Page 22 of These Bonds that Unite Us
Nebula follows him in, the smoked vanilla and tobacco of his scent taking on an acrid tone. The large alpha falls to his knees beside his packmate, a pained sound whistling through his parted lips. I quickly look away from him, unable to meet his eyes for fear of encountering the hatred I know he harbors there.
Shifting my gaze back to the door, my heart stutters when I see Nexus leaning heavily on Callisto. The singer has one hand pressed to his mouth to muffle the sound of his crying. His rich brown eyes are wrecked as he stares at me. The dark circles beneath them have my lips twitching into a frown. He looks as bad as I feel, but why?
Callisto helps his alpha sit in one of the empty chairs by the door before he takes a deep breath and meets my eyes. His stunning dual-tone eyes sparkle with unshed tears and what looks an awful lot like regret.
Quickly ducking my head, I keep my eyes trained on the floor between us. I can’t handle the regret and guilt pouring off of them in heavy waves. My stupid, fragile heart is trying to convince me the emotions they’re conveying are real, but why would they change their minds so suddenly?
No. They don’t want me. Their feelings were made clear when they turned their backs on me and cut off all means of communication between us. Whatever their reason for being here, it doesn’t change anything. I’m still the omega they rejected.
CHAPTER TEN
Now Playing: Hate Myself-Letdown.
Being nervous isn’t a feeling I’m used to. Even as a kid, I was a go-with-the-flow kind of guy. But stepping onto the stage with Candy Courage tonight, my entire body buzzes with fluttery butterflies. Omen is out there in the crowd watching us, hearing the first of many apology songs Cal has written for her.
Nexus walks to the front next to Azalea and speaks to the crowd, but my focus is beyond the stage. It isn’t easy to see with the bright pink and purple stage lights shining down on us, so I stop trying to see with my eyes and let my heart tell me where our girl is. It takes a minute, the potential bond between us stretched thin and frayed, so close to snapping it makes my chest ache.
There. Up on the balcony. She’s really here.
We play hard, pouring our hearts and souls into every note. Omen needs to understand the depths of our regret. She needs to know, before we see her backstage, that our actions towardher have been branded onto our hearts, a reminder of how greatly we’ve let her down.
Sweat drips down my back as I play alongside Candy Courage’s drummer, our movements weirdly in sync despite never performing together before. The song slowly comes to an end and I know my time is up. Anxiety demands I stay seated here to avoid facing the hell I know is headed our way when Candy Courage’s concert comes to an end.
I force my feet to carry me across the stage, pausing at the curtain to glance back out into the crowd. I can sense Omen there but the railing around the upper level obscures her beautiful face from my view. I nod, silently promising that no matter what she has to say I’m going to be by her side for eternity.
In the extra dressing room we’d commandeered for the evening, I find my mates in various stages of undress. One of our fans had created the coolest costume designs, something we hadn’t realized we needed until we’d seen them. What better way to start our journey of groveling and courtship than an evolution of our stage characters?
Glancing at myself in the mirror, I can’t help but admire my own transition. Gone is my infinite snake mask. In its place, I wear a full headpiece. The material is painted silver with spots that appear molten, as if the paint was actual silver and melted pieces of the mask away. The black harem-style pants they gave me are actually quite breezy, something I won’t complain about when I always walk away from a show soaked in sweat.
The line I drew was wearing a shirt. Our makeup artist will just have to suffer through painting my body silver before every show.
We all ditch the costumes, slowly washing away our image as Primordial Covenant. This is our second chance with Omen and we want to start off on the right foot. She needs to know the realus, past and present, not this version of us we wish for her to see. Especially not after we held her own history against her.
Time drags on as we wait. It’s one of those situations where you are constantly glancing at the clock feeling like an hour has passed but it’s only been seven minutes. We’re restless and impatient knowing our girl is only a few rooms away.
Finally, we hear the girls from Candy Courage laughing as they head to their dressing rooms to cool off before the band sets up for their VIP meet and greets. Something our band has never done. Anonymity certainly has its perks sometimes.
“Ready?” Nexus asks us quietly. His voice is shaky from nervousness and uncertainty. Feelings we all share as we leave our dressing room, following Fate’s path back to our girl.
Waiting for Candy Courage to finish meeting with their fans is a test of our patience. My instincts scream at me to rush into the room, grab my omega, and promise her I will never leave her again. But I have to wait. Outing my pack’s identities will only cause trouble for all of us. The exposure could put Omen’s safety at risk from backlash by the other omegas who have been trying to chase our band over the last few years. She already lived a life in hiding once, I can wait another twenty minutes to keep her safe.
Finally, the door clicks open and one of the security guards motions us inside. I step through first, only to stumble over my feet when I see her.
I thought I was prepared to see the evidence of the wreckage our betrayal caused in our omega, but nothing could have prepared me for this. Even the braided hair and face full of makeup can’t truly cover the signs of the rejection. Gone are her delicious curves, she’s lost enough weight to make her clothes hang baggily off of her body. The bright glimmer in her eyes is nonexistent, in its place is a hollow, far-away look. Like she isn’t really here at all.
Worst of all is the otherworldly glow that always seemed to surround her. She was the lighthouse guiding us away from rocky shores, but now her flame has been extinguished.
Witnessing first-hand the evidence of what we’ve done has my stomach revolting. It’s horrifying to realize how thin the thread keeping Omen in this world is. Tears burn in my eyes, I try to blink them away to hide the evidence of my weakness, but they still trail down my cheeks.
Nebula crashes to his knees beside me, a choked sound escaping his lips when he sees her. I place a hand on his shoulder, both to ground him and to lean on him for support. Seeing the signs of the rejection syndrome will hit him the hardest after watching his sister experience the same life-threatening illness.
Muffled sobs break the tense silence. Glancing behind me, I see Nexus clinging to the door frame, his head hung and his body shaking with the force of his crying. Cal stands beside him, tears staining his cheeks as he keeps one arm around our sweet alpha’s waist to prevent him from falling.
The weight of our actions sinks heavier onto our shoulders, like we’re carrying the world but in reality, all we carry is our debt to her. I never should have allowed my confusion and doubts to keep me from her. When Bea came to tell us who she was to us, I should have gone to her too. With Nexus. Maybe if I had he wouldn’t have felt the pressure to leave and she wouldn’t be this devastated version of the beautiful omega we fell in love with.
The girls from Candy Courage slowly slip out of the room, giving us a bit of privacy. I force myself to turn back to look at her. To face the consequences of my hesitancy.
Bea sits at her side glaring at the four of us, but she doesn’t try to send us away. I imagine Foster’s presence at the other end of the couch is helping to ensure her silence.
