My throat tightens.
I’m ashamed when I remember all my complaining and whining on that beach. It sounded like I was throwing it in his face, telling him weare not enough!That he could never beenoughfor me. Fuck… what a bitch I was.
I pull Snow’s folded letter out of my backpack pocket and read it again.
I’m a disappointment. Our status is a disappointment to you. And you didn’t agree to accept my bitemark. Because who am I? A guy who lives in a basement and has kids on the way with another omega. What can I possibly offer you?
Every word here hurts. Again, I fight back tears because he’s so wrong. I love the basement lifestyle, I’m the same. But the worst part is that from the outside, I know it might have looked exactly like he described.
Suddenly, I hear soft music, the kind that immediately fills you with calm and comfort. Snow always knows how to match it perfectly to my mood.
My beautiful, pale-haired alpha is playing the harmonica somewhere out in the garden. The melody carries new notes, drifting through the air toward me. Its tone feels like a gentle invitation, yet it leaves me all the space I might need.
The music stirs something in me. Snow used it to help me regain my memories every single day I needed it. He was there for me from the very beginning, quietly in the background, helping even when I was angry with him.
And those headaches?
He’d take the pain from me, sitting outside my door, pushed away, yet still… always helping, always there.
His gentleness, his patience…
I never even thanked him! Instead, I lashed out, telling him howinsufficientour bond was.
I step out onto the balcony. The sun is already high, the lake shimmering silver and navy blue. The view is as stunning as always, but I didn’t come here for that. With one smooth move, I swing myself over the railing and drop onto the grass.
It doesn’t take me long to find him.
Snow is sitting under a tree, leaning against the trunk, playing. He notices me but doesn’t stop the melody. With the breeze stirring his light strands of hair, he looks almost like a Greek Apollo.
I stand there for a moment, just watching him, and all I can think about are the ways to rebuild what we have.
Maybe we could use the fact that the Pull between us is subtler than it is with True Mates and let our relationship grow gradually, day by day, healing and building itself without pressure or rushing. Perhaps, after all, there’s something aboutthat I can appreciate? My nature has always been cautious, shy. I’ve never been the type to push for drastic changes.
The music shifts, adding tones that feel like a greeting. I think I’m starting to understand his music better, admiring the way he can shape its emotions, the way he reaches for me through the notes he breathes into that harmonica.
Words aren’t even necessary. It’s kinda his way.
I walk closer, hesitate for a moment, then sit down beside him, leaning my back against the tree too.
And for a while, we just sit there, connected through the music. Our first days at this lake were like this. This exactly. Silence, but inside it… Something was being born. I want that back.
Then he stops playing and slips the harmonica into his pocket.
The silence lingers.
My heart beats a little faster. I want something small, something to mark a new, good beginning. A little shy, I reach over and take his hand where it rests on his thigh.
"I’m sorry, Snow," I simply say.
Our fingers intertwine, and my body trembles lightly as a spark passes between us. It feels so good, so right, so peaceful.
"I’ve heard you fed my fish… thank you."
"Of course, Summer. Do you want to pay it a visit?" Snow tilts his head.
"Sure!"
"Some changes have been made…" he murmurs.
