Chapter 9: Marked II

Levi woke slowly, body heavy and sore in places that made his face burn the moment last night’s memory returned. For a few disoriented seconds he simply lay there, staring at the ceiling, trying to decide whether the night had been a fever dream.

Then he turned his head.

Pain flared sharp and bright along the side of his throat. His fingers rose on instinct and brushed the raised, tender edges of a claiming bite.

Levi sat up too fast. The sheet slipped down his bare chest. The room was empty. Dexter’s scent still clung to the pillows and to Levi’s own skin, but the third prince was gone. He left no note, only the evidence that he had claimed Levi last night was left.

The omega’s hands shook as he pulled the sheet higher. He had submitted, he had let Dexter take him and mark him while the other two still believed they had time to decide together. He knew what would come next, and now he was terrified for both himself and the third prince.

Before he could finish comprehending the amount of trouble he was in, a knock sounded at the door.

Levi’s heart slammed against his ribs. He scrambled for the discarded shirt on the floor, yanking it over his head with clumsy fingers. The fabric scraped the fresh bite and made his eyes water. He did not answer immediately, he hoped it had been a hallucination, and that nobody was really at the door. But that hope was shattered when someone called out his name.

"Levi." It was Kai’s voice, and Levi couldn’t read the Alpha from his tone alone. "Open the door."

There was no point pretending he was not there. Levi rose on unsteady legs, crossed the small room, and unlocked the door.

Kai stood in the hallway with a composed and unreadable expression on his face. His gaze moved over Levi once, from the sleep-mussed hair to the too-large shirt, and finally to the way Levi kept his head slightly turned to hide the left side of his throat. Something in the eldest prince’s eyes flickered. He stepped inside without waiting for permission and closed the door behind him.

For a long moment he said nothing. He simply looked at Levi, nostrils flaring once as he took in the layered scents of the room. Dexter’s claim was impossible to miss, and even Levi knew hiding the mark on his neck wasn’t doing much for him.

Kai’s voice, when it came, was almost mild. "He marked you."

Levi swallowed hard, unsure if he should answer those words or immediately start crying for forgiveness.

Kai stepped closer. He did not touch the bite, but his eyes lingered on the place where the collar of Levi’s shirt failed to hide the edges of the wound. "That brat, we all agreed to wait..." he paused, as though taking a second to calm himself. "...and then he came here and took what we said we would decide together."

Levi’s fingers curled into the hem of his shirt. "I tried to—"

"I know what you tried." Kai’s tone did not rise. It did not need to. "The bond is not subtle. I felt the shift before dawn, and so did Aaron. We both knew something had changed. I simply hoped I was wrong about which of us had broken ranks first—"

Kai hadn’t finished when another knock rattled the door.

Kai did not move. "That will be him."

The door opened before either of them could reach it. Aaron filled the frame, still in the clothes he had clearly pulled on in a hurry, dark hair disordered, eyes already burning. He took one step inside, inhaled, and went rigid.

Aaron’s gaze locked on the side of Levi’s throat. The fresh bite stood out livid against pale skin, and Dexter’s scent wrapped around the omega like a heavy perfume. For a single heartbeat the second prince simply stared. Then a growl tore out of him so deep and raw that Levi instinctively stumbled backward until his shoulders hit the wall.

"He fucking marked him."

Aaron’s voice was barely human. He turned on Kai as if his eldest brother were somehow complicit. "Dexter marked him. While we were still talking about waiting. While we were still pretending this was something we would handle together." His hands flexed at his sides, claws threatening at the edges of his control. "I’m going to kill him."

"Aaron." Kai’s voice remained level.

"Don’t." Aaron pointed a shaking finger at the bite mark visible above Levi’s collar. "Don’t stand there looking calm while that silver-haired bastard went behind both of us and sank his teeth into our omega. He knew what he was doing. He knew we would feel it, and he did it anyway." Aaron’s chest heaved. "I’ll tear his throat out myself."

Levi pressed himself harder against the wall, doing his best to stay unnoticed even though thag was impossible. He knew this would happen, he just didn’t think it would be this bad.

Kai’s expression still had not changed. If anything, the calm had deepened into something more dangerous. "Threatening to kill our brother in front of the omega he just claimed is not useful."

"Useful?" Aaron laughed, short and ugly. "He waited until we were divided and then he took what none of us were supposed to take alone. And you’re standing there like this isn’t something serious."

"I am standing here," Kai said quietly, "because we can’t afford to lose our heads over an omega." He glanced at Levi once, then back to Aaron. "We are not doing this here. Not with him listening and the entire east wing able to hear you snarl."

Aaron’s jaw tightened, his breathing rising further in rage. For a moment it looked as though he would ignore the order and go hunting for Dexter immediately. Then he dragged in a harsh breath through his teeth and jerked his head toward the door.

"Private wing. Now."

Kai’s gaze returned to Levi before he finally turned towards the exit. "You will come with us."

It was not a request.

They took him through corridors still heavy with morning silence. Servants scattered out of their path. No one dared look too long at the omega walking between the two older princes with a fresh claiming bite on his neck and the scent of the third prince soaked into his skin.

Kai closed the door with deliberate care the moment they walked in. Aaron immediately began to pace, every line of his body radiating the need to break something. Levi stayed near the wall, arms wrapped around himself. He hadn’t said a word since, and he was happy he hadn’t been forced to say anything either, he wouldn’t know what to say anyway.

Dexter arrived less than a minute later, as if he had been waiting for the summons. He stepped into the room with the same quiet composure he had worn the night before, silver hair neat, expression serene. Only the faint satisfaction in his pale eyes betrayed him. He looked at Levi first, then at his brothers.

Aaron moved immediately he caught sight of his younger brother. He crossed the room in three strides and slammed Dexter back against the wall hard enough to rattle the frames. One forearm pressed across the third prince’s throat, while other fist was already cocked.

"You marked him," Aaron snarled, inches from Dexter’s face. "You looked us in the eye, agreed to wait, and then you went to his room and claimed him like the rest of us didn’t exist. Give me one reason I shouldn’t kill you right here."

Dexter did not struggle. He met Aaron’s fury with unsettling calm. "Because it won’t make you feel any better, killing me won’t unmake what has happened."

Aaron’s forearm pressed harder. "I can still try."

"Enough." Kai yelled at his brothers. He was annoyed as well, disappointed too, but he hated the fact that his brothers were embarrassing themselves in front of this small wolf. "Let him go, Aaron."

Aaron’s eyes were wild. "He betrayed us."

"He did." Kai’s agreement was soft and absolute. "And if you kill him, we will have a dead brother, a newly claimed omega, and Father with every excuse he needs to kill the omega. Let Him Go."

For several long, trembling seconds Aaron did not move. Then, with a sound of pure frustrated rage, he shoved away from Dexter and stalked to the far side of the room, dragging both hands through his hair.

Dexter straightened his collar as if the near-strangling had been a minor inconvenience. His gaze found Levi again, then finally rested on his eldest brother.

Kai stepped towards Dexter, his expression calm, even though the younger alpha knew better than to believe his brother was calm.

"You broke the agreement. You claimed him alone. You forced the rest of us into a position we cannot easily reverse." He looked at Dexter without visible anger, which somehow made it worse. "Why?"

Dexter’s answer was soft, and very clearly devoid of remorse. "Because neither of you would have let me be first. And I refused to be last."

Aaron laughed again, the sound cracked and dangerous. "So you stole him."

"I claimed what the Goddess already tied to me," Dexter replied. "The same way she tied him to both of you. The only difference is that I stopped waiting for permission."

Levi’s back remained pressed to the wall. The three of them were speaking about him as if he were not in the room, like he was some property either of them could decide to use anytime. It pissed him off, but he knew better than to say anything at that moment.

Kai turned his head slightly and regarded Levi for a long moment. Whatever he saw there did not soften him.

"The situation has changed," Kai said at last. "The claim is made. Father will know soon enough, if he does not already. We can no longer pretend we have time to negotiate among ourselves." His eyes moved from Dexter to Aaron and back. "We are no longer united in this. That is the first truth. The second is that Levi is no longer simply collateral or a potential mate we might claim later. He is Dexter’s. And because of the original pull, he is still tied to the rest of us whether we like the method or not."

Aaron’s voice was low and vicious. "I want him stripped of that mark."

"You cannot strip a completed claim without killing the one who made it," Kai answered. "And we are not killing our brother today."

Dexter’s quiet voice slid into the space between them. "You’re both welcome to try to add your own marks. The bond can hold more than one. But he is mine first. That part is finished."

Aaron took a single step forward again. Kai’s arm lifted slightly, not quite blocking, but enough to remind his brother that the line still existed.

Levi’s knees felt weak. The three most powerful young Alphas in the pack were tearing their unity apart because of him, it was probably the dreams of many young girls and some guys, but it felt like a nightmare to him.

A sharp knock at the door interrupted the brittle silence.

A servant’s voice, carefully neutral, came through the wood. "My princes. The Alpha requests your immediate presence. All three of you. And the omega."

The temperature in the room seemed to drop.

Kai’s expression finally shifted, only a fraction, but enough to show that even his act had limits. Aaron’s hands curled into fists. Dexter’s calm never wavered, though something colder settled behind his eyes.

Kai looked at each of them in turn, then at Levi, who still stood pressed against the wall with a fresh claiming bite that they couldn’t hide.

"It seems," Kai said softly, "that Father has already been informed."