Chapter 21
Chapter Twenty-One
Zeb
Ifield a few more questions before the press secretary steps in and commandeers the media’s attention. It’s the opening I need to slip away.
Out of the corner of my eye, I feel Governor Brach watching me. He gives a small nod.
By now, he’s probably concluded that zetas are every bit as possessive as alphas. Ethan Black and Ryker Sherwin—and the chaos they’ve caused with his daughter—have no doubt taught him that sometimes it’s smarter to yield than interfere.
Not a chance I’m backing down on this course of action.
Omegas are rare and reserved for the elite alphas whether that’s a controller or those wielding political power.
Other dynamics, they don’t get to make a claim.
So, you know, it took me a while to get myself into a position where I felt I could make a credible pitch without just resorting to kidnapping my woman.
I mean, that was on the table if Brach wasn’t going to play ball, but it’s better like this, and she deserves the best, to live in a nice home, one where she doesn’t need to be looking over her shoulder fearing some asshole will rip us apart.
Not that I would let that happen, but my girl’s a worrier. Don’t want her worrying, not in her condition.
I slip into the back of a sleek glider with its butter-soft leather seats.
“Where to, sir?” my driver asks.
“The omega community.”
His return smile is small. “Yes, sir.”
We take to the sky, gliding over the soaring towers of the government district, heading due west.
I wonder if she saw the news report.
If she has forgiven me yet? She didn’t tell anyone about me and what I did—what I became. Her hand in mine afterward, and the look in her eyes, they gave me hope.
I’ll make it up to her, spend the rest of my life doing so if that’s what it takes.
I’ve always sat apart from other dynamics, never really understanding where I fit in. I orbit on the edges of everyone’s understanding, just close enough to mimic belonging, yet remaining apart.
There’s always been something in me that’s off-kilter, sideways, too much or not enough. I’ve learned to hide it. Learned to shift and shape myself into what others needed in the moment. So many roles they became a blur.
But that core part of me that neither bends nor adapts stayed untouched and unknown.
Until Esme.
Maybe that’s what drew me to her right from the start. The way she saw below the surface and the face I wore, to the man beneath. She’s an omega, already rare and coveted. But to me, she’s extraordinary even among their kind.
To me she is everything.
Time for me to tell her.
Let’s hope she doesn’t tell me to fuck off… or run screaming.
Esme
I go to my allocated quarters where I pace back and forth. Diana watches me, wringing her hands. A dozen girls have come to check on me, several of the tutors too, although Diana sent them all on their way.
I can feel their worry reaching out for me, their kindness, and their fervent hope.
“Would you like a drink?” Diana asks. “How about something to eat? You have barely eaten in days. Or we could put the viewer on see if we can find something to distract you—”
I roll my eyes.
She grimaces. “Yeah, let’s leave the viewer off…”
“You don’t need to be here,” I say. “I’m alright. Really, I am.”
“You’re not alright,” she says vehemently. “He can’t just go around making statements about claiming someone on the global news. Why doesn’t he call ahead, for goodness’s sake?”
I roll my eyes for the second time. “He’s a man.” Mostly. “And zetas appear to share some marked similarities with alphas. He might even be worse.”
“Seriously?” she mutters. “They can’t possibly be worse.”
“What if it’s not me?” The words tumble out before I can stop them, self-doubts threatening to swallow me.
That familiar ache, of never being quiet enough, lending yet more suffocating weight.
He’s a politician now, a member of the ruling council.
Maybe he was talking about someone else, someone he knew before I gatecrashed his life.
Someone with a level head who doesn’t go chasing off like a crazy person and nearly getting you both killed.
“I misplaced something after my last mission. So you know, it’s time I went and collected her.”
Only I know what those words felt like—him publicly claiming me on a broadcast that will be transmitted to the far corners of the universe.
His words play on repeat in my mind, a promise—I’m coming baby.
Please be coming. I don’t know how to be in a world where I can only watch you from afar.
Diana’s face softens. “It’s going to be you,” she says confidently. “Nothing you’ve said about him suggests that he’s cruel… Dimwitted maybe… And if he’s not here in the next hour, I’m going to call his office and give him a piece of my mind.”
“He’s a governor now,” I point out. “What would he even want with me?”
“Are you kidding?” she says, sounding incredulous. “Have you even met yourself?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I say, feeling defensive.
“You’ve been a friend to me for years,” she says. “And not just me. Do you have any idea how many omegas in the community hang on your every word?”
I pull up my pacing. “That’s ridiculous.” My laugh is a little nervous. “Nobody hangs on my word.”
“You’re wrong, they do. I had a dozen girls come up to me and demand to know why you’d gone straight back into rotation when you went on this mission.
Every one of them had something pressing they needed to talk to you about, because and I quote, you’re the best listener and always help them figure out what to do. ”
“I never really thought about it,” I say, frowning now. “It’s difficult to focus on anything when I’m so wound up… You’re not just saying this to make me feel better, are you?”
Now it’s her turn to roll her eyes. “As if. Tell me what you need, and I’ll do my very best to make it happen—you think Lilly makes offers like that to everyone?
Reality check, she doesn’t. She offered you a place working in the omega community here, on Chimera.
They don’t do that for just anybody. I’m only a year younger than you, and trust me, nobody’s ever said that for me. ”
I make a scoffing noise.
“We all have gifts, Esme. Mine is healing in the field, but you’ve always been so good with the younger girls.” Her expression softens. “Some of them hero worship you.”
“I think hero worship is a little strong.” Only I suppose they do make me feel welcome whenever I return. Still… Deep in the pit of my stomach, the strange flutter begins, almost like something is awakening.
The sensation doesn’t disquiet me, rather, it offers comfort unlike the ache in my chest ever since Zeb. My hand goes there, to the invisible place and the thread that tethers me to a lost hope.
There were times during the disastrous operation when I could orient myself on him through that thread.
I exhale a soft breath.
“What’s that?” Diana asks, gesturing toward me.
“What’s what?” I ask, feeling instantly guilty and not sure why.
“You just… had a strange look come over your face, and your hand was right in the center of your chest when you did it. I’ve seen mated omegas do that.”
I take my hand away immediately. “I—It’s just…” Heat washes down my spine. I swallow thickly. “I think I’m finally losing my mind. I can almost feel him sometimes. I mean, how can I possibly? It’s not like we’re mated…. I never went into heat.”
“Heat? What does heat even look like?” she says, shrugging her shoulders. “When you have enough forced heats, you don’t even get the natural ones anymore. Knocks everything out of kilter. It’s different for everyone, and besides, it can happen without all the crazy sometimes…”
“I can’t be mated to him,” I say, shaking my head.
“He’s not even an alpha.” But the sensation of pulling in the center of my chest is growing stronger, almost like I’ve been ignoring it, pushing it down.
And now I can’t focus on anything else. My laugh is nervous.
“You’re going to think this is crazy, but I swear he’s about to walk through that door. Ridiculous, right?”
A knock sounds on the door.
We both jump.
It’s probably one of the girls coming to check…
She gives me a look that I can’t decipher, strides over, and flings the door open…
. And there he is, pure masculine candy in a designer suit, his hands shoved carelessly into his pockets.
Close enough for me to make a fool of myself.
And oddly bashful, reminding me of the medical bay where I was high on healing and blurted out that I thought he was beautiful…
“Hey,” he says. His eyes shift from Diana with the mutinous set to her jaw, over to me and back again. “Could I have a moment with Esme?”
“A moment?!”
Her voice is sharp.
I grimace when she folds her arms. I know that tone.
“You’ve got some nerve! Just because you’ve mated her, you think you can swan in here and swan back out again. Move on buddy, unless you’re here for the epic grovel.”
My jaw is hanging slack, and I can’t begin to formulate words.
His eyebrows crawl up into his hairline before his lips curve up into a smirk. “Well, given we’re already mated, I believe I’m only claiming what’s mine. But I am, you know, open to groveling, if that’s what it takes.”
The look he levels on me sends a zap of electricity up my spine.
“Men!” Diana mutters, throwing her hands in the air. “They think all they have to do is turn up looking hot and—”
“Diana!” I hiss.
She turns abruptly to face me. “Fine. I’ll let him in.” She turns back to Zeb. “Don’t hurt her, asshole. I don’t care if you’re a governor now. Words will be had if you fuck this up.”
She pokes him on the chest.
He grunts and sends a swift glance at me. “I’ll try not to fuck up, but I am a man, so it’s a given I’m going to at some point…” He trails off, before adding earnestly, “She’s my world. I’d sooner cut off my own arm than hurt her.”
“Ha!” Diana says, interrupting my swooning on this side of the room. “I know about your kind now. You’ll just grow another one. That’s not much of a threat.”
He chuckles—the sound turns my insides to goo.
“Diana!” I send a meaningful look toward the door.
She finally gets the hint, throws the door wide and steps aside.
He enters cautiously.
“Call me if you need me,” she says to me, and with a final glare at Zeb, she leaves.
Zeb looks across at me, and I can see he’s fighting a grin again as he stalks me down.
Every nerve in my body is going haywire. I can smell him. Not the fake pheromones of an alpha, but something else. Something I met only briefly. And inside him, buried beneath his casual appearance, I sense his other side, his soul, his inner dominant, the part that has already claimed me.
The smile drops somewhere between the door and reaching me. His eyes are like burning pools that I could happily drown in.
I’ve changed, and there is no going back.
He changed me… Or more, he awakened me to something pure and perfect. To a possibility of a life bond that transcends dynamic norms and expectations.
He’s not entirely human. Then again, is anyone after the Copper Virus chewed them up and spat them out?
Does that matter?
Does he scare me?
No. And not at all.
He’s here.
He came for me.
Life is so very fragile, and it can be snatched from us at any time. I would waste none of those precious moments.
The simple truth: I want him, not because he’s extraordinary and can change into a beast. Not because he will go down in the history books as the first non-alpha to join the ruling elite. But because he is the only perfect fit for me.
I’ve been waiting for him all my life, I just didn’t know it until we met.
I swallow.
He tucks my hair behind my ear and cups my chin. “I’ve missed you.”
He leans down to kiss me soft and brief. He doesn’t let go and his eyes are still on mine.
“You’ve not slapped me yet,” he whispers.
Kiss.
“I’m sorry, baby.”
Kiss.
“Sorry it’s taken me so long.”
Kiss.
“I’ve missed you every moment.”
Kiss.
“But you know—”
Kiss.
“They don’t generally let other dynamics claim omegas—”
Kiss.
“So that took a bit of time.”
I burst into tears and throw my arms around his neck. He hauls me up into his arms where I wrap my legs around him.
I’m trembling all over. I can feel his hands shaking where he holds me close. My tears are leaking all over his throat. But I can’t move. I can’t do anything. I’m terrified he’s going to disappear.
“I felt you,” I whisper. He said I was his world. “I knew you were here… Are we… Were you joking about us being mated already?”
He sucks a sharp kiss against my throat, one that lights a furnace in my core. “We’re definitely mated. Can’t you feel it? Can’t you tell?”
And maybe I can. Maybe I’ve been in denial. “I thought you didn’t want me.”
“Ah, baby, as if I’d ever walk away from this? From the moment I found you, nothing else mattered.”
The emotions that slam into me across the bond are pure love.
“Tell me you love me, Esme,” he says softly.
“I love you,” I whisper. “I think I loved you from the very start, as crazy as that sounds.”
“Good. I want you too. I fucking love you—I’m obsessed with you. Now I don’t need to do anything illegal like kidnap you and lock you up.”