Page 37 of His Forsaken Alpha

Cavanaugh dragged him closer, holding on and letting him weep for what he’d lost. What they’d lost. He melted into his alpha’s arms, never expecting to find himself in them thirty years too late. Cavanaugh held him close, pressing gentle kisses against his forehead. He didn’t deserve his alpha’s gentleness.

He deserved the rage.

Wynter pushed Cavanaugh away, sobbing all the more. The show of kindness shattered him more than the anger had. After thirty years, his alpha still cared, even if it was only a tiny amount—and he’d pushed that beautiful man out of his life. “I want your anger, not your pity. Now’s your chance. Tell me all the things you’ve wanted to say all these years and couldn’t. Tell me how much you hate me! I know you do. Ineedto hear you say it.”

Cavanaugh dropped into a chair facing him, suddenly looking older. “I wish I did hate you, Wynter. It would’ve made my life so much easier.” He chuckled, the sound joyless. He rested his arms on his bent knees. “Thirty years later and here I come running, like some desperate dog, begging and pleading his master not to abandon him on the side of the road again.”

“I never wanted to abandon you…” Wynter wiped a fresh tear away. Surely enough time had passed for him to tell his alpha the full truth, hadn’t it? Was there anyone left that still had a holdover them? He hoped not, yet at the same time, he couldn’t be certain.

“You tell me you’ve loved me and didn’t want to leave me all those years ago and it rings like truth in my gut… but how can I believe that? Either you’re telling me the truth or you’re an even better actor than I assumed. Did you miss your calling in Omegawood? You could have shelves full of awards by now.”

“I wasn’t lying when I said I wanted to be with you. And that I love you,” Wynter said.

“That means the rest was bullshit? I’m just supposed to believe you now after decades of lies?”

“I doubt you’d believe the truth.” Wynter shook his head. “Though I fear telling you. I don’t know if you’re still in danger or not.”

“Can we stop with the theatrics?” Cavanaugh asked, frowning.

“It’s not theatrics,” Wynter murmured. “I did what I thought I had to do… to save your life.”

“It’s already getting deep in here,” Cavanaugh muttered.

“Iwasprotecting you!”

Cavanaugh sat facing Wynter and crossed his arms over his chest. “Okay… let’s hear it. Your version of what happened. I’m dying to know.”

A shiver raced up Wynter’s spine. Hopefully there was no one left that might make that last sentence a reality.

4

When Jamie was a wee one…

Wynter Jaymes lazed somewhere between waking and dreaming when a noise caught his attention. Languidly lifting one lid, he heard Warden preparing for the day in the bedroom next door. He lay listening for long minutes, wondering if he should force himself to rise and have the conversation he’d been visualizing for days, since before his homecoming.

Things between them had been bad before he left. Returning, it was worse.

One of them had to offer the olive branch and try to change course before what happened transpired again. Wynter rose from the bed and pulled on his dressing gown over the soft, silk pajamas he’d worn to bed. The sheer material billowed about as he traipsed across the room.

He knocked on the adjoining door.

Wynter thought he heard cursing but ignored it.

Warden flung the door open, staring down his nose at Wynter.“What?”

Panic gripped him. He swallowed the lump in his throat, wondering if he’d made a mistake. “Good morning,my alpha,”Wynter muttered as evenly as he could. “Have you had breakfast?”

“Cook made me something.”

“Oh. I thought we could perhaps eat together before you left.”

“I need to get to the office.” Warden turned and strode from the door to face himself in the full-length mirror, adding a tie to the button-down shirt.

“We need to talk.”

Warden glanced at his watch. “So, talk. I can spare a few minutes.”

“I need a little longer than that.”

---