The elder smiled. “I’m glad, but I was honor bound to ask.”
Xias nodded that he understood, although he wasn’t sure if he did. “Does this mean my cubs and I can stay with Zhuang?”
“Yes, it does.”
“And you won’t take my cubs from me?”
Elder Shen glanced at Zhuang for a moment before looking back at Xias. “Son, you’re an omega. Your cubs belong to you.”
“Not in Osamu’s clan. Everything and everyone belongs to him.”
The elder’s head tilted for a moment before a pensive look came over his face. “Xias, I want to ask you something, and I must have your complete honesty. Nothing you say will be held against you—do you understand? No matter what you say, your cubs are your cubs and no one can take them from you. That is shifter law.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Is Osamu the cubs’ sire?”
Xias felt his cheeks flush as he nodded. “He chose me after my first shift when he learned I was an omega.”
“Did you choose to have cubs with him?”
“Sir?” Xias didn’t understand the question.
“Was it your choice for Osamu to sire your cubs?” “He said it was my duty, sir. Everyone in the clan had to do their duty.”
A muscle ticked in the elder’s jaw. “There are more like you?”
“Not omegas, sir, but there are others who Osamu forced to sire cubs for him. He says a strong clan requires everyone to do their duty, and since he’s the alpha of the clan, he has the best chance of creating strong cubs and it’s our duty to bear them for him.”
Xias personally thought that was a load of bullshit, but he had given birth to three alphas, so he wasn’t positive.
“At any time did you agree ler Osamu sire your?”
Xias didn’t mean to be snippy, but… “What was there to agree to, sir? If your alpha tells you to do something, you do it or face the consequences.” Xias had taken more than one beating during his time in Osamu’s clan. Most members of the clan had.
“Osamu punishes those who go against him either in word or deed,” Xias said. “Anyone who refused tobear cubs for him paid for it in the most painful way he could come up with. Sometimes it was a beating. Other times, he beat someone in your family. He did whatever he had to do to get your compliance. Not many went against him.”
Elder Shen’s lips thinned for a moment before he said, “Then maybe it’s time we give him a taste of his own medicine.”
Xias sure wished he knew what that meant.
Chapter Ten
Zhuang kept a close watch on Xias as they ate lunch. He knew his mate was overwhelmed with all that was happening. He couldn’t really blame Xias. Everything he’d always known was different than what he was being told. The man had to feel as if the rug were being pulled out from under him.
Xias seemed totally in awe of Zhuang’s mother. Zhuang knew he had parents back in the clan. Xias had briefly mentioned them, but only briefly. Zhuang had no idea what Xias’s relationship was with them.
The cubs were a huge hit, as Zhuang knew they would be. He doubted his mother or father had let them out of their sights since they came into the room. It was actually kind of nice to see. His parents had always wanted him to find his mate and settle down, and now he had. The cubs were a bonus.
Zhuang glanced up when the butler walked into the room and bent down to whisper something in Elder Shen’s ear.
Zhuang clenched his jaw when his father looked in his direction. “What?” he asked even though he was pretty sure he already knew. The day had just been going too well.
“It seems as if your trouble has followed you here.”
Zhuang growled.
Elder Shen raised an eyebrow, a gesture Zhuang had seen a hundred times growing up. “I don’t believe he knows you’re here.”
