Chapter 66: A Demand II

The Alpha’s laugh was a dry, humorless sound that filled the study like smoke.

He looked at Levi for a long moment, the thin smile still on his mouth but gone from his eyes. The assessment that replaced it was colder and more precise than any threat.

"I have to commend you," the Alpha said. "You are a very smart and opportunistic wolf. Most in your position would have begged or broken by now. But you, you think you can say something and be listened to, is that it?."

Levi said nothing. He kept his hands still on his thighs and his gaze steady. The residual weakness from the wolfsbane still sat in his limbs, but he refused to let it show.

The Alpha’s voice stayed level. "However, I will never make you a part of this family. You arrived as payment for a blood debt, that is what you remain. I might relieve you from being a slave. That is all you will get from me. And as for Elvis—" he glanced toward the window as if the Eastridge Alpha were already standing there, "—he stays. He is a guest of this house, and I will not overturn that for the comfort of a Hill omega."

Levi let out a short, quiet chuckle of his own.

The sound was soft, but it carried. The Alpha’s eyes narrowed.

Levi considered telling the truth about the second claim. Kai’s mark sat opposite Dexter’s on his throat, but this oblivious old man didn’t know that. Using that now, while the Alpha was still deciding, would double the leverage. It would force the old man to recalculate everything he had just said about family and property and the natural order. Levi wondered what the look on his face would be when he heard the truth, he couldn’t wait to see that expression.

Levi opened his mouth, determined to change his fate. But the door opened again before the words could form.

Kai stepped inside, dressed in a perfect black suit that screamed elegance. He glanced once at Levi, then at his father, and inclined his head.

"Father. We have visitors. Flora’s people are here."

The air in the study changed.

Levi felt it at once — the sudden doubling of the pressure he had been about to apply. Flora’s people meant northern eyes and northern ears. It meant the alliance the old Alpha had spent years building was now standing in the front hall, waiting for the heir who was supposed to seal it. It meant any truth spoken in this room would no longer stay private.

Levi looked at Kai.

The first prince’s face remained carefully blank, but color had already begun to drain from it. He knew. Of course he knew. The bond between them was still too new, too full of the night Kai had stopped arguing with the part of himself that wanted. Levi had felt it then, and he felt the echo of it now.

"Kai has something to tell you," Levi said. His voice was quiet, almost conversational, and it carried the full weight of the moment. "Something important."

The Alpha’s brow rose. He turned the full force of his attention on his eldest son.

"Well?"

Kai’s mouth opened. For a second nothing came out. The careful neutrality he had rebuilt since leaving Levi’s room the night of the claim cracked again, just enough for the truth to show underneath. He tried to play it off — a small shake of the head, a glance toward the door, the beginning of some political deflection about the visitors waiting downstairs.

Levi did not let him.

"I am mated to two of your sons," Levi said looking at Kai, but still speaking to the Alpha. "Dexter first, and now Aaron..." His gaze lingered on Kai for a second before he continued speaking. "So I will ask again, are my conditions not fair for someone who carries two claims from this house? Freedom and the elimination of a man who has threatened my life isn’t too much to ask for, is it my prince?"

Kai’s eyes met his. The silence between them was longer this time. Levi watched the first heir look at his father, then back at him, then at the door where Flora’s people were already waiting in the front hall. Then the prince finally exhaled, understanding what he must do for the truth to remain hidden.

"He’s right," he said. The words were quiet, but they carried. "If Elvis can poison one person inside these walls, there is no telling what else he can do. Wolfsbane is not something we take lightly.."

The Alpha’s jaw tightened. The look he gave his eldest son was pure irritation, the kind that came from having a carefully built structure challenged by the one person supposed to protect it. But he listened. He always listened to Kai, even when he hated the answer.

He turned back to Levi, defeated and full of hatred for the omega.

"You will no longer be a slave in this house," he said. Each word was precise and final. "That much I will grant. You will have a proper room, and you will have the freedom of the family wing. You will not be assigned menial work. But know this, you are not family, and you will never be!"

He paused, looked at Kai for one second, before returning his attention to the omega.

"And Elvis will leave by dawn."

Levi inclined his head once. It was not the full welcome he had asked for, and was not the complete protection he had wanted. But it was more than he had walked in with, and it was enough to move the board again.

"Understood," he said.

The Alpha’s eyes stayed on him a moment longer, still assessing, still cold. Then he turned back to the desk and the papers waiting there, already done with the conversation.

"Go," he said. "Both of you. Send for the guards on your way out. I want the Eastridge Alpha gone before the sun rises."

Levi stood. His legs were steadier than they had been when he entered. Though not completely satisfied, he was happy with himself. Now, he didn’t have to wait for his brothers to give him a reply to the letter he sent out five days ago. He wasn’t even sure if they received it.

It no longer mattered, he had found another means, and he had gotten what he wanted. With Elvis gone, Levi no longer had to worry about his life, now he can focus on conquering the three princes and getting the true freedom he sought.