“So, the beach?”
I nod. “Yeah, let’s go to the beach.”
She sighs and puts an arm on Daphne’s shoulders and starts asking Elijah about the restaurant. Ivy skips along, talking animatedly with Mack.
I missed a lot when I was gone, and that hurts.
I remember why I left, and part of it was that I didn’t feel like I was enough. I was floundering here. The town was choking me with its happiness, with the expectations that I couldn’t fit into.
All the things that annoyed me don’t feel the same. The cute isn’t too oppressive; the network of people who know me and everything about my family is comforting instead of constrictive. The sameness that was driving me out of my mind is now an adventure.
Have I grown into Sunshine Cove? Was it just a phase that I needed to go away, feel the world, and come back here in order to fit again?
“But do I fit?”
Elijah takes my free hand. “You fit me.”
I do a double take, melting as he steps closer. I bite my lower lip and feel a surge of heat between my legs when he looks at the spot. There’s this hunger in his eyes, a look I remember, that I’ve dreamed about for years.
Even when I had my heats and explored other alphas, that night was a standout, and nothing could match it.
We wander to the beach and down to the water’s edge. Mack chases my sisters around, while Danger chases him, but Elijah stays right by my side.
“Your parents are scary.”
I look up at the white clouds. “Oh, they are terrifying, but they will be there for you now, no matter what happens between us. They mean it; you are part of the family now.”
“Does that bother you?”
I scrunch up my nose. “No, why would it? Sunshine Cove has always been like this. Everyone is family.”
“Is that why you left?”
I sigh and stop to pick up a shell. It reminds me of the abalone I found yesterday. “Partly. Sometimes I felt that if I stayed here, I was going to repeat the same day over and over, and nothing would change. That I would just stay the same and never be anyone other than the Sol’s eldest daughter, the wild child, the rebel. Sebastian’s sister.”
“You weren’t those things to me.”
“No, you made me feel alive and free. That night with you made me realise I could be someone else.”
“I felt the same about my life with my parents. They had it mapped out, the whole thing, and I hated law. I don’t like anything about it. I felt like if I stayed, they would have picked out an omega, picked the ring, my clothes, the venue, and I would be bonded and under their lock and key forever.”
“But you got out.”
“I did and ran straight back here.”
“Which is going to amuse me forever.”
“There was this omega, you see. She was wild and sexy, and everyone at the party wanted her, but she chose me.” He brushes his hair back, his blue eyes dancing.
I shake my head, amused. “You are a flirt.”
“Only with you.”
“Why are you doing this? Why agree to fake date me?”
He’s silent for a long moment. “You said you needed help. Is that still true?”
I wince. “Yes,” I breathe.
