“I didn’t want you to think I was… different. I wanted to tell you. You have no idea how badly I wanted to tell you. I’m glad you know, Elowen. I’ll take you there. Soon.”
His hands slide from my face to my shoulders, down my back, pulling me closer until there's no space left between us. I bury my face against his chest and breathe him in, cedar and smoke and home.
That's when his entire body goes very still. "Elowen."
Something in his tone makes me look up. "I know."
His nostrils flare slightly, scenting more deliberately. "Your scent is shifting."
"I know."
"Your heat?—"
"Is close. Maybe tonight. Maybe..." I feel the warmth building low in my belly where it's been simmering for days, skin growing hypersensitive everywhere we're touching. "Maybe sooner than that."
My body is responding to the emotional resolution, to pack reuniting. Biology triggered by what my heart already knows: we're whole again.
His hands tighten on me, protective instinct flaring before he catches himself and deliberately loosens his grip. Asking with his eyes instead of assuming.
"What do you want?" His voice is thick with emotion. "From us."
Still asking, even as my scent must be driving his alpha instincts wild.
I hold his gaze, let him see the certainty in my expression. "I want pack. I want all of you. I've wanted it since before you left, and I want it even more now."
"If you're sure. If you're really?—"
"I'm sure. Are you staying this time?"
"I'm staying. I promise. No running. No pulling away. I'm staying."
The greenhouse door opens behind us.
We both turn to find Tyler and Julian standing in the doorway, clearly summoned by someone's text. They stop when they see Calder, tension immediately crackling through the space.
Tyler's face cycles through relief and residual anger and something like hope. "You're back."
It's not quite a question. More like testing reality, making sure this isn't wishful thinking.
"I'm back." Calder doesn't let go of me but addresses them directly, no hiding. "If you'll have me."
Julian's pale eyes catalog the scene with his usual precision. My tear-streaked face. Calder's vulnerable stance. The way we're holding each other like lifelines. "You talked."
"We talked," I confirm.
Tyler crosses the greenhouse in four long strides and pulls Calder into a hug hard enough to make him grunt with surprise. "Don't do that again. Don't you dare pull away like that again."
"I won't. I'm sorry."
When Tyler steps back, Julian's watching with that analytical expression that I've learned means he's feeling more than he shows.
"We function better as four," Julian says quietly, each word weighted. "Statistically and emotionally. Don't fracture us again."
"I won't."
All four of us in the greenhouse now. First time in days. Therightness of it, the completeness, makes my chest ache in an entirely different way than the pain of the past week.
Then Julian's nostrils flare slightly. His posture shifts from reserved to alert. "Elowen, your scent?—"
