“That’s because Nathan didn’t bond you properly,” Dane said, anger threading through the bond we now shared. “He never claimed you. Never let you claim him back. Never gave you what you deserved.”
“But we will,” Beau promised. “Every day. For the rest of our lives. We’ll prove this was the right choice.”
The knots held us locked for what felt like forever and no time at all. I stayed suspended between Dane and Silas, held up by their bodies and their knots and the overwhelming rightness of being completely filled by pack.
When the knots finally began to soften, I whimpered at the loss. The sensation of them pulling free was almost painful, leaving me empty and aching in a way that made my heat surge again immediately.
“I know,” Silas soothed, carefully extracting himself. “I know it feels like too much and not enough at the same time. That’s normal after claiming bites.”
Dane pulled free more slowly, mindful of how stretched I was, how sensitive. When he was finally out, I felt their combined release drip from my body, marking me in the most primal way possible.
“Look at you,” Dane said, his voice rough with satisfaction. “Marked by all three of us. Full of our seed. Wearing our bites. Perfect.”
I collapsed into the nest, boneless and spent, my body shaking with aftershocks. The three of them surrounded me immediately, hands stroking, voices murmuring reassurance, scents wrapping around me like a blanket.
Through the bonds, I could feel their satisfaction. Their possessive pride. Their bone-deep certainty that this was right.
But I could also feel their concern. Their worry that it had been too much, too fast, too intense.
“I’m okay,” I said, my voice hoarse from crying and screaming. “Better than okay. That was everything I needed.”
“You sure?” Beau asked, offering me water. “Because you look completely wrecked.”
“Iamcompletely wrecked,” I admitted, taking the water and drinking deeply. “But in the best possible way. I feel claimed. I feel owned. I feel like I finally belong somewhere.”
“You do belong,” Silas said, settling beside me and pulling me against his chest. “You belong with us. To us. And we belong to you just as much.”
I touched the bites on my neck, feeling where all three of them had marked me. Then I looked at their necks and Dane’s arm, seeing my own marks on each of them. Proof that this went both ways. That I’d claimed them just as thoroughly as they’d claimed me.
“I can’t believe I did that,” I whispered. “Took two knots at once. Claimed all three of you in one night. This is insane.”
“This is heat,” Dane corrected. “This is what heat is supposed to be like with a compatible pack. Intense and overwhelming and perfect.”
“Nathan never told me it could be like this.”
“Because Nathan never gave you a real pack,” Beau said, and I could feel his anger through our bond. Not at me. At Nathan. At what had been denied to me for so long. “He gave you isolationand shame. We’re giving you what you should have had from the beginning.”
The heat continued through the night in waves, but they were gentler now. Less desperate. My body had what it needed—three pack bonds, three claims, the certainty that I wasn’t alone.
They took turns caring for me between waves. Beau brought food and made sure I ate. Silas monitored my emotional state and knew when I needed touch versus space. Dane kept watch, his tactical mind never fully at rest, making sure I was safe even in the most vulnerable moments.
And through it all, I could feel them through the bonds. Feel their care, their concern, their growing affection. Feel how much this meant to them too.
Somewhere around three in the morning, the heat finally began to ease. The waves came further apart, less intense, my biology finally satisfied that pack bonds were secure.
I dozed between them, warm and safe and surrounded by the scent of pack. Cedar smoke and vanilla and leather, all mixing with my own scent until I couldn’t tell where I ended and they began.
When I woke, the room was starting to lighten with pre-dawn gray. The heat had broken completely, leaving me exhausted but clear-headed for the first time in almost twenty-four hours.
All three of them were still in the nest with me, watching over me even in sleep. Beau was curled against my back, his arm heavy across my waist. Silas was in front of me, one hand still resting on my hip like he couldn’t bear not to be touching me. Dane was at the edge of the nest, but positioned so he could see all of us, protect all of us, even while sleeping.
My pack.
The thought settled into my chest with a weight I hadn’t expected. Not heavy in a bad way. Just significant. Real. Permanent.
I had a pack. I was bonded. I was claimed.
I was theirs, and they were mine, and there was no going back.
