Cordelia
The house is empty when I wake up, and I take the opportunity to escape before any of my minders return. It was cute, then annoying, then endearing, but I am thoroughly over being babysat by every well-meaning person in this town.
It continued to rain overnight, and there’s still water hanging on the gum leaves and grass like tiny snow globes. It’s colder, too, and I shiver in the light blue coat I love so much. Gale has been fed, and Imogen is going to work with him today, while the rest of us help set up for Light Knot Night.
Just in case, I keep my eyes averted and power walk past the Sol home. I really don’t want to deal with any more well-meaning conversations. What I want are my alphas. I need them.
The near-constant urge to whine in distress has been building in my chest. The pressure kept me tossing and turning all night last night, unable to find a moment's peace.
There’s this uncomfortable tug in my stomach, this unease that has been growing the longer we’re apart. I need them, beingapart from them is wrong, and if I were less me, I would be almost hysterical.
The sunlight gleams on the wet world as the glittering decorations flutter in the light breeze. The sun is out, but it’s between patchy clouds that will disappear by afternoon, leaving it a rare, cloudless night. It’s supposed to be cold today, but this is worse than I expected. White clouds grow out of my mouth with every exhale.
There are people bustling around, and Mack is on a ladder putting up more snowflakes.
It’s all happening.
The excitement I feel crashes when I don’t see them, so I walk to the Sandy Heart Café instead and slip inside. The warmth is instant and like a hug. It smells like cake and bacon, which is a strange combination, but one that is working for me this morning.
“Had enough of our helping?” Yolanda asks with a sympathetic smile.
I cast a quick glance at her and look away, feeling my cheeks getting hot. “Um, how can I answer that in a way that won’t offend anyone?”
Yolanda laughs and slides a takeaway coffee cup across the table towards me.
I take it and turn to the window, listening as the beta with her subtle scent approaches me and stands shoulder to shoulder with me.
For a long moment, there’s just peace and no pressure. She doesn’t judge or ask questions or have expectations. She just watches with me, a silent hand of solidarity that I need this morning. “Do you know what I love about these events?”
“What?”
“How in just one or two days, Sunshine Cove transforms into something spectacular. It’s like stepping into a fairytale world,”she murmurs. “It makes me feel like anything could happen. Like a fairy tale.”
I make a sound of agreement.
She sighs heavily and turns her own coffee cup. “I’m telling you this because I couldn’t sleep last night. What we were doing felt wrong.”
I turn to her, studying her contrite expression and feeling myself tense all over.
“They were overheard, your alphas. Talking about Lynn. The person who overheard them said they had found a clue that led to the discovery of who she was, and they were going to confront her. Everyone was just helping. You know, absence makes the heart fonder.”
My blood has turned to ice. They know? Why didn’t they say something? No, they would have said so if they had known.
“We were just buying you time, in a roundabout kind of way. I’m not sure of the logic of it, but there was intention.”
I squeeze my eyes closed, trying to imagine how bad things could have gone if they had discovered who I was days ago. Maybe it would have gone well, my brain says hopefully. Or is that my heart? Because in the next second, I’m forcefully reminded of the lawsuit and Fox’s hurt and anger.
A tiny, hopeless part of me whispers that it will all work out, but the rest of me knows they will leave me. I would leave me.
What can I do, though?
I open my eyes. “Thanks, Yolanda. I didn’t know. I honestly just thought the town had gone crazy again.”
She laughs, puts a comforting hand on my shoulder, squeezes, and then goes back behind the counter. I stay where I am, staring out the window, thinking over everything I know, everything I want, and everything I stand to lose.
As if my mind conjures them, they appear behind a small crowd that parts, standing near the beach stairs, framed in blueand grey light. They are smiling and look so good I could cry. I see the exact moment they notice me standing inside the shop.
Their expressions are how I feel. When I see them, the world lights up; it comes alive in vivid colours and sensations.
