Epilogue
Six months later … Leo
Isit on the beach in my starched dress blues, the top button of the white shirt popped, tie loose, blazer undone. Addie’s out there, scanning the break and gliding his hands through the water while he waits to take a wave.
I’ve been keeping my thoughts carefully on other things, so he didn’t know I was coming.
He knows, roughly, that I’ll take a rut leave soon, but I wanted to surprise him.
Few things in life are more enjoyable than watching Addie in unguarded moments.
And if he knew I was coming, I wouldn’t have got the chance to watch him surf without him knowing I’m right here.
With a loan from Terry, I’d managed to get a mortgage on a beach shack a few miles from Will’s place in a town fifty miles south of Celo City, just north of Hollow Point.
The backyard was Eyries—a perfect A-frame wave named after the sea eagle nests on the adjacent cliffs.
Addie and I surfed this break a lot when we were teenagers.
It was something else to watch those birds plunge into the water behind the lineup and launch up with a fish in their talons.
A run-down cottage built in the 1950s, it’s basic at best—one bedroom, one bathroom, a living room, kitchen, basement, and laundry.
I was embarrassed that this was the best I could do for Addie, but he loved it.
It wasn’t just in his scent when I brought him here the first time either, mumbling that I could afford this if he wanted it, it was in his thoughts.
On the beach! Eyries is right there! Built of stone!
I can retile the bathroom! Paint! My own home! My own home!
He was radiant, and I couldn’t help it, I preened a little bit. Plus, given that he was literally on the beach, I suggested he start to teach surfing. And there’s a little shed-garage attached to the house—he could turn it into a workshop to build his surfboards.
I balked when he asked me if I’d give him permission to do that. It took a few minutes to find my voice.
“I’m not letting you do anything. You can do whatever the hell you want,” I said, still dumbstruck.
The pulse of love-warmth-affection and the way Addie jumped into my arms after I said that was a reward, but what should I be rewarded for?
Sure, most alphas told their omegas what to do, and it was socially unacceptable for an omega to have a job without their alpha’s permission—in the case of some jobs, like the military and professional sports, it was illegal—but Addie was my best friend.
In what world do best friends need permission from each other to do what they want?
Addie’s focus shifts to the beach. I don’t know if he’s caught my scent, or the joy I’m feeling at seeing him is bleeding into the bond, but I clock the second he sees me.
Leo! His voice rings clear and thrilled in my head.
He goes flat to the board and starts to paddle.
I stand as he drops in and springs to his feet, speeding down the face and heading for me in a line.
I laugh as he jumps off the board in the shallows, scoops it under his arm and hops over the rocks with light feet.
He drops the board once he hits the sand, unhooks his leg band, and runs up the beach.
I catch him as he leaps for me, the rubber of his wetsuit drenching my suit.
“When did you get here? You’re here! You didn’t tell me! You’re here!”
I squeeze him tight against my chest and breathe in the best smell in the world—vast skies, clean air, the hint of cherry blossoms on a distant wind.
“I wanted to surprise you,” I say, my voice brimming with joy.
He pulls back, and I slide my hands down to hoist him up under his thighs. He’s beaming down at me and his smile is the sun, blinding me. And thank fuck he’s a bit heavier now.
“You’re here,” he says again, eyes alight, scent bowling me over so much I’m a tad concerned I’ll go into rut instantly.
“I’m here. Two weeks.”
He takes my face between his hands, touching me as if to ensure I’m real before he leans down to kiss me.
And no bond, no mental link, can make up for this.
The feel of his lips, his smell in my nose.
I love our bond. It’s a cliché, but the feel of Addie inside me—in my feelings, in my head, his heartbeat tucked next to my own—really does complete me. But nothing beats Addie in the flesh.
I break the kiss, because this is going to get out of control fast. “Go get your damn surfboard so I can take you inside and breed you.”
Addie’s smile turns delighted. “Promises, promises.”
I laugh, grab him by his nape, and tug him down for another kiss. It is a promise. A promise I intend to keep. The only thing better than getting bonded to my best friend is having a baby with my best friend. I can’t fucking wait.
The dynamics specialist told us Addie might be barren because of the suppressants, his heats erratic, possibly dangerous.
Addie’s face in that moment, stricken and wide-eyed, the apology tumbling from his lips … It took me a moment to understand why he was saying, “Leo, fuck, I’m so sorry.”
I was busy being stuck on “possibly dangerous.”
The reassurance that provided I was there it would be fine, was not actually reassuring at all.
When I finally regained clarity, Addie was still apologising.
“You’re apologising because you could almost die from a heat? Why in the fuck would you apologise for that? I’m the one who has to leave you, who could … Shit, I can’t leave.”
And Addie’s troubled face turned into a scowl. “It’s not that. And she said I’d have time to get you home. No, Leo. Barren. She said, she said …”
Oh, right. I’d shrugged. “So, we get to keep trying.”
Addie stared at me like I was crazy, then he cracked up. Probably because he could smell the truth of it. How many alphas get an excuse to fuck their omegas senseless, potentially for years, to get them pregnant?
“I’m looking forward to trying,” I told him and waved my hand to get rid of that subject. Truly, that was fucking awesome. The other part wasn’t. “But shit, dangerous. She said it’s fucking dangerous …”
As you can imagine, we went in circles on that one for a while, and it took Addie literally shoving me out of the old Toyota Land Cruiser we’d bought and onto the tarmac at Fort Sanguis to fly my plane over for a deployment to get me to leave.
But now I’m home. I press my face into the crook of Addie’s shoulder and neck and breathe deep. My rut might send him into heat. I hope so. I breathe in his scent, soothed by it and his hands in my hair. I’ve been growing it again; Addie loves it.
“You have to put me down if you want me to get my board,” Addie says, laughter in his voice.
“I’m putting you down,” I mumble and tighten my hands.
Addie’s chuckle is a breeze in my hair, a rumble against my chest. I squeeze him against me, suck his mating gland into my mouth just to hear him gasp.
Releasing my lips from him, I look up into his laughing eyes.
“Since it could take years to get you pregnant, we’re going to have to fuck a few times a day while I’m back, rut or not. Do you want me to make a schedule?”
He snorts. “Fucking crazy. Put me down. I need your dick like yesterday.”
I let him slide down my body reluctantly. Taking his hand, I walk over to get his surfboard. It’s new.
“You make this?”
Addie nods. “Yeah, wanted to try out EPS with epoxy and a carbon pop. It’s pretty light …”
His words wash over me like a wave, his scent so pleased, so proud of his design. I squeeze his hand and he looks up.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
He huffs a laugh. “Sorry, don’t get me started. You know that. C’mon, let’s fuck.”
I pull him to a stop before we step inside. “No, Addie.”
Squinting up at me, he tilts his head with a question.
“Keep talking. I want to hear all about expanded polystyrene and carbon fibre, it gets me all hot. Your dirty talk is second to none. Might even send me into rut,” I finish with a grin.
Addie punches my bicep. “I’ll show you getting sent into rut.”
“No, really, tell me more. Did you add fibreglass?”
He starts tugging his wetsuit off. “Duh. It adds a performance edge,” he mumbles.
His tan limbs are on display now and I’m a little distracted. He shoves the wetsuit down his naked body, and I make an executive alpha decision.
“We’ll finish this conversation after I’ve bred you,” I tell him and try to sound firm, but I’m too busy getting my hands on him to sound like anything more than an alpha completely whipped by his omega.
Addie’s laughter is pressed against my ear as I haul him inside and prepare to make good on that promise.
Fin