“I’m dancing in the rain, Papa.”
“It’s freezing out there.” My boy—our boy—was standing on the walkway beyond the patio that led to the garden, arms out, spinning. He wasn’t wearing boots or a jacket.
“You told me I was made in rain.”
“Not in the rain. It was during a snowstorm in December. That’s when we made your egg. Now come in, dry off and get warm.”
“Snowstorm? I like snow, too!”
Our four-year-old was insatiable and brave. Nothing scared him. He asked endless questions and wanted to explore and touch everything. He was full of mischief, curiosity and laughter.
As he ran inside, leaving wet footprints on the wood floor, Tane walked in, saw him, and picked him up, swirling him into the air.
Remy shrieked and giggled. “Daddy, Daddy! Swing me higher.”
“I’ve got towels right here for when you two are finished,” I said, setting the stack on the dining room table.
“Were you outside playing in the rain?” Tane asked.
“Puddles were out there. I wanted to stomp them all.”
“Puddles?”
“Big like swimming pools,” Remy replied.
“Show me?”
I crossed my arms and stood before them. “You two are not going back out there. It’s pouring.”
“We’re just playing,” Tane said, grinning.
After Remy came into our lives, Tane seemed to grow younger. His face relaxed. His eyes brightened. He looked thirty when he was actually now forty-seven. He had the energy of youth. Remy brought it all back to him. The house became a home again. Tane and I started our new lives and never looked back.
We never heard from Malin, but friends kept us informed. He was well and still traveling, still the party guy playboy who wouldn’t settle. Maybe someday he would, or maybe never. We all made our choices, even me.
I had left my childhood country, my prince title and a cold-hearted father behind to face what I thought would be a life full of bars and walls, rules and limited freedoms, if any. Instead, I was brought to a place like another castle, only this one had a master who was benevolent and kind. It was like I’d entered my own golden fairy tale complete with happy ending. When I was sure I would be nothing, just a worthless omega with no rights good only for alphas to breed, I was saved. By Tane.
He'd paid a fortune for me. But he didn’t own me. Not really. Not in that way in our life together. We were equals. We decided everything together. The papers and my personal fileswere buried somewhere, hidden away where I couldn’t see them, where they would be forgotten.
I didn’t forget, however, how lucky I was. How I’d been born a prince only to lose everything and find my true love, which was more than I could ever hope to have as what and who I was.
I hadn’t lost. I’d gained. I’d won.
I had a devoted bondmate and a beautiful child.
Every day, my love for them grew like the garden Tane and I still loved to work in during good weather. Every day was a miracle to wake to.
I couldn’t have asked for more. I had it all. Tane was mine and I was his. Our son brought us immense happiness.
If I had been born anyone else or anywhere else I wouldn’t have made it to where I was now. I had no regrets. None. Being a set omega had been a gift in disguise. I’d had to endure that tension, that self-recrimination, but I wouldn’t change a thing.
This home was where I’d been headed all along. I saw that now.
Tane approached me, a soaking wet Remy in his arms. “Hand me the towel?”
I reached out and took one off the stack. As I went to dry our child, he pressed Remy gently against me and stretched out his arms, our son hanging onto his shoulder and turning to look at me.
I embraced them both. Tane kissed my forehead. Remy looked up at us. “Daddy, Papa. You’re both getting wet!”
