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When he holds out his hand, there’s no hesitation. I’m reeling. I’m not sure I’m even awake yet. But I follow the omega through several doors into a huge domed greenhouse.
But it’s all the birds that take my breath away.
“What is this place?” I ask as I turn in a circle.
All around me are parrots and birds I've never seen in the city parks. The reds and blues are striking, the greens are entrancing. All the patterns and colours, dipping and diving, effortlessly in the air above us.
“When they bought the resort, I said to them I wanted a tropical paradise that doesn’t hurt.” Dylan says calmly. He stands on the bench and spreads his arms. “It should have been impossible, I said it as a joke. They built this for me. A paradise. A place where the birds here are rescues that have been saved. The water is rainwater, the plants are all especially chosen and relocated from places that were being torn down.” He pauses. “Falcon organised this for me, Silas went to all the rescues and handpicked the birds, took them to vets. Grayson designed the garden. This was their courting gift. I found it yesterday. I figured they wouldn’t complete it because I left. Silas held me right here while I tried to absorb it all. I wanted to show you.”
“That’s why you offered Falcon your bond?”
“He didn’t want it,” Dylan says bitterly. “He didn’t want me.”
“He wanted you. He just didn’t want you to be afraid.” I reach out and touch his shoulder. “If you hadn’t been afraid, he would have done it in a heartbeat.”
Dylan scowls. “Perhaps.”
“Trust me, that alpha belongs to you.”
He closes his eyes and tilts his head back. A moment later, a bird swoops down and lands on his arms. The thing is huge, with cyan blue feathers and a beak that looks like it could take my face off. This omega is a miracle, how he appeared in my life, how he’s stayed, everything since and now, standing like some kind of mythical man with this giant bird on his arms.
It’s joined by smaller rainbow birds and a couple of green ones.
I don’t dare close my eyes, for fear I might miss something.
He laughs and smiles as he opens his eyes to focus on the birds, talking to them calmly.
I watch him from near the ferns. A bird drops, landing on my head, and I stand still, amazed by how light it is. It explores my hair and then lifts into the air, letting out a shriek and being joined by seven others.
I turn as a red bird flies past me with huge wings, turning so effortlessly it steals my ability to think. When I spin back to Dylan, he’s staring at me. Everything inside me goes still. A part of me breaks and is remade, and the knowledge of that is both incredible and devastating.
My heart swells, my mind fills with happiness. Fear fades away. There is only awe and this newness that suddenly makes sense.
He is…my everything.
“I love you,” I say to him. It’s simple and honest and it's not shouted or loud. I just say it, and I mean it more than I’ve meant anything.
His eyes widen, and he drops his arms. The birds protest as they launch into the sky, but it doesn’t matter. My words have broken us both. And set me free.
I wipe my face and laugh. “This is insane. It’s so crazy. But I love you.”
He seizes me by the waist, pulling me up against him, and wraps his arms around my back. “My Nyx,” Dylan purrs and buries his face in my neck. Then he laughs, and through the laugh, a deep vibration starts in his chest.
I lean into it, pressing my cheek to his chest. We stand there forever and not long enough. Me and the omega in the paradise his alphas courted him with.
twenty-three
Onyx 23
Iduck back behind the plant as I see Falcon come out of a room and close his eyes. He looks tired. I almost make myself known, but then another woman comes out of the room. She’s young and beautiful, clearly an omega. He shakes his head and throws her hand off his arm.
“Go home, Leisel. This is your last chance,” He warns.
She wrings her fingers. “I can’t. I have no choice. I didn’t mean to. She told me you wanted me. I'm sorry. But I can’t leave until she lets me.”
He stalks towards me, and I don’t have time to move; he slows when he sees me. I can see the rapid calculation in his eyes as he looks back to the woman retreating.
“Was that the woman-”
