Page 82 of The Alpha's Uncovered Mate

"Finnegan, it's me, Adam. Do you remember me?"

The man on the other end of the line sounds old. Finnegan must be reaching his eighties now.

"Master Adam, how are you?"

"How's your new retirement home in Florida?"

I hear him chuckle. "Wonderful. The heat is good for my bones."

When my father kicked Finnegan out, he withheld his severance pay and retirement fund. I never knew what happened between them, and it was only when Finnegan approached me, begging me to talk to my father and at least give him the money he was owed that I decided to pay the man myself. He had always been kind to me. I paid for an apartment for him in Florida and gave him both his severance pay and retirement fund. I doubt he's going to lie to me now.

"I need to ask you something, Finnegan," I begin.

"Anything."

"What do you know about Cynthia coming to our house?"

There's silence on the other end. I finally have to press, "Finnegan?"

He sighs heavily. "You're asking because you know already, don't you?"

"Did my father tie her to him with a blood debt?" I decide to get to the point.

"Yes."

"Why?"

Finnegan sounds wary now. "Whatever I tell you, Master Adam, please make sure it doesn't get back to your father that it was me. He can still make good on his threat."

"What threat?"

"I…" He sighs again. "It's a request. Please."

"Fine," I agree. "I won't tell him you said anything. Now, please."

He begins after a moment, "Your father promised your sister, Eleanor, to an older pack official. This was before your father became the alpha. He needed this particular official's support in becoming Alpha because your grandfather was against it. Miss Eleanor was a few months old at that time. The pack official supported your father, and he became the alpha.”

He hesitates. “The thing was that he wanted your sister the moment she reached puberty, which would have been when Miss Eleanor was eleven. When the time came, your grandfather discovered this and there was a huge issue. He tried to break the betrothal, and he succeeded for a while. However, your father had basically sold her off at that point, and he didn't want the money to stop coming in, so he waited. When Miss Eleanor turned seventeen, he brought up the issue again. You were still young so you wouldn't remember, but your grandfather told your sister that he would send her abroad to study. The purpose was for her to get away from the family and return later, once your father could no longer influence her. She agreed, but there was one thing your grandfather didn't count on. She was seeing someone from the slums. It was an older boy."

I listen intently and suddenly stop him, some of the pieces falling together. "Someone in Cynthia's family?"

'Yes. She knew the consequences. I told her. I was the one who caught her with the boy, Mathew. I told her she should take up her grandfather's offer and leave. I told her to leave the boy because your father could not do anything to your grandfather, but he could hurt the boy's family. I explained it to the young couple, but they were madly in love. Miss Eleanor lied to your grandfather and used some of the money he had given her to buy Mathew a ticket as well. They fled together. Your father found out, and he went to the parents. Since they were poor and he wasthe alpha, he demanded they bring their son back to be executed or tied in a blood debt for the dishonor his actions brought upon the alpha's family. They didn't want their son to suffer, so they convinced him to take Cynthia instead. They tied her to him with a blood debt. Your father was furious. The thing was, Master Adam, that even though he promised your sister to a much older packmate, Miss Eleanor was still the apple of his eye. He adored her. And he hated the fact that he would never see her again. He did lose support from that official as well, and he blamed Mathew for it all. As a result, he wanted the boy's sister to suffer. Miss Cynthia was put through the kind of hell no child should go through. She was too young, too innocent. It broke my heart, but I was helpless. He was the alpha, the highest power in the pack."

My mouth is dry as I listen to the secret Finnegan has been keeping all these years. "You never told my sister?"

"I did." The old man sounds tired. "Your father sent her one of the videos in which he was punishing Cynthia, but Miss Eleanor refused to come back. And Mathew also refused. Your father was willing to let him take Miss Cynthia's place, but if he thought her brother's heart would soften, it didn't. After you left, there was one particularly bad night when I found Miss Cynthia on the verge of death. She was in the basement, badly injured. I let her down from her restraints and your father found me. We exchanged hot words, and then he threw me out and told me that if I ever told anyone, he would kill my youngest child. I kept my mouth shut, but I have lived with the guilt of knowing that a child has been suffering for all these years."

He's sobbing now.

"That girl, she was the sweetest little thing, and I saw her soul break every day. Sometimes I would go to her after yourfather went to bed and hold her in my arms and comfort her like I would my own little boy. She stopped crying after a few years. It's as if she realized nobody would ever hear her. She was isolated from touch, from love, from everything. She never deserved any of that, but I'll tell you something, Master Adam. Where many would have broken, she still held on. There was some part of her that was still determined to fight back."

My wolf is clawing inside me, enraged, demanding blood.

I had imagined things to be bad, but not to this extent. When Eleanor left and Cynthia arrived, I never put two and two together. When Father soundproofed the basement, I didn't pay attention, gloomy over the departure of my older perfect sister. I knew my father was a greedy man, but it's only over these past two months that I've begun to view him as a sadistic monster. And he's raised Norman in his shadow. I have a hard time wrapping my head around all this.

"So, whoever becomes the next alpha," I say tightly, "the control of the blood debt is passed on to them?"

"Yes," Finnegan replies, his voice still unsteady.

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