Rejected Omega: Claimed By Her Ex's Uncle

Do You Know Zayne?

Damon’s POV

I left Reina to settle into the bedroom, closing the doors softly behind me. The moment I was out of her sight, the composed, patient facade I had maintained for her benefit crumbled. My blood was boiling.

I marched downstairs, feeling agitated. I found my Beta, Oliver, in the living room, wrapping up some logistics with the head servant.

"Find out who Reina’s former mate was," I commanded. "I want his name, his location, and a full history by the morning."

Oliver’s eyebrows shot up in genuine surprise. "She had a mate!?"

"Yes. And it’s bothering me," I growled, pacing the length of the minimalist rug. My brows furrowed deeply, the heat in my chest shifting from protective worry to a cold, jagged anger. "He did something terrible to her. He broke her heart, and I need to know exactly what that bastard did."

The thought of her standing there, comparing me to some coward who didn't know the value of what he had, made my wolf claw at the surface. I had waited twelve years for her, searching every corner of the kingdom, while some boy had been busy shattering her spirit.

"I want to know every detail of their 'history' together," I added, stopping to glare at Oliver. "If he’s the reason she’s afraid to look at me, then he’s a problem I need to solve permanently. No one makes my mate feel like she's 'unlucky' and gets away with it."

Oliver watched me with concern. "Did she not tell you who he was?"

"If she had been open about him, I wouldn't have had to ask you," I snapped, my patience wearing thin.

"I’ll have the full report for you by morning," Oliver assured me, sensing the volatility in my aura.

I turned my attention to the head servant, who stood a respectful distance away with his gaze lowered. "Is dinner prepared? And ensure there’s a kick to it. Reina prefers her food spicy."

"Understood, my lord," Sebastian replied smoothly. "Shall I set the table for two?"

"In ten minutes," I instructed. I gave Oliver a sharp nod of dismissal. "I’ll see you in the morning."

I climbed the grand staircase. When I entered the master suite, the room was empty, though the muffled sound of running water told me Reina was in the washroom. I moved to the walk-in closet to pull out a fresh change of clothes, but the water stopped, and a moment later, Reina stepped out.

She was radiant, her skin flushed from the heat, patting her face dry with a plush towel. "The washroom is free, Damon," she said softly, her voice still carrying that hesitant lilt. She gestured toward the open closet. "I saw the wardrobe earlier... Why did you buy so much? Truly, four or five outfits would have been more than enough for me."

She began to nervously fiddle with the edge of the towel, her fingers twisting the fabric, a habit I was beginning to realize appeared whenever she felt overwhelmed.

I set my clothes down and looked at her, my gaze softening. "You’re no ordinary woman, Reina. You are the mate of Damon Kingsley. To my eyes, that closet is barely even started. You’ll have plenty more; I intend to take you shopping personally once you've settled in."

"What?" Reina’s eyes widened in shock. “Don’t waste so much money on clothes. When I find a need for new clothes, I will tell you.”

“Okay. As you feel right. I freshen up and change. Then, we will have dinner.” With that, I went to the washroom, leaving Reina alone in the room.

~~~~

Reina’s POV

I draped the towel over the back of a chair and took a moment to truly absorb the room. Earlier, my emotions had been such a chaotic mess that I hadn't realized how much my words might have stung. I had essentially told Damon I was incapable of loving him, and while he hadn't raised his voice, the flicker of pain in his golden eyes had been hard to ignore. He’d looked like a man holding back a roar of frustration at being compared to the shadow of my past.

The fact that he had promised me time was what truly baffled me. In my experience, Alphas didn't negotiate; they commanded. To have an Alpha, and a Warlord at that, offer patience to an Omega was unheard of.

Seeking a distraction from my thoughts, I wandered toward a built-in shelf on the left side of the room. It was lined with a few minimalist photo frames. I picked one up, seeing Damon and Oliver standing in front of the palace, both looking younger but just as intense. There were others, too, men in uniform and figures in formal attire I didn't recognize.

Then, I reached for a smaller frame tucked slightly behind the others. My heart didn't just skip a beat; it stopped entirely.

There, frozen in a glossy print, was Damon. He had his arm thrown over the shoulder of a boy, both of them grinning at the camera with a familiarity that made my blood run cold.

The man beside him was Zayne.

"Why are they both in this picture?" I whispered, my voice trembling so hard the glass in the frame rattled. "Do they know each other? But how?”

My hands turned ice-cold, the blood seemingly draining from my limbs as I gripped the frame. I brought it closer to my face, my eyes scanning every detail, desperate to be proven wrong. But there was no mistaking those features, even with the softened jawline of a fifteen or sixteen-year-old; the boy grinning beside a young Damon was undeniably Zayne.

"What are you looking at, Reina?"

Damon’s voice sliced through the silence. I spun around, the frame trembling in my hands. He had stripped off his shirt, his broad, scarred chest exposed in the dim light of the suite. He looked powerful, untamed, and suddenly very, very dangerous. But I didn’t have time to think about all that.

"Do you know Zayne?" I asked, my voice barely a whisper as I held the photo out like a shield. "The boy in this picture... Is it Zayne?"