“First crisis as a bonded pack,” Silas observed. “We passed the test.”
“There will be other tests,” Dane warned. “Harder ones. Situations where our pack bonds might complicate professional responses. We need to be prepared for that.”
“Later,” Sable said firmly. “Right now, we’re going to acknowledge that we did well. That we proved something important. That we’re more than just biology and heat. We’re a functional unit.”
“To functional units,” I said, raising my water glass.
“To us,” Beau added.
We clinked glasses like idiots, exhausted and proud and terrified and hopeful. Like the disaster pack we were, learning to be something better together than we’d been alone.
And through the bonds, I felt the truth of it. We were going to make mistakes. We were going to struggle with the domestic parts and the emotional vulnerability and all the complicated aspects of four independent people learning to share their lives.
But we’d show up for each other. Keep proving ourselves through action instead of words. Keep building something worth the risk we’d all taken.
That was enough to start with.
Chapter 21
Sable
The walk into The Brew felt like facing a firing squad.
It had been three days since the emergency response at the timber mill. Three days of recovery at Dane’s house, of learning to navigate pack dynamics, of everyone being very carefully polite while we figured out how to function as a unit. Three days of avoiding town because we’d all needed space to process before facing public scrutiny.
But we couldn’t hide forever. And I was done hiding anyway.
“We don’t have to do this today,” Beau said quietly as we stood in the parking lot. He could feel my anxiety through the bond, probably all of them could. “We could go back to the house. Give it more time.”
“More time won’t change how people react,” I said. “And I refuse to act like we did something wrong. We’re bonded. We’re pack. If people have a problem with that, it’s their problem, not ours.”
“That’s my girl,” Silas said, but I could feel his own nervousness underneath the bravado. “Brave and fierce and not apologizing for anything.”
“Though maybe prepare yourself for stares,” Dane added. His hand found the small of my back, grounding and supportive. “Small towns notice everything. Four people with fresh claiming bites walking in together is going to cause talk.”
“Let them talk,” I said, squaring my shoulders. But my heart was hammering against my ribs, and I had to consciously stop myself from touching the healing bites on my neck. The visible proof that I’d bonded three alphas. The thing that Nathan would have found appalling and improper and too much.
The thing that made me exactly what I was. Not too much. Just enough for the pack I’d chosen.
“Together,” Beau said, taking my hand. “We walk in together, and if anyone has a problem, they deal with all four of us.”
We pushed through the door as a unit, and I felt the exact moment everyone in The Brew noticed us.
The conversations died. Coffee cups paused halfway to mouths. Every eye in the place tracked to us, to our hands linked together, to the claiming bites visible on all our necks.
My fight-or-flight instinct activated. Every muscle tensed, ready to defend myself against judgment I’d learned to expect. Ready for someone to say what Nathan had said, that this was too much, that I was greedy, that no proper omega bonded three alphas.
Then Kit from the community centre stood up from where she’d been sitting with her own pack. And started clapping.
Willa joined her immediately, standing and applauding with a huge smile on her face.
And then the entire coffee shop erupted.
Not in judgment or disapproval or scandal. In applause and congratulations and genuine happiness. People were standing,clapping, some of them calling out encouragement. Sarah, the owner, was grinning from behind the counter. Mrs. Patterson from the general store, who I’d avoided after that awkward conversation weeks ago, was wiping her eyes like she might cry.
“About damn time!” Mrs. Patterson shouted over the noise. “Those boys have been pining for weeks! We were starting to worry you’d never figure it out!”
The acceptance was overwhelming. I felt tears forming before I could stop them, felt my carefully maintained walls crumbling in the face of something I’d never expected. Community support. Celebration instead of judgment. People who saw our pack formation and thought it was worth applauding.
