Page 62 of Omega Chattel
“I wasn’t near a phone for a very long time,” he said. He took a deep breath, then looked up at me, eyes swimming with an emotion I’d never seen in him before. Vulnerability. Yes, that was it. Kee never let anyone see him that way.
“I don’t want to go into a long-ass story about all the things that happened to me in the last months, but a lot of bad happened. Then a lot of good.”
“I don’t—“
He held up his hand. “I was with someone who was not very nice for a while. Thus, no phone. I’m okay, so don’t ask me too many questions. I’m barely able to talk about it.”
“Kee, did someone hurt you?”
“Yes, but then someone healed me, so don’t give it a passing thought.”
“That’s not possible! I care about you. Of course I gave you a passing thought. More than that! I was so worried. I still am. Are you all right?”
“I’m good now. I promise.” He gave me a strange smile. “I needed you to know this. I’m alive. I’m sorry I didn’t contact you sooner. You’re a good man, Tarin. You didn’t deserve to not know. I know you loved me. Maybe you still do. I played on that. So here I am to tell you things are different now.”
“Things are different for me, too,” I said.
“Really?”
I nodded. “If you can believe it, I met my fated mate.”
“Tarin! I’m so happy for you! But—but--” He frowned. “You don’t believe in fated mates.”
I let out a mirthless laugh.
“Well, then we both have something to celebrate,” Kee said. “Because I, too, am bonded now.”
“What?”
I couldn’t take it in all at once. The Kee I knew seemed allergic to bonding. He would not be tamed. He strutted the Trenches as if he owned them. His drive for sex was as wild as the wind in a winter valley. Cold and insatiable. Searching for something it could never find.
“I was worried about telling you.” Kee leaned forward with his hand out, as if to touch me. But he only waved it in the air. “When I finally got a phone again, I kept wanting to call or text, but I—I couldn’t.”
I thought about the past months, about how I would have reacted. I wanted to think I’d have been happy for him, finally findingthe oneand settling down. But I don’t know if I could have been that self-sacrificing and generous.
For a long time I wanted him back and in my life.
“It would have been nice to know you were alive,” I said.
“I’m an ass. A total fuck-up. But I met somebody and he—well, let’s just say he sort of set me straight.”
“What does that mean?”
“It’s a long story, Tarin. I’ll just say my Alpha is the right match for me.”
I blinked hard. I still had residual feelings, but Alli was the one for me now. “Me, too.”
Kee’s beautiful eyes brightened. “I’m so happy for you!”
“Do you love him? Your Alpha?” I asked.
“His name is Sebastian. Bastian or Bast is what he goes by. And yes, I love him. Our bond is strong. I never knew it could be like this. I never knew I’d survive past age twenty-five, let alone find a bond mate.”
Seeing Kee, hearing him talk about finding love, helped me put all the loose and unkempt pieces of my life from the past few years into place. No longer did I have to wonder about Kee. And worry. Now Alli could fit wholly into my mind without any question. My heart could be new again.
Kee had made such an amazing transformation. He still had a bit of that untamed look about him. I was sure he was trouble now and again for the man who called him bond mate. But Kee wouldn’t be Kee without his penchant for drama, and his naughty boy tendencies.
I knew I wouldn’t miss that, though. As I thought of Alli and our newly forming bond, he was the one I wanted. The one I needed. Even now, my body craved him. I wanted to go upstairs and have my way with him.
