006 Dirty Dark Secret

Lilith’s POV

All this time, he had been nervous because he thought I would take advantage of the Alpha’s gift and reveal his biggest, darkest secret -- me?

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Orion frowned.

Like what? Like disgusted? Like still trying to process how shockingly low he could go? Like humiliated because my mate was too ashamed to claim me?

I needed to get used to this.

“Nothing, just surprised that you think I could defy the Alpha,” I looked away. I was not used to lying to Orion. Well, not to his too familiar face that I once loved.

“Defy what? It’s just a welcome gift, out of the Alpha’s kindness for an orpha--” Orion frowned with an indifferent snort, but he didn’t finish the word “orphan”, “It’s more like a polite gesture. It’s rude to take it literally and actually accept it.”

Orion gabbled on. More like persuading himself.

It would be rude to accept, but it’s okay if I declined and asked for some other valuable items, for him?

Orion didn’t know, it wasn’t just a “gift”. It was my paycheck.

The Alpha didn’t want his injury known to the pack. Werewolves worship power, and an injured Alpha could lead to danger to both the pack and himself, because there are sharks not only after the pack, but also after that throne Orion himself was also hell-bent on getting. So when the Alpha took me back to the pack, he hid the fact that it was because he needed more of my “potions”. He announced that I was a poor rogue whom he invited to the pack out of generosity.

I guess, like father, like son.

Orion even THINKS in the same way his father does.

The Alpha said he would give me a satisfying paycheck. I just didn’t know his intention was a mate. I mean, my potions do well, sure, but it was far from so valuable that an Alpha would grant a rogue like me with a member of his own.

But, whatever reason the Alpha had behind this decision. I no longer care. I just wanted to leave the pack, as soon as I could get Orion to return my mark.

“I won’t use the Alpha’s gift to claim you,” I said genuinely, fully planning to use the Alpha’s gift to force Orion to give back my mark, “...at one condition.”

Orion laughed out: “A condition? Saying as if you have any other choice. You are mine, Lil.”

Was. I was your mate, not your possession.

Now I wouldn’t be either.

“Do we have a deal or not?” I ignore his taunt.

“Fine,” Orion rolls his eyes, his mood visibly lighter after he got what he wanted, “Let’s hear our little lily. What’s your condition?”

“Leo, I want him assigned to me.”

Orion’s face darkened.

Leo was an orphan rogue, just like me. Except he was an Omega. His own father chased him out of their pack when he failed to shift when he was 12, and he had been on his own ever since. I found him fainted in the woods when I was picking up herbs, and he had been working in my clinic with me for the past three years. He saw me as his only family, so when I came to the pack, I took him with me.

But the pack rule decided that it wasn’t “appropriate” for an omega boy to serve ladies, and sent Leo to the Alpha’s house instead. I didn’t take Leo to the pack to serve as an Omega, but I didn’t want to cause trouble for the Lady on my first day in the pack, so I had to let Leo go. Leo would do anything I say, so he did. Which was a huge mistake because I hadn’t been able to see him at all.

Orion promised to get Leo out, but he never delivered, no matter how much I urged him.

This time, I wouldn’t allow him to dodge me again.

“There are rules in this pack. Even as the Alpha’s son, I can’t just rearrange an Omega--” Orion started with a reason so familiar that I could recite it.

“Which is easier for you? To get Leo out, or to defy your father when I claimed you on the Feast?” I asked, my tone harmless.

Orion stared at me with a shocked look. It wasn’t like we never had sibling fights, but I had never talked to him like this. Like we were on the opposite sides.

But we were now.

“Lil...?” Orion asked with an uncertain tone.

“He is family, Orion,” I found all the patience I could find in me, using the Lady’s words, “Remember how you hated me when the Lady just brought me home? But the Lady told you that blood doesn’t make me family, love does. I brought Leo home, and we had been taking care of each other. I see him as my brother, and that makes him yours, too.”

“...okay,” Orion said reluctantly, “I’ll try--”

“Great, let’s do it today!” I pretended not to see his struggle.

“Today?!” Orion roared, “Are you kidding--?”

“The Feast is in a few days. When do you want to do it then?” I said calmly, leaving my threat unsaid.

Orion didn’t answer for long this time. He stared at me with a cold, calculating, confused look.

I knew that look. That’s the same look I had when I realized I no longer knew this man. And now, he was looking at me in a new light now, too.

“You really have changed, Lilith,” Orion said lightly, disappointment in his eyes.

Usually, this is where I cave. When I disappointed him. When he stopped smiling at me. When he asked where “his little lily” went. I would apologize and reflect on my own doing.

I no longer care enough to bend myself in the way he wanted.

“I’ll take that as a yes?” I didn’t follow his lead.

“Fine, I’ll see to it today,” Orion said, his tone suddenly professional but distant, just like how he talked rank in the pack.

He saw that I meant business now, and he meant business, too.

I grabbed my keys, “Good. I’ll come with.”