Page 16 of Trust No Alpha
I had lived all my life in the Vandergale mansion, kept in luxurious surroundings, isolated from the every day world, though we boys did go out sometimes on various Father-sanctioned trips. Still, I’d never felt stifled. But now that the doors were locked to me, and all my freedom and my dreams taken away, those same walls closed in until it seemed some days I couldn’t catch my breath.
After my introduction to my new, expanded prison, Father came by for a visit.
He stood and admired the remodel. “It’s grander than my initial plan. A fantastic space for you. Do you like it?”
My head down, I replied, “Yes, Father.”
In truth, all of it was amazing. The hot tub was situated against a real rock wall. The gym area had every imaginable piece of equipment I could want. There was a living area with a wall-sized TV screen. Father had brought in expensive art and marble statues of his own favorite images of wolves and lions to accent the room. I even had a kitchen area with white marble counters and oak cupboards stocked with any kind of food I could want.
Growing up, Father had never allowed any of us to have pets. Now he turned to me and said “I have decided you may have a cat, if you wish it.”
I wasn’t ungrateful. But my depression came and went in unmanageable doses. The new room brought with it a devastating blow to my hopelessness. It was as if it was the final statement.This is your life. You will have no other. No purpose. No freedom. Nothing further than the confines of these walls.
The thought of bringing such a lovely and graceful creature like a cat into my prison paralyzed me. My vision darkened.
“I don’t want a cat!”
“Well, if you change your mind.”
My eighteenth birthday had come and gone. My gift, which was to be my own car, had been hidden away. I’d watched Mathias and Trigg drive up and down the road in their new cars, while I’d probably never see the inside of one again.
Father watched me, his dark eyes narrowed. “I should tell you that Mathias experienced his first Burn last week. Trigg has not. Yet.” He took a deep breath, turned and headed for the door. “Just thought you would like to know.” He threw those last words over his shoulder as he reached for the handle.
For months, Mathias had talked of nothing else to me and Trigg. Annoying as hell. He’d been the least nervous and most excited of the three of us.
“He is well, then?” I asked.
“Perfectly.” Father’s reply was like a dig. A little over a month ago I was his perfect son. His favorite.
Never again.
*
Father visited one morning in late November.
I’d been sitting on my couch looking out, watching the figure of a lone man walk slowly down the road that curved by our house. I saw him every day. A solitary figure, shoulders hunched, but with the height and broad form of an Alpha in good health, maybe not even to middle age yet, fifty or under.
He had to be our neighbor to the east, the one rumored to have killed his Omega mate years ago. My brothers and I used to imagine he was some kind of monster, horribly scarred and disfigured, an evil demon who perhaps killed and ate Omegas for pleasure. And no one could do anything about it except label such Alphas because whatever Alphas did to Omegas was not seen as criminal.
All I really knew about the guy was his name. Hawthorne. Like the famous novelist.
Every time I saw him walking the road, he was alone. Until I was locked away, I’d never noticed his routine. Never noticed him walking by. But now I looked forward to seeing him. At nine a.m. every morning, on the dot, he’d go by the house and disappear on down the curve that led to a little hill.
He did not look like a monster.
The door to my room clicked.
Father stood in the entryway, watching me. He was early. He usually came to see me in the afternoons. By then his work would be done. But he never stayed long.
I sat up. “Father. Hello.”
He said nothing.
“Is everything all right?”
“Yes.” He seemed to wake from a stupor and glanced about the room. “It’s dark in here,” he said. “You have all the lights off.”
In truth, there was plenty of morning light from my window.
