Page 134 of His Forsaken Alpha

“We’re all ready at the kitchen table,” Wynter said. “But I fear I don’t know how to handle that contraption or if it’s done.”

Wilder chuckled, passing him and turning off the timer. He peeked in, using a gadget to test the temperature. “Dinner’s done.”

Once the table was set, Wilder took Emory from Cavanaugh. “I’ll let you two enjoy your dinner.”

“You could sit with us,” Wynter murmured.

“I have some calls to make, and it’s already getting late,” Wilder said, resting Emory near his shoulder. “I want to get things in motion for the trip.”

“You could do that tomorrow,” Wynter said. “Couldn’t you?”

“I won’t live one more day that I have to, worrying if something might happen to either one of you. I want to know this is settled and over,” Wilder said. He nodded to Cavanaugh before he left.

“Nervous?”

“I’d be a liar if I said I wasn’t,” Wynter said.

Cavanaugh scooped some of the meal onto Wynter’s plate before taking one for his own. “You don’thaveto go. Wilder and I can handle this on our own.”

“Then I’ll sit here the whole time, worried you won’t come back,” Wynter said. While he’d felt a bit hungry, the sensation was already gone. His stomach had been in knots since before Wilder’s mating ceremony. It had increasingly gotten worse. He pushed the food around on the plate.

“Eat. For me. Please,” Cavanaugh said, his fork paused between plate and mouth. “Just a few bites so I know you’ve eaten something.”

Wynter sighed and forced a bit between his lips. While he sensed it was good, his mind was spinning far too fast to actually taste it. He struggled to swallow and then bared his tongue to Cavanaugh as proof. “Happy?”

Cavanaugh chuckled to himself before eating the bite on his fork. “I suppose it will have to do.”

“There’s a good chance that they’ve already passed,” Cavanaugh said. “All your fears might be for nothing. And then there are all those brothers you never got to see again.”

“What if they’ve grown to be as bad as our parents?” Wynter asked. “I’m far too much like my papa than I like to admit, andIgot away.”

“But did you?”

Wynter met Cavanaugh’s stare.

“You’ve been stuck there a long time, Wynter. Maybe not physically, but emotionally. While I still say you don’t have to go—hopefully returning might be the first step in breaking the hold it has on you.”

Wynter sat with that, silence falling around them. He ate a few more bites, but only to avoid Cavanaugh’s glare. He forced each forkful down, hoping Cavanaugh was right and the trip would be beneficial, only he feared the worst.

The worst was all he knew. Getting hopes up never turned out well.

If he didn’t end up breaking that hold, it might break him instead.

Wilder slipped into the kitchen, his phone in one hand, the babe in another. “Is the eldest of your younger brothers named Arthur Jaymes?”

Wynter turned to face Wilder.“Yes.”

“I’ve got him on the phone. He doesn’t believe I’m your son,” Wilder murmured. “He claims Wynter Jaymes died nearly forty years ago.”

Wynter frowned, eyeing the phone. He had no idea what to say to the man, but he reached for it with a shaking hand. Afraid he might drop it, he hit the speaker button and laid it on the table.“Hello,”he asked, struggling to find his voice. “Arthur?”

“Look, I don’t know what kind of sick joke this is, but I’m hanging up.”

“Remember the O’Hare’s picnic?” Wynter asked. “When we climbed the apple tree at the back of their orchard? Anders pushed you, and you fell and broke the tree—almost in half, and then both Anders and I fell, too, when the tree collapsed. Anders broke his arm.”

Silence hung on the other end. Had it not been the crackle of the line, he would’ve been sure he’d been hung up on.“And what happened after that?”

Wynter closed his eyes, the pain of that day just as fresh as it had been when he’d been nine. While he’d already given both Wilder and Cav a peek into the abuse he’d suffered, he didn’t feel like wading through more—but if it convinced his brother it was really him, then so be it. “I told Papa that I did it so you two wouldn’t get in trouble. You tried to defend me when started Papa whipping me with that branch—and he ended up breaking your arm, too. He lied to everyone at the party and said we’d all gotten hurt falling from the tree. You and Anders had matching scars on opposite arms—a mirror image when facing one another, though they might’ve faded by now.”

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