to search for my eyes, “If you want to be his Luna, then you will learn patience. This won’t be the first time he can’t spend a night with you, and it won’t be the last. Such is what a mate should do.”

Finally I understood where this “talk” came from. She thought I was throwing a tantrum by sleeping on the floor because Orion left me at home.

I looked up at The Lady, almost letting out the truth. If she asked me right now, I will tell her that I rejected him. But she did not ask.

Could I tell her anyway?

My heart was pounding against the cage of my ribs. I feared the moment of the truth coming out, but I longed for the relief.

“Mama Beth--” I gripped the sheet to gather courage, “Actually--”

“You can’t call me that here, honey, I told you,” the Lady shook her head with a frown, her voice august, “You are to be announced as Orion’s mate, and his name can not afford any stain. You understand that, right?”

Right. A mate bond between adopted siblings wouldn’t be blessed, of course. Even though The Lady never adopted me officially, she feared the first breath of our past catching up. That was why to the whole pack, I was just an orphan who was clinging to The Lady’s kindness, nothing else.

The courage I'd mustered dissipated into a puff the moment this realization reached my throat.

Noticing my low mood, the Lady tipped my chin up with a finger, teasing, “But for now, come down and look who I found on the doorstep?”

Orion came in, leaning on the door frame.

Of course it was him. The Lady always did this whenever Orion wanted to apologize.

[Hmph!] Lycoris hid her head under her paw, still angry at Orion. If only I could just hide just like her, but I had to face him.

I was no longer the spoiled girl who could throw a tantrum.

I was a guest, at the only home I knew.