Act 2 - Birthday Dinner

1343 Words
            “Thank you, Luna,” Millie said shyly as she stood hesitantly before the coffee table in my sitting room.                “Take a seat, Millie,” I chided gently before nodding at the female buttonmen to leave us.                It has been a week since I ordered Millie’s quarters, which consisted only of an ensuite bedroom and a tiny sitting room, to be cleaned out and completely re-decorated. The makeover also gave me the opportunity to remove everything that Orphelin had given to Millie, which might be the cause of her “infertility”, without drawing any attention.                Needless to say, the proud Pallăca was fuming like a chimney in the dead of winter when she found out that I was improving the living conditions of an Omega. Even though our husband was still spending most of his nights with her, it didn’t escape anyone’s attention that he would mysteriously disappear for an hour after his lunch break every day.                I felt uncomfortable making use of Millie like this but at least, this was also what she had wanted, and I could only hope that one day, when I was strong enough, I could convince her to live for herself.                “Today is Orphelin’s birthday, and I’ve arranged a small celebration for our family, which means that you will also be attending the celebrations tonight, Millie,” I announced to the stunned Omega.                As the only sister of the Beta, Orphelin’s birthdays had always been grand pompous affairs, and only ranked members of the pack were allowed to attend the lavish balls thrown by her brother. This year, using the excuse of the need to be frugal during these uncertain times, I had volunteered to take over the task from the Beta.                To Orphelin’s chagrin, the Alpha wholeheartedly agreed with my suggestion, citing the dire financial situation of the pack due to the on-going conflict between werewolves and the crazy witch’s vampire army. The satisfied glint in my husband’s eyes as he approved of my suggestion told me more than I needed to know about his true feelings for the Beta siblings.                Unwilling to piss off our husband and drop her act of being the perfect lover, Orphelin had very sweetly agreed to our plans. Boy, was she in for a birthday surprise tonight!                Without waiting for the stunned Millie to react, I put down a velvet box on the coffee table and motioned at her to open it. Her jaws hung as she looked at the shiny necklace and then back at me, and back at the necklace again.                I chuckled at her reaction and a strange sense of relief flooded over me, knowing that despite everything, I was making Millie happy in some ways.                                      “I can’t, Luna, this is too much!”                “Nope, it isn’t and you’re wearing it tonight, Millie,” I said slyly, giving her a mischievous wink before standing up and strolling over to my bed, where a simple peach A-line evening gown was laid.               “And this is the dress that you’ll wear tonight. It’s simple enough to not cry out for attention but the color matches your eyes, especially with that sapphire necklace. Before you start saying no again, don’t forget who you are, Millie! You’re a concubine of our husband, just like Orphelin. Though you may be of lower rank, you need to still look presentable. Your appearance reflects on our husband as well.”                Millie’s face flushed slightly and I grinned in satisfaction, knowing that my little pep talk had worked.    *           *           *      *          *          * *           *           *               “I propose a toast to the birthday girl,” I announced in a cheery tone after everyone had taken their seats at the table.                The fake smile on Orphelin’s face threatened to collapse as I raised my glass at her and made direct eye contact. My lips curled up even more and I was worried for a moment that I would turn into the joker but all silly thoughts soon fell to the back of my mind.               An innocent toast soon spiralled out of control as the birthday girl choked on her first sip of the champagne before breaking into a violent cough. Her brother moved immediately to thump her back while one of the Omega servants handed her a glass of water.                Tears flowed down Orphelin’s flushed cheeks as she gasped for air while not forgetting to glare at me and if looks could kill, I would have probably died at the dinner table. The Beta himself was beginning to redden like a tomato but I would guess that it was for a different reason.                Jesse threw a quick amused glance at me before grabbing a napkin and gently dabbing Orphelin’s tear stained face. Seeing that our husband was tending to her but not saying anything else, there was nothing that Orphelin could do other than to excuse herself to re-touch her makeup.                “I hope the champagne wasn’t so bad,” I remarked worriedly after Orphelin had excused herself, and as expected, the red face Beta glowered at me, as if I had just insulted him.                “It tastes different from what we’re used to, but palatable,” my husband commented as he took another sip.                My husband’s affirmation ended the little episode and I had to pinch myself under the table to hold back a gloating smile.                Orphelin came back just in time for our main course and my heart raced in anticipation of what the spoiled little princess would say. An aromatic smell drifted in the air as the slightly charred smell of steak filled my nostrils. To be honest, the steak that I had chosen really wasn’t so bad, but the birthday girl obviously didn’t think so.                Her knife stabbed brutally into the chuck-eye steak before her as if she was cutting me up instead of the steak. I could see her knuckles turning white from how tightly she was holding her knife and the helpful part of me almost wanted to tell her that a chuck-eye steak was really the poor man’s ribeye. It really ain’t that bad!               Even though Orphelin’s face looked like she was swallowing flies instead of enjoying a reasonably well-cooked steak, I had to give it to her for holding it together. Other than the choking episode at the beginning of the dinner, she had managed to hold her tongue and calmly eaten the other courses.                Our husband remained stoic except for the occasional glances that he threw my way, each time the Omegas served up another cheap dish that I had instructed the kitchen to prepare.                Finally, the show was ready to reach its climax as the Omegas pushed out a single tiered chocolate birthday cake with sparklers on them. Orphelin’s face darkened once more at the sight of the simple cake but lit up again quickly as she became the center of attention.                There were only five of us but we sang a birthday song with gusto, and a joyful sparkle lit up Orphelin’s lilac eyes as our husband walked towards her and kissed her hand before handing her a small blue box.                A pair of teardrop diamond studs sat inside the box and for the first time tonight, a genuine smile plastered itself across the birthday girl’s face.                “Thank you, Alpha,” she gasped while batting her eyelashes and fanning her glistening eyes in an exaggerated show of appreciation for the gift from our husband.                Resisting the urge to roll my eyes, I maintained the smile on my face while urging our birthday girl to make a wish and cut the cake. Having finally something go her way this evening, Orphelin was now more than happy to oblige.                Suddenly, a loud commotion came from behind the closed doors of the dining room and before Orphelin could cut her cake, the doors burst open violently, colliding into the walls with a resounding thud.                “Happy birthday, Mommy dearest,” shouted a dark blonde man with lilac eyes dramatically.   
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