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“Know it.”
“I’m scared of being alone.”
“Not alone, Echo.” I slow down, stop poundin’ into her, kiss her hot, wet, salt-stained lips. “You finish?”
She sniffles and goes entirely limp in my arms. “Yeah.”
“Good, Omega,” I say once, and as I pull out of her, I repeat it.
I move our bodies around and tie her arm up against the ceiling, hopin’ that the swelling goes down. When it’s all done, I tuck her weepy body against my chest and make her promises in the quiet dark, promises I know she doesn’t believe I’ll keep.
She cries herself to sleep, her vulnerability tearing me to fuckin’ shreds, while my chest heaves and I hold her tight and curse the Fates. So far, they’ve been right about everything, but I hope to fuck they’re wrong about what they said will happen next.
10 | Adam
Paradise River
I wake before Echo does and any other day, I mighta railed at her for oversleeping, but not today.I want her to sleep longer, gather her strength. I use the time to pluck some holes in the vines encasing us and, as I do, I admire her handiwork. Fuckin’ beautiful. We’re gonna have to figure out how she’s doin’ this.
Vines, like ropes, drop from the oblique cocoon — shaped like something from outer space and borne of the earth at the same time. The inner layer is composed of moss and flowers, most of which died off in the night. It makes me sad lookin’ at the dried-up shells of flowers that once were. Makes me try to think of the last time I saw flowers but, if there was a time, I can’t remember it.
I pull the moss away, noting its dry and crisp texture under my rough hands. No wonder we’re so warm. The moss is thick, and my heat does most of the work. It frightens me how Echo’s skin gets goosebumps the minute I get even the smallest hole carved in the vines above us.We won’t be able to move today. Her clothes are likely still wet from…Wait.
Careful as I can be, I tear a hole in the outer shell of our safety, cutting through the tougher vines with my claws. I have to decimate more of Echo’s work than I wanted to in order to be able to fit my shoulders through. The minute I’m out, I go for her pack, open it and find a ziplock pouch inside that has a disgusting blanket shoved into it. It pisses me the hell off.
I unfurl it anyway and return to the cocoon, shocked by the way it looks in the light. It’s creepy as shit, clearly not intended to be here, yet blending in with its surroundings like camouflage. I brace against a gust of wind and drop the blanket inside the cocoon, covering Echo with it entirely, all except her suspended arm.
Her fingertips’ll turn blue if I don’t move fast, so I do, ripping free a few of the tougher vines carefully so as not to break them, then twisting them together, forming a huge loop that I judge’ll be the right size and fixin’ it with a thick knot. I do this twice more, until I’ve stripped the cocoon of most of the thick vines, leaving behind a shell that’ll disintegrate over time.
I reach in and pull Echo out. I stuff all her wet shit into her pack and tie it to the vines. Then I pull Echo onto my back, keepin’ the blanket over her, and lie flat in the middle of the vines, making sure they go over her back and under my stomach.
We look fuckin’ stupid, of that I’m sure, but when I change into my Berserker form, things work out right. Takes me three tries a’ changin’ to get it so that the vines are tight enough around her to hold her in place on my back and not so tight they’re suffocatin’ her. But once we’re set, we’re set. She still hasn’t woken, and I’d be worried if she didn’t hiss at me every so often, issuin’ sleepy words of protest. The sound of her cursin’ at me like she is makes me do somethin’ I never thought I’d do in Paradise Hole — smile.
And with my Omega strapped safely to my back, I take off into the grim, muted daylight.
11 | Echo
Paradise Hole
The rumbling helps me sleep, but it doesn’t keepme there.I wake with a start and find that I’m not…uncomfortable, or cold, but I’m sure as shit not warm and dry like I was before. I open my mouth and taste fur. I open my eyes and see fur. A broad expanse of it. It’s dark brown and, in patches, glistens a lighter honey. The fingers of my bad hand are curled into it to the best of their ability, though I can’t see much of the arm they belong to. I’m covered with a blanket. Swaddled by it, really.
A shuddering sigh releases beneath me, like a train engine announcing its arrival at the next station. The fur beneath me fades away like grass growing in reverse and soon, my palms are pressed against the flat expanse of a bare, muscled back. Together, we lower to the ground.
What I didn’t realize were low tree branches hanging at my eye level soon become tree trunks, and then roots. I start to slide, too stunned to stop myself from hitting the ground. I release a premeditated “ooph,” but the jolt I expect to feel as I slam against leaves and dirt and mud never lands.
Crouched on the ground like a superhero falling from the stars, he pivots on the balls of his feet and catches me mid air. His right hand slides under the mess of my hair and his left hand catches my injured left arm. He gently lowers me onto my back with a smile on his face while I stare up at him like I’ve never seen the dude before in my life.
A dude I fucked.
Oh my god.
He made me come.
If there was any doubt in my mind that last night was a dream, the tender — and dare I say, wickedly smug — smile on his face erases it. I came for him. I came on his cock. I came and he didn’t. I came on his cock but he didn’t come for me. He didn’t want to. He didn’t want me.
My Omega instinct breaks apart inside of my chest, threatening to tear the castle down. Fighting it, fighting the surge of defeated misery that skips across the moat and ransacks the gates, I look anywhere but at him. Heat blisters my cheeks and I quickly gather my senses — and the blanket. I hug it to my chest and squeeze my legs together.
His gaze flicks down my body and he snorts, “Don’t gotta worry, Echo. Not gonna fuck you.”
