Page 31 of The Alpha's Fake Mate
What the fuck?
He took a deep breath. He put one hand on his desk, rubbing his fingers in a circle on the wood beside his prize knick-knack: a large hourglass.
His discomfort seemed to draw all the moisture from the air. My throat went dry. This drama; it was unusual.
Chirl cleared his own throat.
My muscles hardened under my skin as I sat and waited.
He cleared his throat a second time and began. “I received an email this morning.”
He took a deep breath.
“About me?” I asked.
He nodded.
Of course. Orion. “I can explain--” I began.
“Hush. This is not about anything you have done.”
“Oh.” I waited.
“The Alpha who attacked you. If you recall, his name is Bosk.”
Everything went a little blurry. The room wanted to fade, as if the whole world were a dream.
“So he emailed you? Why?” I didn’t want to ask but I couldn’t help myself. Someone else ruled my body and my voice sounded like it came from far away.
Chirl swallowed hard. “You know he did some time in jail for what happened. He got behavioral and medical treatment for his actions during his Burn.”
“I don’t really care about that.” My lungs were shaking but my voice came out steady, though everything still seemed muffled, like this was all happening behind veils of layered cloth.
“He’s making a claim.”
“A w-what?” I prayed I did not hear that last correctly.
“A claim. On you.”
“He can’t do that.”Can he?My veins went cold.
“It’s legal. More, he claims he made a bond with you during the—uh--” Chirl couldn’t finish.
“That’s a lie!” Blood rushed in my ears. I blinked and shook my head to clear my mind.
“He’s an Alpha who claims a bond and is claiming the Omega he bonded with. You. Of course you may demand a test to verify the claim, but not until after he has had a year to make sure the bond is completely and fully formed.”
“A year?” I knew Alpha rules. I had learned them frontward and backward and sideways in class. Omegas had few rights, but one of them involved the Alpha claim. If the claim of bonding did not take within a year, an Omega would not be beholden to that Alpha and could go elsewhere and find a true bondmate.
But an Alpha could make a claim—a legal claim—on any unbonded Omega, even one under the guardianship of a parent or other relative, which was why they were so jealously guarded when raised in homes by families.
At the farms, we had no recourse. Any of us could be claimed. Most Alphas didn’t do it unless a relationship was forming. But most Alphas weren’t my attacker.
The only Omegas safe from Alpha claims were the ones who were institutionalized. They, along with Sylphs, the by-products of Omega to Omega matings, were protected under the laws.
Bosk. What a horrible name. The room grew very small. I saw myself on the floor, naked, rough hands all over me, holding me down, hitting me, bending me into impossible positions, and the body of the very large Alpha rutting into me.
The room blackened for a moment.
