Page 14 of The Bear, the Eagle, and their Wombat Omega (Omegas of Animals: SD #14)

Arkyn

The next day…

While Steve went to tie up loose ends before taking the rest of the week off to spend time with us, Bruno and I found ourselves alone and with time to kill.

He’d been right when he’d told me the workload was only busy at first. No more meetings.

Just a few phone and Zoom calls. We were officially on vacation in San Diego through the weekend.

What would we do when it was over?

My mind couldn’t handle thinking about that. Not right now. I just wanted to spend all the time I could with my mates. I was drunk with happiness. I never wanted it to end.

I sat with my feet up on the hotel couch, leaning against Bruno, my head on his shoulder.

“We have the whole afternoon. What do you want to do?”

I knew what I wanted. The bedroom. More touching. I had been starved for that for years. But Steve needed to be here. I wanted them both together.

“Well, you mentioned the zoo and the park,” I said softly.

“Yeah. What do you like?”

“Really? The honest truth?”

“Of course.” He tightened his arm around me.

“I want to sit here with you, in your arms, Boss. I want to get to know you even better. I want to know everything.”

He kissed the side of my head. “I’d like that, too.”

I began slowly. “I want you to know the truth about why I said no to you two years ago.”

Bruno’s voice was low and rumbling. “You said your heart had been broken. I didn’t know. I’m so sorry.”

“I want you to know I wasn’t rejecting you. I was rejecting love. Closeness. Intimacy. I didn’t trust anymore. I wasn’t normal after…after he left.”

“Can I ask what happened?”

“Yes. He was an omega I went to school with. We fell in love. Deeply. Or I thought it was deep. But the very day he moved in with me, he met his fated mate.”

“How awful for you.”

“There was nothing to be done. It is what it is. He had to go. I had to let him go. But after that, I didn’t feel anything for a long time.

I didn’t feel normal and wondered if something was wrong with me.

When you asked me out, I swear, Bruno, if I was normal inside, I would have said yes.

You are so wonderful. Beautiful. The most handsome alpha I’ve ever known.

I’d never had a boss like you before. But I couldn’t say yes. I was too afraid to try again.”

“You weren’t ready.”

I snuggled my back up against him. “Maybe. It had been years. I thought I might never heal.”

“You were hurting all this time. Something inside me knew. I kept wanting to help but didn’t know how.”

“You helped. You helped by being the best person to work for. I looked forward to coming to the office every day. Not many can say that. And you made sure I wasn’t alone on lunch breaks. You were there, but never intrusive, and I thank you for that with all my heart.”

“You’re welcome but it wasn’t any hardship on my part. I never stopped wanting you.”

I turned my head to try to look at him. “Really?”

“You were the one, Arkyn. Even though the fated thing seemed to be missing, I knew. It was you and only you.”

“Now we know why we didn’t have that instant fated instinct. Because of Steve.”

“Yep. He was the one missing from the equation.”

“He’s such a sweetheart,” I said. “What if we’d never gone to Animals? Would we have missed him altogether?”

“I don’t know. Fate has her ways.”

“Yeah. I guess. But Fate was cruel to me when I was younger. I’m grateful now, but still unsure about how Fate works.”

“Shh, don’t let her hear you!”

We laughed together.

“What about you?” I asked. “Any broken hearts in your past?”

“I’ve fooled around, if that’s what you’re asking. But no. Nothing serious. Nothing like you, where you were almost moving in together. And then I met you and that was it. You ruined me.”

“What? How?”

“Everyone else I met got compared to you, and no one could compete. It was you I wanted. My bear knew it, too. That’s my only broken-heart story.”

I turned all the way around on the couch so I could hug him. “I didn’t know I broke your heart.” I kissed him right on the mouth. “Let me make it up to you?”

“You already are.” He kissed me back.

We talked about so many things. Our childhoods. Our parents. His sleuth and my aerie. Our favorite movies. We shared more intimate little stories.

After a while, Bruno got up and stretched. I couldn’t take my eyes off him.

“Want a drink?” he asked.

“Sure.”

We moved down to the hotel bar, which was also serving appetizers, and got a small booth.

After texting Steve to tell him where we were, and finding out he’d be a few more hours, we resumed our conversation over Long Island iced teas and chicken wings.

Finally, we got to the subject of Steve again.

“How will we make this work?” Bruno asked. “He lives here, and we’re two-and-a-half hours away.”

“It will work.”

“We can’t be apart.”

“I know.” I reached across the table for his hand. “Let’s just enjoy this vacation. Logistics will come later.”

“I should leave that to you and not worry,” Bruno said. “You’re always good with logistics.”

I laughed. I’d never done more laughing than over the past days. It was like my heart had been held hostage by my shadow self and was not free to stretch and bend and pump like a normal heart.

And fly.

“Yes,” I mumbled to my beast. “And fly.”

“What?” Bruno asked.

“Just talking to my eagle.”

“Talk away. He’s beautiful, by the way. My bear thinks he’s the handsomest eagle he’s ever seen.”

“My eagle thinks the same about your bear.”

“And Steve, too,” I added. “Wow. I’ve never seen a wombat before him. The cuteness is off the charts.”

“I can’t wait to shift with both of you again,” Bruno said.

The afternoon went by fast as we talked and connected on ever deeper levels. By the time Steve returned and met us in the bar, we’d been through several drinks and were slightly tipsy.

“How’d it go?” I asked.

Steve sat down. “Great. The event you guys helped me pull off got all positive emails, and I’ve cleared most of my schedule for the rest of the week.”

“Cheers. More drinks all around.” Bruno tipped up his glass, but it was empty.

“How’d your date time together go?” Steve asked.

“Great,” I said. “It’s weird how you can work with someone for years and still not know them the way I want to know both of you.”

Steve pointed to our glasses. “Have you two been drinking all day?”

We both shook our heads. “Not really.”

“Well, I’m starved. I want food. Lots of food. Can you two at least walk to the hotel restaurant?”

“I’m hungry, too,” Bruno and I said in unison.

“Sure, I can walk,” Bruno said. He got up, wavered a little, but remained standing.

When I stood up, I felt a little lightheaded, but my mates came on either side of me and put their arms over my shoulders.

Together, we walked the short distance to the restaurant where we had great food then ended our day back in our suite with another romantic evening for three.