Omega's Tarnished Heart [MxM] (Moon Cave Book 2)

Chapter 33 - 'Never Good Enough'

TOREN • POV

Past...

When Sammy was born, I hadn't been able to visit my Daddy or my new little brother for an entire week after the occurrence. The atmosphere inside the Silver Horizon pack at that time had shifted into a dark, sinister tension that had left me feeling unsettled and anxious.

It was as though something was horribly wrong, yet no one spoke of what it was, or chose to blindly ignore the presence of the unnerving issue.

I remember loitering in the corridors, anxiously searching for Daddy, only to be turned away by enforcers or if my father caught me, forced away with angered, muted yelling and promises of retribution if I didn't keep my distance.

I was nineteen at the time, too big to be forced into the dark locker he'd used to torture me throughout my entire childhood, yet not quite big enough to withstand his attacks if he decided to eventually get physical with me.

So, I'd stayed away, my stomach in knots, Kenzo wearing circular paths of anxiety inside my mind. I'd started fearing Daddy had died during the birth, or Sammy didn't make it. Daddy and Father were not fated mates and the pregnancy had been high risk. I knew that it was entirely possible I'd lost the only parent I'd ever loved and the baby brother I'd never even met, yet instinctually cared for.

Not knowing had driven me crazy. I'd had chores to attend to, duties around the pack to upkeep and of course pack politics to contend with while my father was preoccupied. He'd been angry, enraged, even more so than usual, as though a thunder cloud rained over his head, threatening to strike anyone who dared get too close.

Something had gone wrong. Terribly wrong.

One night, there had been a disturbance within the walls of our private Alpha quarters. I hadn't been aware until the pack mates around me had started reacting to seemingly nothing, wincing in their seats, shooting each other uncomfortable glances and staring intermittently at the dark hall that led to the Alpha's rooms.

Father had come storming out, his face red, usually pristine suit dishevelled, white shirt unbuttoned haphazardly. His dark hair and blue eyes stark with loathing I'd known all too personally. It was a look he'd saved just for me, especially when I upset him, when my Deafness was too inconvenient for him to handle.

It was the look that masked his face when he maliciously declared to me that I wasn't his son.

I'd rushed down the corridor he'd vacated, the dread I'd been feeling picking up until my heart was pounding rhythmically in my ears and my stomach felt like it was trying to crawl out of my throat. Daddy. I needed to see him, I needed to make sure he was okay.

I had prepared to find him in all sorts of distressing states. Dead, harmed, worst of all, vacant and lost as he had been for the past decade, wandering aimlessly under Father's control. Instead, I'd come across the disturbing sight of my wrecked Dad naked in his bedroom, rocking back and forth in the middle of his petite bed, sobbing inconsolably with this tiny little baby clutched to his chest.

I didn't have to hear to know that he was howling, desperate cries that shook his small body, still weak and recovering from giving birth. He was a state. His waist-length, black braid was matted and frayed around his head, his eyes bloodshot and swollen from his tears. His body was dirty, stained with milk and other fluids I did not want to comprehend.

His bedsheets were soiled and so was the baby. My little brother.

I fell to my knees before the bed, reaching out with shaking hands, not even sure what to do or how to help or what he needed. It was terrifying. It was also shocking to see him like that, so... broken and vulnerable.