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His mother’s words had become his own personal sacred texts. Each morning he read her words and it was like he could hear her voice, feel her hand carding through his blond hair.
‘The alpha, whose place is that of protector and provider. They are blessed with strength and the deep instinct to love, and keep the ones they love safe and happy. This is why they are marked with ink. The legends tell us that the power of an alpha was built into their skin and muscle, and why their ceremonial tattoos are sacred and carefully chosen. Their tattoos convey their purpose and affirm their responsibilities. This is why they are marked with the name of their mate and eventually their pups in the ceremonies of claiming. They must know it both with their souls as well as their bodies
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‘The omega, whose place is that of lifegiver and lover. They are blessed with the capacity for love unbound and a need to care for others. They are burdened with the glorious purpose of carrying pups and bringing new lives into this world. The legends tell us that the Fates wove the soul of an omega into their hair. This is why an omega’s hair is sacred and cutting it is the most hallowed and revered act and saved only for sacred life events. Loss of virginity, accepting a mate, or the death of your mate or child. These acts affect the soul of an omega most deeply.
Your beautiful golden hair carries within it your very life, and you must be careful who you allow to affect your soul. I want you to only cut your hair for someone who is truly worthy of you. Don’t waste yourself on someone who will not love you for who you are.’
Traditions were important. Traditions were the living faith of the dead, they were a connection to your ancestors and those who you had lost.
Valentyne didn’t mind being alone mostly, but he didn’t enjoy being lonely.
‘I hope that he touches you with gentle hands and looks at you as if you put the very stars in the sky,
me. Find someone who will treat you like you are delicate and precious, and once you do, make sure to let him see you.
He could feel his stare like a physical touch, a soft hand running down his spine.
The thing about the gifts that he’d been presented was... that they weren’t gifts. They were more like bribes. Once he had turned down their mating offers, the alphas had all taken their tokens of affection back from him, which told him that they thought he could be purchased with expensive trinkets.
You didn’t touch an omega’s hair without permission, especially as an alpha. The hair of an omega was sacred, and to lay hands on it without express permission was an insult to their honor.
He tried to be gentle with the delicate hand, wanting to show his respect by being kind and soft with him. Valentyne deserved to be treated with reverence and Ren would absolutely die if he hurt him. He knew he was strong; he spent most of his life lugging around heavy wood and tools and sometimes he didn’t know his own strength. He imagined that he could probably lift Valentyne with one hand, he was so small and slight, so he knew he had to be careful.
I love that Ren recognizes it's not because Valentyne is weak that he should be gentle, but because Ren, himself, is strong due to his occupation. Usually, authors of the Omegavwrse genre will discredit the Omega as "weak" and uplift the alpha as "strong" just because they are those sub-genders and not because the alpha is usually taking on more masculine jobs such as carpenter, fighter, firefighter, police officer, etc. and the Omega is usually taking on more feminine jobs such as nurse (don't get me started on that industry, male nurses can be better depending on the situation), Nanny, model, dancer (specifically bellet dancer, but any dancing and they're usually an omega), etc.
Ren gave him a little smirk as he said, “It will only be humiliating if I get rejected.”
You, my beautiful son, are like a rare and precious flower. I don’t want you to fall for the alpha who would pluck you off the branch, but instead for the alpha who will water you and tend to you. Your fated mate will make you flourish and bloom into the most complete and happiest version of yourself.
I’m asking you to wait. Wait for the man who will bring springtime into your heart.’
He studied the seams and thought that he could do better, the stitches weren’t as straight as they could be and the collar was slightly uneven on one side. Amateur.
“Don’t treat your hair so roughly, my love. You’re worth so much more than that.”
“You’re like sandpaper. You smooth out all my edges and sharp parts until I’m all evened out.”
Ren was startled as Valentyne pushed his white underwear down and he did his best not to look... which was to say that he looked the entire time.
I know that you will be tempted to reach out to just anyone, and it will be tempting to allow your hurting heart to fall into the hands of one who does not deserve its beauty. I am not telling you not to trust or to allow people to be near you, but I am asking you to be careful. There are those who would see you hurt, or who would want to use you for their own ends. This is a point on which you should always be wary.
Children and animals see past pretense in a way that those who have passed from childhood cannot. It is in their power to see things that we do not perceive, but their judgment is to be valued and trusted. If one is favored by the most vulnerable among us, then let him be seen as someone of good character and possessing a kind and gentle spirit.’
“I’ve loved you since the moment I laid eyes on you. It was like the Fates touched my beating heart and I knew from that single instant that you and I were meant to be together. I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life proving how much I love you every day.”
“It’s okay, my love. I promise I’m not going anywhere. I would never force you to do anything that you don’t want to do or aren’t ready for. I will wait for you for the rest of my life if I need to. If you need more time, if you need more love, if you need more... anything, I’ll be here. It’s okay to be sad. It’s okay to miss your mother. It’s okay to fear that losing those connections in your life will steal something from you. I felt the same way about leaving my old village. I worried that I would lose my father’s memory or that I would make him sad by leaving our house where we lived so
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it made him realize his fear was unfounded. His fear of loss, his fear of letting go of the past. He could not sacrifice what could be for what had been, even if giving up the past meant that he would lose something precious, it was nothing to what he would lose by clinging to it.
No amount of guilt or sadness can change the past. Letting go of the past is not the real fear we feel when we must make that choice. It is the idea of coming to terms with letting go of a possible future that will never be. I hope therefore that your future holds only happiness and that your life is full of nothing but smiles and joy. Let yourself feel all the wonderful things that this world has to offer.
“I see. Well, I can’t wait to walk with you by my side under the watching eyes of the Fate of Love. She is the one who brought you to me, and I want her to know I have found you and for her to see my love for you.”
It didn’t matter how long he’d known Ren, whether it was five minutes or fifty years, he was always going to feel this. It was something deep and permanent that had taken root in his heart.
Someday, he promised himself he would know them all. He would map the constellations on Valentyne’s body until they were each memorized and stored within his mind.
‘I hope you find acceptance. The kind that rings through your bones, the kind that quiets the voice inside you that tells you that you are not good enough or not worthy. I hope you forgive yourself for your little mistakes, for the past you have suffered through. I hope you find the kind of moments that take your breath away. The kind of moments that change you and cleanse your soul. I hope you connect with the small things in life that fill it with beauty, a summer morning, the first snowfall of winter, the breeze on your skin and the sun in your hair. I hope you find someone who allows you
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‘Your soul is like a tiny glowing ember, one that could be snuffed out by someone who is too harsh and rushed. But when you find your fated mate, he will tender that small ember into a flame and when you come together, you will become a blazing inferno as your fire meets his. So find that alpha, that gentle, loving man who will feed your little fire no matter how small it gets and will bring out of you the incandescence of your truest self.’
“I’m not for sale. It doesn’t matter what you offer.” Valentyne snapped peevishly, trying to shake the hands off his shoulders that were now slightly hurting as the grip increased. “You could offer me a hundred castles and he a single rose, and I would still choose him. Now, let go. You’re hurting me.”
Ren’s body moved before he’d even given his muscles the order to do so, which made sense. His body didn’t belong to him anymore. It belonged to Valentyne now. His omega.
“I promise I’ll keep you safe.” “I know you will.”
It felt both like they had been waiting a thousand years, and also like they had just met yesterday. Time and memory warped in the presence of love, making everything a kaleidoscope of colorful, beautiful memories and swirling emotions. It was like being caught in a storm-tossed sea and finding that one safe haven, a rock to cling to as the wind and waves of life crashed against you.
Maybe it was just wishful thinking, or maybe when you love so deeply, there is a part of you that never dies, never leaves the earth until that person joins you in the afterlife.
It is time to put your soul into the hands of an alpha you love and trust, and who adores you more than any pairing I’ve ever seen. I don’t think you see how deep his love is for you, because when his attention is on you he is just the gentle and caring alpha that you love. But I have seen him with others, and only you soften him so. He looks at you as if he’d never seen anything so beautiful or precious. You hold in your hands the power to lift him up, or to break him completely. Because he loves you. You are everything to him.”
He smiled that beautiful smile that made him look like an overgrown bunny.
The long, golden strands of hair that had never been cut before, and if the old legends were to be trusted... his very soul. In the other was the blade. He offered his alpha the means to take a part of his soul for himself, it would be his responsibility to keep it safe in his care for as long as he lived. And if Fates forbid, his alpha were to pass into the afterlife before him, then on his funeral pyre, Valentyne’s braid would lay upon his chest to burn along with him. Once you relinquished a part of your soul to another, there was no return. It belonged to them from that point onward.
Those dark eyes looked into his, and Valentyne’s inner turmoil quieted. He could see within those dark eyes a message. ‘I love you. Trust me. I’m yours.’
“You are my omega, and you kneel for no one. It is the greatest honor of my life to accept your braid. I will care for it and for you, and when I pass from this world, I will take it with me. Just as from this day onward you will always be a part of me.”
The cord of silken hair around his wrist was like the most welcome chain, one that attached him to his omega, one that could not be broken by any mortal interference. He was the willing prisoner of his omega’s love and would toil his days away in service of nothing else but his beautiful, sweet Valentyne, who he thought could have no idea the amount of control he had over the alpha.
“Come with me.” Ren said, looking down at his omega wanting badly to be alone with him so he could hold him without all the eyes on them. “Anywhere.” Valentyne answered breathlessly.
“This is the only life where you know me as you do, but in each one, I have loved you dearly."
“Luca, thank you. Thank you for being my best friend, for being my omega life partner. Thank you for holding me when I cried and hugging me when I laughed. Thank you for every late night and early morning and everything in between. I am so happy to have you here with me on this day.”
“I remember every single thing about the day I met you. I can remember the very first time I saw you as you rode up toward my little cabin on your horse. I knew from that first moment that you were someone special. I think it was the feel of your soul near mine that told me you were the one I had waited all my life for. My fated mate. I’ve felt many things in my life, and somehow… no matter how great, I knew I could live without it. Until I felt you. There was something inside of me that couldn’t let go. Not just the feel of you, but the feel of myself, finally being whole. Meeting you brought
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“I think I loved you in another life, perhaps in many, just as the Fate had told us. I think I must have promised you that I would find you, somewhere on the other side. Or maybe you’ve always been in my subconscious, nudging me this way, and pulling me that way until the day I finally found you. I don’t know. All I know is that I have felt you in my heart and soul more than one life should allow. So, I will protect you and hold you close forever, and when we part from this world, I will find you in the next one, and the one after that, and however many more. I will never stop looking for you
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