Page 92 of His Forsaken Alpha

“You were afourteen-year-old omega. The shame of that shook our family to the very foundations. We losthundredsof customers andmillionsin revenue when the truth was revealed.”

Wynter fought his embarrassment, once again reminded of that dark day his childhood had been stolen from him. From the onset, it had been treated as a flaw in his character and he nomore understood it five years later than he had as a child. “I’m not the first young omega to go into an early heat. I heard the doctor tell you so after my exam. It wasn’tmethat caused the scandal—it was likely your attempt to cover it up and fake my death!”

“No. You’re not the first, and you won’t be the last. But members of our class do not suffer that,” his papa spat. “It’s a problem for the poor. They might be willing to sell off their babies at a tender age, but for one of the highborn families? We were shamedby you.”His papa jabbed a finger into his shoulder, bruising flesh. Wynter stepped back to get away from another, but the backs of his legs hit the chair behind him.

“Everyone in the province saw us as less than…because of you.”

Another finger speared into the tender spot where arm met socket.

“We nearly lost everything…because of you.”

Another poke.

Wynter shook his head, attempting to turn his nose from his papa’s fetid breath. “Nature is the one thing money is powerless against.Iam not to blame. Our biologic need is.”

His papa smiled, the madness on full display. “I don’t think you quite understand me. It’s not that it doesn’t happen, it’s that they’renot suffered.”

Wynter frowned.

“My elder brother went into heat around the same age as you.”

“There.You admit it,” Wynter said, peeling from between his papa and the chair to give himself space. “I’m not even the first in this family.Howcan you blame me?”

“My father snapped his neck after he was found ass in the air, begging to be bred, in his first heat.That’swhat I mean when I say we don’t suffer them.”

Wynter swayed on his feet.

“An omega like you—like him—is a perversion. There is something wrong with your composition. A flaw that must be eradicated from the genetic pool. You’re rotten to the core and don’t deserve to exist.”

“I don’t believe that. I won’tbelievethat.”

“Archie didn’t have the balls my father did. That manstillhad a weakness for you, even then.”

Wynter couldn’t breathe. His stomach revolted, and he vomited near his papa’s feet. He stumbled back from it before dropping to his knees. Wynter knew he had to be in a nightmare. He slapped his face and pinched his arm, pleading to wake up from it.

More lies. It had to be lies to build terror in his heart and mind.

“Archie and Ferron convinced me to mate you off to Warden. They said it was the humane choice. I was not pleased, but I figured it would get you out of my house and away from my alphas, so I let them make their silly plans. I knew, in time, they’d realize the foolishness of their decision and wish you dead as much as I did.”

Tears rolled down his cheeks. “Is that why you’re here? To kill me? And Cavanaugh?”

“Oh no. A quick death was a mercy when you were fourteen.Now?I want you to suffer. As I have suffered under the black cloud of your disgrace these last few years. You will know the pain of existing without what you want most in the world—and I will be repaid for the horrors you cast upon us.”

“Horrors you cast upon yourself with your lies,” Wynter muttered.

His papa yanked him by the hair, forcing him to his knees again. Wynter sobbed, the trauma of his past leaving him incapable of fighting back. “You will take responsibility for your actions! You will do what is commanded of you or, by the gods, I will kill that alpha where he stands and leave you to weep over his corpse!”

His papa flung him by the hair. Wynter slid across the small kitchenette, his back slamming against a wooden cabinet door.

“You are an embarrassment to this family!”His papa released a shaky breath before patting his hair, clearly checking to ensure his perfect braids remained perfect. He took a deep breath and when he began again, his tone was once again measured. “As you have been your entire life. You caused your father and I to become a source of ridicule. We lost customers. Lost standing. We were talked about behind closed doors. We weren’t invited to charity galas I’d once chaired. We tumbled, all because of you.”

Wynter remained silent, refusing to argue and incur more wrath. He curled into a ball, hugging his knees into his chest and lowering his head, just as he’d done as a child—making himself smaller to protect from another blow.

“I’ve only just now gotten us back on track in the last few months. I won’t allow you to ruin us again.”

“Please,” Wynter begged, his voice little more than a whisper. “Don’t do this. Whatever you’re planning,don’t.”

“You let Warden fill you with a child. You mated him. You are his. You return and live the life you were expected to. Or else.”

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