Chapter 19 #2
I peek over at him. “How much?”
“Enough to buy Misty Pines and barely make a dent.” He thumps the back of his skull against the headrest. “And I gave it up for a relationship that might not last. I’m acting foolish.”
“It’s not foolish,” I say it again, firmer this time, though I have no idea what it would be like to give up that kind of fortune. “It’s brave as hell. And you know what? Emily would’ve told you the same thing.”
That gets a real laugh out of him. “She told me to choose happiness.”
I smile. “And that’s why we love her.”
The word hangs between us. Love.
Grady sinks deeper into his seat, his bad leg stretched out as far as the footwell allows. “I just hope it was worth it.”
“Me, too.” I tap my fingers on the steering wheel. “And for what it’s worth, I think you made the right call. You look wrecked, and you were only gone for a little over a week.”
He doesn’t answer, but when I steal a quick check of him, the tightness in his features has eased a fraction.
The highway narrows to two lanes. Pinecrest is still thirty minutes away, the cottage another fifteen beyond that. Ahead, the sky opens up, gray and vast above the coastal hills.
Grady shifts in his seat, winces as his knee adjusts. He still gives off an air of sad disappointment, which is to be expected after being kicked out of his family. He must feel so alone, even knowing I’m taking him home to Emily.
“You might not know this as a Beta,” I say into the silence, “but Chloe and I are outliers. Omegas don’t often live outside a pack. We’re too vulnerable alone, what with Heat cycles and predatory Alphas. The world isn’t built for solo Omegas, no matter how competent we are.”
“That’s why the Wright Pack offering me a job felt like...” I lift one shoulder. “I don’t know. A lifeline.”
Grady’s head turns toward me. “Was it unusual to leave your family to move to Pinecrest? Did you need permission or...?”
My grip on the wheel tightens.
“My family cast me out after I refused Carson’s initial courtship.” The words come easier than they would have a few months ago. “I haven’t told many people. The Wrights know, obviously, but other than that, you’re the first.”
His brow furrows. “Because it wasn’t safe for you as a solo Omega?”
“Yeah.”
“But why did they do that?” he still sounds confused. “Carson was a monster.”
“A monster who looked perfect on paper,” I point out. “A respected educator. A stable income. The kind of Alpha parents dream of for their Omega child, and he was willing to overlook my faults.”
My mouth twists. “My family valued appearances more than my happiness. Carson wasn’t the first arranged courtship they’d tried to push on me. Just the last one.”
“Jesus, Leif.” Grady straightens in his seat, twisting toward me. “They tried to push you toward your abuser?”
“They didn’t see his actions as abusive. He never hit me.” I wring the steering wheel. “At least, not back then. And I had already been labeled as picky.”
I cast him a sidelong glance. “In case you’ve missed it, I’m not a pretty Omega. I’m not delicate, or vibrant in my coloring, or falling over myself to make Alphas feel stronger than me.”
Grady frowns. “What does that matter? You’re intelligent and handsome and nurturing toward kids.”
“It matters to a lot of people.” I tap my fingers on the wheel. “Either way, when I said no, that was it. I was making a spectacle of myself, wanting to find a true bondmate. Embarrassing the family name. So, here I am, also hoping that love was worth giving up a stable life.”
I clear my throat. “What I mean to say is that you’re not alone. And you’re not foolish for chasing happiness. It’s better than living with the alternative.”
“Is Emily your true bondmate?” Grady asks.
My hand moves to my sternum, flattening over the spot where the flutter lives. “Yeah. She is.”
“What does it feel like?”
“The bond... it’s this thing behind your ribs, like a second heartbeat. It flutters when your bondmate is near, or when you think about them, or when they’re hurting and you can feel it even when you’re miles apart.”
I swallow and return my hand to the steering wheel. “I nearly destroyed it through my own distrust of Alphas, and then by hurting Emily, but it survived, and now I want to complete it.”
Grady stares out the windshield. “Betas don’t get flutters.”
“No,” I agree, feeling both sad and envious of that fact. There are so many people I would have given more of a chance if I hadn’t been chasing that connection.
“There’s no way for us to know if someone’s right,” Grady continues. “You just... guess. Hope.”
I laugh, but it’s gentle. “Flutters aren’t love, Grady.
They’re about compatibility. Not even romantic compatibility.
The Wright Alphas were bondmates for years before Chloe came along and completed the family.
The bond told them they could work as a pack.
It didn’t tell them they’d fall in love with a pink-haired Omega who writes monster porn. ”
That draws a laugh from him.
“Love is different.” I ease off the gas as the road curves. “It’s the yearning to be with someone regardless of whether it fits into other people’s expectations. It’s the longing for home, not as a place, but as the people who quiet that restless urge to keep searching.”
The words hang between us. I mean every one.
“I joined the Wright Pack for safety, and because I care about Quinn. That kid...” I shake my head. “But Quinn will grow up. She’ll find her own path someday. Quinn isn’t my home.”
I take a breath. “Emily is home. Wherever she is, that’s where I want to be. With her. With Jared. With...” I trail off and glance at Grady.
He’s watching me, his hazel eyes clear and steady.
“Isn’t that true for you, too?” I ask.
Grady doesn’t answer right away. The road descends toward the coast, and the first hint of salt reaches me through the vents, clean enough to cut through the lingering scent of asphalt and exhaust. Pinecrest is close now. The harbor. The cottage.
Emily.
“Yeah,” he says at last. “Maybe it is.”
I nod, and we drive the rest of the way in silence.