The Alpha Who Didn’t Want Me

Milley Pov 

"Tell me you didn't bring me a fucking servant."

That was the first thing I heard after the commander opened the door.

I stood behind him, gripping my bundle, while Liam Sprouse sprawled in an armchair with a bottle in one hand and a second standing beside his boot. His shirt hung open at the collar and his hair was a mess, and he looked like a man who had been awake for three nights and meant to make it everyone else's problem.

The commander shut the door behind us. "Good evening to you too."

"It's evening?" Liam glanced at the window. "Damn. I thought I still had time to disappoint someone today."

"You started before breakfast."

"Then I'm ahead of schedule." He tipped the bottle toward his mouth, and the commander plucked it out of his hand.

Liam stared at his empty fingers, then slowly lifted his eyes. "Matthew."

"Liam."

"Give it back."

"No."

The room went quiet. I had never heard anyone speak to an Alpha that way. Even our Beta wouldn't have taken a cup from our Alpha's hand without permission, yet Matthew stood there as though he had done nothing more remarkable than move a plate. Liam leaned back, his mouth twisting into a humorless smile. "Fine. Keep it. I've always wanted a babysitter."

"You'd be the worst child I've ever met."

"And yet you keep coming back. I'm touched."

Matthew set the bottle on a high shelf, well out of reach. Only then did Liam look at me. His gaze traveled from my face to my bundle, then down to the bandage on my hand.

"What's that?"

I lowered my eyes. "My belongings, Alpha."

"Congratulations, you've identified a bundle." He reached for a glass on the table. "I meant the bandage."

"I hurt my hand."

"Really? I thought it was decoration."

Matthew exhaled hard. "Can you stop being an ass for five minutes?"

"Can you stop bringing strangers into my room?"

"She isn't a stranger I picked up off the road. She's the gift our host presented at the meeting."

Liam stopped with the glass halfway to his lips. Then he laughed, and it was not a pleasant sound. It was loud and disbelieving and empty of anything like amusement. "A gift." He looked at me again. "Did they wrap you in a bow too?"

"No, Alpha."

"Shame. At least the packaging would have been honest."

My face burned, but I kept my mouth shut. Matthew stepped between us. "He offered her in front of the whole hall and made it clear that refusing would be treated as an insult to his Pack."

"So you brought her here."

"I brought her here because I wasn't about to let that bastard turn a servant into an excuse for a feud."

"And now you've carried his insult through my front door."

"I know."

"Do you?" Liam set the glass down hard enough to slop whiskey over the rim. "Because I'm struggling to see how that makes you the clever one."

Matthew's patience was visibly wearing thin. "What would you have preferred? That I start a brawl in the middle of the meeting?"

"Yes. At least that would have been entertaining."

"You'd have complained if I'd started a war."

"I complain when the soup is cold. Don't flatter yourself."

I wasn't careful enough. Something in the exchange nearly made me smile, and I looked up, and Liam caught me at it.

"Something funny, Omega?"

My head dropped. "No, Alpha."

"Then stop staring."

"Yes, Alpha."

"And stop saying that."

I froze. He rubbed his forehead as though I were giving him a headache just by standing there. "Gods. What did they teach you people?"

"To obey, Alpha."

Something crossed his face, gone almost before I could see it. His gaze dropped to the bandage again, and his jaw tightened, as though he wanted to say something and thought better of it. Instead he laughed once more, and this time the sound had an ugly edge. "Of course they did."

He drained the glass and waved a hand toward the door. "Take her downstairs. Give her a room, feed her, I don't care. Just keep her away from me."

"And tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow can go to hell."

"She needs instructions."

"Then give her some. You love giving orders."

"She's your responsibility now."

Liam's glass hit the table. "Nothing is my responsibility just because some arrogant bastard dumps it on my doorstep!"

The shout filled the room, and I flinched before I could stop myself. His eyes snapped to me, and for one awkward moment neither of us moved. Then his mouth curled. "Look at that. They sent me a frightened little servant. How thoughtful."

"Liam," Matthew warned.

"What? Should I thank them? Write a letter? Dear Alpha, much obliged for the terrified girl. Very considerate."

He pushed himself out of the chair. Even drunk, he was imposing, well over six feet, his shoulders broad beneath the rumpled shirt, and I had to tilt my head back to see his face even without daring to lift my eyes. He stopped in front of me. "Look at me when I'm talking to you."

I obeyed. His eyes were bloodshot, but there was nothing dull in them. Beneath the whiskey and the exhaustion, they were sharp and alert.

"Did you ask to come here?"

"No, Alpha."

"Did you ask to be sent away?"

"No, Alpha."

"Then why are you standing there like I'm the one who made the decision?"

I had no answer. What could I have told him? That I stood where I was put because disobedience had never bought me anything but pain? That I had learned to keep my face still because people enjoyed it when they knew they had hurt me? He hadn't made the decision. Neither had I. Other people had decided where I belonged, and I had survived by accepting their choices before they could punish me for resisting. The thought unsettled me. I had spent so long blaming myself for being unable to change my life that I had rarely let myself see how little choice I'd ever been given.

He wouldn't have understood. Or worse, he might have.

He studied me for another second, then turned away. "Get her out."

Matthew touched my elbow and steered me toward the door, and I followed without a word. Behind us, Liam called, "Matthew."

The commander stopped. "If that bastard sends me another gift, send it straight back. I don't care if he gilds it."

"And if he sends an apology?"

"Keep it. I have enough useless things in this room."

Matthew shook his head and led me into the corridor. The door slammed behind us, and I stood still with my bundle pressed against my chest.

"Don't take it personally," Matthew said.

I looked at him, and he seemed to hear how ridiculous that sounded. "Actually, take it personally if you like. He's rude to everyone."

"Even you, Commander?"

"Especially me."

I had no idea what to say to that. He started down the hall, and I followed. "Listen, Milley. Nobody here is going to force you into his room or make you do anything he demands. You'll have a bed and food, and we'll work out the rest."

"Yes, Commander."

"And you don't need to call everyone Alpha. Most of us prefer our names."

I nodded, though I wasn't sure I could do it. At the end of the corridor he opened a door onto a small room with a bed, a wooden chest, and a window overlooking the grounds. It wasn't grand, but it was clean.

"You can stay here tonight. Someone will bring you food." He hesitated in the doorway. "One more thing. Liam isn't always easy to live with."

From down the corridor came the unmistakable crash of breaking glass. Matthew closed his eyes. "Actually," he amended, "he's rarely easy to live with."

He walked away. I stepped inside and set my bundle on the bed, and somewhere down the hall Liam began shouting about his missing bottle. I sat on the edge of the mattress and listened. My old Alpha had taught me that an Omega's only job was to obey. Liam Sprouse seemed to believe the whole world existed to irritate him. Neither of them had ever asked what I wanted.

Yet Liam had been angry when he learned I'd been handed to him like a possession. I couldn't make sense of the man. One moment he looked at me as though my existence offended him, and the next he seemed almost disgusted by the very idea of someone being given away. Perhaps he hated me being here. Perhaps he only hated the insult my Alpha had intended. I had no reason to believe he would care what became of me.

And still, a dangerous little thought crept in. What if I obeyed him? What if I did everything he asked, stayed out of his way, and proved I would cause no trouble? Perhaps, once he saw I was no threat, he would be willing to help me. Perhaps he might even free me.

My fingers tightened around the edge of my bundle. It was foolish to hope for freedom from a man who couldn't bear to look at me. But I had spent my whole life obeying people who never meant to give me anything in return, and if Liam was different, I needed to find out.

I untied the bundle and took out the book I had hidden from Mara. The cover was worn, and the corners of its pages had softened from being handled too often. It was the one thing I owned that belonged to the future I wanted.

I didn't know whether Liam Sprouse would ever help me, or even let me stay. But for the first time, I had a reason to pay attention to the man who held power over my future, and if obedience was the only thing I knew how to offer, then for now I would use it. Not because I had stopped wanting freedom. Because I wanted it badly enough to look for a way to earn it.