Page 16

CAMbrY

A n Omega guide led us through mazes of corridors to an outside exit. He unlocked it and held the door open for Niro, still carrying a blanket-wrapped Angell in a cradle hold.

In the night, huddled together on the hospital bed, we’d all dozed until morning. Thorne had fallen asleep in a nearby chair.

Then quite early, before breakfast, we’d all signed consent forms. I didn’t know if Niro had to pay a large fee for us or what went on there. We were chattel, and we sold our bodies into service for Alphas, but were we also able to be bought and sold if we met our bondmate and wanted to leave?

I wasn’t sure about any of it.

Thorne led the way to a rather used-looking pickup, opening the door to the backseat. We had no luggage. Our belongings were being sent to us.

Carefully, Niro laid Angell on the seat, then got in beside him. He turned, held out his long arms to me, and I grasped them. He lifted me up to the space next to him and turned to settle Angell comfortably against his side.

I looked around in amazement. I’d never been in a vehicle before. I’d only ever seen them in movies and online.

Thorne gently shut the door for me once I was all the way in, then jumped in the driver’s seat. He glanced over his shoulder. “Are you all set? I’ve got seatbelts back there, but I think that’s asking too much if you’re going to keep holding Angell like that, Niro.”

Niro grunted in response.

The engine started, making the entire truck vibrate.

This was it. We were leaving Zilly’s Chattel Farm forever. Angell and I had made it out. Together.

I glanced at the big Alpha next to me. Niro. He’d behaved like no Alpha I’d ever read about or expected, starting from my first time in the Mating Hall. It didn’t seem real. None of it made any sense that a spontaneous bond would form causing all the antics of the past 36 hours.

Classes taught us wrong about bonds. Or else, this bond was unique. We were told bonds were for Alpha’s pleasure alone, and Alpha control. Never about the emotional intimacy, or the by-product of knowing you couldn’t live a good and whole life without this other person at your side.

Angell and I thought our own intimacy in our private bond was because we were both Omegas. There was no Alpha interference. No Alpha control. Our bond made sense.

But what we had now with Niro was something even huger than all three of us. Something we could never have predicted.

“Where are we going?” I asked aloud.

Angell’s eyes narrowed.

“Home,” Niro said.

Thorne piped up from the front seat. “I can take you straight there and Kris and I can return your car for you.”

“You’ve already helped so much,” Niro protested. “You must be exhausted.”

“It’s nothing.”

“My house is thirty miles from yours. It’s not nothing,” Niro said.

“It’s not a problem.”

I didn’t want Angell and me to be some problem for them. We had caused a lot of drama in these two Alpha’s lives in such a short time.

Niro glanced at me with a hard look. “Don’t even think it. None of this is your fault.”

“It’s not yours, either,” I said.

Angell signed, “Maybe it was meant to be?”

“That’s exactly right,” Niro answered.

When did he learn sign language so fluently? Oh yeah, the bond.

“Mate bonds are no small thing,” Niro continued. “They don’t form with people who aren’t right for each other.”

“What about a forced bond?” Angell asked.

“Not the same thing at all,” Niro quickly answered. “They are illegal in forty countries. Unfortunately, they still happen. Domestic violence can’t be prosecuted if Omegas don’t speak up.”

“They only teach us to be obedient in class, not to speak up.” Angell signed quickly. Niro’s eyes never left his hands.

“I see.”

I was amazed that Niro could understand Angell so well.

I was also amazed that Angell was so talkative…

and looking so content in the curve of Niro’s right arm.

His head rested against the inside of Niro’s shoulder.

His free hand played with the buttons on Niro’s shirt.

It was cute. I was over the moon that he was feeling so much better.

At the same time, their bond felt deeper than mine was with either of them.

“You’re wrong.” Niro now addressed me. “Can you not hear my thoughts clearly? And Angell’s?”

I frowned. “More like emotions, I guess.”

“You’re still upset. The bond needs to settle. It will keep getting stronger.”

“Are you sure?”

Thorne spoke up. “I can vouch for me and Kris. Every day it seems to intensify. It makes it difficult to keep secrets, that’s for sure.”

“Why would you want to keep secrets?” Niro asked.

Thorne chuckled. “Well, like Christmas. And no more surprise birthday parties like when we were kids, eh, Niro?”

“You could still throw me one once in a while,” Niro quipped.

“Well, yes, that I could.”

They were being funny at such a serious time? I huffed out a breath.

I stared at Angell, whose eyes had closed. He looked so relaxed. Then his hands moved. “We’re okay, Cam.”

He had felt my every emotion. I relaxed a little, watching the landscape scroll by as we sped down the highway.

When Thorne pulled into a driveway, I leaned forward to see through the front windows.

The driveway was paved with a white cement and led up through some trees.

When I saw the house, it looked peaceful and serene.

Two stories sported a wide front porch. It was like a fairy tale. And seemed huge for one Alpha.

“Who else lives here?” I asked.

“What do you mean?” Niro asked.

Angell’s eyes were wide open now as he took it all in.

“It’s so big.”

“Hmm, not that big,” he replied. “Three bedrooms.”

“Three? What do you use them all for?”

“Well, I have a guest room, my office and my bedroom.”

“Wow.”

Thorne spoke up just then. “This is their first time out in the world. All that space for one person is probably shocking. Just be glad they aren’t seeing where Kris grew up.”

Too curious, I blurted, “Where did your husband grow up?”

“In a three-story mansion just down the road from me on at least ten acres. Probably more.”

Angell’s hands flew. “A mansion? Bigger than this? This place looks like a mansion to me.”

I leaned over Niro and clasped Angell’s hands. “Exactly.”

He smiled at me, squeezing his palms against mine.

When the doors opened, I was out in a flash, wanting to see everything at once. This was to be our new home. I almost couldn’t believe it.

I ran around the car to face the front. A wind kicked up just then, ruffling the shiny green leaves in the trees. Flowers bloomed along the walkway. Rolling lawns surrounded the house and porch.

Somehow, Angell had broken away from Niro and joined me at my side. He still had nasty bruises but seemed to be walking well. I suspected he’d let Niro carry him out to the parking lot because he enjoyed it. He had never hidden his pleasure that Niro was connected to him. To us.

I was happy, too. But everything had happened so quickly I was still mired in a sort of innate survivor uncertainty.

My mind kept playing back my time with Niro in the Mating Hall.

He’d been kind. I’d been immediately attracted to him in his Burn.

Our mating had felt good as the bond opened between us.

I’d come hard in a splintering ecstasy. Then the bond had closed. Like a slap.

Niro had dismissed me. Niro had not knotted me.

I’d been curious about Alpha knots, certain I was going to experience one that day. It had never happened.

When Niro rushed back to the farm, it was because he had felt Angell. I couldn’t help but think Angell’s pain opened the bond and not anything I did.

Angell elbowed me. “Is this where we’ll live now?”

“Yes.”

His smile lit up his already beautiful face. The bruise did not seem to bother him. I was glad.

I glanced about, listening to birds chittering overhead, insects buzzing. We were on the cusp of summer and the sky was so blue it hurt to look at it.

Angell turned abruptly to face me, fingers flashing. “Are you all right?”

“What? I’m not the one who got injured.”

He blinked at me. I looked away. His hand came up to my chin, forcing me to look at him. His hand dropped, both hands now flying with words. “It was difficult for everyone. You must’ve been panicked.”

I tried to back away, nodding. “Yeah.”

“I’m so sorry you went through so much. From the Mating Hall until now. I feel like I wasn’t there for you.”

A pain stung in my chest. “No. You’re wrong. You are there for me. All the time.”

Angell glanced over his shoulder at Thorne and Niro still conversing by the car. “We swore we’d never allow an Alpha to come between us. Now look at us.”

“But we’re fine. And you’re healed. That’s what matters.”

“Are we fine?” He reached out and touched my chest right where I’d felt the pain.

I swallowed hard. “Yes. I love you more than ever.”

“You better,” he signed, grinning.

I took a step forward, then wrapped him in my arms. “No one’s coming between us, I swear,” I whispered into his ear.