After our babywas all cleaned up and I'd napped off the worst of my exhaustion, Cloud carried us up to our nest. Our son Jace was cuddled up against my chest, sleeping like a stone. It wasn't long before we found out his shifter form. Apparently being a human was too much work so Jace shifted into a little mouse to curl up against me. My heart was so full of love as I gazed at him.
"I just realized something," Cloud said, already wearing an amused grin. "I can carry you and Jace in each hand."
"Is that what you've been thinking this whole time? About carrying around your mouse family?"
"If I say yes, will you get mad?"
"No."
"Then yes. You're both so cute, I can't help myself."
I chuckled. He was the one who was cute.
Cloud smiled back at me, but then his pupils narrowed into pinpricks and his feathers ruffled. He suddenly stood up.
"What's wrong?" I asked, instinctively curling my arms around Jace.
"I sense him again," Cloud said in a low voice.
I didn't need to ask who. The spirit in question manifested a second later in a black plume of smoke. Animus perched on a branch, his claws digging into it like a bird.
Fire burned in my chest. I was not in the mood to be played with and neither was my mate. Without words, I knew both Cloud and I would do anything to protect our newborn baby.
"What do you want?" I spat.
Animus wasn't wearing his usual smarmy grin. He almost looked solemn. His pale eyes moved to my chest and saw Jace there.
"Don't give us any trouble," Cloud warned. His talons were flexed for a fight—it was the only time I'd seen them used as potential weapons.
"I'm not here to bother you," Animus said wearily. I couldn't tell if he sounded tired or depressed.
Cloud tensed as Animus reached behind his back and pulled out the sword.
My sword.
I froze. The large blade gleamed in the sun in its full glory. Lines of pure black and shiny silver glowed down its sides as if they were alive. It was not the tiny, comical weapon that Mistral stole from me. Animus knew how to wield it. Hecouldwield it.
That was what Cloud had been saying all along, wasn't it? That he suspected Animus was an omega?
A thought suddenly occurred to me, inspired by the natural way Animus held the sword in his hand. It didn't look like he was wielding it for the first time.
"The sword is yours, isn't it?" I asked.
Animus's brow raised slightly before his expression melted into a smirk. "You finally figured it out."
"Wait, what?" Cloud asked.
Animus huffed in amusement and lowered the sword. "I'll explain it for your alpha partner, since he seems to be a little slow. It was I who forged the sword from spirit magic, a long, long time ago." Narrowing his icy eyes, he angled the blade in Cloud's direction, though it was clear the gesture had no bite. "I did it so that a vulnerable omega would be able to protect himself from alpha brutes."
Against all odds, a worm of sympathy wiggled in my chest. Animus wasn't talking out of his ass. His words were coming from a place of experience. As a fellow omega, that statement alone told me enough about Animus to make me realize he was coming from a place of hurt.
If Cloud came to the same conclusion, he didn't say anything. It was clear to both of us that Animus had a bone to pick with alphas and Cloud speaking up wouldn't be worth it.
So I took the lead.
"Thank you," I said, meeting Animus’s gaze. "That sword meant a lot to me. It brought me strength when I had none." I glanced down at Jace. "I intended on giving it to my son, but I'm glad it's back with its rightful owner."
Animus raised a brow, looking both confused and irritated. He scoffed. "Thank you for that brilliant speech, but unlike Mistral, I'm no thief."
