"Ah," Cilian’s mask of pure mischief nearly fell into an annoyed one. "Why are you so worried about Harris? Do you find him more attractive than me now because he’s pitiful?"

"Get real!" He pushed his hand over Cilian’s chest. "Just... let’s at least act human for once."

"Are you implying we’ve been aching beasts this whole time? Well, you’re not wrong," his hand found Ren’s butt, and he squeezed.

Ren could not have it with him. He liked to distort his words to fit his own narrative.

Harris stood rooted to the spot, his knuckles white as he stared at the sleek black machine. It represented everything he had nearly forgotten—the schedules, the rigid hierarchies, the cold metal of a cockpit.

But as he looked back at the tree line, his heart performed a painful, uneven stutter.

I can’t leave him. But I can’t stay. The conflict was tearing him apart. He was a man of logic, of flight paths and fuel calculations, but the scent of lilies was currently overriding every circuit in his brain.

He turned, ready to run back into the jungle, to find Kaelo and beg for... what? Forgiveness? A reason to stay?

But he didn’t really have to because from the shadows of the palm trees, Kaelo had emerged.

He wasn’t empty-handed. He carried a small, woven travel sack slung over his shoulder, and he was dressed in his finest ceremonial wraps, though he still walked with that tell-tale, wide-legged limp.

"You were going to fly away without your meal?" Kaelo called out, his voice somehow piercing through the mechanical thunder.

Harris stumbled toward him, his breath catching. "Kaelo... I... I have to go. My life is back there, but I don’t—"

"I know," Kaelo interrupted, reaching out to lace his fingers through Harris’s calloused hand. His gaze was steady, devoid of the teasing mischief from the night before. "I told you, Sky-Man. I was searching for a groom. Last night, you accepted the vows." He rubbed his hand over his belly. "You put your seed in my womb and your mark on my soul. Where the groom goes, the bride follows."

Harris stared at him, stunned.

"You... You’d leave? You’d leave the island? Your family?"

Kaelo looked back at the villagers, who were now gathered at a safe distance from the ’great metal bird.’ He looked at the stout woman, who was nodding through her tears, and then back to Harris.

"The spirits told us the stars would fall," Kaelo whispered. "They didn’t say the stars would stay on the ground forever. They said we must follow the light."

Harris didn’t care about the logic anymore. He pulled Kaelo into a fierce, desperate embrace, burying his face in the Omega’s neck. "I’ll take care of you. I swear it. You’ll have everything."

Kaelo smiled.

"Then, I’ll lean on you to teach me about the outside world as well,"

Ren watched this and let out a sigh of relief. He didn’t know why he was so concerned, but he would’ve been worried for some reason if those two were separated.

Well, now they could both build a life together.

Unlike his life, which was still driven by hate and anger.

While the security team stood like statues, Ren managed to pull himself away from Cilian’s suffocating grip long enough to wave to the women who had cared for him.

"Thank you," Ren mouthed to the villagers watching from a distance, his eyes stinging.

For all the trauma Cilian had inflicted, the villagers had been genuinely kind. They were the only pure thing in this nightmare. Though they did cause a few of his nightmares.

The Elder stepped forward, ignoring the wind from the rotors. He took Cilian’s hand and Ren’s hand, forcing them together in a firm grip.

He looked into their eyes—one pair gold-brown and triumphant, the other grey and burning with a mix of exhaustion and resentment.

"The union is sealed," the Elder shouted over the wind. "The Sky-Man has protected his bride and will take him away. And you have protected yours. The fruit is already ripening. Go!"

Cilian beamed, his hand sliding back to Ren’s waist and squeezing with a terrifying, proprietary heat.

"We will never forget your hospitality, Elder. The Vane family remembers its friends."

Ren felt a cold shiver. The fruit. He hated to hear that word more than anything else.

As they were ushered into the helicopter, Harris and Kaelo following close behind, the door finally slid shut. The silence of the pressurized cabin was instantaneous and eerie. Ren slumped into the plush leather seat, his mind already racing.

The moment we land. The very moment. He didn’t care if he had to jump out of a moving car. He needed a clinic, a hospital. He needed to know if the ’fruit’ the Elder spoke of was really there. 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

But the issue was, how to do it without Cilian insisting on tagging along and finding out the results with him.

Cilian settled into the seat beside him, looking as relaxed as if they were returning from a corporate retreat. He reached over, his fingers trailing lazily over Ren’s thigh.

It was as if Cilian had read his mind, knowing exactly what he planned to do as soon as they planned.

"Don’t look so vexed, Ren," Cilian purred through the headset’s microphone, his eyes reflecting the blue of the ocean they were now soaring over. "You wanted to act human. We said our goodbyes. Now, let’s focus on the future. I’ve already scheduled a private team to meet us at the hangar. No public hospitals, no prying eyes. Just us... and our growing family."

Ren felt a cold shiver of dread. No! No! He didn’t want this.

He turned his head to the window, gripping the fabric of his coat hard and watching the island shrink into a tiny green speck in a vast, uncaring sea.

The Zeal to escape was the only thing keeping him upright, but as Cilian’s hand moved higher, Ren realized the island might be behind them, but the ’Monster’ was growing bigger.