“Mate.” The word is a chomp.
My head tilts as I examine him, gaze roving over his growling face, body paralyzed by the confines holding him in place.
“Zephyr O’Connor.” Never have I used his full name before, but this situation is so foreign and unexpected that I’m almost hoping he won’t respond, that he’s been possessed by someone or something else.
He looks down at me expectantly, and my hopes are dashed.
“Why are you behaving this way? What’s happening to you?”
Zephyr howls, the ear-piercing sound ending in another growl as he bears his teeth at me. “No hope. Bring him back!”
“Who?”
“Ness.”The name is a hiss on his lips.
Ness? The doctor who performed unthinkable experiments on him? “Why do you want Ness to come back?”
“Finish what he started.”
My eyes blink rapidly, my head shaking in disbelief.
This cannot be Zephyr. He would never want Ness to come back for any other reason than to kill him himself.
“Finish what?”
“Make me an Alpha.”
I gape at him, unable to stop my reaction. Zeph, when telling me about his torture, never expressly said that their fucked up goal was to change him on a fundamental level. That’s not even possible!
But I know that what he says is true, I can feel it in my chest, as if his words were mine. Regardless of it being an impossible feat, this was something Zeph was told would come to pass.
I’ve never been so glad that monster is dead.
Thanking Mira is high on my To-Do List.
I keep my tone as calm as I can, smooth and crooning. “Zeph, why would you want that?”
His rage boils over again, snarling and snorting. “I should be an Alpha. Knot you! Breed you!”
No… Is he really so unhappy with who and what he is? Have I not been listening to him all this time or has he not told me what’s really in his heart?
Tears fill my eyes and I realize I’m to blame for this. I didn’t do a good enough job reassuring him of his insecurities, didn’t convince him enough of how much I love him.
I shoot an imploring glance at Lowe, willing her to know what I want her to do. She frowns at me before her gaze narrows and Zephyr’s prison begins to unfold back into the landscape. Before he can move a muscle, I leap at him, wrap my arms around his form, crushing his arms at his sides as I bury my face in his chest. My tears soak his shirt as he stands, frozen and stiff as a board.
“I love you.” My words come out like a croak. “I love you so very much, Zephyr. Exactly as you are.” I turn my face up at him, but he doesn’t look at me. “I can’t imagine what you’re going through. I’ve never felt like anything other than me, so I could never truly understand. I know this. But Zeph. There’s nothing wrong with being different. There’s nothing wrong with being a strong, masculine Omega.Mystrong, masculine Omega.”
Tears stream from my eyes freely, head tilted back as I examine his gorgeous face before I release my hold on him, bring my fingertips to his sharp jaw, feel the pale stubble there as it glistens in the light from the strange, swirling sky.
“You are so uniquely Zephyr. My Zeph. My love.” I turn his head toward me with my hands, rub one thumb across his cheek, the other across his lips.
His blackened eyes blink for the first time.
“Talk to me, Zeph. Tell me everything. I promise to listen.”
He blinks twice this time, rapidly. Those luscious lips part then close. When he does start to speak, his voice is almost back to normal, but still holds a sharp edge, a foreign darkness that doesn’t belong there. Not in the light of my life.
“Never good enough. Never right. Awkward. Friendless. Cursed. Murderer.” He growls the last word. “They say they’ll fix it. Me. Make me what I should be. ‘He’s too big to be an Omega. Too muscular.’” A huffed laugh devoid of humor. “So they decide, ‘Let’s change him.’ No one asks. No one cares. They cut out a piece of me. Intended to add pieces later.”
