Page 97 of Omega Hunted

The cold was glorious, and the snow cushioned every landing before springing me into the next effortless leap. My muscles worked together with perfect balance and impossible strength, carrying me over drifts that would have reached my waist as a man. Every breath tasted of pine, frost and freedom, while every heartbeat filled me with a joy so complete it almost hurt.

Behind me, Cassian laughed again.

The sound drew me around almost instantly.

He was standing beside the fire now with his hands buried in the pockets of his coat, watching me with the widest smile I’d ever seen on his face. There was no sadness in his expression, no shadow of grief or weight of responsibility. For these few precious moments, he was lighter than I’d ever known him. I pirouetted in front of him, twisting to snap at my tail mid-jump, and almost caught it.

“Show-off,” he murmured, and the praise warmed something deep inside me. My cat soaked it up with undisguised delight, and I wheeled around, fixed my gaze on Cassian and sprinted straight towards him. Snow flew behind me as I gathered speed, every instinct urging me faster until I launched myself into the air.

His eyes widened.

“Soren—”

Too late.

I collided with him chest-first, my forepaws landing square on his shoulders as the impact sent us both tumbling backward into the snow. For the briefest instant my human mind panicked that I’d hurt him, but the thought vanished the moment I found myself standing over him, staring down into bright amber eyes overflowing with laughter.

Cassian threw his head back.

“Oh,” he gasped between laughs, “I definitely deserved that.”

I lowered my head and ran my tongue up the side of his face.

He spluttered so dramatically I almost purred again.

“That’s cheating.”

His arms came up around my neck without a moment’s hesitation, burying both hands deep into my winter coat while I leaned happily into the embrace. My purr rolled through both of us, deep and powerful, as he scratched behind my ears exactly where my cat wanted him to.

Contentment settled over me so completely there was no divide between my cat and me. There was only us, standing beneath the moon with the man we trusted more than anyone else in the world, and every instinct I possessed recognized the truth before my human heart had found the words.

I love you.

Asha loves you.

Please love us back.

I jumped and spun and ran and watched whenever Cassian went into the house to check on Asha, following him the last time so I could sit by the crib and stare down at my child as my cat. She was as beautiful through my cat eyes as she was through my human ones, and I purred with contentment and licked a wide stripe on Cassian’s face.

Then, all too soon, I wanted to be back, snuggled into Cassian’s side as a human, and the shift this time was seamless, albeit nearly as painful, and I grabbed clothes, dressed, and hurried inside, swept up in Cassian’s arms and curling my hands into his hair.

“We did it! We did it!”

He kissed me deeply, held me close, and lowered us to the chair, me straddling his lap same as always, and the kisses turned from heated to warm to gentle, with Asha sleeping soundly next to us in her crib.

The silence that followed wrapped itself around us like another blanket, broken by the faint ticking of the old kitchen clock and the occasional creak of the house settling around us. For one perfect moment it felt as though the mountain itself was holding its breath with us.

Then the alarm screamed.

The sharp electronic tone shattered the quiet so violently I jumped, every instinct slamming me straight back into Center 14. My heart lurched into my throat before my mind had even caught up, and for one terrifying second all I could think was they’ve found us.

Cassian was already moving.

One moment I was in his arms; the next he’d set me on my feet, every trace of softness disappearing beneath the calm efficiency I’d only glimpsed in flashes before. His entire posture changed. His shoulders squared; his eyes sharpened.

“Soren.” My name cracked through the panic. “Listen to me.” I forced myself to focus on him. “Take Asha.” He was already crossing the kitchen towards the hallway, one hand reaching for the radio clipped beside the back door. “Go to the safe room.”

My stomach dropped.