34. Aspyn
Chapter thirty-four
Aspyn
A spyn Aged 19
Nat frowns at the box and looks at me.
“Are you sure you want to do this? The town will be weird.”
I smile at her obvious concern. “I need to make money. This is a good way to do it.”
I apply the thick eyeliner that makes me look mysterious and then tie the sashes around my waist.
Nat’s eyes widen when I turn around.
“What do you think?”
“I think you look like a psychic.”
I grin. “Yeah, it works, doesn’t it?”
“You’re really going to go through with this?”
I nod. In the box on the table are gemstones I’ve been keeping with placards that explain the meaning behind them. I’ve got dream catchers, tarot cards, oracle cards, and a really gorgeous crystal ball.
Six months ago, Nat found out I can paint cards with elaborate fantasy designs, and because they are hand painted, they are even more valuable and desirable. I had no idea, but she sold a couple online for me, and I’ve invested the money into this.
I pick up the box and limp out to her car. The neighbours stop, staring at me, wrinkling their noses and casting judgement, but I don’t care. Today I have hope.
Nat and I are pariahs. It’s a different location but the same vibe. We don’t fit into these towns.
They avoid us. So I need to make my money from the tourists, and because of the hotel and surfing here, this town gets more people coming through.
Nat sighs and drives me down to the market. I get out and wave her off.
I take a breath and let it out.
I don’t want to be at the mercy of people who can leave me.
I find the stall I’ve rented and set up.
Nerves bubble, but when I look up, Keagan winks at me as he passes.
Beau lifts his chin, and Shale watches from the shadows.
Their presence settles everything in me. My guardian angels. Always close.
I smile as someone approaches me.
“Hi, welcome. My name is Cassie, I’m a Psychic, and I can tell you about your future.”
I think my sister Cassie would have loved this.
P resent Day
I exhale and try to hold in the tears with a wobbly smile. The woman who is making my coffee glances at me and the pack and whispers to the person working with her.
It’s been like that everywhere we’ve gone. The news is spreading, the hate campaign. What’s happening at Alpha Labels got out, and the media has been speculating over who we are.
The woman puts two trays of coffee on the counter. I reach for one but pause, glancing down at my cane. When I look up, she’s looking at it, too, but like it’s dirty. Like I’m dirty.
I should be used to this. But it never gets easier.
I recoil, not wanting the coffee, but Kelly grabs both trays and smiles at me.
“Let's get going.”
I follow him, sticking close to his back as people follow our every movement with their eyes.
The pack is ignoring them, but I hear every whisper. They wonder if my cane is for pity, if my limp is part of some ploy. They quote articles and the snippets people have started to spread.
They call me a home-wrecking whore.
But, mostly, they call me broken, and they feel sorry for my pack because I will never be able to give them what they need.
My confidence erodes like the ocean tide crashing into a sandcastle.
We head to the museum next, and the whole idea to get me away from Holt and his constant venom is starting to backfire.
I almost forget the pack is around me, but the Daane close ranks. Shale wraps an arm over my shoulder and guides me in, pointing out the animals I have never seen before.
I don’t realise I’m crying until Ezy is wiping away my tears.
“Don’t let them see you cry. You deserve much better than this. They don’t understand, and they don’t know.”
I look up into his earnest eyes.
“The whole world thinks you’re with me out of pity. I can’t fulfill your needs. I can’t give you a decent life. How can you ignore what they are saying? How can you not hear it?”
Ezy is pulled away, and Beau takes his place, gliding towards me, all predatory and intense.
“Babe, I am so fucking sure we went through this. Didn’t we go through this?”
Keagan smiles. “We did go through this.”
I look between them both.
“Remind her,” Shale growls. “Remind her why we belong to her. No one sees anything.”
Ezy and Kelly stalk off, but I’m too busy watching Beau’s fingers walk up my sternum and pull at the neckline of the dress I’m wearing.
He yanks it hard, spilling my breasts out. My alpha instantly covers them with his hands.
I whine as he squeezes and pulls.
“Tell me again that I don’t deserve the omega who makes me happy? Tell me again that I’m unworthy of having the love of my life? Please, tell me how fate found my perfect match for me but the rest of the world’s opinions matter more. Tell me why I should give a shit about what those people say because, to me, you are everything that is good and everything I would die to keep. Aspyn, let them whisper, let them turn green with envy. Hold your head up because you are my omega, and no one else will ever come close to you in my eyes. You are my dream, my want, my need. Scent matched, fated, destined, my omega to my alpha, my queen, my best friend, my lover, my family. Aspyn, you are home.”
“Beau-”
He slams his mouth down on mine, but I have no words left. He is the balm to my broken heart, soothing the pain. His love is the answer my soul’s been screaming to hear.
He walks me backwards and into an alcove. Around us, the darkened room shows various environments with the animals who live in them. I’m lost between the jungle and the desert. Keagan pulls me away from Beau, picking me up but spreading my legs wide. Beau is back in a second, scrunching up the skirt of my dress and undoing his pants.
I struggle in Keagan’s hold, but at the first touch of his cock through my slick, I freeze. It feels so good.
I let out a purr, and Keagan laughs. “I do love the sounds you make.”
“Give me more,” I moan. “I need more.”
“And you can have it. All of it, right here in public. Let’s give them something to really talk about, huh?”
I open my eyes and find Beau pressed up against me. His eyes are crinkled in amusement. Beau is as wild as the winds that rip through our island.
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry. Be mine.”
“Yes. Always.”
He pushes up into me, slow and steady, not rushing, taking his time and drawing it out.
But by the time he’s completely sheathed inside me, I’m shaking and ready to strangle him.
“Beau!”
He laughs. “What’s wrong, my beautiful little doubter?”
“I’m not doubting,” I say in a shrill voice, my nails digging into his shoulder as I try to rock against him.
“Good. Then I have achieved my goal, and we can stop.”
“No!”
He chuckles and withdraws, only to push back in faster. He stops, holding still and flexes. I groan, and he kisses the tip of my nose.
“So cute and needy.”
“I’m going to murder you.”
He laughs harder and leans over my shoulder. Keagan kisses him.
“Did you hear that?” Beau whispers to my alpha. “She thinks she’s going to murder me, but, the fact is, she can’t live without me. Foolish omega.”
“Fuck her, Beau, or I will,” Keagan rasps in my ear.
Beau laughs again, free, wild, and full of darkness.
He thrusts hard, but Keagan has hold of me, and there’s nowhere to go.
Nothing to do.
Except shatter.
W ith my anxiety soothed, it’s easier to read the bonds, and I find the person who is the most stressed and struggling is someone I didn’t expect.
I stay close to Gael as Kelly continues the tour, but his grief is spiralling, and when we pass the school, I take his hand and pull him away from the window and into my arms.
He buries his face in my shoulder and just holds on. Each breath is a shuddering bellow. Kelly and Ezy close in, the three of us holding the storm that is Gael together for just a little longer.
Eventually, we give up trying to play tourist and head back to the mansion. I sit on the front step and watch the sky that looks so damn different from mine.
I just don’t know how I’m supposed to be here.
I don’t know how we can live here, but I’m prepared to try. This is where Kelly’s family is. This is everyone’s home.
We have to stay.
Gael sits beside me.
“We can do this,” I murmur to him.
I reach out a hand. He places his in mine.
“Yeah, we can do this.”
Neither one of us feels confident or sounds even remotely happy.
But we’re going to try for the pack.