Chapter 63
Lily, Harper, & the Alpha
A servant carries a silver tray atop their white gloved hand. They drift through the large mansion. Their shoes click against the marble floor. They navigate through the endless corridors of the home, an unimpressed expression on their face, as they dip inside the large study that Harper has claimed for herself.
“Ma’am,” their voice breaks through the silence of the room. Harper looks up from her desk, Lily’s head popping up from the couch, “A delivery from the Alpha King.”
Lily jumps from the couch and intercepts the white envelope from the silver tray. She shoos away the servant, who hides an eye roll from the woman, and exits the room. Lily inspects the envelope, which has a golden wax seal on the back with the Alpha King’s insignia ingrained into the wax. She inches closer to Harper’s desk, who watches with a close and attentive gaze.
“What is it, dear?” Harper cooly questions. She pushes away from hr desk, her chair sliding across the floor, and steps out from behind the furniture. Lily’s gaze flits between the envelope and her mother, tearing the white material open.
Inside lies a white piece of paper. Its edges are adorned with gold paint, the words written in black ink, curving across the page. Lily gasps at the sight. Her eyes scroll down the paper, trying to read the entirety of the invitation, but her mother snatches it from her hands.
Harper turns around, placing her reading glasses onto her face. She quietly reads the invitation to herself:
You have been cordially invited to the Alpha King’s Silent Auction to help victims of domestic violence. All proceeds will go to charities that help displaced victims and halfway houses as well as finding homes for children who have fallen victim to abuse.
Please bring your checkbooks and support this dire cause.
“Mom? Do you think he knows…what we did to Miranda?” Lily asks, referencing the cause.
Harper looks up from the invitation, pausing. Her eyes focus on nothing, her mind running through any possibility of that happening.
No…Miranda holds her cards too close to her chest…there’s no way that Sebastian knows of their crimes against her. It’s too risky of a move for Miranda. She’s a mere half-breed; her word means nothing against theirs.
Harper sweeps her ice blonde hair over her shoulder. She looks at Lily from the corner of her eye, the tips of her fingernails digging into the corner of the invitation.
“Lily, please be a dear and go fetch your father for me,” Harper forces a domestic smile onto her face, looking down at her daughter. Lily nods and vanishes from the room, leaving Harper alone in the cozy office.
She steps towards the window, the wheels in her mind turning. She thinks how she can use this event to her advantage, pondering multiple possibilities.
Can Lily gain the Alpha King’s favor once again? Will her charm be enough to sway him or will we need to switch to more drastic measures?
“You called for me, Harper,” her husband’s voice booms from behind. Harper turns on her heel and greets the Alpha with a welcoming smile despite feeling immense amounts of dread inside her lungs, burning the inside of her chest.
“The Alpha King has invited us to attend a silent auction next week,” she begins, inching closer and closer to her husband. She extends her hand with the invitation. The Alpha swipes it from her. He closely examines the letters on the cream paper, tilting his head to the side. He looks back up, eyes meeting Harper’s, and hums.
“Buy yourself and Lily new dresses for the event. Spare no expense,” he glances at Lily, who hovers away from her parents, eyes wide as she listens to their conversation. “This is our last chance to get him back on our side.”
“Yes, dear, I will get right on it,” Harper responds, shooting Lily a glare. Lily immediately straightens her slouched posture, shoulders back. Her daughter faces the Alpha, who looks her up and down. “Lily. You do realize how important this event is for us, yes?”
“Yes, mother, I do,” Lily’s words come out with impatience laced in her tone. The Alpha steps towards her, snatching her chin in his hand.
“Do not take that tone with us, girl,” he lowly growls, grip tightening on her chin. Lily whimpers, hands clutching her father’s wrist, trying to pull his hand off of her. “If you fuck this up for us, I swear I will personally pack your bags and kick you out of the Silvertail pack, do you understand?”
“Y-Yes!” Lily nods. Her whimpers grow louder as her father’s nails dig into her soft and blemish-free skin. “I promise on my life, father, that I will not let you down! I will get the Alpha King back!” Her eyes well with tears.
“Secure a marriage with him, Lily,” the Alpha leans down, his irritation replacing his once calm demeanor, “and why don’t you get yourself pregnant with his baby this time instead of getting the half-breed to do your job for you, hm?”
“D-Dad…” Lily’s bottom lip trembles. She looks between her mother and father, tears slowly rolling down her cheeks. “Is it really that big of a deal if I don’t marry him? Maybe we can make amends with Miranda! She can h-help us, right?” Her voice is so quiet and oh so pathetic.
Lily has always been so sensitive and she always takes things way too personally. The Alpha and Harper regret raising her this way. They coddled her way too much and now she’s a leech that brings nothing but misery and misfortune.
Moments like these make the Alpha regret his decision to dump the human he was married to before. Maybe he should have been more kind to Miranda.
“Oh, Lily,” the Alpha chuckles, Harper joining.
Their patronizing laughter shakes Lily to her core; she trembles before them, unsure of how her once loving parents turned out to be so cold and calculating. Have they been this way the whole time? How has she not noticed this before?
The Alpha slaps her. Lily’s cheek turns a bright shade of pink, the outline of his fingers prominent against her pale skin. He lifts her up, the girl staring on the tips of her toes, struggling to stand upright.
“You have no influence here. You lost any kind of bargaining power when your actions at Moonlit Labs sent it on a downward spiral. The only way you can make it up to your mother and I is to seduce the Alpha King. Gain his favor, his trust, and ease your way back into his life,” the Silvertail Alpha spits the words out. “If you are unable to do this, you’ll end up just like Miranda…out on the streets, alone with nobody and no pack to help you out. We’ll ruin your image so you have no suitable prospects of marriage. You’ll have to find your mate with a lowlife Omega. You don’t want that fate, do you? That is not the ending we want for you, darling.”
His words sink into Lily’s skin. Her bottom lip trembles as she realizes that the stakes are much higher than she previously realized. She nods, her mouth going dry. The Alpha releases her chin and she drops to her knees.
Her parents leave her behind, crumbled on the dirty floor with no hope for her future.
