Chapter 9 #3
“I was joking, you know,” I say. “You really don’t have to push me.”
“You’re right though. You need some motion.”
“I do?”
“Here,” he murmurs. His hands settle on either side of the swing ropes, not touching me but close enough that warmth radiates from him anyway.
Every inch of my body springs aware. My heart pounds hard enough I’m sure he is able to mark the unsteady beats.
“Close your eyes, Marigold,” he says softly as he pulls the swing back. “Trust me.”
And for some impossible reason…I do.
“Okay.” My eyes flutter shut.
Then he lets go.
The swing glides forward smoothly, not wild or jarring like I expect, but gentle. Floating.
I’m flying through warm night air, and a laugh slips free when I drift back. He pushes me again, his hands close to my hips, and the idea of him touching me makes my stomach do somersaults.
I fly higher this time. Faster.
Each push sends me soaring farther until my heart grows light enough to burst straight from my chest. And somehow it feels less like being pushed and more like being caught. Over and over again.
Finally, the swing slows.
“Open your eyes,” he says quietly.
I do.
He’s standing directly in front of me now, the white feathers of his mask glowing beneath the fairy lights, his hand extended toward me.
“Would you…like to dance with me?”
His voice, the rough scrape of it, settles the last of my feeling overwhelmed from the evening.
There’s no hesitation before I say, “Yes.”
He pulls me to my feet. His arms are gentle. We don’t need music, not when he’s holding me close. I don’t care.
Swaying in the silence is more like dancing than any of the twirling or waltzing I’d done earlier on the dance floor. What did the Midtown Omega call it?
Authentic.
His hand settles at my waist and heat instantly flares beneath the touch, even through layers of fabric. His heartbeat pounds unevenly beneath my palm where it rests against his chest.
There is something authentic about this man I don’t know and it captivates me. Draws me in. My fingers itch for my sketchbook to truly memorize the planes of his face. If I could see them behind the mask.
Who is this man?
Being this close to him, he smells overwhelmingly of pine and cold night air, but some secret beneath this scent is even stronger. It drives me crazy trying to place it.
“Oh wow,” he murmurs. “The sky is really clear tonight. It’s like we’re in the countryside of Sabine. Not the city.”
I tilt my head back.
The Milky Way stretches overhead like scattered silver dust across black velvet. Beautiful and endless.
“Is that where you’re from? The country?” I ask.
He nods but then appears to think about it for a second. “No, actually I’m from the mainland.”
Like Alicia and the other Omegas said, it makes sense why he isn’t wearing blocker then. Still… He feels familiar, and I’ve never been to the mainland before.
“Is this your first time in Sabine?”
Again he hesitates when he looks down at me. “No, but it is my first Season.”
I nod. “You seem so familiar… I’m trying to figure out where I’ve met you before.”
He stops swaying with me and drops his hands. Even with the mask, I can see worry marking his brow.
“What?” I ask with a frown. “Is something wrong?”
“I…” He swallows hard as he starts to glance around. “I should go.”
“What? Why?”
Instead of answering, he steps closer, places two fingers beneath my chin to lift my face to his. A heartbeat, nothing more, but it stretches and holds me tight. The two of us sharing the same air.
And then he kisses me.
The kiss detonates through me like fire catching on dry grass.
My fingers clutch helplessly at his jacket when his mouth moves against mine, slow at first, hesitant. Questioning. Then deeper. His tongue sweeps into my mouth, and I let it, kissing him back without thinking.
My thighs clench and a deep throbbing starts low in my belly. The world spins.
I never want it to end.
But as suddenly as it began, he pulls away, breathing hard, and for one suspended second we stare at each other.
Then panic flashes across his face. “I have to go.”
“What? Wait—”
“I’m sorry.” His voice cracks. “I shouldn’t have… I never meant—”
And before I can reach for him, he turns and disappears into the darkness between the trees.
Gone.
I stare after him, pulse hammering violently in my chest. My lips tingle. My entire body feels warm and strange and unbearably awake.
I’m alive in a way I haven’t been in a long time.
I take a shaky step forward—follow him—but something near the swing catches the light.
I crouch carefully and pick it up.
A small silver object. Smooth, rectangular.
Is it his? I don’t know, but I slip it into my handbag anyway.
Then I look back toward the dark path he vanished down, my heart twisting.
The Alpha in white. Mister No One Important.
I don’t know his real name. I don’t know what he looks like underneath the mask. Finding him by scent alone would be damn near impossible.
But I have to see him again. I want to.
I need to.
And the little shiny object in my handbag, no bigger than a matchbox, is the only clue I have.