Page 42 of Forbidden Taste (An Omega’s Preference #3)
Note: Woodland Appeal deals with much darker themes than Forbidden Taste such as sexual assault ON PAGE (from outside the pack), disregard of safe words, and gaslighting from previous individuals outside the pack. Chapter One has flashbacks of sexual assault and gaslighting.
KIERAN
You’re supposed to be sweet. Submissive.
No one’s ever going to choose you as their Omega.
Just stay with your Alpha. Why would you leave? No one else is going to take you.
My jaw pulled tight as I threw back another shot of dark rum, hanging with coworkers after a long day slugging logs across the forest. Nearly a year ago, I took off from the only home I had ever known—a nightmare of epic proportions.
That place had stolen my future, my parents’ horrific car accident fifteen years ago leaving me with an Alpha I thought I knew and trusted. Michael was warm and loving. He gave me , an unnaturally large Omega, a safe place to retreat. At the time, it had been heaven .
Everyone kept telling me we were perfect for each other, so I thought he was my forever. Until my first heat rolled around at the old age of twenty-three and the soft Alpha morphed into a possessive psycho who wanted nothing more than to breed me.
Michael’s threats ran deep as he did everything in his power to keep me at his side, locked up and away from the world, constantly threatening to fill me with so many pups that the only solace I’d find would be in giving in.
Running off to the army at twenty-five had only postponed the torment, his disgusting words and vile caresses waiting for me when I returned home.
The involuntary tremble that ran down my spine and the spike of fear that kept my head on a swivel never quite went away. In a few months, I’d turn twenty-eight, but I was lost, unmated, unwanted, and tortured with a past that made me fucking worthless.
Not to mention the fact that I was built like an Alpha. There was no chance of ever finding someone who could love me like this. They wanted docile, small, and dainty. Even my previous doctor had told me I should prepare for a solitary life if I wasn’t going to submit.
I knocked back another shot, grimacing as the alcohol burned the back of my throat, covering me in a false sense of security.
My saving grace had come in the form of Leonard, my boss at the lumberyard, an Alpha who had taken one look at my raggedy ass, a simple bag on my back, my clothes cut to shit, and hired me on the spot.
Confused, I stared at the older Alpha as I towered over him. I tried to make myself feel smaller in this space as a sign of respect, but he had to be at least a foot shorter than me. “You’re… you’re not even going to check my papers?”
My ID alone would have given Leonard any information he needed about who I was, and where I had come from, opening the door to questions I didn’t want to answer.
“Do I need to?” His brow rose, his head tilting to the side. It was hard for me to understand what I was seeing. An Alpha that didn’t immediately want to own me or put me in my place. I wasn’t a conquest to him.
He genuinely just saw me as an individual. “I can see the haunted look in your eyes. I’ve got a lot of employees like that here.”
That answer wasn’t enough. I still had to know why.
Leonard chuckled, reaching across his desk.
He fumbled in one of the drawers before twisting back around to face me and produced a key.
“I don’t judge my employees on where they came from before this, just if they can hold their own.
You didn’t even flinch when one of the Alphas tried to intimidate you. ”
He shrugged, as if my designation really didn’t matter to him.
“One stipulation. You take care of your heats on your own. I don’t need my entire crew in shambles scrambling over you when you start perfuming.
” He dangled the key in front of me and waited until I placed my hand beneath it.
“There’s a small cabin at the edge of the forest. Take it. ”
“I-”
“It’s not free. I’ll take it out of your paycheck if you prefer, but an Omega will not do well shacking up in the main house with the others, I can promise you that.”
The deal had been easy enough, especially since my heats were irregular at best. Navigating the few days I had been out two months ago had been a learning experience, but the cash piling up in my bank account was more than worth it.
Without Leonard, I might not have survived the quaint town of Grimsby, Vermont.
Despite the disgust I initially received when the locals discovered I wasn’t another prospective Alpha looking for a mate, my presence generally ran under the radar.
The guys treated me well, throwing jabs at me every so often, but for the first time, I felt accepted.
Not safe. Never safe. But there was a place for me at the table and it felt nice.
The rumble of drunken chaos brought me back to the present as I threw back another shot that had appeared in front of me.
My gaze traveled around the bar, looking for any signs of a threat. I hadn’t had so much as a text from Michael since I left, but that didn’t mean he had stopped looking for me.
A groan sat at the back of my throat as the familiar tingle of heat ran down my spine. My entire body shuddered, responding to those fucking Omega genetics. Not that anyone noticed the slight change in my scent.
One of the Betas beside me jokingly punched my shoulder. He was only a few years older than me and mated to one of the most beautiful Alpha women I had ever seen—even if she terrified me a little. “Why are you always so jumpy? No one is going to overtake you, Kieran.”
No. Not anymore, I mumbled under my breath.
I’d never let myself be taken again against my will.
The heat seemed to intensify as it flooded my senses, my cheeks turning a rosy shade that was successfully offset by my beard and the large amounts of alcohol I had been consuming.
However, it was only a matter of time before my scent sharpened and the cat was out of the bag.
Our waitress meandered over, swaying her hips as she smiled sweetly at me, handing me the check. Her eyes had been locked on me all night, and I knew what she wanted. What all of them wanted. Unfortunately, it always ended the same way.
1… 2…
I didn’t even get to three when her nose scrunched up, disgust on her pale face. “You’re an Omega?” Horror replaced the disgust as she fled back to her post at the front, animatedly explaining her newest discovery to the other hosts.
The guys around me burst into fits of laughter as I just sighed, used to their hurtful responses. They thought it was hilarious, and it just reminded me time and time again that while I felt accepted, there wasn’t a true place I belonged. I would never be enough. No one would love me as me .
Pushing away from the table, I said my goodbyes even as they pleaded with me to stay, but the night was over. The general buzz of happiness was dead, and my heat was just around the corner.
The next few days of my life would be hell, meandering through yet another heat while trying to fight the nightmares of my past. Michael hadn’t just tried to own me. He had tortured me, abused me, and tried to make me believe I was only worth something if I was with him.
It had taken years to undo his work.
But my fucking heat brought all that self-loathing right back, front and center. Every. Damn. Time. If it wasn’t such a taboo, I would make that Alpha regret ever touching me. I would let him feel the absolute terror that ran through my veins at the mere thought of him, but I was an Omega .
The most I could do was run and hide to avoid my past. So, I did what I did best—returned to my bed, slipped under the covers, and prayed for sleep to come.