Page 8 of His Temporary Alpha Mate
“For sure. She would have loved to live under a female alpha.”
“What happened to her, if you don’t mind me asking?” Dalton picked nervously at the sleeve of his shirt finding random cat hairs.
It took me a moment to decide how to answer. The truth was brutal.
Dalton leaned closer, placing a soothing hand on my arm. “I shouldn’t have asked, I’m sorry.”
“No, it’s fine. Just… What happened was awful. Violent.”
“Okay. Let’s pick a movie instead,” Dalton suggested cheerfully, ready to change the subject to make me more comfortable.
“No, I want to tell you,” I insisted. Truthfully, I did want to talk about my family with Dalton. I wanted to be able to share personal things, to have someone truly know me in the pack. Roan did, yet a lot of our friendship was still superficial. We’d bonded over the sickness, though recently drifted apart some.
“You really don’t have to.” Dalton looked too curious for that to be a genuine offer.
“It’d be nice to talk about her, to be honest. It’s been such a long time since I’ve told anyone this story.” I missed her dreadfully. My parents, too.
“So you haven’t told Roan?” Dalton raised a perfectly groomed eyebrow at me. His golden brown skin had its glow back. He was back to his polished self, just less so, as if it wasn’t as important to him anymore to always project this perfect image. He was more real, making him more attractive for it.
“No. He… with all he’s been through with the council, Kade, having to kill Kade’s dad, it was just tooheavy for him to carry that too.” I knew I was making excuses for Roan.
“But is it okay for you to carry it alone? You don’t have anyone else, do you? Family, I mean.”
“Well… no, but—“
“Uh-uh. If you want to tell me, you can. I’d be happy to hear about your aunt. Not just how she died, but how things were when you lived with her. It sounds like she was important to you.”
“She was.”
“Then tell me all about her. Them. I want to know about them all. If you want to tell me, of course.” He leaned into me, his touch soothing.
“Did I tell you I went to boarding school until I was a teenager?”
“No, you didn’t.” He sat up a little straighter. Needing the comfort from the touch, I pulled him a bit closer.
“Well, I’m Indonesian-American,” I explained as he tucked his head under my chin. “My mom was born and raised here. My dad in Indonesia. He was a diplomat until I was about ten and became a citizen due to their mating. I actually have an Indonesian passport as well as an American one.”
I could feel Dalton smiling. The tougher parts were coming.
“It was easier to send me away to school so Mom and Dad could travel and do theircampaigning. She was a shifter rights advocate. Made even more difficult by her ethnicity, she was also Indonesian, but first generation American, an ora—“
“Ora? What’s that?”
“It’s another name for our alter. Komodo Dragons have other names. Ora is just the one we use most. Dunno if you noticed, but Komodo Dragon, while cool, is a bit of a mouthful.”
Dalton laughed. “True, so your mom had problems because of her ethnicity and…” he prompted.
“Right. Well, her omega designation didn’t help. She wouldn’t let it stop her, though.”
“She sounds so cool!”
“Mom was. I love her so much. Dad worshiped her.” I took a breath to prepare for the hard part. “Dad left his job as a diplomat and took an advocacy job alongside Mom. Money wasn’t an issue for them, they just wanted to do good in the world. Unfortunately, they caught the wrong type of attention. The thing is, being an ora is a dangerous thing depending on where you live. A gang who traffic shifters for the fae and for fighting rings found out about them. They wanted Dad to either fight or be a stud, basically.”
Dalton shivered. “Fuck, that’s awful.”
“He died in a kidnappingattempt.”
“Oh, Lark, I’m sorry.”
