Page 50 of His Forsaken Alpha

Wynter let out a strangled breath. “Not much to tell.”

Cavanaugh grinned. “Oh, I think there’s a story there, andI liveto hear interesting stories. They’re my bread and butter.”

“This isn’t one that would interest anyone.”

“Let me be the judge of that,” the alpha said.

“It’s a story told and retold by too many over the decades.” Wynter sat back, thankful the conversation had taken a turn there. It was hard to lust after the alpha when discussing Warden. “He and I were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Things happened. I got pregnant. We were forced to mate by our families. The end.”

Cavanaugh stared blankly. “How old were you?”

Wynter cringed, his stomach twisting at the question. The truth was on his lips, but he couldn’t speak it, no matter how much he wanted to in that moment. “Nineteen.”

Cavanaugh flinched before whispering. “Not much farther from being a child yourself. Was he young, too?”

Wynter cast a look around to see if anyone had been listening. Fortunately, no one was near enough. “He was in his mid-twenties at the time.”

“Do you love him?”

I barely know him.“No.”

“And what about him? Does he have feelings for you?”

Wynter shook his head. “He begged me to leave and give him a break this heat, so what do you think?”Why did I say it like that? As if I cared what Warden wanted or didn’t want?

Cavanaugh held his gaze, silent. Wynter struggled under the scrutiny, sensing the alpha’s pity. He didn’t want to be pitied.

“Our natures can be a terrible thing,” Cavanaugh murmured. “You’re right. Yours isn’t the first horror story I’ve heard like this. Too bad you didn’t grow up in another province.”

Wynter frowned. “Another province?”

“Omegas don’t live under the same rules in all provinces. Some have more rights elsewhere. Omegawood and Fenix freed their omegas a decade ago. They’ve been using this new drug on the market that supposedly masks heats to protect omegas—which allows them freedom to go and live wherever they choose. Omegas are getting educations. Working outside the home. Now there are rumblings starting in Fort Seattle with omegas demanding they have access to it as well. I bet more provinces move in that direction, too. I smell which way the wind is blowing. In ten years from now, I’d bet omegas are free across the whole of the Palatinate.”

“An idealistanda writer? You reallydolive outside the box.”

“That doesn’t excite you? That omegas could be freed from their shackles?”

“I’m bound to a man who will never love me. I’ll never love him. We can barely be in the same room together, two strangers living in a big, fancy house, devoid of any real emotion. It’s too late to make what happened right, so you’ll excuse me if I don’t get overly excited aboutother omegasgetting a chance at a freedom I’ll never,everexperience.”

Cavanaugh winced again. “You’re right. I shouldn’t’ve brought it up. It was thoughtless of me.”

“Yes, it was, and no, you shouldn’t have,” Wynter spat. “My life is what it is. I’m bound to him forever because of a fuck-up in nature.” Tears burned the backs of his eyes. “And nowI get to live the rest of my days with the knowledge that there was medicine available somewhere in the world that might’ve prevented it.Thank youfor that.”

“I’m sorry. I sometimes think out loud and it gets me in trouble,” Cavanaugh replied. “I’m simply excited that times are changing. Societal expectations are shifting. I meant no offense.I hateknowing you’re trapped, Wynter. Honestly.”

Wynter drained the rest of his glass before rising, knowing there was no point in continuing the conversation. It would only hurt more.

Cavanaugh reached out and gripped his wrist. “Don’t go. I honestly didn’t mean to cross the line there. Forgive me.”

“But youdidmean to cross it earlier?”

“Earlier?”

“The things you said to me back in the cabin?”

Cavanaugh fought a smile.

Anger roiled in Wynter’s gut. “Oh, now you laugh at me?”

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