Chapter 53: A Deal

"Explain."

The word left Levi’s mouth before the shock had fully settled into anything softer. He remained where Aaron had pinned him and looked at the second prince with an attention that felt more like a threat than a demand for an explanation.

Aaron’s hand was still braced against the plaster beside Levi’s head. And he didn’t move it despite the omega’s glare.

"You’re confused and it’s understandable, but I think you’re smart enough to make sense of what I am saying." He stopped to steal a look at Levi, the omega’s expression remained unchanged. "Kai is a figure that represents this house and pack, it would be detrimental to our reputation if word that he claimed a blood debt gets out, especially when he’s promised to a luna."

Levi sorted the sentences in silence.

Levi did not need the missing pieces spelled out. He knew all of this already, what he didn’t expect was for Kai to push his problems onto another person. Did Aaron understand the implications of what he was doing? By claiming the second mark was his, Aaron wouldn’t be able to mark him again, not unless he wishes to expose Kai.

Levi hadn’t expected this turn of events, but regardless it wasn’t going to ruin his plans. He had thought this through, and had chosen Kai because he knew exactly what was at risk there. He had thought Kai always found a way to settle his problems, but apparently he had thought wrong.

"No," Levi said, his eyes suddenly filled with a resolve that slightly frightened Aaron.

Aaron’s eyes narrowed. "It isn’t a request."

"I didn’t collect that mark so the three of you could pass it between yourselves when the things became inconvenient." Levi’s voice stayed level. "I knew exactly what kind of risk a claim from Kai carried. That is why I chose him. Not because he was available, and not because the bond was convenient. It’s because the future Alpha’s mark is the one version of this that forces your father, your northern alliance, and every person in this house who wants me quietly erased to recalculate. You do not get to take that and rename it for my own good."

Aaron’s forearm flexed against the wall, an attempt to frighten the omega into submission, it clearly hadn’t worked.

"Watch your mouth," he said, low. "You are still under this roof as a blood debt. You do not get to stand here and dictate the terms under which the house acknowledges a claim. Know your place."

Levi did not look away, if anything he was almost forced to laugh. He couldn’t believe any of these brothers still thought they could threaten him under these circumstances.

"I know exactly what is at risk," he said. "I have known since the night your father accepted me as payment. The problem with you all is that you’ve vastly underestimated me, and it seems you still do." Levi breathed, already feeling the rising heat from the second son. "You can choose to claim the mark is yours, but I won’t. If asked, I’ll tell the truth to anyone around to hear me. So if you think I’m going to sit still and pretend that you marked me when you didn’t, then I’m sorry to disappoint you. However, I am open to negotiations if you want."

Aaron’s expression had gone sharp with something more complicated than temper.

"Negotiations," he repeated. "Explain what you mean by that."

Levi held the silence for a beat, long enough to make the next words deliberate.

"You and Kai struck a deal," he said. "That deal is between the two of you. It does not bind me. As far as I am concerned, the second claim on my throat belongs to the man who put it there. I will say that in any room, to any person, including your father, including Flora, including every allied Alpha who finds the subject interesting—unless the three of you decide my silence and cooperation are worth purchasing properly."

Aaron stared at him.

For a moment the second prince looked like a man who had walked into a fight prepared for one kind of opponent and found another. The blood-debt omega who flinched and folded, was not the person currently standing under his arm.

Levi watched the look on Aaron’s face, and it didn’t take him long to realize that he had forced the prince into a corner. It was expected, after all they had more to lose than he did.

"If you want the stability of this house to hold," Levi continued, "and if you want me to comply with the story you and Kai have already started telling, then I have conditions."

Aaron’s jaw tightened. He did not step back. "You’re overplaying your hand."

"Then call the bluff. Tell Dexter the truth. Tell Flora. Tell your father when he rides back through the gates that the first heir marked a blood-debt omega in the dark and asked the middle son to wear the consequences in public. See how cleanly the northern alliance survives that version of events. Do that, or listen to the conditions."

Aaron’s silence was not permission. It was the attention of a man forced, against preference, to hear the rest of the sentence.

"One." Levi lifted a finger, the gesture almost insolent in its calm. "The suppressants end. You do not get to keep me chemically flattened while two completed claims sit on my throat and the house pretends the bonds are a temporary inconvenience. If I am marked, I am marked. The drugs stop."

Aaron’s eyes flashed. "Father ordered—"

"Father ordered a solution to a problem that has already changed shape. That is the first condition."

Levi did not wait for agreement.

"Two. I am finished being supervised like a prisoner who might steal silver. No more locked routines, no more restricted corridors, no more existing as a problem to be contained between doses. If the house is going to call one of these claims yours, then the house can stop treating the person wearing them as contraband."

"And three?" Aaron’s voice had gone dangerously soft.

"Three." Levi held his gaze without blinking. "I get a say. A real voice in the decisions and politics that affect this territory and my place in it. I am mated to two of the princes of this house, I should have rights to make decisions in a house ruled by two of my husbands."

Aaron remained still, unsure of how to react or what to say to those requests. Levi clearly knew what was at hand, and he was using the cost of the risks to place his terms. How on earth were they supposed to make those terms possible without absolutely incurring the wrath of their father?

Aaron’s forearm shifted against the wall. For a second it seemed he might close the remaining distance and end the conversation the way Alphas in this house had historically ended conversations with people who forgot their place.

He did not.

"You’ve lost your mind," Aaron said quietly.

"Say whatever you want, you simply can’t deny that I’ve played my cards right."

Aaron had to admit, this omega had definitely played them, pretending that it wasn’t true wouldn’t do them any good. They had underestimated him, thinking he was harmless, while in reality he was likely the most dangerous person in the house.

"So? Do we have a deal or not?" Levi inquired just to make sure they were still on the same page.

Aaron stared at the man before him, and somehow he didn’t feel angry that they had been played. For some reason, he felt proud, his mate was not a weakling after all. Finally, he drew a deep breath, kept his gaze on Levi, and finally gave him an answer.

"Yes, we do."