Page 73 of Empty Heat
“But—but my suitcase.”
“We’ll get it,” Rhodes assured me. “Come on with me.” He tried to help me take a few steps, but I faltered.
Senta stood to my right. I only saw he was there because I lifted my face from Rhodes’ embrace.
“All will be well,” Senta said, putting a gentle hand on my shoulder. He smiled to show his white teeth.
Why was he smiling? Didn’t he know the world was over and that nothing mattered? I had to go back. I had a job waiting. And a hard future with a box of dildos I’d have to show every alpha I ever might want to fuck how to use, how to be patient and not want their own pleasure until mine was assured.
Didn’t he know I was going to hell?
“Come on. Can you walk, Callum?” Rhodes asked.
No. I couldn’t walk. I might be able to crawl. But Rhodes held me steady and forced one step at a time from me.
We headed toward the big building I’d entered when I’d first arrived.
Through sliding glass double doors, cool air hit my hot face. My tears stretched the skin of my cheeks, trying to dry, but they melted from my eyes too fast for the air to absorb.
I coughed and tried to control myself. My chest was tight. My heart was gone. There was nothing for the ribs to clutch.
I’d have to tell them all now. I’d fallen. Too far and too fast. I’d fallen in love. With Lev.
“Come along this way.” Senta gestured.
My blurry gaze saw only shapes of kimono-clad humans. Today, Senta wore black. Rhodes wore white.
We headed down a glistening hall that smelled faintly of tears. But no, those were my tears, blocking every passage for air.
Two more double doors opened before us and we were inside a huge room with light blue walls, giant glass sliding doors that led to a balcony overlooking the gemstone sea, and comfortable couches all around.
I blinked once to clear my vision because someone else stood in that room to the side of the glass doors. Someone in black, like Senta, except he had soft brown hair sweeping around his face and gently brushing his shoulders, and he wasn’t an omega.
Lev.
I pulled away from Rhodes’ support and looked up.
Lev’s eyebrows were down-swept, showing the worried line between them like a black slash. His eyes were churning, pink around the edges. He looked wrung out, barely there. The ghost of Lev but still ultimately beautiful.
I gasped. “Lev?”
He didn’t move. Maybe he wasn’t real. Maybe I’d passed out and seeing him was my wishful thinking.
I glanced at Rhodes, then to Senta. I needed to know I wasn’t imagining this.
Senta nodded. “It’s all right. You couldn’t tell us in words, but you’ve told us now.”
“Told you what?” I sputtered.
“We had to be sure. You weren’t talking. Lev wasn’t talking.”
“Be sure of what?”
“That you, my dear friend, have come to Omega Island and found your true mate.”
19
Lev –Where the Pieces Fit
