Page 64 of Omega Chattel
“I’m no threat to you,” I said.
“No. My bond is complete. But yours is not. I’m a threat to you.”
But that wasn’t true. Not anymore. It took seeing Kee again to make it clear to me that I didn’t want him anymore.
How quickly things changed. But I had Alli now, and I wanted nothing else. No one else.
Another swell of what felt like a hot wind swirled over me, prickling at my skin. I heard Alli’s voice, or something like it, in my mind. Low and even. A murmur I could not make out.
I needed to go to him. I wanted to go to him.
“Hey,” Kee said. His eyebrows tented in a V above his eyes.
“I should probably go back in,” I said, unable to read the look on his face. What had he seen?
“Take your temperature tonight,” he said, smiling. “Be sure.”
“I told you I’m not due for a week.”
“You have a bond mate now. He calls.” Kee’s lips parted, showing perfect white teeth. “Go on, then.” He waved me away.
I blinked hard. A warmth stirred behind my eyes, and my head began to ache. I’d never see him again. It was okay; it needed to be this way. But I still felt for a moment as if I could not breathe.
“Live a good life, Kee,” I managed to get out.
“You, too.”
He got into his car and when the door slammed and the engine started, it was as if the night around me wavered, unreal. I had the thought everything might vanish from one second to the next and I’d be left in a void, alone and lost.
Whispers in my head. My vision edged in fog. A car driving away, my past going along with it.
I needed Alli.Needed.With a longing so profound I could barely move forward, my balance off, my head in the stars.
I found my way back to the walkway and up the porch steps. I nearly stumbled through the front door, grabbing the frame to stabilize myself. I automatically closed and locked the front door, then moved unsteadily toward the stairs, waving lights off as I went.
If Oren, Tev and Farrell wanted to return to the living room to watch TV, they’d find their own way back.
Looking up at the stairs, they’d never seemed so vast and daunting. There were so many! I grabbed the banister and pulled my way up, step by step. My palms slipped on the polished wood. Sweat dripped down my back.
But I didn’t feel sick. I was fine. Euphoric, actually, because I was headed for Alli. Already, I couldn’t wait to take him into my arms. My lover, my Omega, my mate.
Two more steps, and I looked down for a moment to orient myself. The second wave of dizziness passed.
This yearning was strong. It was overtaking my entire body and mind.
When I finally reached the upper landing, silence greeted me. And darkness, save the little light under the window at the end of the hall.
Suddenly, I could no longer sense Alli. I headed for the door to my room, but as I projected ahead of myself, I felt nothing. The room gave off an empty vibe.
I swiveled around, reaching my hand out to the wall to steady the move.
A faint light, almost imperceptible, made a dark orange line underneath the bottom of the door. I approached, put my hand on the knob, and slowly turned it.
If Alli was in the guest room, it had a meaning. But my mind wasn’t working. I couldn’t understand. Didn’t he know he slept with me now?
The door swung open to silent darkness. A single, small lamp lit the far nightstand. A dark shadow, human-shaped, spread across the bed, one leg bent at the knee and slightly turned, arms up, elbows bent, hugging the head, pillowing it.
Alli did not sit up to greet me.
