“Come on, then, little rebel, let’s get you geared up.”
“I SWEAR TO THE NIGHTGoddess, if something happens to her,” Ben whispers harshly, “I’m going to kill Frederick myself.” He’s enraged.
Good. He should be.
Stonesdamn that fucker, putting our omega into harm’s way.
Theo, in his fatigues, groans, head in his hands. “Our bride. Our center. Ouromega. We are stupid asfuck, letting her go.”
I finish my glass of liquor as I stand, shaking my wings. “I’ll wake her. It’s time.”
We gave her her cleaned clothes, and a small blade, and put her to bed to try to sleep. We packed some food and more blades for her, and a travel holo, so she could get a hold of us after the battle.
My stomach is an angry ache as I stride to my room. I knock and open the door slowly. Fern comes out of the bathroom, looking murderous and gorgeous. Her hair is braided tightly and she’s in those warm brown skirts, a pretty but functional knitted shawl over her thick blouse.
She crosses to me and steps close to my body. I slowly raise my arms and wrap them around her. She leans in and I catch her smelling me. I smile sadly and say nothing, just bend to inhale her rich, healthy scent. My omega.My omega,my brain screams.Keep her safe!
I shake myself again.
Warrior. My omega is a warrior who raised herself, who stared down three horny gargoyles, tried to stab us, eventually escaped, and killed several other horny gargoyles.
I must let her go.
And she’ll return. Surely she feels it, feels the pull to her alphas, her pack.
We had briefly argued with Ben while Fern slept, over whether or not we should explain packy dynamics to her. We decided it was too much, too many details that had been hidden from the humans, for her to be able to take in in any meaningful way, especially with her head full of battle plans. It would be an unfair distraction.
Besides, Theo had insisted, if she didn’t return, we could go find her, after things had settled in Sylrya, and explain to her, what it means to be an alpha, and an omega, what it means to have a matched pack.
“Thank you, Archibald,” she whispers and my heart pounds, hearing her say my name.
I kiss the top of her head. “Of course, Fern.”
We walk out, my tail around her waist and Ben stands, face devastated. She crosses to him and leans against his body for a moment before he responds, wrapping her tightly against him, his wings coming around his body to curl around them both. I think I hear a small sob as they whisper.
Protect her. Tie her up and save her from her noble urges.Those souls she wants to save mean naught to me.But my omega. Goddess, she means everything.
Ben’s wings slowly peel back and Theo holds out a pack for Fern. She sniffles, wiping her nose on her sleeve.
She crosses to Theo before turning and looking at Ben and I again.
Right before our bodies will force us to rest.Theo is going to have to wing hard to get back here before he needs to sleep. And while he wouldn’t mind sleeping in the wilderness, we need him here, just in case Frederick shows up unexpectedly. But Theo is a fast flier, and damn near invisible.
He scoops her up and nods to us before turning and running off the balcony.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Fern
Theo eases my feet to the forest floor, not far outside of Sylrya. He had been silent the entire flight, and I had buried my face to his chest, unable to get enough of his scent of a pine and citrus.
I had called myself a traumatized fool for falling for them. Or... at least, not wanting to kill them anymore. But there was something about them. And there always had been, if I’m honest with myself. Even when I hated them, they raised bizarre emotions,sensationswithin me. It was almost as if they knew my body better than I did at times.
“Sweetling,” Theo whispers, taking my elbows. “You know you will always have a home with us. A place. A...” he stops himself, shaking his wings in sorrow as his face shutters. “Please, I beg you, Fern, use the holo, if you’re injured. We’ll come for you.”
At that, he drops my arms and spins, leaping into the air without a further word, or my being able to say goodbye.
As I watch him fly off, over the trees, my chest tightens again.How did these bats make me care for them? But I do. Fuck, do I care for them.
