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The omega’s shrug was limp, as if someone had tied strings to the tops of his shoulders and suddenly jerked them up before letting them drop almost immediately. “Then it will just be over and done with and we can move on with learning how to deal with it. Wouldn’t it be easier on everyone if they stopped fighting so hard to fight against a disease that doesn’t have a cure?”
“But it can be slowed down, right?” After Enzo had scolded me about offering to coach him, I’d done some research on Artie’s condition. It usually took patients with open-angle glaucoma ten to fifteen years to completely lose their eyesight, but the way that his alphas spoke about it made me think Artie’s was progressing much more quickly than that.
Artie nodded. “With a surgery at the end of the summer—but even that isn’t guaranteed.”
“How much can you actually see?” I asked, my curiosity finally getting the better of me and I hurried to apologize for the slip of the tongue. “Sorry, apparently I left my filter at home today.”
Artie’s lips pulled up into a smirk. “It’s all right, frankly I’m surprised you managed to wait this long. Most people don’t.”
His hand slid out of mine and lifted to touch my face, the pad of his thumb brushing along the edge of my lips.
My heart hammered in my chest so loudly that I was sure the omega could hear it because his smile widened even more.
“The edges of my vision are black—sort of like looking down a dark tunnel—and the center is blurry but not enough for me to not be able to see your features. I can see the outline of your lips and eyes and tell the color too for now.” He huffed a little laugh before: “Though if you ask me to look at a mole for cancer for you, I’m afraid I’d be at a loss.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” I told him and damn if a tiny little giggle didn’t slip from between the lips he was still currently touching.
“I am glad I met you before it went away completely though. It helps to be able to see what Leith means when he says you’re one of the most gorgeous women he’s ever met.”
And just like that, the intimacy of the moment cracked and reality came crashing right back down. The omega in front of me was a part of a bonded pack—and with that came commitment and that terrified me most of all.
I’d played fast and loose with Leith’s feelings once, and I wasn’t sure anything was really any different now than it had been four years ago.
Gently pulling his hand away from my face, I gave it a squeeze of my own before I scooted away from him. My inner alpha protested almost immediately, telling me that I was an idiot for not touching him anymore.
“I have to shower and head out,” I murmured, watching his expression fall.
“Already?”
I nodded. “I… I have a date tonight.”
It felt a little bit wrong to use my date with Wiz like a barrier, but it worked because Artie’s own face shuttered closed and I couldn’t tell what he was thinking or feeling.
“I see,” he said, reaching down to pick up his skates. “Same time tomorrow then?”
His attitude was polite and professional. It almost hurt my feelings to see even though it was completely my fault.
“Same time tomorrow,” I promised softly and watched as he whistled for Charm, who had been snoozing right behind us for the duration of our conversation.
I waited until he was gone before finally untying my own skates and shoving them into my bag, ignoring the nagging feeling that I’d made a mistake and was mucking all of this up.
“It was the right thing to do, Ciara,” I muttered to myself as I shouldered my duffel and headed for the door.
It had been right to put a bit of space between myself and Artie when it was clear he was interested in me. If his words and actions didn’t tell me that, the bloom of his orange perfume most definitely did.
A biological scent match, I’d realized pretty early on when interacting with the omega.
Every single alpha-prep class I took in high school told me that they were rare, and yet it seemed that they were all coming out of the woodwork and running headlong in my direction.
“It was the right thing to do,” I repeated, not even believing myself this time.
“Oh my god!” I gasped, staring up at the marquee with an open mouthed awe. “How did you even manage to get these tickets?”
Wiz grinned at me, clearly pleased with himself as he shoved his hands into the pockets of the leather jacket he was wearing.
I’d spent the rest of the afternoon after practice with Artie in a bundle of nerves, pacing the apartment until Penelope finally called for backup.
I hadn’t told Brynn or Aurelia about agreeing to a date with Wiz and no one had been more surprised than them when I blurted it out like an absolute loon while crossing from the front door to the sliding glass door on the other end of the living room.
