Page 57 of Rome's Mate: Hunted Omegas

“I’m the beginning of the end that has no end.” It was a paraphrase, but it suited the situation.

“If I choose to move on? Your request will be granted.

Could she do that? Leave Rome and MAL behind, knowing that she was taking something precious from Rome with her. Did she want a future that promised hardship, love, and acceptance?

Was she the coward she always imagined herself to be? If so, why hadn’t she died on her naming day? Within her mind and heart, there was a bubble of confusion. It might take a century for her to understand what she was feeling and thinking. One thing rose above the noise that threatened to take her under. She clutched onto it like it was a lifeline.

“I’m ready.” She closed her eyes and waited for the end.

“Why won’t she wake up?” Rome had been pacing their bedroom for seven days, waiting, pleading with the goddess Luna that his mate would open her eyes. That their child would hang on to life and live.

There had been no response, Luna was quiet. How would he live without his mate and child? He had no desire to go back to what he once was, a lonely, bitter alpha. If she left him, he would find a way to follow her. He swore that to the goddess. Make no mistake, when he mated Amelia, he did it for life.

Rome wanted to yell at Mal, his son, but he couldn’t. Yes, he knew what his mate had started calling their son, and he approved.

Mal was just as destroyed as he was. The look on his face of absolute terror broke Rome’s heart. There was nothing they could do except watch as Amelia fought the battle of her life.

He went over and engulfed Mal in a large hug, just holding him tight, communicating to him without words that whatever happened, it was going to be okay. At this point, it was Amelia's choice, and they would have to live with whatever she decided. He laid next to his mate one more time, taking her in his arms and holding her tight, communicating his love, whether she could feel it, he didn't know.

He loved her. In all the centuries that he had waited for her, he never expected someone as beautiful and as complicated as Amelia. Her joy and love filled his heart. Her fierce protectiveness of not only him, but the people of his pack, made him a stronger Alpha, male, and mate. He pulled his mate even closer and then looked at his son, then eyed the other side of the bed. Mal gave a nod of his head, then slipped into the bed beside his mother, wrapping his arms around her.

Together they held her close, wanting her, almost demanding her to fight for life with them. It might be easy, it might be hard, Mal didn't know. He just knew that without her, the sun wouldn't shine, and the light of the moon wouldn't caress him the way it always did.

Mal held his mother fiercely in his arms. Family, it was something he never thought to have, at least not since his stepfather came into the picture. His mother had spent so much time trying to appease the beast that she had brought into the house that she didn't have time for her son.

He knew that she regretted it, but the time was over when his stepfather pulled a gun on him. He always thought he was goingto be able to save her, a child’s dream. In the end, he was barely able to save himself.

Life demanded another sacrifice from him, another mother, and he wasn't willing to pay it, not this time. Why would Luna bless him with unknown abilities and then take the one person from him that he needed? Why couldn't he save her? Was this the price he'd be called upon to pay to have Luna's presence in his life? He looked at his father, and the mark that was set just below his wrist, the same mark that was on his own wrist, and how he wished his mother wore one too, he wanted to be as much a part of her bloodline as he was of his father's. He didn't want to lose her.

His eyes closed as silent tears tracked down his cheeks.

“Why is it so quiet in here? I feel like I’m at a funeral.” Amelia’s throat was raw and scratchy.

She'd do a lot for a glass of water. The silence in the room was all-encompassing as both Rome and Mal slowly turned their heads to look at her, afraid to believe that they had heard her speak.

“Seriously,” she tried to chuckle.

“That is some Friday the 13th horror night stuff the two of you just did.” Her eyes were only half open, but she caught twin smiles on their faces, before her eyes closed once again. It felt like she was trying to sink into sleep.

“Amelia.”

“Mom.”

Both voices called out at the same time.

She fought sleep and managed to open her eyelids. "I'm here, I'm here. I haven't gone anywhere."

“Don’t leave us, Mom. Please don’t leave us.”

“Baby, stay with me. I need you and our child, and our firstborn. Please.”

"I'm not leaving. I'm here." She was so tired. She'd been fighting for so long.

It took all the strength she had to move her hands, one to clutch Rome and the other to clutch Mal. “I’m not going anywhere, but I need to sleep.” Her eyes closed, and she tumbled into a world of sleep where she could dream.

The life she had seen stretched out over untold years began to fray at the sides in the dim hazy awareness of a dream. And once again, she was sitting on her bench and Luna was beside her.

“Humans say they want to know the future, but I disagree. Knowing the future does not bring you comfort. Even if for a moment it is beautiful, there is always a trial or a tribulation waiting to come up and challenge you.

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