“Nothing. I’m just nervous.”
Nik unfolds himself from the speaker he’s been working on and pulls me into a hug. I breathe in the familiar gingerbread scent, closing my eyes as he rubs a hand soothingly up and down my back. “We’re nearly done,” he reassures me. “I know it’s hard to sit and wait.”
“We are done,” Bastien interjects, and we turn to face him. He’s surveying the set-up with his hands on his hips, his gray eyes the darkest I’ve ever seen them. “Are you ready, sweetheart?”
Nope. I’m definitely not ready.
I take a step back and jump when I bump into Nikolai. His heavy hands settle on my shoulders, and he rubs them carefully. “You can still change your mind,” he says softly. “Everyone would understand if you don’t want to do this right now.”
Fear clamps down on me like a vice, dizziness making my head spin. The black box marked out on the floor stands out like a pulsing beacon, making me want to curl up into a ball and hide until all of this goes away.
I am not brave. I am nobody.
Just one omega. How the hell did I think I could do this?
“Ava.” I jump, my eyes moving to Harper where she stands in front of me, her amber eyes dark with understanding.
“I can do this,” she says with conviction. “You don’t have to get up there.”
At her words, a small thread of fire burns through the fear wracking my body.
I have to do this. For my children. For Emery.
For Harper, and every omega who’s currently under the control of my sadistic father.
I owe it to them to try.
Wetting my trembling lips, I offer Harper a shaky smile. “Nobody changed the world by doing nothing, right?”
Nik squeezes my hand, and I squeeze it back before dropping it and walking over to the black square. Bastien moves with me, his hand gripping mine tightly as he shows Harper and I where to stand.
Max and Luc close in on me, and Max takes my face in his hands.
“I’m so damn proud of you, baby,” he breathes, his honey brown eyes scanning my face. “Whatever happens.”
My heart feels too full for words as I stare at Max. Without him, I would never have had the chance to fight. My children would have been taken from me, and I would be back in the heat nests, pushed to the brink before my body gave up.
“Look at what you did, Max,” I whisper back. “You made this possible.”
His eyes glitter, and he shakes his head. “Youare what made this possible, love.”
He takes a step back and swipes his arm over his eyes as Luc steps forward, anxiously running his eyes over my face and body. Of all of my pack, Luc was the hardest to convince that this should happen, and I can still see the worry in his eyes as he presses his forehead against mine.
“Next to you,” he breathes. “Not behind you.”
I can’t stop the sniffle, and he closes his eyes before he lifts his mouth and presses a soft kiss to my forehead.
“Whatever happens,” he whispers. “You are not alone.”
I am not alone.
I have friends, a pack. A family.
And it’s time the world learned that omegas have a voice too.
Harper takes her position next to me, and her hand drops, her fingers linking with mine.
“Who would have thought?” she breathes, as Bastien switches the bright lights on. I blink at his shadow, the light too bright to see properly.
