Deceiving
1918 Words
“If she leaves because of you, I'll never forgive you!" Angie says to Lion. Bastian buries his face in her neck and says something under his breath, trying to calm her down. "No! We needed this. We have no family, we have no one. If it wasn't for Gray and Bastian we'd be all alone. Midnight is the only person alive who shares our blood. She's adorable and funny, the sister I always wished you were."
"I shouldn't have agreed to come with you guys. You always put me through this sort of thing," Bax signs, scowling at me. I reach out my hand to smack him upside the head and Lion punches him in the arm at the same time.
"Mid's totally overreacting," Lion mutters, looking down at the table and biting his cheek, "She's not going away. She's just a hormonal and emotional omega, you were the same way. You threatened to run away at least ten thousand times."
"But I would never dare do that. She's already done it once, she can easily go back the way she came."
That's enough. Too much drama for me, I'm more a man of action than lamentation, so I get up from the table and go straight to the bathroom where Mid fled to.
I don't even bother knocking, I just open the door.
"This is the omega bathroom," an older lady scolds me, washing her hands and looking at me as if I've just committed a heinous crime.
"I'm an omega," I excuse myself and give her a sweet smile but she just rolls her eyes and walks out of the bathroom, stomping, "Mid, get out of there before I get arrested. I want to talk to you. Unless you're peeing or po..."
"I'm not doing anything," she says, opening the door immediately. Her cheeks are red with embarrassment and it makes her freckles more prominent, "You shouldn't be in here. You're going to get in trouble if another omega comes in."
"I don't care, I want to know why you said that,” I demand and cross my arms, Mid looks at me with confusion, "Do you have any idea how that made me feel? Did you even think about me at all? Who cares if they call you a freak and a whöre and a half-wolf? They're not lying, you have to be stronger than that."
Midnight opens her mouth, completely offended, but then closes it and lets out a very small laugh/snort when she realizes I'm mostly joking. That's when I reach over and hug her.
"You can't leave," I murmur into her hair, breathing in her scent, trying to keep it inside me forever, "I've always told you Lion is an ässhole, you can't be that surprised."
"I'm not leaving," she says, as if it's obvious and breaks away from me long enough to look me in the eyes. She doesn't look completely sad and helpless like I imagined, "I love it here."
"But... you just said..."
"I know, but it was all part of a dramatization," she explains and her lips lift on one side with a mischievous expression, "It's the only thing I can do to keep Lion from being mad at me. I think he'll be feeling guilty for a couple of days and stop punishing me. Manipulation isn't good... but it can be effective."
"So, all that was..."
"A slight exaggeration. It doesn't hurt that much to be called those things. Like you said, they're not lying."
I step back with my mouth open, unable to believe that I truly felt bad for her and Mid doesn't even care.
"You impress me more and more each day, Midnight. You're one of a kind," I say and let out a big smile, "Wait here for about three minutes while I go and make him feel even worse."
"Thanks, Gray, you're unique too. I'm not sure if that's a good thing, but... you definitely are," she murmurs, sounding adorable. I laugh and reach up to tousle her soft hair before leaving. I make sure to put on my sad face.
"How is she?" Angie asks with those amazing blue eyes wide with concern as I reach the table, "Should I go to her or leave her alone for a while?"
"Don't bother, she'll be back any minute. She's already stopped crying and I got her off the floor," I say and Lion swallows. Baxter rolls his eyes and continues eating, recognizing the lie in my voice, "You know...I didn't think you could be like this with your own daughter. I understand that you’re a dïck with everyone else, but not with her. I'm glad she doesn't want to be here to put up with you anymore. I wouldn't."
"She won't go away," Lion assures again, scratching his neck uncomfortably, "She's just mad, she'll get over it."
"I thought so, too," I give him a heavy sigh, "But she says she's been considering it for a couple of days, she's even got her stuff packed and everything."
Bastian gets up from the table without a word and walks straight to the bathroom, as always trying to be the savior of the universe.
"Lion, she's your daughter. You should be the one apologizing to her, not Bastian," I scold him and he just growls under his breath, "If there's one thing I know about Mid it's how much she loves attention and affection so go show her you love her. Unless you want your only daughter to disappear forever."
{ Midnight }
I've always been outspoken with myself, so I'm going to admit that I have to learn not to say things exactly as I'm thinking them. It's reckless and weird when I say things in such a blunt way, but it's the only thing I can do to keep people from asking me questions.
If I say my mother is dead then no one is going to ask me about her, which is excellent because I don't want to think anything about that woman besides her being a dead drug addict who had a taste for men younger than her.
Either way, I don't regret saying what I said and I don't care if Lionel is mad at me for something so dumb.
"Midnight," Bastian stops me in his raspy voice as I make my way back to the table down the hall to the bathroom and puts one of his big hands on my shoulder.
Oh.
God, Bastian is so tall, so strong, so alpha. We’re in a small, dark place, he’s touching me. He said my name in that deep voice. I want to throw myself on him and kiss him all over. I really like him.
"I didn't know you felt this way, I thought... since you seemed so happy, and seemed to have so much fun with Grayson... I thought you were having a good time here," he says and I can't think of anything else but his warm hand still on my shoulder and his accent, "Lion can be insensitive at times but I'm sure the last thing he wants is for you to leave."
"And you?" I ask, raising my eyes to his perfect face, "Do you want me to leave?"
"Of course not," he replies and my knees tremble, "You're fun and interesting. Angie adores you, Lion needs you here and Gray… well, you never really know with him, but he thinks you walk on water and can do no wrong. We all want you here. You shouldn't leave... at least not yet."
"I don't think that..."
"Hey, Mid," Lion says from behind Bastian's back and I almost curse out loud because he ruined our moment, "You weren't being serious, were you? The one who should want to leave the clan is me after what you caused."
I stop myself from rolling my eyes, I just cross my arms, waiting for my apology.
"Was what I said wrong? Yes, it was wrong... but you must understand that you deserved it," he tries unsuccessfully and looks everywhere but my face, "But, do I want you to leave? No. I don't want that."
"Why not?" I push and Lion growls under his breath, still not looking at me.
"Because you're my blood? Because you're my daughter, because I made you," he explains, "Because you're just as much of an i***t as I am and because I can't stand you, just like I can't stand Angie and her slow dumb äss"
"I understand you want to make it sound like a compliment but you're not succeeding."
"Also because you're just as annoying as Miriam," he explodes, surprising me by mentioning my mother, "Because ever since she took off from here twenty years ago I haven't stopped thinking about her and how much I wanted something to reassure me that she was real and not just part of my imagination.”
I close my mouth and then open it again but I don't know what to say.
"That's why people say to be careful what you wish for, you know? I wanted a damn picture as proof of her existence but I got a dumb girl instead," he clenches his jaw hard and looks me in the eye for the first time since he arrived, "I told you, I'm too young to be a good father. I don't even want to try yet.”
"You're not that young," I mutter, "And saying that was rude."
"But I want you to be here anyway and I want you to learn how to behave like a normal person. And I want you to never save anyone again," he spits at me with fury in his eyes, "I also want you to stop wearing tiny clothes when you go to a place full of perverted alphas."
"I have something to say," I stop him, holding up a hand, "I'll stay, but I need you to stop being so rude to me. I don't like it. I'm not dumb and you're making me feel like I am."
"You are dumb and I'm not going to lie to make you feel better," he fights, crossing his arms, "I'm never going to get over what you did, running into danger to save someone like you were Wonder Woman."
"But I did save someone..."
"I don’t care! The point here is that you're dumb and I'd like you to stop being dumb. I also want you to start eating meat to strengthen your wolf. And don't threaten to leave again. Here's your home now."
"Fine," I accept, trying very hard not to smile, "But I want to call you Dad."
"Really?" he asks, grimacing, "Well... I guess you can do that, but not all the time. And I'll try to say something nice to you at least once a month."
"Okay, I forgive you," I agree and reach over to hug him around the waist tightly, thinking about all those years I spent creating a story in my head where my dad was the most loving, good man in the world and that he was going to love me as soon as he met me... that wasn't the case, but Lion isn't as bad as he seems, "I love you, Dad."
"Uh..." he puts his hands on my head and I guess he's stroking my hair or something but it feels more like he's trying to destroy my skull, "I guess I love you, too."
- Writer
