Because he’d liked the attention Sarang had given him when he’d thought he was with child. Obviously.
But since he couldn’t say that, Shiloh ended up running a hand through his hair and shrugging like it was no big deal. Like he wasn’t currently an anxious ball of nerves, waiting to see if the alpha would reject him or scream or give any number of other negative reactions.
“We didn’t know the identity of the alpha at first,” the fib came easily enough, lying second nature to Shiloh by now, “so I thought to use the situation to lure him out. By the time Kian discovered it was the Leviathan, I was already too deep into the story.”
“Who knows?”
“Just Sloane.”
“So you kept this from the Dominus as well?”
Shiloh clicked his tongue. “If I kept it from you, of course I didn’t tell Kian either.”
His brother knew he wasn’t the perfect, innocent prince, but that didn’t mean he knew the extent in which Shiloh had hidden his true self. Probably thought Lane and the whole ordeal had tormented Shiloh just as much as Sarang had.
Silence stretched uncomfortably between them for a torturous moment, and then Sarang started driving once more, eyes back on the road, posture stiff. Any semblance of the good mood he’d been gearing up toward when he’d suggested they get dessert was decidedly gone.
“Rang—”
“I thought you were in mourning,” the alpha cut him off, voice thready with barely restrained anger. “I grieved for you. I ordered everyone to give you space. Allowed you to run off to this grisly planet. Stood outside for over an hour, knowing you were in there with Diogenes, alone. And you’re telling me now that it was all an act? Good Light, Shiloh, you were kidnapped and forced into a breeding den and ra—”
“Enough.” He didn’t want to hear the older man call him a victim. “You’re implying since a child didn’t come of it after all, my situation wasn’t as dire as you were led to believe? Is that it?”
“Don’t be cruel.”
“You—”
“Were lied to!” A burst of alpha pheromones shot out of him, filling the car with a heady scent of ripe berries, salt, and ash. They weren’t targeted—no matter his emotional state, Sarang was always careful not to cross that line—but effective nonetheless considering their close proximity.
Shiloh instinctively moved away, pressing against the side of the door, unable to secure much distance. His skin prickled, and an apology rolled off the tip of his tongue before he could help it. “I’m sorry.”
“No,” he shook his head, “you don’t get to do that. You don’t get to apologize and minimize this. I’m your Righthand! You can lie to everyone in this entire universe if you so please, but not me. Never me. As soon as you found out from the doctors it’d been a false diagnosis, you should have told me. How the hell am I supposed to do my job if I don’t know what’s going on?”
“Right, because that’s all I am to you. A job.” That was how this had started, in any case. He’d been able to convince the alpha to leave the farm with him and join the mafia in exchange for securing Sarang’s family’s safety. He’d offered them a better life in exchange for Sarang’s fealty, and he’d gotten him for the hefty sum of two billion coin.
Worth every cent.
“The second you realize you’re wrong, you lash out,” Sarang stated. “Just admit your mistake like an adult.”
“I said I was sorry!”
“You didn’t mean it.”
“I’m not capable of meaning it!” Shiloh bared his teeth, freezing the second he did. Shit.
Play docile. This wasn’t going well, clearly there’d been merit to Dio’s words and Shiloh had to backtrack.
“I don’t want you to be mad at me.” It wasn’t difficult to make himself sound sad and pathetic, since he was telling the truth this time. He didn’t want Sarang to be upset with him. “I don’t like it.”
Sarang pulled off the road and parked int front of a brightly lit bakery. “Go inside and order your cake.”
“You aren’t coming?”
“I need a minute.”
“Rang—”
“If I lied and told you I got another omega pregnant, how would you feel?”
