"You're a fucking pain in my ass, Kathryn!" He yelled, slapping me across the face, the force of his hand sending a sharp sting through my cheek.
—
We'd never had a proper mating ceremony, and he used that as an excuse to hide me or deny that I was his mate.
"I didn't know you were mated to an Omega, Ashton," One of his friends sneered, laughing.
Ashton pushed me away as if I disgusted him, then dumped the contents of his coffee cup onto my face. "Fuck that, Jake. This Omega isn't my mate—she's my maid!" He shouted, his eyes filled with icy contempt. "Stay away from me, and get that through your head!"
I nodded and silently stepped back.
—
For years, I endured his cruelty, clinging to the hope that things might change. My foolish heart still, somehow, found reasons to love him, and I didn't want our son, Bryan, to grow up in a broken family…
Bryan was conceived on a night I can never forget—a night that haunts me still.
Ashton came home half-naked and drunk, his mind clouded, his movements forceful as he dragged me to his bed. I had no choice but to submit, even as disgust filled me.