Page 58 of Packed in the Fire house

“You never put his name on the birth certificate?” I asked, making a concerted effort to keep my tone calm.

Sunny shook her head.

In that case, the alpha really did have zero legal claim to Luka. There were two ways to establish paternity—having a name put on their birth certificate or being part of an official pack, which gave automatic parental rights.

When Sunny and I had bonded, Luka became an official child of our pack.

“Why does he keep texting you?” Rune asked pointedly. “I assumed he didn’t want to be a part of Luka’s life…”

I resisted the urge to wince. Every part of me wanted to trust Sunny and what she was saying. She seemed so sweet and like a genuinely amazing person. But was there a chance she’d taken a child away from a father who'd actually wanted them?

There was no missing the way she tensed up every time one of his texts came through, but was that simply because she was guilty of betraying him, or something else? Although, from the message I’d seen, he sounded more concerned about his image than Luka.

Sunny took a deep breath. “Look, Gregory isn’t a good guy.”

“He hurt you?” Rune asked, his voice booming.

Sunny winced, crossing her arms and shifting from foot to foot. “He never hit me, if that’s what you’re asking.”

“Fists aren’t the only way to hurt someone,” I pointed out. Rage simmered under my skin. Sunny wasmine, and the idea of anyone upsetting her made my blood boil.

Sunny sighed, her body deflating. Sitting at the table, she ran her hand through her hair. “We met on campus during my first year. He seemed charming, we went on a few dates, and it was going well. We spoke a lot about what we were studying. He was majoring in business because he was from a wealthy background and wanted to work for his family.”

He did seem like a bit of a rich prick, but I didn’t say that out loud.

“So, what went wrong?” Blaze asked, rubbing her back in a reassuring motion.

“After two or three months, he started getting possessive. He didn't like it if I spoke to my friends often or if I went to see my family. It was starting to feel like a lot, and I was thinking about how to leave him when my heat hit. I didn't want him there. I was taking suppressants to avoid going into heat.”

Rune had a face of thunder that I was sure I was mirroring. If she was going where I thought she was going, I was going to be incandescent with rage.

“And he respected your choice not to be there for your heat?” I asked through gritted teeth.

Sunny laughed, a cold, unfeeling laugh that was so unlike her. “Nope. He waited until I was too hazy to say no and stayed with me. That’s how Luka was conceived.”

“Jesus, what a fucking ass,” Blaze said. “No wonder you don’t like him.”

Sunny sighed. “That's not all of it. I suppose you guys need to know everything, considering we're bonded…”

Blaze seemed to be the only alpha in the room with a cool head. He walked over to the fridge and grabbed a can of soda, opening it and handing it to Sunny, who took it gratefully. Weprobably should have been having this conversation somewhere more private, instead of the kitchen, especially since Sunny was only wearing my T-shirt, but I wasn’t exactly thinking clearly.

“When I learned I was pregnant, Gregory seemed to be on board. He wanted me to quit college, to stay home, to officially bond with him during my next heat. When I pushed and said I wanted to stay in school, he berated me, saying that omegas weren't meant to get an education. They were meant to take care of their family. He had some pretty archaic views that I didn't know about until then.”

I was doing everything I could to keep the rage off my face. I wanted to find this man and throttle him. Only, I didn't want to upset Sunny any further, so I was doing my best to contain it. Alphas who held those sorts of views weren’t unheard of, but in most modern packs, that shit didn’t matter.

“What’s it to him if you want to get your fucking education?” I growled.

Sunny pursed her lips. “Apparently, it would make him look weak if I attempted to get a degree or a job. The arguments were getting worse, and he was starting to get violent—not toward me, but he would do things like throw things across the room when we disagreed. I was alone and pregnant and didn't know what to do, so I went along with it a lot. Honestly, I was starting to come around to the idea. Would it be so terrible to be taken care of and get to look after my baby? Then I learned that he had tampered with my heat suppressants.”

A chorus of confused cries escaped everyone in the room at that declaration. Birth control and heat suppressants were two things that no alpha had any right to mess with.

“Did he feel you pulling away and think a heat would help?” Blaze asked with a frown.

Sunny shook her head. “No, he wanted me to go into heat because then I wouldn't be lucid enough to make sure that weused birth control. I was religious about taking the pill and making him wear condoms. But during my heat, I didn't take my pills for several days, because I was so out of it, and he refused to wrap it up.”

Cursing under my breath, I started to pace. What sort of shitbag excuse for an alpha would disregard an omega’s wants so disgustingly? Spending a heat with an omega was an honor. It should have been treated with the utmost respect. Heats were when an omega was at their most vulnerable. They needed care, they needed love, and yes, they needed knots.

Sunny didn’t look at us as she continued, opting to peer directly at the floor. “When it was over, I assumed we were both just lost in the moment and tried to brush it off, even though I knew something didn't feel right. But when I overheard him telling someone on the phone what he had done, I knew… I had to get out of there. I was three months pregnant and left in the middle of the night. I didn’t tell anyone I was leaving, not even family. I was embarrassed. For some time, I crashed on a friend’s couch until I managed to get myself a dorm.”

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