Page 41 of Let It Snow (Eden’s Omegaverse #7)

"No. I mean, I recognized him from my visions. Some of them showed me with him in…" He pauses, glancing at me with slight embarrassment. "In intimate moments. But Luca acted indifferent toward me at first. And he was on suppressants, just like I was. Anzo insisted on it. Over time I did notice Luca’s growing focus on me, and I kept having the visions, but I didn’t know how to test it. And of course, Anzo never let me near his nephews. I was isolated. He knew what Rocco was like, how often he stole boys right out from under him, and Anzo didn’t want Rocco laying hands on me.

He thought I was too valuable because of my gift.

" Moon grimaces slightly, as if the idea that only his clairvoyant talent made him valuable still stings, especially since that gift had been the source of his greatest suffering.

My brother rakes a hand through his hair, tucking silver strands behind his ear.

"Eventually, though, at some public event, I managed to get close enough to Luca for us to shake hands.

There was no shock, no surge. Our strong suppressants smothered it.

But even so, the touch triggered something.

It started the Pull. Days passed, and the Pull between us only grew stronger until it became almost unbearable. "

"But you were practically guarded twenty-four-seven. How did you two even meet up? I lived in that fortress. I know how heavily it’s monitored."

Moon smiles with a hint of superiority. "You’re forgetting Luca’s a purple alpha.

He’s got his own gift, one that turned out to be very useful.

Luca can cause momentary lapses in awareness.

By talking to someone, he can confuse them so completely they don’t even realize what happened.

A bit of a natural hypnosis skill. He used it plenty of times on Anzo and his brothers, especially Mauro, who managed the camera system.

For everyone’s safety, it was better if no one knew the truth about our relationship. "

I let out a deep sigh.

"Couldn’t you predict it? Tell me once and for all, were you… or weren’t you sure about your own future? Or did you just recklessly risk everything?"

Moon gives me a sad smile.

"So… that’s exactly why I agreed to marry Anzo."

"I don’t get it." I stare at him, lost.

"Don’t you see? He’s the one who helped me sharpen my gift, Summer! He found a way to help me control it, or at least put some order into the visions I kept seeing. When I first walked into that fortress, I was a mess—"

"So you really did take a gamble… with your own life and… your brothers!"

Moon swallows. "I was an addict, Summer. Gambling was what I did with my life on a daily basis."

I have no words for it.

He continues, "Anzo helped me tame my talent, and then I understood better the paths not only for my future but yours too. I could help set it in motion. Of course, Anzo used my visions as well, for his own ends. With my predictions, he crushed the Russians. He anticipated his enemies’ moves, spotted informants, and I gave him all the leads. I never failed him once. He valued me."

I frown.

"You almost sound proud of helping a crime family. And in the end, you failed him. You ran, and he ended up in prison."

Moon smirks.

"Anzo is exactly where he wants to be, and exactly where he needs to be to find his own happiness."

"I don’t get it."

Moon exhales and glances down at the monitor in his hand, then back at me.

"It doesn’t matter. What matters is this: I want to apologize." His voice softens. "I’m sorry for making choices for you, Summer. I’m sorry you suffered. I know Anzo treated you badly—well, badly doesn’t even begin to cover it." He grimaces as if he realizes he just downplayed what I went through.

"But if it hadn’t happened, your path and Snow’s path never would’ve crossed.

Our parents locked you inside that house, cut you off from the world.

Without the kidnapping, you would’ve stayed there forever, alone, disappointed, terrified that people would find out about your power, exactly like our parents drilled into you. "

Feeling miffed, I snap back, "In a way, they were right! You told Anzo about my power, and look what happened: he took me. Knowledge of my power is dangerous. Spreading it around is reckless. People could get hurt."

Moon is silent for a long beat, his eyes still fixed on the baby monitor.

Then he says quietly, "You have every right to hate me.

But once I began to really understand my visions, I believed with all my heart this was the path meant to be.

We all suffered, but I keep focusing on the chance that our stories can still end well. Yours too."

There’s a long silence between us. He can surely see the sourness on my face, the lingering doubt in my eyes.

He sighs.

"But this time, you have to make your own choices, Summer. I won’t guide you anymore. You’ve seen for yourself how it looks from the outside, like I’m pulling strings in other people’s lives, forcing suffering they might never choose if given the chance. So enough of that."

The monitor in his hand beeps softly.

Moon glances at it and says, "Lux is starting to wake up. I know those little grunts."

He turns to leave, but I grab his hand.

"Are you at least happy, Moon? Was it all worth it?"

His face changes in an instant, softening, glowing with warmth.

"Oh yes. Luca is the best in the world. He’s everything to me. I wouldn’t change a single thing in my life, not one, because meeting him makes it all worth it." His voice burns with passion, and then he turns and walks away.

I stay on the terrace, staring out at the ocean stretching endlessly toward the horizon. Rain drums on the roof and trickles down the stones and garden paths, while my eyes are lost in the gray ocean and the clouds gathering thick above it.

Wow. What a revelation.

I’m a man without a True Mate.

Fuck.

Again, I simply can’t be… normal.

That’s just NOT meant to be.

I wanted it so badly, and nothing works. I have these stupid powers that put me in danger, keep me excluded from regular life, and I don’t even have my TM, like every other human on this planet!

My damn luck.

No TM!

I’ve never even heard of anything like this before. No article I’ve ever read mentions it. It’s supposed to be impossible. Everyone has another half of their soul, even betas, though theirs is harder to find.

I lift my fingers to my neck, where my skin is now perfectly smooth. Curiously enough, sex with Snow healed me the same way it does for True Mates. So I’m a bit confused.

Lake’s scars disappeared after he joined with Aiden, and mine healed the same way. So what is my Bond with Snow? How does it work?

I don’t know. And Moon doesn’t seem to know either. Which makes sense. He sees paths, not explanations. His visions are open to interpretation.

Slowly, I head back inside, upstairs to the room where Moon sits in the armchair, still chestfeeding Lux.

I freeze in the doorway. Our eyes meet.

His face flushes.

"Can I?" I ask, my voice a little shy.

"Okay."

The image is staggering. The man I remember, destroyed by years of drugs, with his wild eyes, hollow cheeks, and mad rambling words. Now he sits here, serene, holding his baby to his chest. The contrast is almost unreal.

Honestly, seeing it, I can’t blame him for the choices he made. He crawled out of hell into a paradise.

Would I take that chance, knowing what he knew? If I were in his position? Would I risk so much?

I move closer, looking down at the tiny head of his son, nursing calmly. One small hand rests on Moon’s chest, a perfect little fist.

My heart clenches. Maybe one day I could be a parent too?

At least… this could be normal!

My one, last hope.

Last shot at normalcy…

Being a dad.

I see the bliss on Moon’s face as he strokes his son’s back with slow, tender motions.

"Do you find parenthood… satisfying? Is it what you wanted?"

Moon lifts his head and smiles.

"You know, as omegas we’re taught to chase careers, to find fulfillment that way, to make it our highest value.

I believed that for a long time. But you know what our core programming really is?

You can deny it, you can hate it, you can try to reject it.

But it’s creation. Nature built us for it, made us best at it. "

"You mean the aliens designed us that way," I mutter with a sour grin.

"Call it what you want. It’s the same powerful instinct that lived in women before, maybe even stronger in us because of our higher hormone levels.

Civilization tells us to turn our backs on it, that it has no value, that breeding is primitive, almost shameful.

But for me, it’s the opposite. It’s deep, it’s incredible, it’s given me things I never thought I’d find.

Feelings, states of mind, challenges that shape me as a person in ways I never would’ve discovered otherwise.

Only when you take responsibility for someone else do you finally understand responsibility for your own life, Summer. And you grow up, mature."

"Uh… sounds super smart," I mock him. "My little brain doesn’t get it."

"Maybe someday it will," he says with a trace of sadness. "Taking on duties that feel too heavy, too draining, like they strip away all your time for yourself… teaches you something infinitely important. A lesson nothing else can teach."

"Throw me this pearl of wisdom, since I still don’t get it," I mutter with a crooked look.

"By creating, building, and raising others, you’re doing the same for yourself. It’s a symbiosis, Summer."

I decide not to push him, because he’d think I’m a brat. Truth is, I still don’t really get what he means, whatever strange ‘deep’ hint or metaphor he’s trying to drop.

But one thing is undeniable. Watching him feed his son, the longing inside me, timid as it is, only grows stronger.

I walk to the window, my mind filling with just one thing. Well, a person.

Snow. My alpha.