Chapter 2 #2
“You’re keeping something from me.” That was the only explanation he could think of for the alpha’s anxiety.
Sure, nothing he was saying was untrue, but it wasn’t like Shiloh had been treated like glass since his kidnapping.
For the most part, things had gone back to normal, with only a few whispers about his “misfortune” happening when no one thought he was listening. “Tell me.”
He licked his lips and adjusted his grip on the steering wheel. “The Leviathan has been spotted in the city.”
Shiloh quirked a brow. “And?”
Sarang took his eyes off the road long enough to send him a heated glare.
“You don’t actually think he’s here because of me, do you?” What a ridiculous notion. “He has no reason—”
“There’d been no reason to send those men to attack you on Glyph either,” his words were spoken low, quieter in an attempt not to trigger Shiloh by reminding him.
Because Sarang was a teddy bear and thus a sensitive soul.
A good person.
Unlike Shiloh.
Should he come clean? About the attack? About the baby?
About how he’d orchestrated the entire mess and didn’t feel much of anything now that it was done?
He opened his mouth to do just that but…couldn’t. Fear gripped him.
Another weakness.
Another reason to end this—and the man at his side. Removing temptation would solve his problem.
“I doubt the Leviathan has allowed himself a weakness the way I have,” he said before he could help it, the statement meant to be kept private, yet accidentally shared aloud.
Of course, Sarang misinterpreted it.
“A child is a blessing. He should be torn apart for what he did,” the alpha growled.
“It was an accident.”
Sarang sneered. “They attacked you!”
“They were meant to kidnap me, not—”
The alpha hit the brakes so suddenly, Shiloh slammed forward and whacked his arms against the dash to prevent his head from making contact.
“What are you talking about?” Sarang didn’t apologize, too busy staring him down with a mixture of what appeared to be loathing and suspicion. The first was for the Dominus of the White Frost, the Leviathan, the latter…
There was no reason for him to be suspicious of Shiloh though.
He didn’t really know him. Didn’t know the lengths he would go to.
A wave of renewed melancholy washed over him and Shiloh squeezed his eyes shut, fearing the alpha would see.
Shiloh had given up the throne for this man, and yet Dio was right.
“If I told you the truth, would you leave me?” he asked, and when he risked looking again, saw the anger draining away on Sarang’s face, replaced with confusion and concern.
“Prince?”
What could it hurt, really? Maybe this was a way to start or end things for real. If the alpha couldn’t even handle this much, Dio was right and there’d be no chance of him ever accepting the real Shiloh.
But if he could…
The smart thing to do would be to distance himself from Sarang. To lose this weakness before it bit him in the ass and cost him something more precious than the throne.
“I am incredibly stupid,” he muttered under his breath, and then, before he could come to his senses, blurted loudly, “There was no baby, Rang.”
The alpha blinked at him, completely, and understandably, out of sorts.
Shiloh exhaled and tried again. “The doctor said the tests came back negative in the end. False signs. I was never pregnant, so there was no baby to lose. The attack in the corn maze broke one of my ribs, but that was all.”
“You…lied about being pregnant?” It was impossible to lock down what he was feeling, the emotions flittering across his face too quickly to identify. “Why?”
Because he’d liked the attention Sarang had given him when he’d thought he was with child. Obviously.
But since he couldn’t say that, Shiloh ended up running a hand through his hair and shrugging like it was no big deal. Like he wasn’t currently an anxious ball of nerves, waiting to see if the alpha would reject him or scream or give any number of other negative reactions.
“We didn’t know the identity of the alpha at first,” the fib came easily enough, lying second nature to Shiloh by now, “so I thought to use the situation to lure him out. By the time Kian discovered it was the Leviathan, I was already too deep into the story.”
“Who knows?”
“Just Sloane.”
“So you kept this from the Dominus as well?”
Shiloh clicked his tongue. “If I kept it from you, of course I didn’t tell Kian either.”
His brother knew he wasn’t the perfect, innocent prince, but that didn’t mean he knew the extent in which Shiloh had hidden his true self. Probably thought Lane and the whole ordeal had tormented Shiloh just as much as Sarang had.
Silence stretched uncomfortably between them for a torturous moment, and then Sarang started driving once more, eyes back on the road, posture stiff. Any semblance of the good mood he’d been gearing up toward when he’d suggested they get dessert was decidedly gone.
“Rang—”
“I thought you were in mourning,” the alpha cut him off, voice thready with barely restrained anger.
“I grieved for you. I ordered everyone to give you space. Allowed you to run off to this grisly planet. Stood outside for over an hour, knowing you were in there with Diogenes, alone. And you’re telling me now that it was all an act?
Good Light, Shiloh, you were kidnapped and forced into a breeding den and ra—”
“Enough.” He didn’t want to hear the older man call him a victim. “You’re implying since a child didn’t come of it after all, my situation wasn’t as dire as you were led to believe? Is that it?”
“Don’t be cruel.”
“You—”
“Were lied to!” A burst of alpha pheromones shot out of him, filling the car with a heady scent of ripe berries, salt, and ash. They weren’t targeted—no matter his emotional state, Sarang was always careful not to cross that line—but effective nonetheless considering their close proximity.
Shiloh instinctively moved away, pressing against the side of the door, unable to secure much distance. His skin prickled, and an apology rolled off the tip of his tongue before he could help it. “I’m sorry.”
“No,” he shook his head, “you don’t get to do that.
You don’t get to apologize and minimize this.
I’m your Righthand! You can lie to everyone in this entire universe if you so please, but not me.
Never me. As soon as you found out from the doctors it’d been a false diagnosis, you should have told me.
How the hell am I supposed to do my job if I don’t know what’s going on? ”
“Right, because that’s all I am to you. A job.
” That was how this had started, in any case.
He’d been able to convince the alpha to leave the farm with him and join the mafia in exchange for securing Sarang’s family’s safety.
He’d offered them a better life in exchange for Sarang’s fealty, and he’d gotten him for the hefty sum of two billion coin.
Worth every cent.
“The second you realize you’re wrong, you lash out,” Sarang stated. “Just admit your mistake like an adult.”
“I said I was sorry!”
“You didn’t mean it.”
“I’m not capable of meaning it!” Shiloh bared his teeth, freezing the second he did. Shit.
Play docile. This wasn’t going well, clearly there’d been merit to Dio’s words and Shiloh had to backtrack.
“I don’t want you to be mad at me.” It wasn’t difficult to make himself sound sad and pathetic, since he was telling the truth this time. He didn’t want Sarang to be upset with him. “I don’t like it.”
Sarang pulled off the road and parked int front of a brightly lit bakery. “Go inside and order your cake.”
“You aren’t coming?”
“I need a minute.”
“Rang—”
“If I lied and told you I got another omega pregnant, how would you feel?”
Fury swept through him before he got a hold of it. “Bad.”
He grunted, then repeated, “I need a minute.”
Shiloh hesitated, then got out of the car.