Page 55 of The Omega Switch: Part 2

Her words, laced with a deep, aching pain, echoed inside my head. And she was right. God, she was right.

I crossed the distance between us, taking off my jacket as I walked. It was a ridiculous gesture with the rain coming down the way it was, but instinct drove me anyway. I lifted it over her head, creating a shelter that did almost nothing to stop the rain. Water dripped from my hair, ran down the back of my neck, and soaked through my shirt, but somehow I couldn't stop trying to protect her.

She didn't step away. For the first time since we'd found one another again, there was nothing left to hide behind. No more conference tables or strategy meetings. Now the truth was stripped down, and I had to face it.

"Ivy..." My voice came out rougher than I intended. "Sorry isn’t enough for what I did."

She closed her eyes.

"I know." She didn’t say anything more, just stood there, shivering as she shut her eyes. I couldn't bear for her to be like this, to still feel the pain from what happened. And I’d never felt this guilt before. No one had ever been so honest with me. People usually rushed to fill the silence around me, intimidated by an alpha. I was Hunter Vale, CEO of Pack Vale Laboratories. No one expected weakness - least of all me.

“Why.” The word slipped out, and she finally opened her eyes, looking up at me, demanding an answer.

I looked away, staring toward the lake where the rain danced across the water. I had to admit the truth to her. It was something I’d never admitted to anyone, not even my pack. The confession felt foreign on my tongue.

"I was afraid."

Silence stretched between us, broken only by the steady stream of rain as it fell around us. I had spent years building a reputation around being unshakable. Investors trusted me, and employees followed me because I always seemed to know the right answer. I was known as decisive, disciplined, controlled. Yet I realized every major decision of my adult life had been shaped by one simple emotion - fear.

"My parents were mismatched," I said, and Ivy looked up at me. "They weren't bad people. They just..." I searched for the right words. "Stopped loving each other for years, and no one admitted it. I grew up thinking that was the worst thing that could happen to someone," I continued quietly. "Being trapped in the wrong bond. So I dedicated my life to making sure it never happened again."

My eyes found hers once more.

"I told myself that I could prevent that from happening to me. I became obsessed. I thought the answer to happiness was out there, in a scientifically proven method." I closed my eyes. "I built an entire company because I was terrified. And I thought I’d found the answer.” My throat tightened. "And then I met you."

For the first time since the conversation began, my voice nearly failed me.

"I smelled you that night. At the gala.” She looked down. "I knew something was different about you. Every instinct I had was trying to pull me toward you. My whole pack was instinctively drawn to you. All of us knew there was something about you, yet we messed it up.”

I swallowed, willing myself to speak the truth to her, even though it terrified me.

"The moment I heard we had a match, I thought I’d fixed the biggest problem of my life growing up," I admitted. “And I trusted the test results over my instincts,” I said, my voice bitter. “I was so sure that I could avoid hurt and pain that I didn’t see what was in front of me. I ignored all the signs because I thought that I’d found a shortcut to happiness. And in reality, I created the very future I'd spent my entire life trying to avoid." I looked directly into her eyes. “My greatest fear was ending up in the wrong bond. And ironically, that fear made me lose the one person who mattered the most. I lost the right one.”

Ivy let out a sob.

"I knew it the moment I barked at you." My voice cracked. “I remember seeing your face, the fear in your eyes. It felt wrong. An alpha should never bark at his mate. My chest hasn't stopped hurting since." I paused, my throat tight from emotion. "And now, I wake up every day terrified that you'll realize your life is happier without me in it. I ruined it. And I have no one to blame but myself.”

Ivy’s eyes were wet, and she looked up at me with an unreadable expression. I’d just done the most terrifying thing of all - admit my weakness. Alphas don’t show weakness - strength is the one thing we excel at. And now, Ivy knew that I wasn’t a strong Alpha, a worthy one who could protect her. She knew who I was deep down. She’d never want me now. I looked down at the ground, holding the jacket while the grey skies blocked out the light. The truth was a burden I could finally set down, but that didn’t make me feel any less hollow. I couldn't bear to look at Ivy again, to see the disappointment in her eyes now that she knew-

I felt her arms wrap around me, startling me out of my thoughts. I nearly stumbled backward, reaching for her as she leaned into me, her head tilting up. Her eyes met mine as she pulled me closer. I couldn’t deny her.

She tilted her face toward me, her lips meeting mine in the single most shocking, yet greatest moment of my life. The rain fell all around us, but I didn’t see or feel any of it. All I felt was her body on mine, her lips soft against my own, and the blinding white behind my eyes that made me nearly black out with euphoria.

I wrapped her tighter, pulling her into my arms as she buried her head into my chest. “Take me home.” She whispered. I held her close, nodded, and carried her out of the park, the rain still pouring around us, but for the first time in months, the ache in my chest finally began to ease.

Chapter 27

Ivy

I didn’t care about the rain or the thunder from the walk back. The moment Hunter had stood in front of me, I forgot about everything else. He’d walked me back to the store, up the stairs, and made sure that I had several blankets wrapped around me and the heat turned on before he even let me out of his arms.

Truthfully, I didn’t want to get down from his arms. He felt so good, and I loved the warmth of his skin rising through the soaked clothes as he carried me around. I could get a pure hit of his scent from where my face was nestled into the crook of his neck. It felt like something I never knew I needed. I stayed like that, holding him tightly for I don’t even know how long.

But eventually, Hunter set me down gently. “You need to get out of those wet clothes,” he murmured, his hands resting gently over the blankets on my shoulders. I nodded, unable to even think at the moment. Being close to him and having him hold me felt so good that I didn’t have words. I’d spent a whole life missing this type of intimacy.

“Ronan is parked outside if you need him,” Hunter said, looking around like he didn’t want to overstay his welcome. “Please let me know if you need anything. Anything at all.” He said. I nodded and followed him to my door, Puff wagging happily at my feet. Hunter hesitated at the door, then turned, giving me one more gentle kiss on my forehead. “Goodnight, Ivy.” He said, and his face looked so relaxed that I swore he looked like a whole new person.

“Goodnight, Hunter,” I answered, and watched from my window until he was in his car.