"The legal help," I said, my voice hoarse and wrecked, barely more than a rasp. "For Artemis. Can you?—"
"I'll make some calls tonight," my father said firmly, all business now, the powerful attorney I remembered from my childhood slipping back into place like armor. But I could hear the love underneath, the fierce protectiveness that had always been there even when I was too blind to see it. "Crescent Holdings, you said? I know people who've dealt with them before. They're aggressive, but they're not invincible. If your Omega's family really does have documentation going back to eighteen forty-seven, we can bury them in historical precedent alone."
"Thank you," I breathed, relief flooding through me so hard my legs went weak, and I was grateful I was already sitting down. Fresh tears pricked at my eyes—grateful ones this time. "Papa, thank you?—"
"Don't thank me yet," he interrupted, but his voice was warm, thick with emotion he was trying to hide behind his businesslike tone, and I could hear the smile breaking through."Thank me when we've won. And Remy?" A pause, and I could hear him take a steadying breath, could picture him straightening in his chair, pulling himself together the way he always did. "Bring her to meet us. Your Omega. Your pack. Your mother will want to feed everyone, and I..." Another pause, thick with emotion, his voice cracking slightly despite his best efforts. "I want to meet the people who brought my son back to life."
I laughed—a wet, broken sound that was half-sob, half-joy, tears still streaming down my face even as I smiled so hard it hurt. "Yeah, Papa. Yeah, I'll bring them. Soon."
"Good." I could hear him smiling through his own tears, could picture the expression on his weathered face—the same face I saw in the mirror every morning. "Now go be with your pack, mon fils. We'll talk soon."
The line went dead, and I sat there staring at the phone in my hand, feeling like I'd just run a marathon and crossed the finish line to find everything I'd ever wanted waiting for me on the other side. Footsteps on the dock behind me, soft and careful. I turned to find Artemis walking toward me, her dark hair loose around her shoulders, catching the golden afternoon light like a halo. Her eyes were soft with concern, her bare feet silent on the weathered wood as she approached.
"Hey," she said quietly, settling down beside me, close enough that our shoulders touched, her warmth seeping into my side. She smelled like wildflowers and home. "You okay? You've been out here a while."
I looked at her—really looked at her, this fierce, beautiful woman who'd seen through all my masks and loved the broken man underneath. This Omega who'd given me a home, a pack, a reason to stop running.
"I called my father," I said, and watched her eyes go wide with surprise.
"Remy—" she breathed, her fingers tightening around mine, her dark eyes shining with sudden emotion.
"He's going to help," I continued, reaching out to take her hand, threading my fingers through hers. "With Crescent. With all of it. He's got connections, knows people who've dealt with them before." I swallowed hard, fresh tears pricking at my eyes. "And he... he wants to meet you. Meet all of us. He said—" My voice broke, and I had to stop, had to breathe. "He said he never blamed me. For Luc. All these years, and he never blamed me."
Artemis pulled me into her arms, and I buried my face in her neck and breathed in her scent—wildflowers and something sweet, home and comfort and everything I'd ever needed. Her fingers threaded through my hair, holding me close, her heartbeat steady against my chest.
"I'm so proud of you," she murmured against my hair, her voice thick with emotion, her hands stroking down my back in soothing circles. "That must have been so hard. But you did it. For us."
"For you," I corrected, pulling back just enough to see her face, to cup her cheek in my palm, my thumb brushing away a tear that had escaped down her cheek. "For our pack. For our home." I pressed my forehead to hers, closed my eyes, breathed her in. "I'm done running, chere. I'm done hiding from the hard things. Whatever comes next, I'm facing it. With you."
She kissed me then—soft and sweet and full of promise—and when we finally pulled apart, I saw Harper and Silas standing at the edge of the dock, watching us with matching expressions of quiet understanding. Harper's massive arms were crossed over his chest, his gray eyes soft with something that looked like pride. Silas stood slightly behind him, his pale gaze steady and knowing, his scarred hands loose at his sides.
"Everything okay?" Harper asked, his deep voice carrying across the water, rough with concern beneath the calm exterior.I looked at my pack. My family. Felt something warm and solid settle in my chest where there had only been emptiness for so long.
"Yeah," I said, and for the first time in longer than I could remember, I actually meant it. A smile spread across my face—a real one, not the charming mask I usually wore. "Everything's okay. Better than okay." I stood, pulling Artemis up with me, keeping her hand in mine. "Let's go inside. I've got a lot to tell you."
We walked back to the cabin together, the four of us, as the sun sank lower over the bayou and painted everything in shades of gold and amber. Behind us, Gumbo rumbled his approval and slipped back beneath the water.
I'd spent years running—first across the country, then to the safety of my houseboat just an hour away. Close enough to pretend I might go back someday. Far enough to avoid actually doing it.
Now I was finally ready to stop running and start living.
Chapter Forty-Seven
Artemis
The cabin felt different tonight. Not the walls or the furniture—those were the same weathered wood and worn quilts they'd always been. But the air itself seemed to hum with anticipation, charged with something electric that made my skin prickle every time one of my Alphas brushed past me.
Tomorrow, everything would change.
I stood in the doorway of my bedroom—our bedroom now, I reminded myself—watching the last golden light of sunset spill through the windows. The bed had been pushed against the wall, and in its place, we'd built something new. Something that made my heart ache with its rightness.
A nest.
Blankets and pillows from every corner of the cabin, layered and arranged in a wide circle on the floor. Harper's flannel shirts, soft from years of washing, tucked into the edges. Remy's favorite quilt from the houseboat, the one that smelled like him—honey and whiskey and something warm. One of Silas'ssweaters, worn thin at the elbows, pressed against the pillows where my head would rest.
I hadn't asked them to bring these things. They'd just appeared, one by one, over the past few days—offerings left without comment, their scents weaving together into something that smelled like home. Like pack. Like forever.
"You going to stand there all night, or you going to come in?" Remy's voice came from behind me, warm and teasing, his breath ghosting across the back of my neck. I turned to find all three of them watching me—Remy with that crooked smile that made my stomach flip, Harper solid and steady in the doorway with his arms crossed over his broad chest, Silas hanging back in the shadows with those pale eyes that saw everything.
