“No,” I say in protest, not to them but to the panicked voice in my head.
“It’s fine. You don’t have to go, but I felt it was only fair to offer you a choice before I send your scent match away.”
“No!” I snap again, glaring at the seer I’m starting to hate. “I’m not staying here.” I turn back to the goddess. “I’ll go with you.”
The goddess lifts eyes to me. They are wide and full of emotion. Shock, sorrow, surprise, awe. Too many and too fleeting to read. “You would come with me?”
I lean towards her, taking up her small hand. “I would follow you wherever you lead, Omega. For now and always, I am yours.”
She squeezes my hand, holding it tight, but I can feel the tremble that goes through her.
“So, the three of us, huh? It’s a whole party.” The Fire Alpha smirks. “Told you he’d join us.”
The All-Seer comes to stand beside me. “In every life, you will find each other. I will make it so your souls remember each other, know each other. But you won’t recall your lives unless you absolutely need to. The worldwill try to keep you apart, but you must remain resolute. You must stay together.”
“When are we doing this?” I ask.
The All-Seer looks at the three of us. “We can do it now. There’s no reason to delay.”
The goddess pulls her hand free and steps towards the All-Seer, throwing her cloak back, revealing a gown that is white and shimmers in the dappled light.
“This is it?”
The All-Seer frowns, looking confused. “These are your scent matches. There are no others.”
“But—” She cuts off and looks away. “Can I have some time? I need to leave a message for someone important to me.”
“There is no time.”
“Then let me go to them; they will understand.”
“I’m sorry, my dear, but there’s no time.”
The goddess looks so bereft that I want to argue and help her, but the All-Seer holds up her hand, stalling the words I was going to offer.
“If they find out I’m sending the three of you, they will not allow it. They will forbid their going. Better to ask forgiveness than permission.”
“But there’s someone waiting for me,” she says softly, and again, I’m struck into ridiculous silence by the delicate, husky tone of her voice. A tinge of envy pools low in my gut. She has someone else already? He has her heart; I can see that clearly, but he’s not a match.
“They will understand in due time. I am sorry for it, but this moment is the moment. It’s all together or just you.”
She almost chooses to go alone, I can see it, but the alpha steps in front of her and cups her cheek. The softness in his expression goes against an eon of whispers I’ve heard on the winds about him. He’s ruthless and fierce, his temper unrivaled, blowing one way then another. His level of destruction is legendary.
“You don’t know me yet, but I have loved you forever. If you need to do this, we will find a way. I won’t let them separate us. We can fight and take them all on.”
For a moment, there’s hope, wild hope, and I see her smile. I stagger, mesmerised. I will die for this omega, over and over and over, just to see her smile, just to see her happy.
“You will die.” The All-Seer drops those three words into the air like a lightning strike. Echoing my inner promise. “If she is sent, and you fight, you and he,” she points to me, “will be executed. You will never achieve what you need to achieve, and it will all be for naught.”
A single tear runs down the goddess’ face. “So, I have no choice?”
“You have choices, but this is the only one that gets you to where things don’t end in disaster.”
She nods. “Is there any way you can find him?”
“What’s his name?”
The omega pauses, lifting her beautiful face, so elegant in her grief. “I don’t know.”
