An unbidden growl forms in my chest.
“I’ll take that as a yes.” He’s looking at me again. “I was there, stationed at Tenebrosa. Spent years witnessing the horrors, unable to do anything to help.” He gestures toward Nyx and Zephyr with his chin. “That kid has been through more than I can say. Probably more than I even know.” His gaze turns back to them, his voice wistful. “Never seen him so happy. Or happy at all, actually.”
The fire behind my sternum cools a bit. “I didn’t know.”
His head whips back to me. “You haven’t talked to him?”
My head shakes slow, brow tight. “Not a word.”
“But…” he trails off, confused. “If she’s your mate, and they’re obviously mated to one another, then he…”
I huff and frown.
“Ah…” a humorless laugh slips from him. “You’re in the same boat as me.”
My brows draw tighter at this. “You?”
It’s his turn to frown, lips pursed, jaw working. “My Omega wants nothing to do with me. Or my would-be pack brothers.”
An understanding nod from me, then a sigh. “I thought things would be different once they kicked the GBE out of here.”
“Thingsaredifferent,” he says. “You just need to look around you to see. Look at them,” he waves his arm in their direction.
They’d never had been able to show affection in public before the rebellion came here. Yet there they are, looking carefree and filled with joy.
So what the fuck is holding me back?
I blink at the guy beside me as he begins to turn away. “I’m Erich.”
He looks back at me and nods. “Lucas.”
“Good luck with your situation, Lucas.”
“Likewise.” A halfhearted salute, and he’s walking away from me, back toward the building.
My eyes drift back to Nyx and find a pair of lavender eyes peering right at me, steady and challenging, carrying a message I can only guess.
Something like, “Stop being an idiot,” by the looks of it.
Maybe… maybe I can actually have what I’ve always wanted. Maybe if I stopped being so fucking frightened.
Before, I’d feared for our lives, just like every other Cursed here and across the globe. And while that threat still looms to an extent, it’s now the petrifying thought that I could actually get what I want, only to have it ripped away, that stops me from seeking happiness.
When Nyx begins scrolling through her tablet, saying something I can’t hear, Zephyr sends me a frustrated look that makes me grimace. A moment later, he smiles at Nyx, speaks to her before rising to his feet and kissing the top of her head.
He doesn’t say a word to me, standing here among the shrubs, as he passes by to get to the academy building.
But if his looks could kill, I’d be worm food.
All right.
All right.
It’s time…
No, it’s way past time, but I can’t do anything about the past, only take charge of the present. And future.
On stiff legs, I emerge from my terrible hiding spot and begin my trek down the walkway to where Nyx is seated. At first, she’s still engrossed in her tablet, but then I watch as her nostrils flare and her head whips up at me, chocolate eyes round, then narrowed, like she doesn’t understand why I’m approaching her.
