She laughs quietly. “That’s going to take more than just one summer.”
“Okay. You’ll be doing this every summer for the rest of your life. And in the winter, you’ll do the same in some cabin high in the mountains, surrounded by snow. You’ll go skiing when you want to and spend the rest of the time reading near the fireplace, all wrapped up in fluffy blankets.” I smile as I try to imagine her sitting still for that long, she seems way too active for it, but that’s okay, it doesn’t have to be real.
Cyra pushes closer, her nose almost at my neck, her breath warm on my skin, setting it on fire. “And what about you? Where will you be?”
24 Liam
The sun is high in the sky when I wake up. Not strange, since it was already getting light when I finally went to sleep. We spent almost two hours after we arrived just trying to come up with a plan of what to do next, how to move on from here. We can’t stay here for the rest of our lives, and we also can’t hop from one place to the next, to the next, trying to stay ahead of whoever is trying to find us.
We pooled our resources, trying to find out what we could do within our own means and what we might have to hire people for. We came up with a handful of plans, all based on different scenarios that could play out in the coming days. The best thing, of course, would for this to blow over and for everyone to forget about it. The chance of that happening is minuscule, so that was easy to plan out.
There are a couple of other scenarios that could play out, the first would be that people somehow find out that Cyra is a phoenix. If that happens, we’re going to find a way to hide her away for a while, though my instinct would be to hide her away for the rest of our lives... But just long enough for her not to be as recognizable anymore should be enough, and then we’ll probably have to keep letting her take the meds and everything until we come up with a better plan.
Another scenario is that her parents bring forth a ‘rightful mate’ or something ridiculous like that, basically someone they approve of to be her mate. That could turn very ugly, very fast. In those cases, you can get court cases taking years while parents and mates fight over an Omega. It’s... horrid. But definitely something that could happen.
And I’m pretty sure that each of us at one point or another considered the idea of simply mating her this mating season, getting her knocked up, claiming her as our own. And then we promptly discarded that idea because Cyra would kill us if she ever found out that we even thought of that. No. We’ll have to find another way to keep her safe while not forcing her to live a life that will most likely kill her spirit.
I eye the pile of clothes on the floor and sigh. We’re going to have to get some new clothes, because I don’t think we can keep wearing our suits for days on end. Especially not since mine isn’t exactly the cleanest after my fight with Zack on the plane.
Talking about that... I reach up, touching my face. I don’t feel too much pain, and when I look down, I don’t seem to be covered in too many bruises. Shifters heal fast, so it’s likely as much from that as from the fact Zack just needed to have a brawl, get his energy out, and he wasn’t really trying to inflict maximal damage. Which I’m very sure he’s capable of, if he wants to.
When I make it downstairs, I find Zack and Spence in the kitchen, scarfing down the breakfast that’s been brought over.
“Good morning, I see.” I look around, but don’t see Max or Cyra, though I can smell Max’ scent, his scent of freshly dug forest floor, earthy and strong, so he must have been here, not too long ago. “Leaving anything for the rest of us?”
“Nah.” Zack smirks. “First come, first served. You shouldn’t have slept in that long, grandpa.”
As I pass him by, I smack the back of his head. “I was talking about Cyra, dumbass.”
Spence laughs. “Oh, she believes in ‘first come, first served’. She took nearly all the strawberries with her, and made a good dent in our supply of croissants. I don’t think we need to worry about her.”
I laugh too. She fits in, she fits into this weird mix of people very well.
“Good.” I pour myself a mug of coffee, emptying the can, and then steal the last three croissants, quickly making my way to the back of the house.
“Hey!” Zack calls after me, but I don’t hear him move. Fun. Teasing the hydra is very fun, maybe a little too fun sometimes.
I open the back door and step out. It’s not too cold today, and the sun feels nice on my skin. I plop down a little distance away from the door and just eat the croissants as I look out over the sea. I’m still too groggy to be around the two other guys, they’re a little too active for me so soon after waking up.
It’s been a long time since I’ve been at the sea. I usually camp in the mountains or in forest areas, I feel more at home there, but the sea is also nice, for a change. I should definitely visit the seaside more often, maybe even together with Cyra, if she likes it.
As I’m finishing my cup of coffee, two figures appear on the path from the beach, Max and Cyra. Cyra has one of the fluffy blankets wrapped around herself as Max is carrying a tray with dishes up to the house.
Something twists
