She stares at him. “I love you.”
He doesn’t say anything. I pull back from my alphas to watch them.
“Yeah, I thought you might feel like that. I heard at the fire, you met your alpha, and you can’t stop loving him. It’s okay, I get it; I just want to say it once. I love you, Lucian. I think you are perfect.”
“I love you, Mia, but as a friend,” he says gently, like it hurts him.
“I know. Of course, I know.” She looks at us, but she’s defeated. I can see it. “You really want to try this?”
“We have to.”
Mia looks at the ground, her expression resigned. “No one escapes their fate.”
I don’t know what it means, but it gives me chills.
Jarek cups my face. “No matter what happens, we’ll end up together. I know this; I believe it.”
I close my eyes, not pointing out that we might never come back again. I want to believe we’ll be together. So I’m going to.
“We’re going to make it,” I say. “Nothing is going to happen.”
I believe that. I am, after all, the Omega Goddess. We’re going to be fine.
Mordecai strokes his hand down the back of my head. “Stay safe, be smart. Do not give them an opportunity to hurt you. Keep your head down and wait for the right moment. Promise me.”
A ball of pure emotion works its way up into my throat.
“Promise me, Kaida!” Mordecai growls, “or we’re not going.”
“I promise!”
He kisses me. It’s the kind of kiss you dream of when you’ve never been in love, but it’s the kind of kiss you fear the most when you are in love.
He’s kissing me goodbye.
I cling to him, and as soon as he steps back, Jarek is back, stealing another soft, lingering kiss that makes me think of those lazy afternoons we had together, legs tangled, lying in sweaty sheets, drawing circles on each other with nothing else to do but be in love. But that was in another lifetime.
At least I remember them.
He pulls away slowly, curses, and spins away, putting a few feet of distance between us.
I turn to Cadel.
It’s different with him. We all know where he’s going if he dies, and it’s not with us.
The panic I feel when I think of him disappearing has me choking on all the words I want to say.
He must see the panic on my face because he crosses the space between us and pulls me into his arms. I cling to him.
“I found you once. I’ll do it again,” he whispers. “Kaida Keres, there is nowhere that you can go that I won’t find you. So, don’t be afraid. Don’t you worry about us. There willalwaysbe an us.”
I kiss him.
I put in every ounce of everything I’ve felt from the first minute I laid eyes on him in the snow. Every second since then, together, apart, missing him and never understanding why, the strange times I would stand in the snow and cry, never knowing what was lost. Even though I’ve met him in the darkest of days, in my darkest hour, I am so grateful for every second he’s been with me.
When we part, I stare at him, memorizing his face. Making sure I will remember him.
Then, I shove all that emotion into a box and turn away.
