23. Mila

Chapter 23

Mila

T he guys are acting… strange.

Almost as if they are vying for my attention and forgiveness.

Who will win? I couldn’t say…

Right now, they’re all in the league.

Oliver, Barret, and Lachlan are doing all they can to make me feel at home again. Yet unbeknownst to them all, I am going to betray them one day.

And break their hearts.

Just as they broke mine.

Gryphon keeps his distance, and I can’t tell if things are still salty between us—that he thinks I am going to steal away his precious Omega.

I pretty much am. I am stealing the attention away from his whole pack, and it’s like he isn't even present most of the time.

Yet, he may be distant, but he is less hostile. In fact, he was pretty considerate coming to collect me from my room when I was too scared, too ashamed to show my face.

Gryphon lost his dad when he was young too, and… it made me feel a human connection with him.

After dinner, just as I am about to hit the hay for the night, Lachlan asks if I want to watch a movie.

He puts me on the spot, giving me those sad puppy eyes, and how can I say no to that face?

He’s not the only one who looks hopeful. Oliver stands by his right, and Barret tries to look indifferent.

Gryphon keeps out of the way, clearing dishes by the sink.

But he angles his face, and I meet that sole brown eye.

I swallow, and if my eyes don’t deceive me… it’s almost as if he can see right through me, and I guess the jig is up.

Gryphon knows why I really came back here, and what will happen now? Will he kick me out for daring to break his Omega’s heart?

After all, I am as much as Lily’s creature as he is now.

We’re both under her thrall.

Maybe he can sense the same fear and despair emanating from my own pores? She’s a scary woman after all.

If I want to keep up the ruse, then I can’t hide away in my room.

Freedom will be mine. Once I snitch on the pack, revealing them for the traitors they are.

But the real traitor in this room is me.

With a sigh, I look at Lachlan without directly gazing into his piercing blue eyes, his bundle of snowdrops—the ones that he tied with a pretty silk green ribbon to match my eyes—still rests inside my pocket.

“Yes. I will stay up and watch a movie."

Lachlan peeps, and then my stomach loops when he gathers me up in his arms, throwing me over his shoulder.

He's still giggling like a happy idiot when he rushes to Oliver’s movie room, placing me down on the couch as if I am made of porcelain.

Barret and Oliver storm into the room after him. Oliver looks ready to disembowel his own Alpha.

“Hey, warn us the next time you run off with her like that, prick.”

“It’s fine, Ollie. I would never hurt my little snowdrop,” Lachlan whispers, his voice as soft as a dove’s wingbeat as he wraps me up in a fluffy blanket.

Despite my tension, I melt beneath the blankets, basking in the warmth and the attention

My Omega needed this.

I think I even purr, and all three males stop.

My eyes snap open, and I become self-conscious.

“That was just…”

They’re all smirking. Lachlan smiles from ear to ear, reminding me of a creepy clown.

“I know that sound…” he breathes. “Ollie makes that exact sound when he’s happy too… except you sound way cuter, snowdrop…”

My cheeks blush, and I wrap the blankets around me to hide my face.

“He’s right,” Oliver agrees. “I can’t argue with the facts. You are cuter, Mila, and sexier. Now I can finally see why Alphas are so drawn to Omegas…”

I squeeze my eyes shut beneath the blankets. “Can we just stop talking and put the movie on, please?”

Oliver laughs and goes about setting up his TV.

Lachlan doesn’t even give me a chance to argue. He lifts me onto his lap, wrapping me up like a little burrito.

He really is going all out to earn my forgiveness. I still can’t believe he burned down the toolshed, and that I would have loved to see.

I bet he danced around the flaming ruins, the firelight burning in his blue eyes as he cackled like a maniac.

No, I take that back. I’m glad I missed that.

As sweet as Lachlan is… he can also be terrifying, too.

There’s no missing the tension between Barret and Lachlan, but it seems Lachlan is pretty oblivious to the daggers that his pack brother is sending his way.

They were always as thick as thieves, and I recall the time they rescued me at the hotel from that Alpha.

I remember the way Lachlan turned him into Swiss cheese with his knife, and I shudder.

How the hell he hasn’t been locked up already, I'll never know.

Lily must have made that night in question go away, just like she made the attack on Bridget go away too, and she really does have this pack wrapped around her finger.

What will happen once they take back their freedom and emancipate themselves from her?

They will be left vulnerable.

Oliver has finished setting up the TV, and now he shoves the remote in my hand.

“Your choice, Mila.”

I gaze at the movie selection, and I am spoilt for choice.

In the end, I chose a cartoon movie about talking fish, and it was pretty cute.

Too cute for this cruel world.

Relax, Mila. It is fine. Everything will work out okay in the end… You will get your happy ever after…

But Lily…

Forget Lily… you deserve this…

Now I am having internal conversations with myself, and great.

I’m just as crazy as Lachlan is now.

Lachlan didn’t let go of me throughout the whole movie, stroking his hand down my hair, and I loved every moment.

Most girls would feel smothered, but I basked in every brush of his finger down my temple, and I soon fell asleep.

I never saw the end of that cartoon fish movie.

When I woke up, I found myself snuggled up under the sheets in my bed, and an overwhelming sense of sadness filled me.

I am alone again.

But I swear I will do everything I can to make this right.

Just maybe… we can beat Lily.

And we can all finally be free of her.

I just have to be brave enough to take the leap.