Page 65 of Evan and the Alpha

Sobek tosses him aside easily; Dad hits the wall and crumples up on the floor. I wince, curling in on myself. I glance hastily to the ground, then grab Sobek’s shendyat, the closest scrap of cloth at hand. I slide it around my waist, then hurry to Dad’s side, as quick as my limping will let me go.

I’m gonna have to check for blood, I think as I crouch down over Dad. “Are you okay?” I ask, even as he’s uncurling.

“Get offa me,” he sneers and shoves me back. I land hard on my ass, biting back a cry. Dad gets to his feet, wipes blood from his mouth. I’m torn between being angry and sad—andworried.

Oh my God, I hate him so much. I hate that I feel so much about him.

Dad gives Sobek the darkest look ever, then stalks out of the room, head high.

Sobek folds his arms and shakes his head. “This is why parents should pass on before their children mate,” he mutters as he pads to my side. He offers me a hand and pulls me to my feet.

“Not all parents are like this,” I murmur. I sigh, then put a hand over my belly, biting my lip. Is the baby …?

Sobek snorts. “Yours are,” he grumbles. “And they deserve to die for it.”

I flinch. “Hey. Don’t get any big ideas. Don’t kill my dad, huh?”

Sobek eyes me, then offers me my own clothes. I glance down, then flush, realizing I’m wearing his stolen shendyat and he’s buck-naked. My cheeks flush as I realize my Dad probably got a good, long look.

The urge to throw up returns. I want my parents to know as little about my sex life as possible. Let them think I’m a monk. A gay monk.

“Your phapha acts like he wants to own you,” Sobek mutters, offering me his shoulder as I change. I wince with every movement. The shock of everything is fading, leaving only the pain—pain in my body, pain in my heart too. Sobek takes his shendyat back, slowly tying it around his hips. He snarls. “Like he’d want to mate you himself.”

My eyes go wide. I can’t help myself; I laugh. “Oh my God,” I snicker, “he’d never. He’d be so offended you even suggested that.”

Sobek tilts his head. I grin. “Dad’s so against gay people.”

Sobek shakes his head violently, his eyes crunching shut. “What do you even mean by that?” he snaps suddenly. “What does it matter if you’re happy?”

I blink. “Oh.” Right. Everyone here is he, even if they’re alpha or omega. They all start as betas, and all betas are he, and nobody ever thinks they’re anything else.

Sobek has no conceptual framework for homosexuality. The wordgaymeans nothing to him—not like it means to me or Dad or anyone else in my family or Darwin.

“Uh … I like men. Other guys.” Sobek just gives me a blank look. “Other … alphas?”

Now Sobek looks more confused. “But you’re an omega.”

“But—I’m a guy, right?” Where the hell’s Darwin? He could probably explain this better than I’ll ever be able to. “Um. Remember how I said there are two main types of humans? Male and female, and everyone is born as one. Or, well, almost everyone.” I frown. Maybe he’d understand trans folks or intersex people better. Maybe I’ve been trying to explain this all wrong, starting with the part that’s familiar to me, the part I understand, when it’s the “non-normative” part that’s closer to Sobek’s experience.

Sobek sighs, then runs a hand over my neck; I wince. “We should get you cleaned up,” he murmurs, his tone softer now. “We do not want those wounds to get infected.”

“Uh. Yeah,” I agree. “Infection would be bad.” I rub absently at my belly. “Especially right now.”

Sobek curses. “I was so … rough,” he growls, the word sounding strangled. “I—”

I sigh, putting a hand on his chest. “S’okay.” He’s tracing over my neck absently. “I wanted it, right?”

“Hn.” He glowers at me, as if he doesn’t like that I’m right.

I try a grin. “I like it rough.” I lean in to whisper in his ear.

He shakes his head, then gives me a more sober once over. “Can you walk?”

I freeze. My ass hurts. A lot. “Yeah, I think I can.”

Sobek’s gaze rakes over me once again. Then he sweeps me into his arms and bridal carries me back to our sleeping quarters, ignoring my protest entirely.