Page 121 of In Knots

Epilogue

Ryan - one summer later

We ride out of the city, wanting as always to escape the noise and dirt and lose ourselves in the freedom of the countryside. The sun sinks low at the horizon painting the sky a vivid red and the heavy corn more golden. The machines labour in the fields as we pass, signalling the coming harvest. Soon our summer of adventure will end, the leaves will turn, and the days will draw darker – just like the day does now – and we’ll head back home.

Not yet though. Because tonight is the night we’ve all been waiting for. The night we’ll reach the very tip of the Italian coastline and the endless shore that waits for us there.

The pack’s spent the last three weeks travelling like this, shutting up the garage and taking to our bikes to explore all the places we’d always talked about, but never had. Not until we met Alexa. She’s taught us we are all more than the expectations of those around us. We can be who we want to be. We aren’t confined.

She clings to my back now, her small hands resting over my rib cage, over my heart, thumping madly for her even now after a year together. This heart will always beat for her. It has done since that first day I met her.

I remember it now, her face all flushed by the sun, her scent like freshly picked daisies, sitting up there on the bank with her skirt fluttering around her legs, whisps of her hair dancing in the breeze.

I remember the first time I tasted her too, how she sparked into life on the end of my tongue, how I stoked feelings she’d never experienced before.

And I remember the first time she rode with me, how alive she looked, how brightly her eyes sparkled. And I knew then I wanted to spend the rest of my days making this woman feel like that.

I want to keep making these memories with her.

I remove my left hand from the handlebars and trace my fingers over hers, her skin warm and soft. Against me she shudders with the anticipation of what’s to come. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it and the others are the same. It’s been a long time coming, but that was for the best. Our omega has always been determined to bond herself to this pack but we weren’t prepared to let her walk right from one cage into another. We needed her to test her freedom first, to be sure this pack was what she wanted.

And yeah, she wants us. Wants us as often and frequently as she can have us. I smile to myself. I wasn’t wrong about that fire burning inside her.

Buzz draws up alongside my bike and points towards a track. I nod and follow him down the bumpy road, carving underneath the scrubby trees, and then it’s there: the ocean, shimmering a golden blue in the setting sun.

I may not have Alexa’s eye for art, for pictures, but the sight of it makes my breath catch in my chest, and, for a moment, I feel infinitely small and insignificant in this giant world of ours.

But I’m not. I’m a part of this pack. They care about me and I care about them.

The beach lies empty and we park up our bikes by the sand.

Alexa doesn’t hesitate this time. She jumps down from my bike and races towards the crashing waves, stripping off her clothes as she runs, her skin bronzed by the days of sunshine. Soon I’m stripped and waist-deep in the water as well, crashing in after her, the others chasing us through the water.

Alexa twists in the waves and kicks out, bobbing above the surface, the sun disappearing below the horizon behind her. We slow, watching her, drinking her in. Then the four of us close in on her, circling around her.

She shivers. The water is cold this evening, the heat draining quickly away. But it’s not the temperature that makes her shudder. It’s the electricity in the air. The anticipation. So brilliant I can taste it on my tongue, feel it at the tips of my fingers.

“No photos tonight, little one?” Cam asks her.

Our omega has been documenting our trip, snapping photos wherever we go and posting them to her followers and patreons. We’ve no need to hide anymore. We can be as open as we like. No one is going to steal our omega from us again.

Simon’s actions in the church earned him a reputation that means no respectable family will let him anywhere near their daughters. With no hopes of rich in-laws to invest in his business schemes, he’s disappeared entirely.

Alexa’s parents have fared no better. Her father was forced to step down as CEO of his own company when rumours of his actions spread through the city, and her mother resigned from her foundation. They’ve moved somewhere quiet in the country, probably hoping to be forgotten. Maybe even forgiven. And perhaps one day Alexa will. She has the kind of open heart that will. Not me. Not the others. We won’t forgive and forget as easily.

“Nope, no photos tonight,” Alexa whispers. “This moment is just for us.”

Under the waves my hands are shaking. I want this, want it so badly, to make this beautiful, brave omega ours. To protect, care and love her for the rest of our days.

There’ll be no wedding for us – ours is still an unconventional way of living after all – no white dress, no fancy cake, no crowd of guests. Instead, we’ll have tonight. The cool of the water, the pounding of the waves, the smell of the salt in the air, the fading of the light.

It’s perfect.

“Claim me,” Alexa tells us, and I swim towards her, wrapping my arms around her cold body and dragging her near.

She trembles in my arms and for a moment I have to just close my eyes and breathe. The world whispering around us.

When I look down at her, she’s gazing straight at me, willing me to do this.

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