“Emma.” Khan brushes my cheek with his thumb. “It is time.” And he ushers me forward a little bit. My steps slow as we get closer to the portal, my legs getting heavier and heavier. My body remembers this. My mind flashes over everything that’s happened—getting sucked into a bog, waking up in a cage. The auction house and the barnyard of smells. Khan roaring in the background, and my body responding.
My skin tingles, and I break out in a sweat. No more Khan. No more purring. No more rutting. No more love. A life of freedom bleak and empty as a desert stretches before me. And I don't want it anymore. I choose the cage.
I whirl around and, with my free hand, I grab Khan’s muscled arm, gripping it tight.
“No,” I say. My palm is slick and clammy and my grip slips a little. “No. Stop.”
“Ten seconds,” the Beta says.
“The portal is closing,” Aurus thunders behind us.
But I pull Khan back. “I don't want this.” I dig my nails into his muscles; his smoky chocolate scent filling my nostrils. The thought of never smelling it again is almost my undoing. “I don't want to live without you!”
“Emma—” Khan’s face and torso are caught in the flare, his violet skin paling, making his dark tattoos stand out in stark relief. The pressure of the air chokes me. My blood is roaring in my ears. Did the portal open up and swallow us? Did we fall in? We might be dying. This might be the last moment of my life, and I need to make sure Khan knows.
“You,” I shout as the portal light floods around us, blinding me, making the Alpha before me vanish. “I choose you!” The brightness is so thick, it buoys up my body. I can still feel Khan and clutch him, swimming in air. A roaring rush of wind crushes my ears, every cell in me stands up and screams, and then the world goes dark.
TWENTY-ONE
Emma
“Emma, Emma,”a deep voice is softly calling. It's Khan. I'm in his lap. His scent is chocolate, and pine, and a campfire out under the endless stars.
“Khan?” I squint, trying to see but my eyes are burning a little, like I looked at the sun for too long. “What happened?”
“You passed out.”
“Where am I?”
“Altrim. Back at my palace.” A soft damp cloth touches my forehead and cheeks gently before Khan pulls it away. “The portal closed. There was nothing we could do. So I brought you here.”
“Are you okay?” I ask. I crack my eyes open a little more. I need to see him.Calm is vibrating through the bond, soothing me, but I still need to see my Alpha. I need the reassurance.
“Yes, little Omega.” There’s an amused crinkle in the corner of his mouth. “I am well because you're safe.”
“Are we home?” My voice cracks on the last word.
A crease appears in his brow before it smoothes away. “Yes, Emma.” He caresses my cheek. “We are home.”
“You were going to go with me…” I trail off, trying to comprehend the enormity of the last few hours. Khan was prepared to give everything up for me. He’d spent his entire life searching for an Omega with whom to start a family, and then he found me… and yet…
“I was.” His rugged face is wreathed in smiles but there are dark circles beneath his hooded, glittering eyes. “I told you, nothing here has meaning without you.”
“You could have died.” The realization actually hits me then, and I choke back a sob.
“A risk I was willing to take.” He reaches out and brushes away the tear sliding down my cheek. “You are my mate, Emma. My soul mate. We only find one in a lifetime—most don’t even find that. Many don’t even believe a soul bond exists, but when I found you, I knew.”
“And your heirs? What about the need to replenish the Alpha army?”
He gives me a wry grin. “I wasn’t expecting you to birth an entire army, anyway,” he says. “Now we have found a way to obtain Omegas, the other kings will be able to ensure the survival of our race with them. They will have Alpha and Omega babies who, in turn, will grow up to make more. And so on.”
“You really were prepared to make that sacrifice. For me…” I’m talking to myself more than asking him a direct question. I already know the answer. He proved it.
And I feel like my heart might explode. I didn’t realize I love him—genuinely love him—until the magician said he might die going through the portal.
“Khan…” I begin. He needs to know. “When that Beta said you only had a twenty percent chance of survival, I realized something.”
“What was that?” There’s infinite tenderness in his eyes, as well as something else. A knowing gleam.
