Chapter 18: History

Levi stared at the far wall for a long time after made up his mind, then he drew adeep breath before finally speaking.

"He was my first," he said.

Aaron did not move, but the air in the room changed..

Levi kept his eyes on the wall. It was easier than looking at the Alpha who had decided, against every pattern Levi had learned in this house, to sit still and listen.

"We grew up near each other. Different packs, but close enough that the children mixed at gatherings. He was... intense. Even then. He decided I was his favorite person and that was the end of the discussion as far as he was concerned." A humorless breath left him. "I was lonely enough, and flattered enough, that I let it happen. We were together for years. On and off. More on than off."

He swallowed, found his breath, and continued.

"It started small. He wanted to know where I was. Who I talked to. He didn’t like it when other Alphas looked at me too long. At first it felt like care. The kind of thing people write songs about if they’re not paying attention." Levi’s fingers curled into the sheet. "Then it stopped feeling like care. He started deciding who I was allowed to see. How long I could be gone. What I was allowed to say in public. If I pushed back, he didn’t hit me, well not at first. He just... withdrew. Locked the door. Made the silence last until I apologized for needing space."

Aaron’s scent had gone very still. Levi stole a glance from the Alpha, and while he looked calm, Levi could tell his looks were doing heavy work to mask his feelings. Regardless, forced himself to continue.

"The last time, he locked me in a room for two days because I spent too long talking to another omega at a border meeting. No food until the second night. No explanation beyond ’you forgot who you belong to.’ When he finally opened the door he was gentle again. Promised it wouldn’t happen the same way twice." Levi’s mouth twisted. "I left three weeks later while he was away on pack business. I didn’t take most of my things. I just went. My family was angry, and his family was angrier. But I had made my choice, and I was happy with it."

He risked a glance at Aaron.

The second prince was staring at the floor between his boots, elbows on his knees, hands clasped so tightly the knuckles had gone white. A muscle jumped in his jaw.

"He found out where I was eventually," Levi added, quieter. "There were messages, gifts, ans attempts to ’talk.’ I ignored them. I thought distance and time would finish it. Then I got handed to your father as a blood debt and somehow the universe decided that wasn’t enough suffering for one omega."

There was a long silence, only broken by Aaron’s measured breathing, the way it did when he was forcing the temper down by inches. When he finally spoke, his voice was rough.

"He locked you in a room."

"Yes." Levi answered slowly

"For talking."

"Yes."

Aaron gave a short, ugly laugh that had no humor in it. "And then he walked into our house, smiled at my father, and talked about killing my brother so he could put his own mark on you like he was doing you a favor."

Levi said nothing. There was nothing to add.

Aaron dragged both hands down his face and let them fall. Some of the murderous tension in his shoulders loosened, replaced by something more complicated. He looked at Levi again and the usual heat in his gaze was tangled with something that almost resembled understanding.

"You should have led with that," he said. "I still would have wanted to break his face, but I would have understood the silence faster."

"I don’t make a habit of telling Alphas about the last Alpha who decided I was property," Levi answered. The sarcasm came out thinner than usual. "It rarely improves the conversation."

Aaron’s mouth twitched despite everything. "Fair."

He was quiet for another stretch of time. Levi could feel the second prince turning the new information over, fitting it against everything else. Then after a long awkward silence, Aaron spoke again.

"I’m not him,"

Levi’s eyes flicked up, glaring at the second son like he was speaking in another language. Where did that come from? Levi asked himself.

Aaron held the look. "I know what I am. I know how I come across. Temper, volume, the whole ’mad prince’ performance. But I don’t lock people in rooms to teach them lessons. And I don’t smile while planning to cut a completed claim out of someone’s throat." His voice dropped. "You don’t have to trust me. You probably shouldn’t, given the week you’ve had. But I’m not going to be the next set of locked doors. Clear?"

Levi studied him, stunned and amused at the same time. This was a different side of Aaron, one that he was just getting acquainted with. Was this a performance to make me like him more than the others? Levi asked himself. Regardless if it was a performance or not, he had no romantic feelings for any of the princes. The mate bond might force them together, but it didn’t make him love someone he didn’t.

"Clear enough," Levi said quietly.

Aaron nodded once, as if a negotiation had been concluded. He did not reach for him, or say something quirky. He simply stayed seated on the edge of the bed, thinking about something Levi couldn’t decipher.

After a while Aaron spoke again, rougher still.

"For what it’s worth... I know what it’s like when the people who are supposed to see you look straight through you instead." He exhaled. "The bond was the first time something important didn’t come with a ranking that put me last. I’m not giving that up because an Eastridge Alpha has history and good manners. And I’m not letting him near you again if I can help it."

Levi felt something tight in his chest loosen by a fraction, he didn’t know what it was, but he definitely felt it.

"He’s not going to stop," Levi said. "Elvis. Once he decides something belongs to him, he doesn’t release it cleanly. Your father’s permission to keep me alive under suppressants won’t be enough for him. He’ll wait. Or he’ll push."

"Then he’ll run into me," Aaron answered simply. "And my brothers. Even when we want to kill each other, we’re still worse to face together than apart."

Levi’s eyelids were growing heavier. The suppressants had been patient; now they collected their due. He fought the drift for another few moments, then let his head rest back against the pillows.

Aaron noticed.

"Sleep," he said. Not an order this time. Closer to a reluctant suggestion. "I’ll stay until you’re under. After that I’ll leave before someone with a schedule and a key decides I’ve broken too many rules for one night."

Levi wanted to argue—about rules, about danger, about the foolishness of any of them caring what happened to a blood-debt omega on heavy suppressants. The words would not form.

The last thing he registered before the dark took him was the solid weight of Aaron still seated nearby, and the Alpha’s hands gently pushing a streak of hair aside, and...a smile?