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Attempting to do as he suggested, I hit the wrong block with way too much force, and the whole thing swayed. I was so lost in the fantasies that Gareth was filling my head with I didn’t notice it was heading right for us. Quick as a flash, Gareth wrapped his arm around my waist, lifted me off my feet, and spun us around so the block fell on him instead.

Asoft grunt coming from Gareth was the only sign that he’d had a tower of wooden blocks dropped on his back. Freeing myself from his hold so I could turn to face him, panic erupted in my chest.

“Oh my God, are you okay?” I asked, grabbing his arm to pull him free of the pile of blocks. “I’m so sorry. I should have gotten out of the way the second I knew it was going to fall.”

“Hey, easy, baby girl… take a breath,” Gareth soothed. “I’m fine, totally and completely fine. Those blocks weren’t all that heavy, and none of them have sharp corners for this very reason.”

I refused to let this go until I yanked up the back of his shirt and looked at his back with my two eyes. There were a few red marks from the blocks but nothing that gave me any concern. With a sigh, I pressed a kiss to each of the marks before wrapping my arms around his waist, hugging him as I rested my cheek on his skin.

“That was absolutely reckless, Gareth,” I muttered.

He wrapped a hand around my wrist and drew me around so I could face him. “Baby girl, I don’t give two shits how reckless it might be, but your safety comes first. Period.”

“That’s stupid. My life isn’t more important than any of yours,” I challenged.

Gareth cupped my face and smiled. “Not true… you are the most important person to us. I know without a doubt I can speak for the others when I say this is a battle you will never win. There is only one of you, and there are five of us. You would be able to survive losing one of us, but none of us would ever recover from losing you.”

I opened my mouth to argue, but Gareth tucked a hand under my chin and shut it. “Sorry, no matter what you say, none of us will agree. So what do you say to packing up here, grabbing some Chinese, and picking a movie to watch all snuggled up together?”

Everything in me wanted to do whatever it took to get him to understand that I could never survive without one of them. It was clear as day to me that each of them was a piece of my soul, and losing even one of them would leave me forever broken. There would be no way to fix that ailment unless science created a way to bring back a man from the dead. Yet I had a sneaking suspicion they felt the same way about me.

“That sounds perfect,” I admitted, letting the matter drop for now. “What about the final round? You still have to go against Ulysses.”

“Nah,” Lysse said, gripping Gareth’s shoulder. “Seeing the lengths this guy is willing to go to, I’ll let him have the win.”

“Fuck off,” Gareth shot back, grinning as he shoved Ulysses. “Who’s calling in the food? We can pick it up on the way back to the house.”

“On it,” Warrick called, pulling out his phone. “The usual place?”

“Make sure you triple the potstickers and crab rangoon. This little monster will eat them all before we even get a chance,” Lysse warned, wrapping me up in a bear hug. “Anything else you want, Rosie? We always get beef and broccoli along with that chicken almond dish I know you like.”

“I don’t know, you might want to double up on those too if you’re that worried about me eating them all,” I muttered, trying to act upset even as I was soaking up the affection.

“Hmm…” Ulysses hummed, then scooped me up, tossed me over his shoulder, and headed back to our base camp. “War, better get two large orders of beef and broccoli since you’re the only one who likes the almond thing.”

“Almond Ding, not thing,” Warrick corrected. “I’ll get it sorted. There’s a reason you guys always make me do the food orders.”

I hung there for a moment, stunned that Lysse was tossing me around like a doll. Placing my hands on his ass, I pushed up to see Warrick on the phone and the others cleaning up the game like nothing odd was happening here.

“What do you think you’re doing, Mr. Ford,” I demanded.

His response was to pat my ass and chuckle. “Well, Ms. Thatcher, I’m ensuring my Omega doesn’t get into any trouble. Seems she’s rather prone to getting into mishaps lately… can never be too careful.”

I groaned, rolling my eyes as I let my arms relax. “That is some of the most Alpha-sounding shit to ever come out of your mouth.”

“Want to hear a secret?” Lysse asked as he paused, shifting me lower so my legs automatically wrapped around his waist, and we were face-to-face. “I really just wanted a little one-on-one time with my Rosie. Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy to share with my pack brothers, and I see how happy they make you. Yet, sometimes, I simply want you to myself for a bit. Does that make me a bad pack brother?”

My love for this man only grew at hearing his concern. “No, I don’t think that makes you a bad pack brother. To me, it sounds totally normal for you to want some alone time with a person you care about. If you think about it, the others have also asked for one-on-one time with me over the past week.”

Ulysses leaned in, kissing me with such tenderness it made me tear up. I don’t know how long we stood there under the shade of a large tree with a soft breeze rustling the leaves above, and it didn’t matter. In all the whirlwind of discovering this man was my scent match, meeting my pack, moving, and creating a new life with my guys, I hadn’t really had time to realize my first and only love loved me back. Every person I dated was compared to this man, and I should have realized they were destined to fail when they didn’t even come close. My heart belonged to Ulysses, Warrick, Yun-Sun, Gareth, and Vili long before I understood what that meant.

“I love you, Ulysses. I’ve loved you pretty much my whole life,” I whispered, resting my forehead against his. “Thank you for coming back to me.”

Lysse lovingly brushed my hair out of my face as the breeze picked up. “Rosie, there has never been a moment since meeting you that I wouldn’t drop everything to be right by your side. I didn’t understand why. No matter what happened in my life, you never left my thoughts. Now I do and fuck, am I a lucky bastard to have you.”

Heat burned across my cheeks, telling me I was blushing and probably grinning like an idiot. I leaned forward and kissed him, wrapping my arms around his neck, pressing my body to his, needing to feel him so I knew I wasn’t dreaming.

“Hey, you two,” Yun-Sun called softly. “I hate to be the guy who cuts in on your moment, but everything’s packed up.”