The morning mist clung to the Shadowmere pack grounds like a burial shroud and Orth wondered if today would finally be the day they killed her.
Not with claws or fangs that would be too merciful for an omega who couldn’t even shift properly.
No they preferred the slow death of a thousand humiliations each small cruelty designed to remind her that she was nothing more than a mistake the moon goddess had cursed them with.
She pressed herself against the cold stone wall of the pack house kitchen counting her breaths as she waited for the breakfast crowd to thin.
Three years had passed since her eighteenth birthday three years since the night that should have brought her wolf but instead brought only scorching pain and failure.
While others her age ran freely through the forest their wolves magnificent and proud Orth remained trapped between forms neither fully human nor completely wolf still hiding in shadows.
Little mouse the voice made her stomach clench.
Lysander the packs newest enforcer blocked the doorway with his broad frame.
At twenty five he had already earned a reputation for his cruelty toward the weak.
His particular fascination with tormenting her had become something of a sport among the younger wolves.
I am working Orth said gesturing to the stack of dishes she had been assigned.
Early morning kitchen duty was one of the few tasks where she could avoid most of the pack.
Or so she had thought.
Lysander stepped closer his boots tracking mud across the floor she had just cleaned.
Working he repeated mockery dripping from the word.
Is that what we are calling it when the packs broken omega plays at being useful.
Behind him two more wolves appeared Cassia and Thorne twins who delighted in following Lysanders lead.
Cassias perfectly manicured nails clicked against the doorframe as she smiled the expression never reaching her ice blue eyes.
Did you hear Cassia purred addressing Lysander but keeping her gaze fixed on Orth.
Father says the Alpha Kings convoy will pass through our territory next week.
Every unmated wolf of age will be presented.
She paused her smile widening.
Well every proper wolf.
The words hit their intended mark.
Orths hands stilled on the dish she was washing soap suds sliding down her wrists.
Zephros Nightshade they called him the youngest wolf to ever unite the Northern Territories so powerful that even alphas bowed in his presence.
Rumors said he could shift into a wolf larger than any seen in generations that his howl could shake mountains that he had never lost a challenge.
Imagine Thorne added his voice thick with false sympathy having to explain to the Alpha King why our pack harbors a defective omega.
Fathers already arranging to have her confined to the cellar during the visit.
Cannot have royalty thinking we are weak.
Orths grandmother Morwenial had once told her that the strongest steel was forged in the hottest flames.
But Orth did not feel strong.
She felt brittle like glass that had been heated and cooled too many times ready to shatter at the slightest pressure.
Nothing to say Mouse Lysander moved closer still close enough that she could smell the breakfast meat on his breath.
Or are you dreaming of meeting the Alpha King.
Perhaps you think he will take pity on the packs broken toy.
Please Orth whispered hating how small her voice sounded.
I have work to finish.
Work Lysander grabbed the plate from her hands holding it up to examine it with exaggerated scrutiny.
You missed a spot.
He opened his fingers letting the plate fall.
It shattered against the stone floor ceramic shards scattering across the kitchen.
The sound echoed through the morning quiet like an accusation.
Clumsy omega Cassia tutted.
Now you will have to explain to the head cook why you are breaking the packs property again.
They left her there kneeling among the broken pieces their laughter echoing down the corridor.
Orths hands trembled as she gathered the shards a piece slicing her palm.
She watched the blood well up bright red against her pale skin.
Even her blood was wrong too bright too thin lacking the darker richness of a proper wolfs child.
The voice startled her.
Morwenial stood in the doorway her ancient eyes taking in the scene with a knowing that made Orth want to weep.
Her grandmother moved with surprising grace for someone who claimed to be over ninety though she had never been specific about her age.
Let me see Morwenial said taking Orths bleeding hand in her weathered ones.
She produced a cloth from her pocket she always seemed to have exactly what was needed and wrapped the wound with practiced efficiency.
It was not my fault Orth began but her grandmother silenced her with a look.
Fault is a luxury we cannot afford Morwenial said quietly.
The Alpha King comes not next week but tonight.
Orths heart stopped.
Tonight.
But Thorne said the twins know nothing.
Your father received word this morning.
The king travels in secret seeking something that was lost long ago.
Her grandmothers eyes grew distant as if seeing something beyond the kitchen walls.
Sometimes what appears to be a curse is actually a gift waiting to be unwrapped.
A gift Orth could not keep the bitterness from her voice.
I am twenty one years old grandmother.
I cannot shift properly.
I cannot link with the pack.
I cannot even defend myself from bullies.
What kind of gift is that.
Morwenial cupped Orths face in her hands and for a moment Orth could have sworn she saw something flash in her grandmothers eyes a glimmer of gold that should not exist in a wolf too old to shift.
The kind that requires the right moment to reveal itself Morwenial said.
Your mother understood this before she passed.
Orths throat tightened.
Her mother Mayora had died when Orth was fifteen just three years before her failed first shift.
The pack whispered that she had died of shame knowing somehow that her daughter would be defective.
But Morwenial had always insisted there was more to the story.
Now her grandmother continued releasing her face.
Your father has ordered all unmated wolves to prepare for presentation.
Yes even you.
But why.
They are going to hide me anyway.
Your father is many things but he is not stupid.
Hiding an omega from the Alpha King would be seen as deception.
Better to present you briefly and hope the king pays you no attention.
Morwenial pulled something from her pocket a small vial filled with silvery liquid.
Drink this tonight before the presentation.
What is it.
Something to calm your nerves.
The last thing we need is for you to have one of your episodes in front of royalty.
The episodes that is what they called it when Orths body tried to shift but could not complete the transformation.
The agony of bones breaking and reforming wrong of being trapped between forms neither human nor wolf.
It had happened publicly only once at a pack gathering and the horror on everyones faces still haunted her dreaMs. Orth took the vial the glass cool against her palm.
Grandmother did you know my mothers wolf.
What was she like.
Morwenials expression softened.
Your mothers wolf was unique silver as moonlight with eyes like stars.
She could run for days without tiring and her howl she trailed off lost in memory.
Her howl could make the strongest alpha weep with its beauty.
Then why could not she pass that strength to me.
Who says she did not.
Morwenial turned to leave then paused.
Wear the blue dress tonight the one your mother left you.
That old thing.
It is practically falling apart.
Wear it.
Her grandmothers tone brooked no argument.
And Orth remember that destiny does not make mistakes.
It only creates mysteries waiting to be solved.
Alone again in the kitchen Orth cleaning the broken plate her mind spinning.
The Alpha King here tonight every unmated wolf would be presented lined up like cattle for his inspection.
The thought made her stomach turn.
She had heard stories of his power his ruthlessness in battle his lack of patience for weakness and she was weakness personified.
As the day wore on the pack house transformed into a frenzy of preparation.
Orth watched from the shadows as unmated females primped and preened their excitement palpable.
Even wolves from neighboring packs began arriving having received the same mysterious summons.
I heard he is never taken a mate one visiting wolf gossiped as Orth swept nearby.
Five years as Alpha King and he has refused every match.
Maybe he is waiting for his fated mate another suggested dreamily.
Fated mates are fairy tales a third scoffed.
He is probably just too picky.
When you can have anyone why settle.
Orth moved away their chatter making her head ache.
Fated mates another thing she would never have along with a proper wolf a loving family or basic respect.
She was beginning to think Morwenial was wrong about destiny making mysteries.
Sometimes destiny just made mistakes and she was living proof.
That evening as she prepared for the presentation Orth thought of her younger sister Aurora safely mated to a beta in a distant pack.
Her father had been so proud when Aurora shifted perfectly at eighteen her wolf strong and beautiful everything Orth was not.
At least Aurora is not here to see my humiliation she muttered to her reflection adjusting the blue dress one final time.
The blue dress felt like wearing moonlight against her skin its fabric somehow cool and warm at once.
Orth stood before the cracked mirror in her tiny room barely larger than a closet tucked beneath the main stairs of the pack house.
The dress had been stored in a wooden box beneath her bed for years wrapped in tissue paper that smelled of lavender and something else something wild and ancient that made her wolf stir restlessly beneath her skin.
Her wolf what a joke.
The pathetic malformed thing that lived inside her was barely worthy of the name.
While other wolves were magnificent creatures of power and grace hers was wrong.
The few times she had managed even a partial shift what emerged was skeletal patchy a grotesque mockery of what a wolf should be.
Orth her fathers voice boomed through the floor above.
The presentation begins in an hour.
Do not embarrass us more than you already have by being late.
Elrichen Shadowmere had once been proud of his daughter or so Morwenial claimed before the failed shift before the shame.
He had called her his little moon dancer would carry her on his shoulders through the pack grounds.
Now he could barely look at her without his jaw clenching as if her very existence was a personal insult.
She swallowed the contents of her grandmothers vial in one quick motion.
The liquid tasted of mint and something metallic coating her throat with an odd tingling sensation.
Almost immediately she felt her wolf settle the constant anxious pacing in her mind quieting to a gentle hum.
The pack gathering hall had been transformed for the Alpha Kings arrival.
Banners of midnight blue and silver the Nightshade pack colors hung alongside Shadowmeres brown and gold.
The air thrummed with nervous energy as unmated wolves from neighboring packs had also been summoned creating a sea of bodies all hoping to catch the kings attention but hoping for what exactly Orth wondered as she slipped in through the side entrance keeping to the shadows as always.
Did they think the Alpha King would simply point at one of them and declare them worthy.
From what she had heard Zephros Nightshade had refused every match suggested by the Council of Alphas for the past five years.
Some said he was waiting for his fated mate.
Others whispered he was incapable of love his heart frozen by the same power that made him invincible in battle.
Form ranks Beta Garretts voice cut through the chatter.
He was a mountain of a wolf scarred from countless battles his left eye milky white from a challenge gone wrong.
Alphas and betas in the front deltas and gammas in the middle omegas in the back.
Orth took her place at the very back the only omega present.
The pack had few omegas most families who produced them sent them to other packs as part of alliance agreements.
Only Orth remained too defective to even be traded away.
Beside her a girl from the Ironwood pack glanced over with barely concealed disguSt. They let you attend.
I heard Shadowmere had a broken omega but I thought surely they would have the sense to hide her.
Beta roared the Alpha King approaches.
The massive oak doors swung open and the temperature in the room seemed to drop ten degrees.
Power rolled in like a physical force pressing against Orths skin making her wolf whimper and try to curl smaller around her.
Wolves began dropping to their knees unable to withstand the sheer dominance radiating from the doorway.
But Orth remained standing not out of defiance or strength but because her body had locked completely every muscle frozen as something deep within her recognized something.
Her wolf usually so quiet and weak suddenly surged forward with a violence that stole her breath.
Mine it whispered or maybe screamed she could not tell through the roaring in her ears.
Mine mine mine.
Zephros Nightshade entered the hall and the world shifted.
He was everything the stories claimed and nothing like she had imagined.
Taller than any wolf she had seen he moved with a predators grace that made every other person in the room look clumsy by comparison.
His hair was black as a moonless night his skin kissed by sun despite the Northern Territories eternal clouds.
But it was his eyes that stopped her heart silver like liquid mercury ancient despite his youth holding secrets and power that should not exist in the mortal realm.
Those eyes swept across the gathered wolves with dismissive efficiency cataloging and dismissing searching for something.
They stopped on her.
The world narrowed to that singular moment of connection.
Orth felt as if someone had reached into her chest and grabbed her heart squeezing until she could not breathe could not think could only stand there as the Alpha Kings expression shifted from boredom to something she could not name.
He took a step toward her then another.
Your majesty Alpha Hendrich her fathers father bowed low.
Welcome to Shadowmere.
We are honored by your presence.
May I present our unmated wolves for your consideration.
Who is that Zephross voice was deeper than thunder soft as silk and it slithered down Orths spine like a caress.
He had not looked away from her had not even acknowledged the alphas greeting.
Who your majesty.
Hendrich followed his gaze and his face paled.
Oh that is no one of consequence an omega with a malformed wolf.
We have arranged our strongest females in the front.
Her name it was not a requeSt. Orth her father spoke up stepping forward with barely concealed panic.
My daughter your majesty but I assure you she is not suitable for presentation.
Orth the way Zephros said her name made her knees weak.
He moved through the crowd like water wolves parting before him without conscious thought.
Each step brought him closer and with each step her wolf grew more frantic.
Run her rational mind screamed.
Run before he sees what you really are.
But she could not move could not even lower her gaze as protocol demanded.
She could only watch as death incarnate approached her with eyes that burned silver fire.
He stopped mere inches away so close she could feel the heat radiating from his body smell the scent of pine and winter storms that clung to him.
This close she could see the fine scars that decorated his neck his hands evidence of battles won challenges conquered.
Your wolf he said quietly meant only for her ears.
Show me.
The blood drained from her face.
I I cannot.
Cannot or will not your majesty.
Her father interrupted desperation clear in his voice.
She is defective her wolf is malformed it would be an insult to ask you to witness such.
Zephros moved so fast Orth one moment her father was speaking the next he was on his knees the Alpha Kings hand around his throat.
Did I ask for your opinion.
Zephross voice had gone deadly soft around them the Shadowmere wolves growled instinct demanding they protect their alphas son but none dared move against the king.
Please Orth whispered finding her voice at laSt. Please do not hurt him.
Zephros turned those mercury eyes back to her something flickering in their depths.
Slowly he released Elrichen who gasped and stumbled backward.
You beg for a man who calls you defective the king asked tilting his head with predatory intereSt. He is my father.
Biology does not make family Zephros said and there was something in his tone that suggested personal experience.
He lifted his hand and Orth flinched expecting a blow.
Instead his fingers ghosted across her cheek barely a whisper of touch that sent electricity racing through her veins.
Your majesty Beta Garrett stepped forward carefully.
The evening feast has been prepared.
Perhaps you would like to.
No feast Zephros had not looked away from Orth.
I require a private audience with the omega.
Gasps echoed through the hall.
Such a request was practically a declaration of intent a sign of serious intereSt. But an alpha king interested in a broken omega it was unthinkable.
Your majesty Alpha Hendrich tried again surely one of our stronger wolves would better suit.
Question me again Zephros said conversationally and I will raze this entire territory to ash and bone.
He finally looked away from Orth addressing the alpha with eyes gone dark as storm clouds.
The omega a private room now.
The blue moon chamber Hendrich stammered it is our fineSt. Show me Zephros commanded.
Orth led the Alpha King through halls she had cleaned a thousand times past portraits of former alphas who would roll in their graves knowing a broken omega was guiding royalty through their ancestral home.
Behind them she could hear the frantic whispers the disbelief the fury from wolves who had primped and prepared only to be overlooked for the packs shame.
The blue moon chamber was reserved for visiting alphas its walls lined with silver and moonstone that caught the light like captured stars.
Orth had only been inside once when her mother was alive and had snuck her in to show her the beautiful murals depicting ancient wolf legends.
Now she stood in that same room with the most dangerous wolf in the Northern Territories and her grandmothers potion was the only thing keeping her from shifting into her grotesque form from sheer terror.
Zephros closed the door behind them with deliberate slowness the soft click of the latch somehow more ominous than if he had slammed it.
Orth pressed herself against the far wall her heart hammering so hard she was certain he could hear it.
The room spacious by pack standards felt impossibly small with his presence filling it.
You are afraid of me he observed not moving from the door.
Everyone is afraid of you.
The words escaped before she could stop them and she immediately bit her tongue tasting blood.
To her shock his lips curved into something that might have been amusement.
True but your fear is different.
He tilted his head studying her like a particularly fascinating puzzle.
You are not afraid I will kill you.
You are afraid I will see you.
I do not know what you mean.
Liar.
He moved then not toward her but to the window gazing out at the rising moon.
Do you know why I am really here little omega.
The endearment should have sounded mocking but there was something almost gentle in his tone that made her wolf purr actually purr something it had never done before.
The official story is territory inspection Orth replied carefully.
But grandmother says you are looking for something loSt. He turned sharply silver eyes narrowing.
Your grandmother Morwenial is not it.
Still alive after all these years.
You know her.
I know of her.
He was studying her again that intense gaze that seemed to peel back layers of skin and bone to examine her very soul.
She was friends with my grandmother before the Great Division.
Tell me does she still brew those interesting potions.
Orths hand flew to her stomach where the vials contents sat.
I do not.
You of moonmint and silver sage he interrupted a suppression draft if I had to guess strong enough to keep even the most violent wolf subdued.
He moved closer and Orths back hit the wall.
The question is why would you need such a thing.
Unless his nostrils flared and something shifted in his expression.
Unless your wolf is not malformed at all.
It is just fighting something.
You are wrong.
The words came out as barely a whisper.
My wolf is broken.
Everyone knows.
Everyone knows what they have been told.
He was close enough now that she could see flecks of gold in his silver eyes like stars in a night sky.
But I have learned never to trust what everyone knows.
May I.
Before she could ask what he meant his hand was at her throat not threatening his touch was feather light fingers tracing the pulse point where her neck met her shoulder the traditional marking spot the place where a mate would bite.
Ice lightning the sensations crashed through her simultaneously and her wolf surged against the potions barriers with unprecedented violence.
Orth gasped her spine arching as every nerve ending came alive at once.
Zephros jerked back as if burned his eyes wide with something that looked impossibly like shock.
Impossible he breathed.
What.
Orths voice cracked.
What did you do.
Nothing.
I did nothing.
He was backing away now running a hand through his hair in an oddly human gesture of agitation.
This cannot you cannot be.
A knock at the door interrupted whatever revelation he was having.
Your majesty Betas Garretts voice carried through the wood.
The alphas request your presence for the formal dinner.
Tell the alpha he can Zephros caught himself visibly struggling for composure.
When he spoke again his voice had returned to its earlier cold authority.
I will attend shortly.
Shall I escort the omega back to the omegas quarters silence from the other side of the door then retreating footsteps.
Zephros stood in the center of the room his back to her tension radiating from every line of his body.
When he finally spoke his voice was different younger somehow more vulnerable.
Do you believe in fate Orth.
I believe in curses she replied honestly.
I believe the universe has its own plans regardless of our wishes.
He laughed but it was a sound devoid of joy.
Yes it does.
He turned back to her and the vulnerability was gone replaced by that predatory intensity.
Your wolf when did it first manifeSt. My eighteenth birthday but it went wrong.
I could not complete the shift.
The healers said my wolf was too weak malformed.
I have never successfully shifted.
And the pain.
Excruciating.
She wrapped her arms around herself like being torn apart from the inside.
He moved toward her again but this time his approach was different careful almost hesitant.
What if I told you that was not weakness.
What if I told you your wolf was not malformed but suppressed.
That is impossible.
Who would.
She stopped her mind racing.
No my parents would never.
Perhaps not intentionally.
He was close again but this time she did not feel threatened.
If anything her wolf was practically trying to crawl out of her skin to get closer to him.
Tell me about your mother.
She died when I was fifteen three years before my first shift.
How.
Illness.
She got weaker and weaker until Orth trailed off remembering those final days how her mother had gripped her hand whispering words in the old tongue that Orth could not understand how she had made Morwenial promise something their voices too low for anyone else to hear.
Not illness Zephros said quietly.
Sacrifice.
Before Orth could demand an explanation he was at the door.
You will attend the dinner tonight.
I am not allowed at formal dinners.
Omegas eat in the kitchen.
You will sit beside me.
That is the place of honor.
You are chosen.
The words died as understanding dawned.
No no you cannot possibly.
I can do whatever I wish I am the Alpha King.
But there was something hollow in his bravado.
Wear something other than that dress it is distracting.
He left before she could respond the door closing with finality behind him.
Orth sank to the floor her legs no longer able to support her.
Her wolf was going insane throwing itself against the barriers of the potion with increasing desperation and underneath the chaos a single word kept repeating in her mind in a voice that was not quite her own.
Mate.
Mate.
Mate.
No it was impossible.
Fated mates were rare growing rarer with each generation and an Alpha King fated to a broken omega.
The universe could not be that unpredictable could it.
A servant appeared moments later with a selection of gowns where they had found them on such short notice Orth could not imagine.
She chose the simplest a deep green that reminded her of forest shadows trying to ignore how perfectly it fit.
The dining hall erupted in whispers when she entered on Zephross arm.
Every eye tracked their movement to the high table where she was seated in the place meant for the Alpha Kings chosen.
Her fathers face had gone purple with rage and embarrassment.
Cassia looked ready to shift and attack right there.
Smile Zephros murmured his breath warm against her ear.
Let them wonder.
They are not wondering Orth whispered back.
They are plotting my murder.
Let them try.
The casual confidence in his voice should have been reassuring instead it reminded her that she was playing a game she did not understand with stakes she could not fathom.
The dining hall had never seen an omega at the high table and the weight of a hundred stares pressed against Orths skin like physical touch.
She sat rigid in the chair Zephros had practically forced her into the borrowed green dress feeling like armor and target both.
The gown fit too perfectly as if it had been made for her though that was impossible.
She was drowning in a situation that probably cost more lives than her family spent on food in a year political maneuvering she did not understand ancient protocols she was surely breaking and a connection she could not accept.
Zephros sat beside her his presence a looming storm cloud that made everyone at the table nervous.
He had not spoken since the meal began but his proximity was doing things to her wolf that the suppression potion was struggling to contain.
Every time he moved every time he breathed her entire body reacted as if pulled by invisible strings.
So Cassias voice cut through the tension like a blade dipped in honey.
How fascinating that your majesty has taken such an interest in our omega.
She sat across from them having somehow maneuvered herself into a position of prominence.
Orth has always been special to our pack.
The lie was so blatant that Orth nearly choked on her water.
Special Zephros repeated his tone giving nothing away.
Tell me more about how special she is.
Cassias smile flickered with uncertainty.
Well she is unique the only omega in our pack who cannot shift properly.
It is really quite remarkable medically speaking.
I see and you have been kind to her I assume as packmates should be.
Of course Cassias voice had gone slightly higher.
We are all family here.
Family Zephros lifted his wine glass examining the dark liquid as if it held secrets.
Like this morning when you and your brother watched Lysander break a plate and blame her for it.
The blood drained from Cassias face around the table conversations died.
Or last week Zephros continued conversationally when you poured wolfsbane extract in her wash water hoping to see if it would burn her skin.
How could you possibly Cassia caught herself but it was too late.
Know that Zephross eyes flashed dangerously.
My scouts arrived days before me watching reporting.
Did you think visiting royalty would not investigate a pack before arriving.
His gaze swept the table.
I know about every slight every cruelty every pathetic display of dominance you have inflicted on someone you deemed weaker than yourselves.
Alpha Hendrich stood his face purple with rage and embarrassment.
Your majesty surely these are internal pack matters.
Sit down the command was delivered so quietly that for a moment Orth thought the alpha might not have heard it then Hendrich dropped into his chair as if his strings had been cut the force of an Alpha Kings command impossible to resiSt. Orth Zephros turned to her and his voice gentled in a way that made her stomach flip.
Would you like to tell me your side of this mornings incident.
I she looked around the table at faces twisted with fury fear and disbelief these were people she would have to live with after he left.
It was nothing a misunderstanding.
A misunderstanding he leaned back in his chair and somehow that casual posture was more threatening than if he had shifted into his wolf form.
I wonder if it would still be a misunderstanding if I ordered Lysander to kneel before you and beg forgiveness.
Please do not Orth whispered horrified at the thought the retribution would be swift and terrible once he left.
As you wish he stood abruptly extending his hand to her.
Walk with me.
It was not a requeSt. Orth placed her trembling hand in his gasping at the spark that jumped between their skin.
His fingers closed around hers warm and calloused from years of combat and her wolf practically sang with joy.
They left the dining hall in absolute silence but Orth could feel the explosive aftermath building behind them.
The moment they were out of earshot voices erupted in furious discussion.
You have made everything worse she said once they were in the gardens the moon casting everything in silver light.
They already hated me now they will they will do nothing his grip on her hand tightened because you are leaving with me.
Orth stopped so abruptly that he had to catch her to keep her from falling.
What.
You are coming to the Nightshade Pack tonight.
I cannot just leave this is my pack my family.
The family that calls you defective the pack that tortures you daily.
His free hand came up to cup her cheek and the gentle touch contrasted sharply with the fury in his voice.
They do not deserve you.
The question slipped out before she could stop it.
Why.
Why do you care what happens to a broken omega.
You are not broken.
The words came out as a growl his wolf clearly close to the surface.
And you know why.
I do not.
Do not lie to me.
He moved closer backing her against an ancient oak tree.
You feel it too this pull your wolf recognizes mine even through that damned suppression potion.
That is impossible I am nobody.
You are everything.
He cut her off.
Age does not matter.
Money does not matter.
You are smart and strong and kind and my children love you.
I love you he said it fiercely like a challenge.
I love you Orth and I know I have no right to ask but I need to know if there is any chance you could feel the same.
Orth looked up at him at this man who had bought her to save her from worse who had given her a home and purpose and something she had never expected to find.
She thought about the way he looked at his children the way he worked until his hands bled the way he had sat with her all night while the twins fought their fevers.
She thought about the space he had carved out for her in his life careful and respectful and hopeful.
I do she whispered.
I love you too.
I think I have for a while now.
I was just too scared to admit it.
The smile that broke across Zephross face was like sunrise after a long night.
He kept her face in both hands his thumbs brushing her cheekbones and when he kissed her it was gentle and desperate and full of promise.
Orth melted into him her hands fisting in his shirt and for the first time since her father died she felt safe.
Gross Sams voice from the doorway made them jump apart.
The boy stood there with Lizzy both of them grinning.
Are you getting married Lizzy demanded.
Because we want you too.
We already decided.
Zephros laughed a sound Orth had never heard from him before surprised and joyful and completely unguarded.
Did you now.
Yes Sam said firmly.
Miss Orth is ours.
She has to stay forever.
Orth looked at the twins then at Zephros and felt tears pricking at her eyes.
I think I can manage that.
Zephros pulled her close again and this time when he kissed her the children cheered.
They were married six weeks later in the small church in Cold Water Ridge.
Orth wore a new dress that Zephros bought her cream colored with lace at the collar.
The twins stood up with them solemn and proud.
The ranch hands came and some of the neighbors and even the preacher seemed moved by the ceremony.
When the preacher said you may kiss your bride Zephros took his time about it holding Orth like she was precious like she was chosen like she was loved.
And when they pulled apart Lizzy tugged on Orths skirt and whispered loud enough for everyone to hear now you are really ours.
That night after the celebration was over and the twins were finally asleep Orth and Zephros stood on the porch of their home.
The stars were bright overhead and the air smelled like snow and pine and the particular sweetness of a hard won future.
Are you happy Zephros asked his arm around her waiSt. Orth thought about the girl who had stood on that auction platform eight months ago terrified and alone and certain her life was over.
She thought about the woman she had become a wife a mother to two wild hearts a partner in building something worth keeping.
Yes she said simply.
I am home.
Zephros kissed her temple and they stood there together two people who had found each other in the hardest way possible and decided to hold on anyway.
Inside the twins slept peacefully safe in the knowledge that their family was whole again.
And outside the frontier stretched on forever full of promise and possibility and the kind of love that could weather anything.
