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Hawk grinned, and I stepped down into the living room far enough for him to drag me to him and across his lap. “Are yousaying you’d have agreed to be ours earlier if we’d shown you the house?”
My clothes were still non-existent, so the sweatpants he had on were doing almost nothing to separate our bodies. I decided to tease him. “I guess we’ll never know now, will we?”
“Does that mean you’re staying, baby girl?”
I dropped my eyes, blushing. “I want to.”
Pulling me closer, he didn’t let me get away. Instead, he pressed his forehead to mine. “Why do I hear a ‘but’ in there?”
This was what post-heat was like, because all of a sudden emotions washed up out of nowhere and I choked back a sob.
Hawk held me tighter, crushing me to him. “Hey,” his voice was soft. “If you don’t have an answer, it’s okay. I’m sorry.”
I shook my head where it was buried in his neck. “It’s silly.”
He laughed softly, but he wasn’t laughing at me. I felt his nerves in the way he held me. “I’m sure it’s not silly, baby girl. Just talk to us.”
Pushing back, I swiped at my face to get the tears away. Cade now leaned against the pillar leading to the living room, and Vaughn stood behind the half wall barring the kitchen. They were all here with me.
“I want you so much,” I whispered. “So it doesn’t make sense that I feel terrified. But I do and I hate it. It’s like standing on the cliff outsideknowingthere’s a net at the bottom and I’m still scared to jump.”
Hawk just nodded. He didn’t look offended or angry or anything like it. Instead, he lifted a hand and curled it around the back of my neck, thumb gently brushing back and forth along my jaw. “What are you scared of?”
My mouth opened and closed. Words didn’t form. I didn’t have any specifics, only this big, namelessthinginside me that was scared to move forward, because what if it fell apart?
“Are you scared of us?” He asked.
No. Never. I shook my head. Hawk smiled. “Then do you mind if I give it a go?”
I toyed with the collar of his t-shirt. “Okay.”
“I think you loved Beau,” he said quietly. “Maybe not at the end, but I think he swept you off your feet, and you had no reason not to love him. And then like the absolute piece of shit he is, he took advantage of your sweetness. Your kindness. And he taught you that being loved was accepting what you could get, being alone, and never being satisfied.”
“But—”
He pulled me close and kissed me, silencing my protest with gentle insistence. “You didn’t even know those things were happening. I know. You thought it was normal, and Beau’s a good actor. No one thought anything was wrong. Not even you, which is why him breaking up with you, even if he claims it was a ploy to bring you closer, was so devastating.
“And all those years and all that history crumbled into dust in the space of a day. Being scared of it happening all over again isn’t silly, it’s natural.”
I lifted my eyes to his, swimming in their darkness, and he smiled again. “But we have something he didn’t.”
“General human decency and the skill to actually bring me to orgasm?”
Laughs burst out through the room, including Hawk. “Those, yes. But we have the knowledge that you’re perfect for us. And we’re perfect for you.”
While scent matches weren’t rare in theory, they were rare in practice. With all the Alphas and Omegas in the world, how were you meant to run into the one person or pack who was yours? I knew a couple of scent matches, but they were few and far between. There were matchmaking services that could help you, but they were expensive as shit, and it didn’t always work.
“And Isolde,” Hawk said. I knew whatever came next was deadly serious because he used my name. “I’ll do whatever you need to show you I mean it. Including bonding with you right fucking now if that’s what you wanted.”
The whole room went still. “You would do that?”
“Hell yes,” Vaughn said. “I would.”
Murmurs of agreement from the others.
I twisted to look at them. “And that doesn’t scare you?”
“No,” Joel said. “At least not in the way you’re thinking. There are always nerves when you make big, life-altering decisions. But for me, for this, the nerves aren’t about whether it’s a good idea. It’s the same kind of nerves you get when you’re about to get news you’re excited about. Or you’re about to go on vacation. Anticipation and not questions or worry.”
