Chapter 12: Unexpected Developments

Lilac’s P.O.V

“Are you feeling okay?” Liam looked up from his phone to look me up and down, his green eyes narrowing in on my pale face as I tried to lower my head to hide it. “You seem a little…off.”

“I don’t know,” I gave him a shrug. “This will be my first time falling off the stairs backwards.”

“Right.” He put his phone back inside his pocket. “About that…I reported Serena to the Principal’s office. I think they can’t deny it after they look at CCTV, but I thought one complaint might make a difference.”

“You reported her?” I frowned. “Why?”

“Why…shouldn’t I?” Liam gave me a weird look. “She waited for you to come out of the teacher’s room for nearly ten minutes and only when you were near the stairs did she suddenly loose her balance? That too taking you down in the process while she still stood on firm ground? That’s not normal behavior.”

I stopped walking to narrow my eyes at him. “What’s wrong with you? It’s the assignment, isn’t it? If you wanted me to do the whole thing then just say so! There’s no need for you to be getting involved in my business.”

“Wow!” Liam gave an astonished laugh. “Is this why everyone calls you a bitch? Seriously? I do you a favor and this is how you act in return?”

“I didn’t ask for you to do me any favors.” I countered, feeling exasperated. “People who do me favors always want something in return and I’m tired of taking orders. So stop!”

However, my answer seemed to have angered Liam instead of turning him away. “Really? Want something in return, do they?” He stepped closer to me, invading my personal space until I was forced to take a hasty step back. “Is that the same with my dad as well? What favors are you granting him that he can’t stop praising you? What did you do for him that he had me reporting Serena, one of our own…just to save your sorry ass?”

His anger took me by surprise…and so did his words. So much so that it rendered me speechless for a good few minutes as I stared up into his handsome face in awe…

Me and Beta Luca? Was that the kind of rumor going around in the pack right now?

Any form of gratitude that I might have felt for him for saving me…turned to immediate disgust. Not just because of what he said to me, I didn’t give a shit about that, but because of what he thought about his own father.

“You want to know what kind of favors I do for your father, Liam?” This time, I was the one who stepped closer to him, my voice dripping malice as I looked into his eyes unflinching. “Why don’t you ask your mom? You must be doing the same ‘favors’ for her if she’s up every morning, cooking and cleaning for your sorry ass. Why don’t you ask Serena what favors she does for her father that he pays her 15K pocket money in a week? Why not ask every fucking kid in the pack how many favors they’re doing their parents to earn any kind of love and respect in the house, because mating bonds are a piece of shit anyway, right? What good are mates when you have people to do you favors?”

Liam’s eyes were wide as he stared down at me, an unknown emotion crossing his eyes as he clenched his jaw. He looked like he wanted to say something…but something was holding him back…and that was when I realized what was happening.

Stepping away from him immediately, I reigned in my wolf that howled inside my head, growling and clawing at my insides, angry at being caged once again. Turning around, I quickly began walking away from him before he could catch onto me, but it was a futile attempt.

Grasping my wrist, he spun me around, holding my hand behind my back as he pulled me hard against his chest. “What did you just do?” His voice was hard as he looked down at me once again. “What did you just do?”

Fuck!

“What did I do now?” I challenged back. “Are you going to say I was trying to seduce you? Is this some kind of sick game you’re trying to play with me?”

Startled, he immediately let me go. “Th-that’s not what I was trying to say!”

“Really?” I scoffed. “Because a second ago, you accused me of ‘doing favors’ for your father and now this? Go ahead…play the victim. Everyone else does; I don’t expect any different from you either.”

This time, I didn’t wait for Liam to give me an explanation or question me further. I just turned around and ran.

However, what bothered me though, was why my heart was suddenly beating so fast from being in such close proximity to him…

Danika was waiting for me outside of the Soup House when I arrived.

I really didn’t want to face her at the moment. After Krimson and then Liam…I had a really awful day and I got really snappy when I had a bad day. I was afraid that I was going to say something mean to her or try to pick a fight with her like I had done with Liam…but as I walked closer to her, I saw the red bruise on her cheek and I instantly knew that something had happened to her after I was taken away.

“Dani!” Reaching her, I took her face in my hands and turned it left and right to see just how badly she was hurt. “It were Serena’s goons, weren’t they? Did they hit you? Did they hurt you?”

“It’s fine…just a bruise.” Dani shook her head. “I just came to check up on you.”

“Dani tell me what happened, please.” I begged. “Was it about the five hundred? I’ll return it, I swear!”

“NO! No!” Dani shook her head, placing her hands over mine. “Don’t do that! Ever. They made you work like a dog for their own benefit! You earned that money! This…this isn’t about that!”

“Then what’s it about? Tell me!” I urged.

Closing her eyes, Dani sighed and shook her head before placing them against my shoulders. I immediately wrapped my arms around her, worried that something big had happened.

Did they threaten her? Did Serena or her goons really go after my friend because of me?

‘What did you do for him that he had me reporting Serena, one of our own…just to save your sorry ass?’

Liam’s voice reverberated in my head. ‘One of our own’…that’s what he’s said, hadn't he? I wasn’t one of their own, their packmate…but Dani was. They why were they going around hurting their ‘own’ now? All because they couldn’t stand me?

“Serena knows that she can use money against you now.” Dani whispered against my shoulders, her arms coming around my back to clutch at my hoodie. “She wants to pay you to tell the teachers that it was an accident…so she can get out of trouble.”

I felt my heart thrash against my rib-cage.

I swallowed.

“How much?”

Dani moved away from me to look up into my eyes in horror. “You…you’re seriously not considering-”

“How much, Dani?” My tongue felt like lead…but still I spoke. I don’t know how, but the words kept coming out…

“5K.” Dani’s lips trembled as she looked into my eyes. I don’t know what she saw, but there must have been something to make her look so…shattered.

“Ten.” There they were again…words…words I had no control over. “10k…and I tell the teachers it was an accident.”

I was close…so close to reaching what I needed to get the fuck out of this pack that hated my guts…if this was how I was going to get the remaining money…then so be it. I was fucking underpaid and I was made to work like a slave.

Wrapping her arms around me once more, Dani engulfed me in a hug as I felt her shoulders shake with sobs.

My eyes remained dry as I looked up at the darkening sky…and at the crescent moon that sat atop its celestial empire…watching over its children and basking in the evanescence of their misery.