Page 57 of His Bonded Omega Mate
Hiro wrapped his arms around us both. “We can’t change the past, but we can look at this as the gift that it is,” he said brightly. “Come on, let’s get back to Ívarr.”
“You still think this is a gift?”
“I do. I think The Luna changed you both to keep us together. Sure, it isn’t exactly what we wanted, but maybe that’s for the best. Instead of Asher pretending he was in love with me–”
“Ash loves you, Sunshine.”
“He does. But he isn’t in love with me. And that’s the distinction that we all forgot. We stayed bonded to the ones we love.”
Was it as simple as that? Had the goddess changed us to keep us together? It was a nice theory and certainly made me feel better about how things had turned out.
We were released from the clinic hours later after Ívarr had exhausted all the tests he could do on us. He took blood, semen, urine, and saliva samples. He took strands of hair and miniscule patches of skin. All hoping this was something they could identify.
I wondered if this was something they wanted to replicate. There were now two fewer betas in the world. If I could carry babies, then my value as a shifter went up. Omegas were valuable to a pack.
Was it wrong that I wanted to return this gift and have my simple life back? Not if it meant giving up Hiroshi, though. If this was the price for keeping him, then I’d pay it.
The Elves
Asher
Hakeemledmeawayfrom my mate without giving me the chance to apologize or even say goodbye. It was probably for the best. My control was paper thin, and I hated the look on Tate’s face. His last words to me over the bond had been a plea to listen to Hakeem and go with him. I wasn’t welcome at our home until they could trust me not to lash out.
Goddess! His words had cut me to the core. In our years together, I’d had moments of temper. Aggression was something I’d grown up trying to control, but since I’d woken as an alpha, it had been near impossible to put a lid on. I knew, deep in my soul, that leaving was the right thing to do. I would have hated to cause him any more pain.
“Everything will work out. You are not the first shifter I have had to help with their control.” Hakeem’s voice was soothing. My lion liked it.
“So you’ve worked with shifters before?” I tried focusing on Hakeem and the elves escorting us instead of the pack I was leaving behind me. Their eyes followed me until we were out of sight.
“I’m old, Asher. I’ve studied shifter behavior over the years, worked with the shifter pets the fae cast aside, helped them reintegrate into society, or just prepared them to return to your realm.”
That sounded like a depressing job. I hated that there were still places where shifters were treated as less than other species of supernatural, or less than humans. The anger lit a spark that flowed through me. I felt a growl work its way up my throat and swallowed it. I needed to change the subject. “You said we are going to your lands. To Abrocaelum.”
“That’s correct. Does that bother you? Being so far from your mate?”
Focusing on Tate had a fire rippling through my body again, rage filling every cell. This was so messed up. My head knew that it was irrational, but my lion roared. He wanted to return to our pack and fix Tate. First by getting those clothes off him, then by knotting and breeding him until he only thought of us.
We don’t own him. I reminded my lion. He was beyond words. Not that he was the best of communicators normally. We’d been born damaged.
Hakeem stopped me with a hand on my arm. “Take a deep breath. Tate is safe.” I wanted to scoff. Of course Tate was safe. He had another alpha to protect him. A better alpha. The thought of Roan had dual reactions. My lion raged, while my inner self whimpered. We knew we were too messed up for Tate. We weren’t good enough. Roan was better. He hadn’t been born messed up.
“I know. It’s just hard, leaving him behind.”
“I should not have mentioned him so soon after parting. I apologize.”
“No, that’s why I’m going with you, right? To get a handle on this.”
“It is, but also, I do not want to cause you pain. Right now, I know you are trying to fight your lion, who wishes to return to your mate.”
“That’s true. I’m at war with him. He hates me for giving up and not protecting our omega.”
“But you know that leaving is protecting your mate.”
“Yes. Until both me and my lion can get to grips with Tate having two mates, then we are dangerous to him. Our main problem is Roan.” Even saying his name had the urge to cause pain flaring through my body. Hakeem laid a hand on my arm. It felt like he was performing some sort of magic. We calmed. “While he says there’s no attraction there, and it felt like the truth, there’s a part of me that doubts him. We feel like he’s just waiting to swoop in and steal Tate from us.”
“What about Hiroshi? He’s still bonded to Tate.”
“There’s some lingering anger there. If he and Tate hadn’t pushed for this bonding, then things would be normal. He’d just have Roan, and I’d just have Tate. Everyone would be happy.”
