Soren took a bite of his croissant and leaned back, studying me with that quiet, knowing look he sometimes got. "You must be so happy you met him again."
I sighed, tracing the rim of my half-empty cappuccino cup with one finger. "I'm really so surprised. I thought he was dead or something."
"Really?" Soren asked, eyebrows lifting.
"Yeah," I replied. "I never knew I would meet him again."
I looked down at Amir, then back at Soren. "I really wanted to show him paradise. He believed in it when we were growing up and I thought it was a myth." I laughed a little, the sound soft and shaky. "We used to talk about it at night when Father was asleep—how there had to be a place somewhere that wasn't like the pack we grew up in. A place where omegas weren't just… property. Where people didn't disappear. He'd draw little maps on scraps of paper, mark spots with stars. I told him it was stupid. That nowhere like that existed."
