Page 14 of Our Haunted Omegas (Moonscale Heirs Duet #1)

Ambry

“I tried to explain it to him,” Dad said as Odie stormed off into the bedroom.

It wasn’t his angry storming off. It was his ‘I’m about to have a panic attack and only my pillow understands me’ storming off.

Either way, it broke my heart but wasn’t unexpected.

Why did Clarence Moonscale have to put his stupid holiday on today of all days?

I wanted to bang my head against the wall and then maybe his.

I snapped my thoughts shut because it wasn’t fair to think like that.

It was a lot harder to hate Clarence Moonscale once I found out that if he didn’t exist my and Odie’s mates wouldn’t be here.

“Do you need to go after him?” Dad asked when I didn’t say anything.

“No, Indigo has him. He’s still in bed,” I shook my head and leaned back against the sofa rubbing my temples.

“Guess the camping trip is off,” Dad frowned.

“Nope. We’re still going. He’ll come around. He just needs a minute. Everything happening so fast has smashed his wake up routine to hell. He’ll be okay. I’ve told you for years. Sometimes you just have to let him break so that he can feel better.”

“Is that why his mate isn’t following him? Have you told him that too?” Dad asked, side eyeing the kitchen door.

“He probably needs coffee and time to process whatever just happened too. Cobalt isn’t a bad guy and you’ll stop obsessing about his sex life unless you want me to tell you why I think that makes him a good match for Odie.”

Dad held up both of his hands in surrender as Cobalt brought out two mugs of coffee, the milk, and sugar.

“Thanks, Cobalt,” I said, not mentioning Odie. If he wanted my advice, he’d ask. “Make sure you tell Teal to still bring the truck and stuff. We’re still going camping.”

“I know,” Cobalt nodded. “I’m not a therapist or anything but my grandparents are haunted by things I’ll never understand. Same for my carrier and uncles. You learn not to take their emotions personally. More often than not they’re beating themselves up and it has nothing to do with anyone else.”

I shot Dad a ‘told you so’ look and headed into the kitchen to grab the honey before he asked for it.

He’d grown pickier each year and now only used honey in his coffee.

I let out a long, slow breath in the kitchen.

I was teetering on the edge of a panic attack but I hadn’t gotten enough sleep either.

I missed Indigo so much and he was just down the corridor in the bedroom.

“Odie needs him right now,” my wolf whispered into my thoughts from his inner sanctum.

“Dad, I’m going for a run. You be nice to Cobalt,” I said, sitting the honey down on the table.

“The festival,” Cobalt said but I couldn’t stop myself.

I was already outside the front door shifting.

I had to move. I had to work out all the energy I hadn’t been able to the night before.

It was slap my paws against the ground or find someone to eat.

I could eat them to. I’d rip them up and shove their fiery cocktails up their arses.

Not paying attention to the throngs of people already on the sidewalks I squeezed between a giant’s legs.

He called me a name and it took all my willpower to convince my wolf not to circle back and bite him on the ass.

Was he even old enough to remember the war?

What the fuck was he celebrating? What were any of us celebrating?

I gave in to my wolf and his paws took us straight to where it used to be.

There was a plaque there now and a park built over it.

It started life as underground storage for food.

During the war they turned it into a bomb shelter.

Not two foot from that plaque is where they died.

I sat on the plaque to the dismay of several people trying to take photos of it.

They sported stateside accents and I had to remind myself that my mate grew up over there. What was this death tourism?

I searched the crowd for familiar faces.

I recognized some of them from my daily life now but not one of them had been around back then as far as I knew.

Where was everyone? Had the rest of them died?

Okay. Maybe it was a bloody panic attack.

Maybe it was more than just Missy beating me up with sponges and Indigo waltzing into the store.

I hated this bloody festival. I hated everyone with their phones out trying to take photos of the plaque that wasn’t for them.

Some folks didn’t even get graves and here they were taking photos.

“Ambry?” Cobalt’s voice reached my ears and something inside me relaxed.

He wasn’t Indigo but he almost was. He almost smelled like him and to my wolf that meant safety.

The phone wielders turned to him and he smiled out of instinct.

My dad was there by his side, his brow creased with worry.

I tried to remember the last time I had a panic attack because of this stupid festival and couldn’t.

“Could we have a minute for the survivors to have the space?” Cobalt asked, putting on a thick Londoner accent that he didn’t normally have.

He sounded so much like Clarence Moonscale when he spoke like that.

“If you’re a survivor too please feel free to stay but if everyone else would give us just a little space. ”

Someone muttered about Cobalt being full of himself, but his smile never broke.

He kept his hand on the small of my dad’s back as if he feared the older man might break.

His scent was worried but Dad always smelled like that.

When everyone left except for a few people, Cobalt walked out of earshot and Dad sat down next to me.

I leaned against him as the other survivors drew in close too.

They were part of a walk that spanned most of the city, visiting each location that once sheltered us during the worst attacks.

“He flew me here. Would’ve never gotten through the foot traffic so fast if he didn’t,” Dad whispered. “Odie’s with the other one. I don’t even think they know we’re gone.”

I didn’t tell him but with all our links shooting every which way at least one of them knew we’d left the apartment. Cobalt spoke quietly to a small trio of teenagers, giving them directions, that avoided coming this way. I hated myself. The park was for everyone. It had always been for everyone.

“It’s for us right now. For us to remember them,” Dad said. “They’ll come back when we’re gone to take their photos but they’ll just have to wait.”

I nodded because I didn’t have the energy to put my conflicting emotions into words.

“It’s hard to be happy today, huh?” Dad asked as if he read my thoughts.

“It seems like a crime to wake up happy today. I did, though. Happy that you found your mate and Odie found his too, even if I have my reservations on it all. It’s hard to be happy today without feeling like a horse’s arse and it’s hard to trust that anything good can actually be good.

Maybe I’m too old to learn new tricks but I don’t think you and Odie are.

When you’re ready, I’ll help you all get ready for your camping trip.

Don’t worry about work or the apartment.

I’ll take care of things while you’re gone.

And just like that I let the memories wash over me – not of the night they died but of my carrier’s laughter and the long nights of playing Go Fly in the shelter.

I tried to poke the happy moments up to the surface of my brain because no one wanted to be remembered as the person who got blown to smithereens by the crazy people.

When I stood up, Cobalt was by my side before I even thought to look around for him.

Without telling me to shift back he led us to a cross street where a limo waited.

Sure, it was overkill, but I decided maybe that was the only car and driver he could get on such short notice.

Then I remembered all the limos were fireproof and bulletproof because not everyone liked the Moonscales.

Hell, maybe they’d hate me too just because Indigo was my mate.

Indigo.

His name circled around my head until it was hard to breathe.

I missed him so much that it left my whole torso aching.

I didn’t wait for anyone to open the door when the limo pulled to a stop in front of the apartment building.

I just hit the button and sprinted inside.

I appreciated Cobalt having my back but I wanted my mate.

Inside the apartment was as quiet as when I ran out.

I tiptoed into the bedroom and peeked inside.

Odie was out cold his head on Indigo’s arm.

I froze in place, afraid of disturbing the quiet moment.

He needed his rest. Indigo beckoned me over with his other hand and I circled the bed before climbing in.

He kissed me on my nose, and I fought off the urge to play sneeze that came up so often every time someone booped my nose in any way.

Safe beside my mate, my wolf gave up control and let me have my human form back.

“Sorry about that,” I whispered.

“I would’ve gone with you but he was pretty upset. Seemed to think he messed everything up with Cobalt,” Indigo whispered back to me.

“You didn’t let him fall asleep thinking that, did you?”

“No,” he shook his head. “I wouldn’t do that to anyone. From what I heard of the conversation it wasn’t even an argument. Cobalt talked about how much he wanted his mate and then he ran away.”

“Believe me he didn’t run away from sex,” I laughed.

“I know that. He knows that too.”

“What’s he really afraid of?” I asked.

“If you don’t know by now, he’ll have to be the one to tell you, mate. It’s not my story to tell.”

I let out a long sigh. I hated when people turned what I said around on me.

It was such a bloody therapist thing to do but this time I let it go because Indigo was right.

If I had missed something Odie would tell me sooner or later.

I just hoped it was sooner because I couldn’t help him if he didn’t let me know what was wrong.

A few minutes later, Cobalt joined us and Odie rolled over onto his chest in his sleep.

I wanted to thank Cobalt for saving me back at the plaque but once again I didn’t have the words so I said nothing.

We all lived on graveyards even before London was built.

That was something I might never get used to.