“Liking cake wasn’t a lie.” He motioned toward the end table where the empty plate sat. He’d brought a slice of tresleches for Shiloh, and the omega had polished it off in under four minutes.
Shiloh grunted. “Why bother lying about something like that?”
“Because you knew I found your sweet tooth endearing.”
The omega glanced up at him from beneath thick black lashes. “Found? As in past tense?”
“If I tell you it no longer appeals to me, will you change your answer?”
He considered it, then shook his head. “I like cake too much.”
“More than you like me?”
Shiloh rested back against the headboard. “Are you saying you’ll be with me if I give it up forever?”
He scowled. “I’m not going to hold things you enjoy over your head.”
“Why not? Didn’t you say you were doing this to teach me a lesson? Get me in line, alpha. I won’t blame you for any means you use to do it. Whether you started out this way or you hardened thanks to your involvement with the Eumia, you’re a mafia member. Playing dirty?” He held up a card and tossed it into the center pile. “That isn’t beneath you. It’s merely survival.”
“I’ll return every insult you gave me,” Sarang reminded slowly. “Withholding food wasn’t one of them.”
Not only had he been well fed at the hotel, all of the dishes had been his favorites as well. It was clear the omega had taken the time to learn his likes and dislikes. That he’d actually cared enough to bother.
Shiloh’s feelings for him were real.
He wasn’t the only one here who needed to change in order for this to work.
“Let’s both admit we were wrong,” Sarang suggested, acting like he’d just come up with the idea even though he’d been leading them in this direction.
“Ready to accept that the life-bond has no way of making me develop attachments toward you?” Shiloh tilted his head, inspecting him when he didn’t immediately deny it. “Wow. You really are, aren’t you?”
“I saw the research packet you had put together about Grays,” he confessed. “I know you figured that part out on your own already.”
It was something Sarang should have done himself, but he’d been too much of a coward. Admitting he was wrong had seemed every bit as daunting as discovering he was right, because in either situation, he would have had to put up a stronger barrier between the two of them.
At least, that’s what he’d believed before. What he would have done if Shiloh really had been the soft, pampered prince who needed protecting above all else.
“Ah, so you’ll believe numbers, but not me.” Shiloh tossed another card.
“Does that make you angry?”
“Trying to learn my triggers?”
“Trying to see how much of you was real, and how much was fiction.” The statement was too on the nose, and he realized as much when Shiloh’s gaze altered, turning quizzical.
“You never knew me, Rang,” the prince didn’t hesitate to announce, but the only person in this room he was fooling was himself.
“You like cake,” Sarang repeated, then reached into his pocket, “and you like shiny things.”
Shiloh stared at his clasped fist for a moment before holding out his palm, frowning when the small item was placed in his hand. “What’s this?”
“A marble.” Sarang had purchased a whole bag of them. They were vibrant and shiny, made from polished gemstones and had cost him a third of his savings, but Shiloh didn’t need to learn all of that just yet.
“Okay…And you’re giving it to me…because?” He rolled it between his fingers. “What do I do with it?”
“Whatever you want.”
“Its purpose?”
