Page 71 of Her Knotty Alphas

Hannah stiffens, but I keep my hand on her lower back. "She'll get what's coming to her. Let's just go." Woah. Things must be really bad if I'm the one keeping a cool head here.

The mediator's voice is cut off by the closing door. "Counsel, please keep your client under control—"

"I told you, ice cream makes everything better," I tell Hannah, watching her carefully as she stabs her scoop of ice cream with a spoon. She seems more inclined to murder the frozen dessert than eat it at this point. It may only be eleven in the morning and we haven't had lunch yet, but nobody can accuse me of not taking care of our omega's emotional needs.

We're sat outside Doctor Frosty's Ice Cream Parlor. My girl needed a serious pick-me-up after the disaster that was the 'mediation'.

"I don't think I'm the only one that needed the ice cream,"she points an accusing spoonful of ice cream at me before licking it off, drawing my attention to her fucking sinful lips, "you seemed kind of off when we went into the office."

Unfortunately, that's one of the few subjects that can distract me from ogling my omega.

She continues, her tone gentling. "I know there's…something…things…that happened when you were younger, but Austin was very respectful of your right to tell me when you're ready." She huffs out a breath. "I just mean…when you're ready, I'm here. If you want to talk about it."

"There's not much to talk about," I shrug, "but I can tell you about it. I mean, you should probably know."

Her brow furrows. "Noah, if you don't want to—"

"Oh, I neverwantto talk about it, princess." I let out a bitter laugh before grabbing her hand across the table and my tone softens. "But I do want you to know."

She nods, giving me this look like she's staring at a lonely puppy at the animal shelter.

"My parents—an omega mom, two alpha dads, and a beta dad—were drug addicts." Hannah's eyes grow wide, but that's not even half of it. "I grew up not knowing any different. I thought it was normal for your parents to disappear into their room for days at a time, left to your own devices. I thought it was normalfor your water to get shut off every once in a while because the bill didn't get paid. I thought it was normal to have to sneak into the neighbor's backyard to steal a drop of water from their hose." I take a shaky breath, staring down at my chocolate ice cream. "It wasn't until I started school that I realized itwasn'tnormal. The other kids in my class…they didn't have dirty clothes because they didn't know how to operate a washing machine. I was in third grade when my parents got their first call from CPS. I'm honestly surprised it took that long."

Her face falls. She knows I didn't go to Austin's family until I turned fourteen.

"They managed to pull it together enough to convince the CPS they weren't raging drug addicts. Mom actually gave me a debit card after the visit, putting ten-year-old me in charge of getting groceries and making sure the water didn't get turned off. Most maternal thing she ever did." A bitter laugh leaves me. "Ryan, my beta dad, hopped from job to job to get just enough money for bills and more drugs, and then the cycle would start all over again. They'd lock themselves up with enough coke to kill a horse, and then emerge a week later when the money ran out."

Hannah shakes her head, "Noah, I'm so sorry."

"It's okay, princess." I give her a sad smile. "But there's more."

Her expression tightens somewhat and she nods, motioning for me to continue. I know it must be hard to hear about. Hell, if I found out anything half as bad was done to my omega, I'd hunt down her parents myself. But she needs to know what she's getting into if she's going to agree to bond me.

"When I turned twelve, I hit a little bit of a growth spurt. I was still a scrawny thing, everyone thought that I'd present as a beta. They made sure I knew it, too. Said it like it was a bad thing." I shake my head. "But I joined the computer club at school, and realized I had a…knack for technology." She smiles at that. "So I got good. Taught myself to code and how to hack. Thought I wastough shit. Told my parents when they were about to start one of their benders that I was leaving. Dad Jonah didnotlike that. He…well, he introduced me to the world of physical pain. Said that I needed to be around to take care of the house. So…so I made a plan."

I swallow roughly. I've never told anyone this. Not even Austin. "I knew they would blame me for any CPS calls that came through, so I got creative. I…might have planted their information—with some minor embellishments—into the Kerrigan Family servers, who then reached out to see if they were interested in working for them. Back in Nevada…they were one of the biggest drug suppliers. Of course my parents just saw dollar signs and a cheaper way to get high, they didn't even ask how they got their information. Then it was just a matter of waiting until a major drug deal was about to go down. I tipped off the feds with the information I intercepted, and sat back on the couch while I waited for a social worker to show up at my door. I was taken into state custody, and by the time the trial rolled around, the Kerrigan Family had washed their hands of my parents. Their lawyers wanted me to testify, saying what a great set of parents they were, and I acted like I was going to. But when I got on the stand…I told them the truth. All of it. Every beating, every day without water, every time they disappeared into their room for days on end."

My heart is pounding now just thinking about it. How they looked at me with such betrayal and hatred in their eyes as I spoke. But the beating never came. They were charged on drug possession, distribution, and then faced separate charges for child abuse and endangerment.

"Then I got placed with Austin's family. My body was finally nourished enough to grow and come into my alpha designation at seventeen."

"Noah, that's…you really orchestrated sending your family to prison?"

There's not a hint of judgement or disgust in her tone, so I nod, my jaw tight.

"Good. They deserved it.Youdeserved so much better than that, Noah. I'm glad you did what you did."

And just like that, it's like a weight has been lifted off my chest

"Hannah, I—" I'm cut off when a shadow falls over our table. We both look up, only to see Cat with her spray-tanned alpha. A growl erupts from my chest, and I stand, going chest-to-chest with the douche.

"Calm down, emo boy." Cat rolls her eyes. "I'm just here to talk with my step-sister." Emo boy? I'm not fucking emo.

"What do you want, Cat?" Hannah asks, standing and crossing her arms.

"I want to make a deal. We've been in town for a few weeks, and one of my alphas frequents the underground fights. I recognize emo-boy here from one last week. I think we should make things interesting."

She frowns. "How so?"

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