“I can’t bring myself to come here on the anniversary of herdeath, it reminds me how much I failed. I should have gone to college here, would have if I had known I only had a few years left with her.”
I remember his words clearly.
For the second time in my life, I feel like an absolute failure.
I hate myself for making him feel that way again.
He continues, “I come here every year on her birthday. Which is why we’re here in the middle of a historic storm, weeks before the biggest launch of my career. We’ve never missed a year. I told Hunter and Zachary they didn’t have to come this time. We had so much going on with the marketing and logistics. I was just going to come alone for one day. They wouldn’t hear it. Now, I wish that I had, because Hunter would’ve never brought you here.”
His honesty is a gut punch, but it would have been better that way. They had a chance to move on when I was only a client—now we’re forever intertwined.
“We may not get the ending that we want, but I’ll always be glad that I met you.” I kiss his chest. “I’m sure your mom would be very proud of the alpha you became.”
“I like to think that, too. It makes the regret easier.”
I can understand that.
“When is her birthday?”
“Tomorrow.”
“Do you do anything special for it?”
“We take the boat out for the day. She loved sailing. I’ll think of another way to celebrate, since the storm has ruined that tradition.”
We’re silent for a short while before he says, “Your turn.”
Here we go.
I lay my cheek down on his chest again, so I don’t have to watch his reactions to my sad childhood. “My mom presented early, a rare omega in a shitty beta family that didn’t havemuch, so she went with the very first pack that wanted her. They were older, offered her the perfect life of luxury she had always dreamed of, and she jumped at the opportunity, despite the warning signs. They were rich, of course, put her in the best clothes and took her to the nicest places, but she never seemed to do anything right. She wasn’t prim and proper, a little too wild. They wanted to change everything about her, but she loved them anyway. They didn’t see an omega as something precious, it was something that they deserved.”
“Bastards,” Alric says under his breath, and I hum in agreement.
“There was lots of money and gifts, but eventually, she got tired of pretending to be someone she wasn’t for a pack that wouldn’t bond her. They begged her to stay, promised to stop being so hard on her and they did, just enough for her next heat to come around. Despite being on birth control, she got pregnant during that heat. One of them was a doctor. She told me years later that she thinks one of the alphas swapped her medication for some sort of fertility shot to force her to stay.”
“Did your mom ever report that?”
“No, but I wish she had. Would have saved us a lot of pain. They promised her a bondmark after I was born, a future where she would be a real part of their pack. All lies. Never treasured like she should have been; they strung her along for years. She grew more and more desperate for them to love her. They clearly never wanted to be dads, they only wanted an omega for their pack, for the status symbol, for the heats. They never treated me like a daughter. I was just another price to pay to have access to an omega. They were so strict, constantly telling me how an omega should act, talk, think. Even though I hadn’t presented, they were going to raise me like one. They wanted to ensure I was going to be a proper omega unlike my mom, if the time came. I was desperate for their approval whenI was younger, but never got it. They expected me to be perfect all the time and one day join a packtheyfound worthy, making it clear omegas were created for alphas. That was my only value in this life. They had convinced my mom of that, too, so she was no help in the matter. When I realized neither my mom nor I would ever be good enough for their love or affection, I hated them, and I rebelled at every possible stage.”
“I bet you did,” he says, still drawing soothing circles on my back, coaxing out the rest of the story from me. “I hope you gave them hell.”
“The months leading up to my mom’s heat, they were so kind and wonderful but afterwards, they made her feel like more of a needy annoyance. Every heat came and went, they still didn’t bond with her, which was all she wanted, even after everything. It was painfully clear they were waiting for a better omega, someone from their world, someone they could control better.”
“That must have been incredibly painful for her.”
“It was. One day, my mom wanted to prove she was willing to walk away if they didn’t bond with her in her next heat. When I was twelve, she packed up enough stuff to make it look convincing, broke up with them, and we left. Since she didn’t actually want to leave, we were easy to find. Charles and Keith were nicer than the other ones, but not by much. They came to the hotel we were at and made grand promises about her upcoming heat and her place as a packmate, she believed them, and we went home. Brett, my biological dad, and William took her leaving as a personal slight against them. They had given her everything, how dare she not be a good omega who allowed them to treat her any way they wanted.”
Alric is holding his breath, so I try to say the worst part quickly.
“They called it the ultimate disrespect, that we needed tobe punished. When we returned to the pack house, everything my mother and I had left was destroyed with a baseball bat and a kitchen knife. My favorite stuffed animals, toys, clothing, all the luxury gifts that they gave her. My doll collection melted in the fireplace. My mom, of course, forgave them. She used it as a lesson to never disobey alphas, that leaving was never an option for a good omega, and I became more of a nuisance than ever before.”
My sweet, protective alpha shakes with rage beneath me. I want to console him, tell him it’s alright, but that’s a lie and we both know it. He got stuck with a scent match too broken for love, who learned at a young age that it can be poison as much as a gift.
He should be angry.
I would be if I were an alpha.
I finish with, “That bondmark never came. They found a scent match one month later when they went on vacation to LA without us for my mom’s birthday trip. They asked us to leave because the new omega did not want a reminder that her pack had a life before her. Their scent match was bonded and pregnant at her first heat, and we were soon forgotten. My mom was miserable, but I finally felt free. Even though I was young, my relief was so palpable. We lived in a nice place after that, all alone. Their money kept flowing for a while, but it became less and less each year, and my dads never came around again. I didn’t see them again till I asked for the funds for college.”
