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The omega steps away. The alpha reaches for her without moving. The beta folds forward, but no sound leaves him. Between them, the water brightens, and every instinct in me strains toward something I can’t hear but know is there.

I try to turn.

One second, I am watching the three figures. The next, my boots are in the spring. Then I am on the bridge. Theo has hold of me. I blink, and my body is nowhere Theo can reach.

Fear hits hard enough to make me angry. I have joked through disappearing for months, made it charming when I could, turned the rest into art because the alternative was letting it eat me alive. There is nothing charming about being three feet from the people I love and unable to find the way back.

"Ezra Heron."

Pepper's voice cuts through the water, soft but clear.

"Ezra Heron, you still owe me a date."

A laugh tears out of me, rough and strange.

The spring flickers, and the figures sharpen. The omega at the edge of the open circle turns her head. For half a second, her face looks like Pepper's.

But it’s not Pepper, only someone with the same stubborn lift of her chin.

"Ezra," Theo says. His voice is rough, almost broken.

The alpha in the vision shudders, his whole body straining with the need to reach out.

I feel Theo too. His need to grab me. His need to run. The bond pulls toward me, all command and panic. My Theo would tear the spring apart to get to me.

“Follow my voice.” Pepper speaks again. "Choose us."

Choose.

I look down. A line of clear water runs beneath my feet, open and bright. One direction leads toward the omega at the edge. One leads back to Pepper's voice, Theo's restraint, and the ache of my own name. I want them. That is the simplest truth I have.

I step toward them. The world snaps back into place.

I hit my knees in shallow water, coughing hard enough to hurt. Theo catches my shoulders. Pepper drops in front of me, mud splashing up her legs, both hands hovering near my face.

"Can I touch you?" she asks.

I laugh because I am terrified and because she is perfect. "Yes. Please. Several touches."

Her palms cup my cheeks. I become solid beneath them. Theo exhales like a man who has been holding his breath since seventeen.

Pepper's eyes shine. She presses her forehead to mine. "You came back."

"I had a prior engagement with a beautiful omega."

Her laugh trembles.

Theo's hand settles at the back of my neck, warm and shaking. "I almost lost you."

"I know."

His grip tightens a fraction, then eases. "I didn’t know what to do."

I cover Theo's hand with mine. "I heard you. Both of you.”

In our bond, I feel a painful give where something has been clenched too long.

Pepper sits back on her heels, breathing hard. "We're done for today."