He finally stopped at a page long enough for me to get a good view of it. There was a technical drawing of a flower along with text describing it. I leaned over to examine it. It was a black and white picture of a four-petalled flower with two different tones of color on a long, thin stalk.
“What am I looking at here?” Ramsay asked.
“Clarkia amoena,” Colton said simply.
Ramsay stared at him like he’d just spoken a foreign language. “A what?”
“It’s the name of the flower,” Eric said while reading the information.
Ramsay threw his arms up. “I know that, but, really Colt? You dragged us all the way out here just to look at a picture of a flower?”
“Ramsay,” Colton said suddenly, looking at his friend. “You know wildflowers, right?”
“Yeah?” Ramsay frowned, then took a serious glance at the flower in the picture. As he did that, I thought the flower looked a bit familiar…
“Aren’t these planted along the border?” I asked.
“Now that you mention it, I’ve noticed patches of these around West Pack territory as well,” Eric added.
Colton asked, “Do you know what the common name ofClarkia amoenais?”
We turned to Ramsay, who blinked slowly at us. “Uh, I don’t know about that fancy title, but it’s the little pink flower around the lake, right? It’s called a farewell-to-spring. Weird name, but--”
All of us stopped. Colton slowly smiled as I put the pieces together.
“Only when opposites love together, like bidding farewell to spring. It’s not about the season, it’s about the flower!” I cried. Excitement welled up in my chest, but then I groaned in frustration. “What does that mean, though? That doesn’t solve anything!”
“Yes, it does,” Colton said gently. A soft smile lit up his expression as he reached down and touched the picture of the flower. “How many petals does the farewell-to-spring have?”
“Four,” Eric murmured. “Four distinct petals.”
Silence fell around the table. All four of us exchanged glances.
The truth slowly dawned on me.
“Neil was wrong,” I said. “And Noro was partially wrong, too.”
I traced the image of the flower with my finger, touching all four of its petals, then I lifted my head. All three of the alphas--my friends, and my lovers--watched me.
For the first time since learning about the prophecy, everything feltright.The pit of turmoil and anxiety in my chest began to unravel, like I’d finally loosened the one stubborn knot. The tension left my body.
This realization felt good. So, so good.
Four petals--four of us.
Ramsay, Colton, Eric--and me.
“I don’t have just one fated mate because I wasn’t meant to find love amongonealpha,” I said. “I was meant to find love amongallof you.”
And immediately after I said that, I swayed on my feet. Then the world went black.
