I lift his hand to my chest, holding it there, like I can keep him forever.
“Being here, being human has changed me. My soul, I don’t even know if gods have souls, but the part of me that keeps reliving these lives is heavy. It feels stained and torn and tired. I don’t smile at butterflies; I don’t smile. I worry and prepare for death and this world and its horrors.”
“What are you saying?” Cadel murmurs.
Gods, it hurts to say this.
“I’m not the same omega you knew and fell in love with. I am changed, and not in a good way.”
“You think that all this would change who you are enough that I would stop longing for the scent of a wild forest? That every time I thought of the moon and stars, I’d stop thinking of you? One winter with you was enough to change everything about me, I will be yours until the end of time. I don’t care how stained and torn your soul gets, Omega, you are still the most beautiful person, god, omega I have ever seen. My heart will know yours across time and worlds. Stop trying to convince me to leave, I’m not going anywhere.”
“Cadel,” I murmur.
“Do you really think I could give up and walk away from you? I have searched since the moment you didn’t show up, and I’m not going to leave now that I’ve found you.”
I stare at him. “If you stay, you’ll destroy this whole world, worse than anything she could do.”
“I don’t care about the worlds, Kaida. I care about you. We’ll find a way, but I’m not leaving you.”
Hope flutters in my chest, beating hard.
“You aren’t leaving us!” Jarek says and lays down beside me. When I look at Mordecai, he just nods.
“It’s decided. We’re keeping him,” Mordecai says soothingly.
I stare at Cadel. He leans towards me and touches his lips to mine in a soft kiss. I surrender because I need him too.
The rain wakes me up from a dream memory where Mordecai gets swept away in the ocean. I can feel him drowning through the bond, but I can’tfind him in the darkness. My screams still echo in my ears. I can feel him sinking, he’s so cold and tired. And I can’t stop screaming his name.
“It’s a dream,” he whispers.
I crawl over Jarek and straddle his legs, hugging him tight, pressing my face to his chest, listening to his heart beat.
“Just a dream,” he murmurs again and strokes my back.
We both know it wasn’t.
The wind howls, an eerie scream that is made louder by all the buildings it whistles through. Rain drills down, alternating between icy pellets and a torrent of water that has turned the night freezing.
I frown as I inhale his warm scent, feeling a deep unease inside me. Something isn’t right.
“What’s wrong?”
I shake my head. “I don’t know. The memories are intense,” I murmur, but I’m not sure if he heard me.
I turn my head and lay there, listening to his heartbeat, counting them. The rain crashes down, blowing almost to where we are laying. The cold gets into my bones. It reminds me of that night in the ocean.
There’s just something niggling, something that won’t let me settle. I lay against him with my eyes open, just staring into space.
Perhaps it’s because I’m staring that I see it. The movement is slow, painfully slow, but I notice it is straight away.
“Up!” I shout and spring up.
The alphas respond in seconds, but so does the person creeping around. He launches a vicious attack, driving Mordecai back. Jarek shoutsand slams into him from the side, but Mordecai is teetering on the edge of the building.
I race for him and manage to grab him just before he overbalances and falls to his death.
Jarek goes flying and slams into the wall, letting out a curse, but Cadel is on this stranger, driving him back, ducking the sword he’s swinging around. I get a glimpse of a red mask as he turns.
