“I don’t want to just r-rest on my looks,” I protested, feeling stupid emotional Omega tears in the corners of my eyes. “I’ve been doing art.”
“Yes,” Edgar said coolly. “That’s very cute, but irrelevant to our point. What you bring to the table was very impressive when you were 25. And we thought you were going to be fertile. But, you see, we really want a baby.”
My hands were shaking.
“Oh.”
There was silence in the room as tears began to slip down my cheeks.
I felt suddenly about 100 years old.
“My claiming mark,” I said, hands automatically reaching up to my throat, where the comforting bite marks heated my skin.
“Once the bond is broken, that will heal over,” Brand said.
“And you’re all OK with this?” I cried, the tears making their faces swim before me. “Throwing out the person you swore to protect for all of your life?”
Edgar frowned, his mouth twisted downward in a harsh line.
“We have beenmorethan patient with your barren womb.”
Of course. The only thing they wanted from me, apparently. The fifteen years of domestic peace and comfort, my unceasing efforts to please them in any way I could, learn what they loved, what pleasures they craved.
The damnsore jawafter they’dallhadquitethe stressful day.
None of it mattered because I couldn't get pregnant.
“You can’t say we didn’ttryto breed you,” Penn reminded me. “We tried many times.”
The Alpha growls were scrambling my brain, making the objections slip back down my throat.
They didn’t want me any longer.
“Would you prefer to move into one of the guest rooms downstairs?” Edgar broke into my despair, and I realized there was still farther to fall. “Or do you plan on getting an apartment somewhere? It’s really better if this is a quick and painless process.”
An apartment?LeaveKoval Manor?
The idea sent spikes of panic into me.
Did I have enough money saved from modeling jobs to survive for long?
“If you’re looking for a little pin money,” Penn said, “You could help fill in with the laundry since, as you know, our Head Launderer quit.”
I swallowed hard. There was nothing wrong with doing the laundry, it was an important job, but I knew at Koval Manor, it was a very busy and demanding one as well.
There was no love in their eyes. Nothing but disinterest and contempt.
“If you let me stay with you, I’ll try harder–” I started again desperately. “New treatments–”
“No,” Edgar said, and this time I heard the Alpha bark louder in his voice, that tone that was designed to make an Omega weak in the knees. We’re all agreed this is for the best.”
I wanted to scream, rage, let them know how deeply they’d hurt me. But I only took the massive diamond ring off my left finger and set it quietly down on the table beside me.
What else could I do?
“OK,” I said as my body started to shake. “I’ll move down to the basement.”
Omegas weren’t built for confrontation or for aggression, and hearing our Alpha’s bark meant our insides would liquify. We were biologically wired to want to sink into that rich, deep growl.
