CHAPTER 288: 288-MANIPULATION WORKS ON HER MEN

Oriana:

Not only was I angry, but I was disappointed in the boys too. Still, that was expected of them. I knew they would soon go back to giving her all their attention.

That’s what they always did.

That’s why I told Clementine to choose her friends better. If she had chosen me, we could have helped each other survive the North.

But she didn’t. She rejected my friendship, bruised my pride, and hurt my ego. So I decided I would ruin her and her squad.

I would take them from her, use them, and turn them into my shield.

But after last night, I started to feel afraid. I didn’t know what would happen to me if I didn’t fix things now.

"AHhhhhhhhh!" I screamed one last time, and when I looked at my reflection in the river, I could barely recognize myself.

I washed my face, then put my clothes back on after swimming for a bit. After that, I began walking back toward the academy.

We were taking a short break from the bucket work, and it annoyed me that they had chosen to do Clementine’s chores.

It broke me inside but I kept going.

By then, I had only filled fifteen buckets. When the break came, I walked away from them.

Things would go back to normal, surely now they will.

I smiled to myself as I started climbing back up the mountain with my bucket.

When I reached the top, I saw the way the three of them looked at me.

I could already sense it from the hunger in their eyes for my wet hair, my shaken state.

I was stirring something in them.

And then there was Ian. I didn’t understand him. He was strange. He didn’t act the way I expected.

He had filled more buckets than anyone else, forty-seven in total. That didn’t make sense.

Even the strongest alphas struggled here because the herbs planted around the area weakened their wolves.

So how was Ian unaffected? How was his wolf still strong enough to help him work in these fields for so long?

"Oriana, are you okay?" Haiden finally asked, snapping out of Clementine’s spell long enough to notice me.

But I was still upset with them for how they had treated me, so I just shrugged. I kept staring at Ian.

He didn’t even look tired.

Not a drop of sweat on him. Something about him felt wrong. Was he really doing all this himself, or was someone helping him?

I looked around at the lurkers nearby. It didn’t make sense. If anyone had been helping him, the lurkers would have seen and punished him already.

I finally walked back toward Clementine’s group because I did not want to push them too far and make them snap.

They were unstable, so I had to be careful.

"I’m really upset with all of you," I said.

Yorick looked lost while Haiden scratched the back of his neck. Troy stared at my face, head tilted in confusion.

"You were being inconsiderate," Troy said with effort. He sounded like he was trying to force himself to be clear.

He needed to speak plainly and not get stuck on Clementine.

"I wasn’t," I replied. "After she hit me so hard, I did not expect you to forgive her so quickly.

The right thing would have been to go fetch Miss Rue, not take care of her."

I watched their faces one by one and saw the expression I wanted. So maybe it was true. If I worked hard, I could have them under my control.

I just needed to keep making Clementine look like the villain.

"And Haiden," I asked, "didn’t she ask you for rejection? Doesn’t it bother you that she sleeps around with others even though she is your mate?"

Haiden looked down, embarrassed. His silence said everything.

"We were just trying to be good people," Yorick said quickly, trying to cover for them.

"I know," I said, "but this will only raise her hopes. It would have been one thing to care for her if you felt that way, but the way you treated me hurt."

I pouted and sniffled a little even though there were no tears.

"Fine. What do you want us to do?" Troy faced me, finally acting like he should when Clementine was not around.

They were always dull when she was not there, and that made them easy to manipulate.

The real test was when she was in front of them. I wanted them to be consistent. To not flip between me and Clementine.

"Don’t give her so much attention. Don’t make her think she is important. After how she pushed your hands away, she discarded your feelings, how could you not feel insulted. Grow a spine. You are alphas."

I hissed and threw a small tantrum, folding my arms over my chest.

"And yet you went to fill her buckets. That is so upsetting," I grunted.

"Okay, don’t be upset. We’ll fill your buckets too. You don’t need to do anything. Go sit over there and rest," Haiden said quickly, taking the bucket from my hand.

He did not show much emotion, though. That was what I meant. They were always dull when she was not around.

But at least they were listening to me now. I could work with that for the moment.

I pretended to still be upset and walked away. Sitting on the ground, I watched them talk among themselves.

"You really have them wrapped around your finger, don’t you?"

I nearly jumped when I heard Ian’s voice from the side. I turned and saw him smirking.

"I guess I’m not the only one with someone else doing the dirty work," I taunted.

Ian let out a short laugh, and that alone felt like an admission of guilt.

"Don’t worry about me, Oriana. And stay out of my business. You don’t want my attention on you, trust me," he warned, his eyes narrowing.

He looked so frightening that I instantly started to nod. I would never dare to get in his way.

I guessed staying away from Ian was the best choice for now.