Page 123 of Knot Their Soldier: Part Three

I smile softly, encouraged by her belief in me.

"I’ve wanted a family since the day they took me from mine," I admit. "I was a child, and I didn’t only miss my parents’ faces or the sound of home. I missed sitting close to someone without wondering what they wanted from me. I missed falling asleep with a hand on my back because I was loved and being known as a person before I was trained into a soldier."

Halley’s thumb moves over my cheek, and I lean into it.

"Now I have the Pack," I continue. "And I get pieces of that every day: Knox gripping my shoulder when he passes, Viper nudging his knee against mine under the table, and Blaze sprawling half across my ribs because personal space doesn't exist in his world. And there's you, purring against my cheek when I can’t make the numbers stop moving through my head."

She sighs gently, her belly rising and falling against my face.

"I want time with that," I say. "Time with us. If we survive what's coming, I want to be selfish with this bond before anything else needs us."

Her hand slides to the back of my neck.

"A baby would be incredible," I whisper. "I know I’d love them. I know all of us would. But they would also need everything, and we haven’t had a chance to simply belong to each other yet."

I look up at her. Halley’s eyes shine, but she doesn’t look wounded.

I hold her gaze.

"So yes, I want a family. I also want you to know that you’re already my family, baby girl. Nothing Everlyn tells us will change that."

Halley’s eyes fill, and I feel an ache in the bond before she blinks her tears back.

"I don’t know what I want," she admits. "That’s the part I'm struggling with most."

Her fingers slide from my cheek to the side of my neck, resting over my pulse.

"I thought I knew who I was without this as an option. I built a whole life around the fact that pregnancy would never happen to me. Now everyone keeps waiting for me to have a feeling I can name, and I can’t."

"You don’t have to name it yet."

Her mouth presses tight. "What if I’m relieved?"

"Then you’re relieved."

"What if I’m disappointed?"

"Then you’re disappointed."

Her eyes search mine. "And if I’m both?"

I pull her closer until her body fits against mine again, warm and trembling under my hands.

"Then we sit with both," I say.

Her purr starts again, softer this time.

I close my eyes and just breathe her in.

The priority alert blinks on Jason’s abandoned datapad.

I see it over Halley’s shoulder and feel the weight of my work settle back into place.

The war has not paused because my Omega is in my arms. The enemy is still moving, the Pass is still vulnerable, and the only plan we have still asks more from her than what anyone should ever have to give.

As Halley’s purr moves through me, I hold her closer and let myself remember why I have to find a way through this.

I want quiet mornings with her, time in the nest, and a chance to simply belong to my Pack.