Page 56 of Rome's Mate: Hunted Omegas

“What’s your name, hunter?” she pressed.

A long pause. Finally, he said, “Reed. My name is Reed. Thought you should know the man who’ll kill you.”

Amelia stepped into the woods, her heart pounding. The trees opened into a glade bathed in an otherworldly glow. The grass shimmered, as if kissed by an unseen wind. Flowers unlike any she’d ever seen dotted the ground, their colors impossibly vibrant. The air was thick with magic. It felt like she had stepped into a forgotten realm.

Reed followed, his broad shoulders radiating confidence. His brown eyes burned with hatred, his knife gleaming in his hand.

“You’re breeding,” he growled, disgust twisting his face.

Amelia squared her shoulders. “I’m pregnant.”

“You won’t bring that abomination to term. I’ll kill you and it.”

Her lips parted, but no words came. This was no time for witty retorts. The hunter lunged; his blade aimed for her throat. Instinct took over. She bolted, her body shifting mid-stride into her wolf form. Her belly, heavy with life, swayed as she ran, but she moved with grace and speed. Reed threw himself after her, his knife slashing the air where she’d just been.

The battle was brutal. They clashed, her snarls filling the air as she knocked him down, only for him to strike back. His fists targeted her belly, and she sprang away, her maternal instincts screaming. He fought dirty, but she had expected no less. Again and again, they circled, each growing more fatigued.

When the moment came, she shifted back into her human form, her fingers morphing into razor-sharp claws. Reed lunged, his knife plunging into her shoulder. Pain seared through her, but she retaliated, her claws raking down his back. He howled in agony, stumbling away, but not before he flung the knife again. This time, it struck her abdomen.

Amelia’s scream tore through the glade, a sound of pure devastation. Darkness crept at the edges of her vision as bloodpoured from her wounds. Reed sneered, victory flashing in his eyes. “You’re dead. So is the thing inside you.”

A thunderous howl shattered the moment. Rome burst into the clearing, his massive black wolf form barreling toward the hunter. Mal followed, his focus solely on his mother. Reed tried to flee, but Rome was faster. He pounced, his jaws closing around Reed’s neck. Blood sprayed as he ripped the hunter’s head from his body.

Mal skidded to Amelia’s side, dropping to his knees. “No! No, no, no! This can’t happen. I won’t let it!”

Amelia’s vision blurred, but she forced a weak smile. “Mal,” she whispered. “I’m sorry. I won’t be around to tease you about your nickname.”

Rome’s anguished howl reverberated through the glade as he knelt beside her, his fur wet with her blood. She reached out a trembling hand, stroking his fur. “I love you, Rome. You must live. Find another mate. One day, I’ll see you again.”

Her words broke him, his howl filled with unbearable grief. Her eyes fluttered shut as darkness

claimed her.

“No!” Mal roared. “I refuse to lose her!” His hands, glowing with a blinding light, pressed to her wounds. Energy poured from him, searching, healing. Time stood still as Amelia drifted between life and death.

In the void, she felt her child’s spirit, nestled against her heart.

With a final breath, she surrendered to the darkness.

Chapter Twenty-nine

Amelia was sitting onthe bench that she thought of as hers and Rome’s. She was rocking her child and making funny faces at them. Surrounding her were flashes of what life with Rome would have been like.

“It’s not the easiest of lives.” Luna sat next to her.

“It isn’t, but it’s beautiful. As time goes on, it gets easier.”

“The marching of time. What once wasn’t accepted now is, What was thought of as right, is now wrong. Time is not patient, she never was.”

Amelia shook her head. She didn’t want to think of time as another goddess out to screw her over.

“Why am I here?” She reached out to Rome and Mal, who were hovering over her beside where she hung between life and death, to touch them one more time.

“Time is running out.” In the air before her, a large clock with golden hands was moving steadily, ticking downward. Next to the clock was a beautiful goddess who bowed at her before disappearing, not taking the clock with her.

“O. P. has been generous enough to grant you options.” A large scale appeared. Amelia knew that she could walk one of two paths. A beautiful goddess appeared next to the scale, she bowed and faded away.

“Not everyone gets this chance,” Luna told her.

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