When his name came out not as Caspian, but as Forest, I knew for certain what was happening.
This was a past life.
A new memory I’d had yet to unlock, drawn out of me by Caspian being missing. It was different from the memories I’d had of Freya and I — or rather, Sigrid and Aric — because I knew what was happening and who everyone was to me in the current time. In our current reincarnation.
“You were staring blankly at me for a moment,” he said. He leaned in to give me a kiss, then rested a hand on my forehead. “I hope you’re not falling ill.”
“Ill?” I asked.
What sicknesses could fae catch?
This was a kind of memory I was unfamiliar with, one where I was placed into the middle of it with all my knowledge from my current life and no knowledge from this one.
“The Summer Plague,” Caspian said slowly.
He gestured over one of the others, my senses flooding with scents. All of them. Emmett, Nolan, Oswald, and… Freya.
She came over first, dressed crisply in a pair of well-tailored trousers and a pleated tunic. It was when I caught sight of her and the mark she displayed proudly on her neck that I noticed. She was an Alpha. And Caspian… he was the Omega.
I knew it was possible — Sigrid and Aric had both been Betas in that life. Nulls, with no magic either. Reincarnations were hard to predict. It was odd, though, watching her place a hand possessively on his hip and glare at me. There was only one visible mark. Did we not have a relationship in this life? Were we only connected by our shared Omega? Or was she hiding more marks beneath her clothing?
Did I have marks? I wanted to strip down and find out, but I doubted this dream would last long enough.
“What are doing to distress our Omega?” she demanded, haughtier than she was in the current incarnation.
“Apologies,” I said.
Emmett, Nolan, and Oswald gathered round. None appeared the same as they did in the current time, but I knew them all by scent. Each had a matching mark on their neck. Caspian’s claim.
We also all had pointed ears, including myself. I checked by tucking my far too short hair behind my ear.
“I didn’t ask for an apology. I asked what you weredoingto distress him,” Freya said.
She was so similar in personality to my current version of her that I fought back the urge to hug her. Fuck, I missed her. I hoped this wasn’t the last time I would see her. I wanted to see my Freya again.
“Fayette, calm down,” Caspian murmured. “He’s not doing anything wrong. I’m just worried. He’s acting… off. I don’t want anyone to think he has the Summer Plague.”
“If he had it, we would know. He was fine mere moments ago.”
“I…”
She shut him up with a kiss. Freya was taller, though it might have had something to do with the lifted boots she was wearing. They didn’t keep it chaste for the public venue, her tongue sliding into his mouth and her hands grabbing him through his clothing. By the time they broke apart, Caspian was panting and clinging to her, little moans leaving him.
My mate.
Through the reincarnations, we’d been drawn back to each other.
We weresoulbound.
There was no denying it. I couldn’t continue pretending soulbonds were a fairy tale.
“Are we a pack?” I asked suddenly, dragging my gaze away from the two of them rubbing together. “All of us? Bound as a pack?”
Nolan raised an eyebrow, exchanging a look with Oswald. “Obviously. We wouldn’t all have Forest as a mate, otherwise. We’ve been pack bound since we were eighteen years old, years before we met our precious Omega. Do you seriously not remember?”
I wasn’t sure how to respond. I didn’t remember, but it was because I’d never lived that. Memories before this night, this single moment in time, weren’t available to me.
Either way, everything made more sense.
