I close my eyes for a moment, trying to get control over the pain shredding me from the inside, only sharpening in his presence. Being near him just makes it more real, the realization that there’s no way back for us.
"Please," I whisper, "close my wound."
My hands drift over his shoulder and across the firm muscles of his chest, moving instinctively the way they always had. It’s hard to pry my fingers away from him. I’m an omega and he’s an alpha; the physical closeness is simply doomed to evoke some… intensity by design.
"Will you help me?"
I know it’s the only way to get an answer from him, to ask directly.
"I will," he says. That’s all.
Silence falls. I wait, and he just watches me.
Then, slowly, he stands up. His hand doesn’t leave mine; instead, he takes my wrist gently and tugs upward, guiding me to stand with him.
Step by step, he leads me toward one of the doors I noticed earlier. He opens it, and we walk inside.
It’s his bedroom. A muslin mosquito net hangs over the bed, and on the ceiling I see tiny LEDs that look like stars.
My heart speeds up. Why has Snow brought me here? I expected a final conversation, not this. I never imagined there’d be a chance for… for anything more. Not that I mind. Thethought barely forms before my body flips instantly from grief to a sudden wave of arousal.
Snow stops by the bed and slowly turns toward me.
"I’ll need to shift some things in you, and also in the energy surrounding your bond with Tim. It will be a significant change. I’ll help you repair it. But to do that, we’ll have to be very close, so you need to agree."
I blink in shock.
"Shift something in me? Repair my bond with Tim?"
"Yes. I can close the wound, the pain. And use its power to help you two find your way back to each other."
"Like when we met? Restart our… feeling?"
He nods.
"Does that mean I won’t love you anymore?"
"You will. But you won’t feel the pain of the breakup. What you’ll feel is acceptance."
I shut my eyes for a moment.
"All right. Do it. That’s… exactly what I need."
A faint, sad smile softens his face.
I take a step closer, lift my hands, and place them on his chest.
"I promised your dad I wouldn’t come here again. Does this mean… this is our goodbye, too?"
Does he hesitate for just a second?
"Yes, Theo. A kind of goodbye."
He glances aside, his face shifting ever so slightly, like he’s listening to some distant sound.
"Are you in heat right now?"
I blink in surprise. "No. My doctor says it won’t happen for at least another two weeks."
