Page 122 of His Forsaken Alpha

“Actually, I think you all should hear what I have to say. While I wasn’t planning on an audience, perhaps I’ll only have to tell it one more time.” The tears stung before he got the first words out. “Hopefully it might explain some of my decisions over the years.”

Gray and Avery shared a look before they turned back to him.

“Of course,ifyou want to hear it. I won’t force it on you, either,” Wynter whispered as he sat in a chair facing them. “But as my family… you should know my story.”

“Family,”Gray said, rising. “I think we should see our way out of this, Rohan.”

“No,”Wynter said, reaching out to take Gray’s hand. He fought tears. “Please stay. I can’t say these things to Jamie, so… I suppose you two are the next best thing.”

Gray held his stare, hesitant. He slowly sat down, pulling his hand from Wynter’s. His gaze flicked to Rohan, whose eyes were filled with anger, and rightly so.

“I’ve wanted to know what made Wynter Jaymes tick for years. Might as well stick it out and listen for a bit, I suppose,” Gray said, lifting a brow.

Wynter leaned back in his chair, preparing to recount the tale again. Hopefully, it would be the last. He took a long breath, steadying his nerves. “As you’ve already likely deduced, Warden Jaymeswasn’tmy alpha. We were forced together by circumstances out of our control, neither of us happy in having to share a life with the other. That unhappiness colored everything that followed it, and I’m sorry to say, has touched all of your lives. I wish it hadn’t.”

“Enough with the soliloquy,” Vaughn said. “There’s only one thing we want to know—who was that man at the funeral?”

“Oh,we have more questions than that,” Rohan said, glaring at Vaughn.

“His name is Wilder Cavanaugh,” Wynter said to Vaughn. “He’s my alpha. Mytruefated mate.”

After a long shower,a longer nap, and some time looking over the file he’d brought with him, Cav slipped downstairs and found the family in the den, gathered around Wynter. Hehovered near the edge of the room, the outsider, and didn’t want to intrude—yet he quickly deduced that Wynter was sharing the same tale he’d told in the hotel. Wynter’s gaze drifted to his, and he paused in his retelling.

“Cavanaugh…” Wynter murmured.

All eyes turned to Cav, and he sensed they knew more about him than he might want them to. He wasn’t sure how much had already been told.

“I don’t want to interrupt your time with your family,” Cav murmured. “I think I might head back into town and get the car from the hotel.”

“Oh,”Wynter murmured, disappointment washing over his face.

“Before you go,” Wilder said, turning to look Cav’s way. “Did youreallyfight a Wildling to the death? With just a penknife?”

Cav chuckled. “It was a foldable tactical knife I used for hunting and protection, not a little pen knife, but otherwise—yes.” His gaze drifted back to Wynter. “No one was going to lay a hand on my omega.”

“Why did you walk away from him?” A young, dark-haired alpha asked. Cav had noticed the man at the funeral. “If you cared about him that much?”

“Cavanaugh, this is my youngest,” Wynter murmured. “Vaughn.”

“I’d say it was a pleasure, but I’m not sure it is yet,” Vaughn snapped.

“Vaughn, can youpleasestop?” Rohan asked.

“Why the fuck are you even here?” Vaughn asked Rohan. “You moved on from this family, didn’t you?”

“Fuck you,Vaughn,” Rohan roared back.

“Rohan and Gray are here because they loved Jamie,” Wynter snapped before eyeing Gray a moment. He turned to Vaughn. “Either deal with that, or you can leave.”

Vaughn scowled, eyed Cav and scowled harder, but sat back quietly and sulked, arms crossed over his chest.

“I’ll leave you to finish it,” Cav murmured, curious at the usage of loved—in the past tense. He’d heard Jamie’s name years ago and was fairly sure he’d seen the child at the bookstore that fateful day, but he saw no signs of the omega there.

“Or you could stay,” Avery said. “It seems you’re a big part of this story, so you might be able to shed some light here and there.”

Cav met Avery’s stare. “I don’t want to intrude on family stuff.”

“It’s not like you haven’t heard the story before,” Wilder said. “And technically youarefamily. Of sorts.”

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