Page 18 of Fated To Be Alpha

I raise my eyebrows.

“I already knew that.”

“You don’t know how bad he was.”

“And you’re going to tell me now?”

He nods, looking slightly sick, and I can tell this isn’t a topic he enjoys discussing.

I pop another grape into my mouth and wait for him to go on.

“He was a tough guy, hard to please. Impossible to please,” he corrects. “If he wasn’t beating the shit out of us, he was berating us, telling us how we’d never measure up, never be good enough, and yet never survive without him. Fuck.” Koda drags a hand down his face, then rubs the back of his neck. The man looks like he’s got ants crawling under his skin. I know the feeling. I hate talking about my dad, too. “My mom couldn’t take it,” he finally adds. “She left when I was five.”

“I’m so sorry,” I say quietly but I don’t think he even hears me. I’m starting to get a better picture of the tortured King who locked me away that first night.

“You don’t know about shifters, so you don’t know how unheard of it is for a fated mate to leave. It’s said to kill you. I’ve seen it before when a mate has died, the other is never far behind.”

“So why didn’t it kill your father?”

“He was just too damn stubborn. I wish it had though,” he mutters. I can hear it then, just how much he hates his father, just how much damage the man did to his own son.

Tentatively, I reach across the table, resting my hand on top of his balled-up fist. Koda sucks in a breath, his eyes never leaving the spot we're connected. He relaxes, turning my hand over in his as he studies it.

Koda traces the inside of my palm with his fingertips, slowly dragging them over my delicate skin. I curl my hand around his, lacing our fingers together.

The moment becomes too much for him, so I sit back and take a sip of orange juice while he clears his throat.

“There were rumors that my dad couldn’t find his fated mate. People said he got impatient and bit some girl from town. If that was the case, then they weren’t true fated mates.”

“Did she love him?” I ask. He huffs out a humorless laugh.

“No, at least not that I could see. I think she just wanted to be Queen. She was young and naïve when they were married, and my mother probably thought it was going to be magical. All luxury and no worries.”

“And instead?”

“Instead, she was kept hidden away from the world for most of her time as Queen. She had me but she didn’t want to be a mom. Not when she had to raise me with him.”

“Did you love her?” I ask quietly. Koda looks away from me.

“Of course. She’s my mom. But… then she left. She left me with him when she knew what he was like.”

My heart breaks as I see a tear fall from his eyes. “Koda,” I say softly, reaching out for him again. Koda grips my hand this time, clinging to me like I’m the only thing grounding him.

“I don’t know how a mother could do that,” he breathes out. “She should have taken me with her.”

“Would your father have allowed that?”

“No, but she should have tried.”

I can hear the pain crackling deep in his soul, the betrayal that he’ll never quite get over. I know I had every right to escape my prison, but I can’t help thinking about what it was like for him to realize someone else ran out on him.

“I agree,” I say with a nod. Koda stares at the table, gathering his thoughts.

"My father hated humans even before he married one," the man continues. "But once she left and embarrassed him, it got so much worse. He would drill it into my head over and over again. Humans were weak. Humans were the enemy. Humans were cruel and heartless."

"And then your fated mate turned out to be human," I say, seeing where he's going with all of this.

“Yeah. It was… a shock,” he finishes, dipping his head down in shame.

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