“Is this actually my life?”
“It sure is,” Kane confirms and steals a kiss.
“We should get ready,” Noel adds, also leaning in to kiss me. “It starts in an hour.”
I’m already moving toward Chris, reaching for the dress. “Why are you only telling me this now? I need time! I need to do my hair! I need to figure out makeup that works with this mask! I need to have a moment to process the fact that I’m living inside a romance novel!”
The three of them are chuckling at me.
I clutch the dress to my chest, overwhelmed all over again. “I honestly don’t know how I can ever repay you for this,” I whisper. “This is… everything I never thought I’d get to have. I didn’t even let myselfwantsomething like this. And you just—” My voice catches. “You gave it to me.”
Noel steps in first like he’s approaching something sacred. He frames my face with those big, calloused hands, angling me up into his gaze. “You don’t repay us,” he says quietly. “That’s not how this works. We choose you. We keep choosing you. And giving you the things you never thought you deserved?” His thumb strokes my cheek. “That’s our privilege, Hannah.”
My heart flips. God, he means it.
Then he kisses me, slow, lingering, a promise pressed directly into my mouth. The kind of kiss that has me trembling when he pulls away.
Chris is there and brushes a kiss along my jaw, warm breath trailing after it. “You have no idea,” he murmurs, “how easy it is to give to you. How good it feels.” His hand skims down my arm, fingers tangling briefly with mine. “Let us spoil you a little, sweetheart.”
Then Kane’s palms settle at my hips, drawing me into the heat of his chest. He presses his mouth to the side of my head, a slow drag of lips that makes my spine melt. “You think this isa lot?” he rumbles against my skin. “Just wait. We haven’t even warmed up yet.”
A laugh slips out of me, half breathless, half desperate to keep standing under all this attention.
They’re surrounding me—touching me, claiming me without needing to mark a single inch.
It’s dizzying. It’s perfect.
Kane nuzzles my temple. “Go on, beautiful,” he says, voice dipping low. “Get dressed.”
Chris’s hand pats my ass. “We’ve got a ball to attend,” he adds, smirking. “And trust me… we plan on being the ones who get to unwrap you later.”
My whole body lights up. And for the first time in my life, I don’t feel like someone who’s being given a gift. But likeI’mthe gift they can’t wait to cherish.
I float into the bathroom on a cloud of happiness. “Can you believe this is happening?” I ask the carved wolf as I blend eyeshadow. “Because I can’t.”
The dress fits perfectly. My hair goes into soft curls that cascade over my shoulders and down my chest, a few tendrils framing my face.
When I finally position the mask and look at myself in the mirror, my breath catches.
I might as well be an ice princess. Someone who belongs in ballrooms and palaces. With a deep breath, I adjust my mask one final time and step out of the bathroom.
My three Alphas are waiting, and I nearly fall over.
They’re all in formal suits, perfectly tailored to emphasize their broad shoulders and powerful builds. Chris in deep charcoal that makes his green eyes pop. Kane in midnight blue that somehow makes him look even more dangerous than usual. Noel in classic black with his long dark hair pulled back, looking like a fallen angel.
Each of them wears a black masquerade mask over his eyes, and the effect is absolutely devastating. They look like secret agents. Like villains from a Gothic romance. Like every fantasy I’ve ever had made flesh.
“Your Majesty,” Noel says, dropping to one knee in front of me. “You honor us poor mortals with your presence.”
I laugh, the sound echoing off the ice walls. He takes my hand and presses a kiss to my knuckles before rising gracefully.
Chris and Kane move in like they planned it, but I know they didn’t. They just… orbit me. Big hands skim over whatever skin they can reach. Chris’s lips brush my bare shoulder where the neckline has slipped. Kane’s mouth finds the curve of my neck. Fingers trail along my waist, slow and appreciative.
“You’re so beautiful,” Chris murmurs against my skin, his breath warm and distracting.
A shiver rolls down my spine.
He continues, “This dress was the right call. I worried the blue would be too on the nose, given the venue, but…” His palm slides down the fabric over my hip, slow enough to make me inhale sharply. “It’s perfect. You’re perfect.”
