Page 16 of Free for Adventure
A few nearby alphas turned their heads at that.
“Don’t sweat it, but they are going to recognize the voice if not the face.” Violet smiled. “Oh, that is a lovely model of cuff, by the way. I see you have a band on it.”
“Yeah, Ohno tapped it, so to speak.”
“Ah, is he one of your marks? It holds three but only three compatible ones.”
“What? No. I mean. I don’t think so. We haven’t discussed if he has another form.”
Violet handed her off to the band leader, and he bent down and simply lifted Amby onto the stage.
He murmured a song name into her ear, and she nodded nervously, looking out to see the gathering of locals and tourists.
The music began, she inhaled, and the song emerged with the under-note of her particular skill. It sounded stupid when she said it out loud, so she didn’t. Siren.
She went through the bridge and verse until the song faded off. Ohno was staring in surprise, Violet was grinning smugly, and Hara had tears in her eyes. She hadn’t heard Amby sing in over a decade.
She tried to leave the stage, but the band leader said, “One more?”
Amby tensed. “Only one. Which do you want?”
“Frozen soul.”
“Got it.” She squared off against the microphone, and when the music was right, she launched her voice.
* * * *
Hara was crying. Kekoa put an arm around her. “What’s wrong?”
“I haven’t heard her sing since... they did to her what happened to me.”
He was instantly appalled. “You aren’t serious.”
“I am very serious. Her voice. You can hear it, can’t you?”
Kek nodded tightly. “I hear it. So, both of you began to morph into omegas, and they made sure to stop it directly.”
“Yeah, her voice was turning heads back then.”
“It is lovely. I would like the others to hear it.”
“She’s only here for a few days and has work to do, but now that she has seen the night market, we might be able to invite her up to the palace for dinner one night.”
Kek smiled and stroked her back. “That is very doable.”
She smiled up and him, and he reached to wipe her tears.
“She’s alive. She’s fine. She’s safe. She’s here,” he murmured to her.
She beamed. “She is. Is it wrong that I want to hide her passport so I can keep her?”
“No. It was how I felt about you when I realized how close we had come to losing you.”
Amby left the microphone and scurried back to the safety of her escort for the evening.
Hara could see her lips moving and heard the soft, panicked whine.
“Kek, what is Ohno?”