I stroke her back. She pulls away and gives me one of those incredible smiles.
“I’ll be back. I’m just going to get dressed for my party.”
She is gracious and charming, and you wouldn’t think she wanted to be anywhere else. I don’t know if anyone else can see the strain around her lips, or the way her eyes flicker to the door as if she’s waiting for someone to come rescue her.
I wait as long as I can, watching as the Sol family mix with my parents and Julia. Groups of people wander around and around, and she’s standing still in the middle of it all, looking like she wants to scream.
I set my glass down and stalk into her space. People fall aside, moving away from us as my aura hits them. But as soon as she feels me coming, the tension that is holding her shoulders rigid relaxes, and she turns towards me with a smile.
“It’s your birthday, and I would like to dance with you,” I murmur. “But not here.”
The elegantly decorated Sol house is beautiful, but it’s not where I want to be, so I take her hand, and we sneak out of her party. Sebastian and Fox notice us leave but intercept Sofia, who tries to follow.
We get to the road, and when she breathes out, she lets out a cloud of white air. She shivers, but I pull her into my arms. I will be her warmth tonight. She looks up at the stars and smiles.
“I wanted to explore the world, follow the stars to wherever they went. Do something so epically amazing that it would leave my mark up there. When I was young, that is. Childish dreams are so amazing, aren’t they?”
“It is quite a dream. Have you given up on it?”
“No, my dreams got smaller and more contained, that’s all.”
I don’t want her to be smaller; I want her to be bigger. “You should take up space, be loud, have messy, chaotic dreams. Be seen.”
She laughs, but the sound is full of self-mockery. “You would not say that if you knew…” She stops abruptly, and her scent gets slightly sour, like she’s in pain.
“What is going to make you smile right now? What do you need? Because I can do what I think you need, but I’m not sure you’d want me to.”
“Why don’t you try and see what happens?” she says under her breath, her fingers creep up my chest until one hand sits on my shoulder and the other rests on my neck, her thumb gently stroking my skin.
It’s incredibly intimate and I think will become one of my core memories. This moment with my omega, staring at me the way she is, in the dark as I realise that she is so enmeshed in me that I’d never be able to forget even a moment with her.
“Fine, but one dance while we wait for Fox and Sebastian, and then I’ll do it.”
She huffs. “Has anyone told you that you are bossy?”
“All the time. But I’m only bossy because I care. It’s who I am. If I didn’t care, you would get my polite indifference.”
“I could not abide your indifference,” she murmurs as her fingers slide down my chest.
I swing her around and, to my surprise, she can dance really well.
“You know your waltz.”
“My mother is an omega of many hobbies, I told you that.”
In the dark, in a small town called Sunshine Cove, I dance with the omega who has stolen my heart. A waltz under the stars. The music is only in my head, but still, I lose another part of myself to her.
We don’t get to finish the song when I pick her up and walk away from the party, doing what I promised. Sebastian and Fox jog to catch up.
“Where are we going?” Cordie asks.
“I’m kidnapping you. I didn’t think as far ahead as where to go, but I feel confident that if we go back to our house, we will be found in minutes. So, escape it is.”
I set her down when we arrive on Main Street. There is no one but us and the golden yellow from the streetlights shining down on the paved street. The beach roars, and the stars are our silent witnesses.
We sit on the stairs and talk of simple things. Favourite foods, funny stories, memories. Things that fill in the missing gaps of what we don’t know about each other.
Fox gives her the five gifts. Two stuffed animals, one a horse and one a magpie. A ring that belonged to his grandmother, the simple silver band fits her ring finger perfectly, and then he stripped off his top and showed her the place on his chest, right over his heart, where he had her name and Sebastian’s tattooed, right beside mine.
