Epilogue
I’ve been on the open water in the Gulf of Mexico for hours, and the man who promised he’d always come after me is nowhere to be seen. The asshole knows my sanctuary order in Barberie just let up. If he really were a good private detective, then he would have planned for this. He’d fucking be here.
He’s a bad private dick.
It’s been twelve months since we bonded on his living-room floor, severing all my other bonds, including my unnatural one with my nest. It’s been two weeks since my last heat. And it’s been six hours since I stole this sailboat from a Texas port, and have been floating around in it.
His dad, Captain Racine, was able to secure a sanctuary order shortly after I arrived.
The judge agreed since I was fleeing another state from abusive alphas, and they needed to protect me from retaliation.
It expired after twelve months, but that gave us plenty of time to process everything.
Nevada chose not to prosecute me. Instead, they enrolled me in a Trauma Recovery Center with my very own therapist, all on their dime.
Getting to talk about my mother, Roman, and my sister has been life-altering.
Things were rough for a long time, and without Tony, drugs, and EMDR, I wouldn’t be where I am today.
No one tells you how hard it is to process it all. I thought enduring it was the hard part.
While I didn’t get prosecuted, Hollis and Noble did, and I had to do a virtual interview with the court. They had enough evidence between me, Petra, their former temporary omega, and their formerly bonded beta, Ash, to put them in prison. Five years. Not as much as I’d liked, but it’s something.
Tony’s bite was successful in a total bond dissolution, even between Ash, Hollis, and Noble.
Dr. Soto came to visit and check up on me.
He brought his whole pack: two omegas, two more alphas, and a very handsome beta who held a small baby boy in a sling while also using a cane to walk.
The image started my journey of desperately wanting a baby.
Dr. Soto determined I would make a full recovery from Nest Waning Syndrome, and if I wanted to, I could get pregnant.
The press wanted to interview me, but I declined.
We were kind of famous for a second.
They kept our names and faces out of the media, but some freaky people figured it out. They wanted me on their podcast or internet video thing. Without Captain Racine’s protection and Tony’s cyber skills, we would have had problems.
Tony cleaned up his pool and got a pair of pigeons for the sunroom, and I turned the house into a series of omega nests.
A nest in every room. I even made a floating nest in the pool.
Tony erected a cabana, which I turned into another nest. I’m pretty sure Tony owns stock at the nest store by this point.
The thing is, I keep stealing things like I used to, but now I don’t give it up. So, I’ve acquired a lot of things.
I’ve made new friends. Two other omegas and a beta. We crochet together on Friday nights. I have a walking group. Tony and I play pickleball with another couple. Barberie has been good to me.
Matty went back to Virginia shortly after Ash recovered.
She was never able to take a real maternity leave, what with her divorce and then trying to start a business with her friend, so she needed a break for a while.
A few months ago, Tony and Matty started working again.
She got them a few good jobs. Local jobs in the state.
We talk on the phone, but I haven’t seen her since Nevada when I was half-crazed in the back of the rental car.
I’m now floating around the 57-foot sailboat with two cabins, a washer and dryer, and now a nest that I’ve built in one of the cabins.
I woke up early this morning before the sun rose and got a car to drive me to the coast. I used an alias.
New burner phone. I only had the clothes on my back and a pocket full of cash.
I had to reluctantly leave the lighter behind with the tracking device inside.
I walked up and down the docks for a while before I picked this one out.
The name was perfect. The Sweet Rose. I couldn’t not!
It was calling to me. I ran to the store and bought snacks, blankets, pillows, and a long robe, then back to take my new boat out.
By the time the sun rose, I was already pulling up the anchor and taking off.
But it’s nearly 3:00 pm, and my private eye isn’t here. I thought for sure he would have already found me. I make myself an iced coffee and a waffle, then curl into my nest for an angry nap.
I wake up to the smell of cypress surrounding me. I blink my eyes open, and the source is staring right at me. Inches from my face. Happy as a clam.
“Tony.”
“Sweet Rosette.”
I unbury myself from my cocoon of comfy items, and he watches me slowly emerge.
“You found me.”
He pulls my arm out and kisses the inside of my wrist, then rubs the side of his face with it. He’s very freaky about my scent. If I’m being honest, so am I. Our scents mixed together elicit so many emotions in me, and I’ve become addicted to it.
It’s even better now that he’s stopped smoking.
Once we got to Barberie, he officially quit.
He said he smoked to help with the scent-stress of being a bloodhound, but now that he had my scent, he didn’t need it anymore.
While that’s a nice sentiment, I’m sure he’d still love a cigarillo if given the opportunity again.
“Can I scent you, Omega?” he says with a growl.
I nod. “Yes, Alpha.”
He crawls farther into my nest and pushes my head to one side with his and then rubs our necks together.
The sensation runs down my body all the way to my toes, like bubbles.
He pushes my head to the other side and scents us on both sides.
This time I shake my legs to help the intense tingling feeling.
He grabs my face with both hands and then closes his eyes, smelling me. I love when he does this. It’s like he’s addicted to me.
Finally, he sits back.
“I can’t believe you found me.”
“No.”
“No? Is this a dream? Are you not here?” I’m so disoriented from my nap that I wonder if I even am on a boat.
“This is very much real.” He kisses the inside of my arms and also rubs against his neck.
“Well, good, because I would like to get mad at you.”
He sits up, looking me in the eye, unamused. “At me? For what?”
I still have blankets wrapped around my legs, and I’m too tired to get them off, so I give up.
“I thought you’d find me sooner. It took you all damned day. Did I make it too hard for you?”
“Kelya,” he says so sweetly, and I just know we aren’t playing the same game. “This is my damned boat. Kelya bait. Little omega thief temptation. You walked right into it.”
“No.”
That’s not true. Half of my decisions were random…
“What do you think I’ve been doing for the last few months with all those sailor knots?”
I’m about to open my mouth and tell him I don’t know what he’s talking about, but then suddenly, I recall all the times in the late evening he was practicing knots over and over again while we watched movies.
“You were practicing sailor knots?”
“Uh huh. I even took a class on sailing.”
“When?”
“When you were at crochet night with your friends.”
I cannot believe he kept this big of a secret from me. While I’m staring off into space, in absolute shock at his great reveal, Tony puts my wrists together and slowly wraps a nylon cord around them. By the time I realize what he’s up to, he has my wrists completely tied together.
“What is this?”
“Punishment,” he answers. My cunt immediately catches fire. I love Tony’s punishments. They are pleasurable affairs that take me places I didn’t think were possible to go.
He pulls me out of my nest and drags me across the room, and I let him. He gets me to the corner and then looks up, so I do, too.
There at the top of the ceiling is a hook. What is that for? I’m so fascinated by it that I lose myself for a moment.
Suddenly, I’m being lifted off the ground, and my arms are thrust up. Before I know it, Tony has hooked my hands on the ceiling, and then lets me go. My body stretches out, and my big toes barely touch the ground. I look at him, shocked as I swing around.
“Now, you’ve been caught, Sweet Rosette. You know what that means? You’re all mine to do whatever I want with.”
My jaw falls open.
“You…”
He pulls a red silk sash out of nowhere and wraps it around my head, covering my mouth.
“No more talking. I’m in charge now.”
My heart beats erratically. My core heats. Tony is so hot right now I can’t stand it.
“Since you can’t say your safe word, we’ll have to do something else. Can you moan?”
I nod enthusiastically.
“Show me.” He rips my dress open and reveals my naked stomach underneath, and I do what he asks and moan. “Good girl. That will mean yes.”
He then takes a couple big steps back, and I whimper. Come back, you big, beautiful man.
He smiles, so utterly pleased by me.
“That will mean slow down. Ok?”
I excitedly nod as he comes back.
His warm knuckles run down my body between my breasts, and when he gets to my panties, he removes them entirely, and I’m naked and wanting. My skin is so hot I think I’m going to die.
“Breathe, little Omega, I want you to take everything I’m going to give you.”
I take deliberate, slow breaths, but it’s so hard when he makes me feel this way, like staring down a volcano. He comes up behind me and wraps his hand around my body and lays his palm flat on my stomach. An involuntary moan comes out of me.
He buries his nose into the back of my neck and takes a deep breath.
Here we go. Tony slides down my spine, both smelling and licking my bare skin.
He doesn’t stop at my ass. He goes right over my crack and down the inside of my thighs.
Then he makes his way back up, but this time biting me inch by inch.
Our panting breaths are in sync.
Losing my ability to speak or get away has me at his ever-loving mercy. I’ve never felt more free.