Chapter Forty-four — Trinity
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
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TRINITY
This place was really cool.
The giant festival ran up and down the beach and the area near it. Half carnival, half art installation, half craft fair. Yes, that was three halves, and I didn’t care.
I had a giant cone of pink and blue cotton candy, and Bastian carried a giant stuffed octopus he’d insisted on winning for me. The stall was the kind where you had to knock over stacked bottles, and even though the games are always rigged against you, Bastian didn’t give up until he won.
Now we headed to the artistic half of the festival on the beach itself. Theo was right, it was all about light. Giant trusses and cranes helped suspend some of the installations.
We passed beneath a set of giant interlocking rings, spangled with lights. Tinkling, crystal music played, every note making the lights dance in response.
“What is that?” Aiden asked.
I looked in the direction he was and laughed. Several giant shapes on the beach. They were curved, iridescent, and lit up from within with a glow that slowly shifted through every single color.
“I think I would call that giant, iridescent toothpaste,” I said.
Brooks laughed so suddenly he slapped a hand over his mouth. Logan choked on his drink. “You are a thousand percent right. That’s exactly what it looks like.”
From here, we could see people walking through the one that was shaped like an arch. “Let’s go.”
I sprinted away from them towards the glowing target, dodging couples, families, a group of photographers. From behind me, I heard them calling, but I didn’t stop. I did slow down almost immediately because, like I’d told them, I wasn’t a runner.
Still, I had a head start.
Tossing away what little was left of my cotton candy, I stared up at the giant plastic shapes. They really look like a god had squeezed out a celestial tube of toothpaste on the beach. I walked beneath the giant arch as the color shifted to bright pink. It was beautiful.
I was pulled back into a hard body, the rich scent of leather and clove wrapping me up. Bastian. “Don’t run if you don’t want me to chase you.”
“Who says I don’t want that? And I barely ran. I like sneaking better, remember?”
“I have plans for your sneaking. And probably a little running.”
“Oh? Where? When?”
Bastian slowly turned with me as we watched the colors change. “Still need to work out a couple of details. But I’ll tell you. It won’t be a surprise.”
“Okay.”
The rest of my Alphas walked into the toothpaste arch. Painted in vibrant, almost neon colors, they were beautiful too. Theo was now the one wrangling all the stuffed octopus limbs.
“I’m going to put a tracker in you,” Aiden muttered as he came closer.
“Stalker. Besides, you have my location.”
Music blared from the direction of the water. I hadn’t realized there were floating walkways out to a few installations on the water. Square towers made of lights played a beautiful light show to the music. The water reflected it all so you were surrounded by a riot of light.
Too many people crowded the water walkways for us to join them. “What about that one?” I asked.
A little farther down the beach, away from the main festival, I saw one more water-based installation. It didn’t look like many people were down there.
“Sure.”
A few people in matching polos were handing out flyers to anyone who would take one. It was probably some kind of sale. The one closest to us made eye contact. Shit.
“Sunrise snorkeling,” the man said. “Come with us to see the reefs light up in the morning.”
I took the paper. “Thanks.”
Coral reefs. Where were we, exactly? I’d been so out of my mind missing Logan and recovering from my episode in the closet that I hadn’t thought about where the competition was. We might be close to the southernmost tip of the reef restoration project I was investigating.
Down here was the first place they rebuilt the reefs, so the project had been complete here for years.
But that didn’t mean there wasn’t anything to see.
“Wow,” Theo whispered.
I looked up from the flyer and stopped. Floating walkways hovered in the dark water beneath a frame that held thousands of hanging lightbulbs. They were hung at levels that made the big swooping shapes look like clouds.
With the moon setting on the horizon, it was easily one of the most beautiful things I’d ever seen.
The walkway rocked under my feet, and all I could do was stare upwards. It was magical. Like a little pocket you wanted to live in forever. “I love this.”
“Yeah?” Logan asked.
I leaned on the railing and he braced his arms on either side of me. “My dad would love this, too.”
“You’re right, and so would Mom. If it wasn’t ending this week, I’d tell them.”
My thoughts made me feel guilty, but for the first time, I didn’t let the guilt linger. I wasn’t a monster for reacting to something that hurt me. “It might sound terrible, but I’m okay having a place that he hasn’t been.”
Theo leaned his forearms on the railing next to us. “Cecil never took Trinity with him. Ever.”
Logan kissed the top of my head, lingering there. “I’m sorry, wildfire.”
“It’s okay.”
“No,” he said. “It’s not. But if I can take you with me where I surf, I’ll do it in a heartbeat. I’m sure Bastian will say the same. And Theo would, if he was still an athlete.”
“Rude.” Theo chuckled.
The breeze picked up, and I shivered. It was cool off the water. Logan rested his chin on my shoulder. “Ready to head back?”
“A couple more minutes. You can keep me warm.”
He laughed. “Yes, ma’am.”
I lifted the blankets and crawled underneath them, onto Aiden’s body, popping my head out from the blanket at his chest and resting my chin on it. “Hi,” I whispered.
Eyes still closed, he smiled. “Hello.”
“Can you do your hacker shit and find where I can buy something on short notice?”
He wrapped his arms around me and turned us to the side, still not opening his eyes. “Depends on what it is.”
“So you know the coral reefs? From the flash drive?”
“Yes.”
“Some of those reefs are down here. Older ones where the project is complete. It might be a good idea to take some pictures. But I’d need a camera that can go underwater.”
“How deep are the reefs?”
“I don’t know. Why?”
A soft purr started. “Last time I checked, you didn’t have a scuba certification. If they’re deeper than snorkel level, you won’t be able to get to them.”
“Oh. Definitely snorkel level. They advertise the reefs for that specifically. Remember that guy last night who gave me a flyer? It was for sunrise snorkeling. That ship has obviously sailed, but I’m sure there’s a tour we can find. Want to come?”
This morning I’d confirmed my thoughts. We were right where we needed to be for the very first reefs in the restoration project. It was too good an opportunity to pass up.
One dark blue eye cracked open and looked at me. “What are the odds of you going whether or not I’m with you, even if you don’t have a camera?”
“High.”
Aiden didn’t say anything for a few seconds. “Fine. But if you insist that we get out of this very warm, very comfortable bed, along with the camera, you’ll wear whatever bathing suit I buy you.”
“You want to show me off?”
He smirked. “Something like that.”
We both knew he wanted to stake his claim in any way he could. “I should just let you tattoo ‘property of Aiden Fletcher’ on my ass.”
“Your other Alphas might take issue with that.”
A laugh burst out of me, filling the room. “I love that that’s the thing that makes you pause, not the actual tattoo.”
Aiden rolled me beneath him and tilted my head to the side, kissing my neck.
Biting it without breaking skin. “A tattoo showing I own you would be hot as fuck. Maybe one day you can get a tattoo for us as a pack. But there are less permanent options to illustrate how thoroughly our Omega belongs to us.”
He was speaking like this, emphasizing our dynamic, because he knew it turned me on. And focusing on my neck because that’s where a collar would go. He liked the idea and had said as much. “If you think talking about how you own me is going to change my mind about snorkeling, you’re mistaken.”
“If you think I’ve forgotten that I can choose to keep you in this bed and fuck you to my heart’s content, regardless of snorkeling plans, then you’re mistaken. And I never actually asked you on our date. Would you want that?”
My breath hitched. “A collar?”
“Yes.”
I pushed aside the instinctual yes and tried to think about it through the lens of reality and not fantasy. But the fantasy was delicious. “Yes, but not out of the house. Not right now.”
“That can be arranged,” he said. “And here’s the next question. A thought exercise.”
“Okay?”
“Imagine me locking you in a collar, but once that collar closes, it never comes off. It seals together, and the only way it can be removed is for it to be cut off. How does that make you feel?”
The wave of my perfume nearly drowned us both. I shuddered. The permanence of something like that was terrifying, and yet it was what I’d always wanted. A promise that I’d never be alone.
But again, this was real life.
Aiden groaned into my skin. “That’s a very good reaction, violet.”
“I think the fantasy of having a collar that never comes off is, in your words, hot as fuck. I also don’t think that’s practical.
Same for these.” I held up my hand to show off my hand chains.
Today they were silver and had pearls that ran along the back of my hand, though I would probably take them off for snorkeling.
“You can make them permanent. There are places that will do it. But I like switching them out for different ones too much to pick a permanent one.” I reached up with both hands and pushed my fingers through his hair. “But I still like the fantasy.”
“You’re right. There are too many situations where having a permanent collar would be dangerous or inconvenient for it to be a real consideration. But your interest does give me some ideas for scenes. Long ones.”
“Like?”
Aiden had been bracing himself so his weight didn’t crush me.
But as he spoke, he lowered himself so I felt the full force, and there was no escape.
“Like renting a cabin in the middle of nowhere and kidnapping you. Putting a collar on you, metal wrist and ankle cuffs. Pretend they are permanent and that you’re our little slave for a week.
Imagine all the things we could do to you when there’s no one around to hear you scream? ”
“Most women would find that terrifying.”
“Good thing you’re not most women, huh?”
Aiden moved a hand between my legs, fingers running over me.
“I really do want to go snorkeling,” I said. Though I was sure he could convince me to change those plans if he kept using his fingers.
He didn’t. “I’m just checking something.”
“Something?”
“Yup. So I can do my ‘hacker shit.’”
He left me in the bed, and I stared after him. “How does touching my pussy help you hack stuff?”
All he did was shrug and smirk as he pulled out his laptop. “Aside from the fact that I always want to touch your pussy? You’ll see soon. If you haven’t done your training, now would be a good time.”
“I’m okay with surprises, but you guys do them a lot.”
“Are we surprising you? Or are we training you to trust your Alphas and your doms and the fact that we want what’s best for you?”
I made a face, lightly mocking his last words. He raised an eyebrow. Chills rose on my skin at the single movement before he grinned. “Go do your training.”
“I don’t think Theo brought the dildo.”
Aiden glanced my way. “I know for a fact that’s not true. I’ll be done with my hacking shit in twenty minutes. Go.”
I went, but I stripped as I did, swaying my hips on the way out of the room. His low growl had me grinning. And moving faster.