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Maxim’s jaw tightens, but he meets her gaze steadily. Vee doesn’t flinch away from him either, even as her scent goes slightly burnt at the edges. Jackson purrs for her and she relaxes, tips her head back against his chest, melting into him.
“She was a liar and a cheat.”
I expect Vee to explode in anger, to shout at him after his statement., but she just looks at him. “No. She wasn’t. She was a teenager who fell out of love with you and into love with my father. People’s feelings change, Maxim. She wasn’t trying to hurt you. You’re the asshole who couldn’t handle a broken heart.”
“It doesn’t matter because she did. She hurt me. She was mine, and she picked a low class penniless nobody.”
“Because she loved him, dad,” I say, cutting off what I’m sure was going to be quite the tirade about how awful Vee’s parents were. I won’t let him do that to her, though. She doesn’t deserve that. “If anything, that proves even more what a good person she was. She didn’t stay with you because she didn’t love you. She wasn’t after your money, or your name. All she wanted was love. And she found that with Vee’s dad.”
Maxim doesn’t take his eyes off Sylvie. “She rejected me.”
My omega sucks in a sharp breath, and she goes pale. Jackson’s grip on her tightens as Ford and Asher shift closer together, blocking her from Maxim’s view.
“You were fated?” Vee whispers. “She rejected her fated mate?”
A chill works its way down my spine as my gaze swings from my omega back to my father, who looks fucking devastated. Jackson swears, gray eyes focused on the man in front of us. The one who always seemed so invincible. “You’re sick. You’ve been sick this whole time?”
Sylvie shakes her head. “But no. You wouldn’t… you have- Jackson is yours. Anyone who looks at you can tell he’s your son. If my mom was your fated mate, how could you touch another woman without getting physically ill?”
His jaw tics. “Artificial insemination is a thing. It’s how I met Dr. Attersby.” A round of growls permeates the room at the mention of the doctor that hurt our girl. “She assisted with the pregnancy. Almost thirty years she’s kept it quiet. She’s proven herself very trustworthy.”
I bark out a laugh at that, because everything about that woman is untrustworthy. What kind of doctor drugs their patients to use their hormones to make more omegas? A fucking shady one, that’s who.
“Why?” Vee whispers. But then she answers her own question. “My mom always said she and dad were fated. She found two fated mates, and you…”
“I made her choose.”
Jackson barks out a humorless laugh, resting his chin on Sylvie’s head. “So you did this to yourself?”
“I didn’t want to share her. I shouldn’t have had to share her. She was my fated mate. My one true love and she wanted to have both of us? How is that fair that she would have two?” He sounds like a petulant toddler having a temper tantrum. He might as well throw himself on the ground and start kicking his feet.
“You didn’t want to share her love. You wanted it all for yourself,” I mutter, running a hand down my face. “Jesus, this is fucked up. So fucking fucked.”
Vee reaches out and brushes her fingers over my arm and I move closer to her, crowding into her and Jackson. My brother shifts to make room for me, sharing our girl in a way our father would never have been able to.
“What else did you do?” Vee asks. “Besides making her reject you?”
A furrow forms between my brows. “Did she even reject you? Or did you tell her she had to choose and when she didn’t, you chose for her? Refused to share and broke her heart? Left her?”
Maxim’s lips thin out in disapproval as he looks away from me. It’s answer enough. “What the hell is wrong with you?” I growl out.
“So, you did all of this,” Ford growls out. “To punish Vee for something that happened well before she was alive, that she had no control over?”
Maxim blinks at him, almost like he forgot my entire pack is here. “Yes.”
Ford takes one menacing step forward. “I’m going to burn your entire fucking world to the ground.”
Maxim’s lip curls. “Over her? I’m telling you, it’s only a matter of time before she leaves you… again.”
Vee chokes out a humorless laugh. “Again? I left because you didn’t give me any choice. You paid my grandmother to get rid of me, to lie to me. To keep lying to me. For years.” She sinks her teeth into her lip and shakes her head. “I don’t understand how you could do that. How could you inflict that kind of pain on someone when you felt it yourself? I wouldn’t wish that heartbreak on my worst enemy.”
He opens his mouth, likely to rip into our omega, but Asher cuts him off, voice hard and full of dominance. “That’s enough. You don’t need to convince us that our omega is a liar or that she’s going to leave us heartbroken. We know it will not happen, Maxim.” He taps the bite on his neck. “We can feel her, feel how much she loves us. So unless you have another reason for being here, I think it’s time for you to go, so we can care for our mate.”
Maxim straightens, looks at each of us, except for Vee. No, his gaze skates right over her like she’s not worth his time. “Whatever plan you’ve put in motion as retribution, you need to stop.”
Jackson laughs against Vee’s neck, where he’s been placing soft kisses. “Not a fucking chance.”
“You’re going to ruin us,” Maxim snarls. “Ruin our family, our pack.”
