I smirk. Chris kisses my shoulder again. Kane’s hands tighten on my waist as he says, “We should get you to this ball before we mess up your hair and your dress and your very carefully applied makeup.”
“Ruining my makeup seems inevitable,” I shoot back, my cheeks heating.
Noel opens the long white coat they must have brought for me. Faux fur collar. Cuffs looking as soft as clouds. He drapes it over my shoulders. I snuggle into it, moaning at the warmth.
“You really thought of everything,” I murmur.
“We tried,” Chris says, offering me his arm. There’s a subtle, devastating pride in his voice. “Come with us.”
I take his arm. Kane offers his other arm with a wicked little tilt of his mouth. Noel falls into step behind us, his palm warm and possessive at the small of my back.
We make our way through the ice corridors like we’re royalty processing to a state event. Other guests pass us—some in formal wear clearly headed to the same destination, others in casual clothes exploring the hotel—and every single one of them turns to look.
We must make quite a picture. The three massive Alphas in their dark suits and masks, and me in my shimmering ice-blue gown, looking like I escaped from a winter fairy tale.
I’ve never felt more beautiful. More cherished. More like I belong exactly where I am.
The ice bar is in a separate section of the hotel, and when we step through the entrance, I have to stop and just breathe because it’s too much to process at once.
The entire space is carved from ice—walls, seats, bar, glasses, everything—but it’s been decorated for the masquerade with incredible artistry. Ice sculptures of dancers frozen mid-waltz are positioned throughout the room, so detailed that I can see the expressions on their faces, the movement in their gowns and coattails. The bar itself is a huge ice structure with soft blue lighting embedded within, bottles of spirits chilling in carved alcoves that glow like treasure.
“Starting with drinks,” Noel says, already in mission mode. “Because we’re in an ice bar and it would be borderline offensive not to.” He gestures at a menu. “They use cloudberries and lingonberries and aquavit. I’m committed.”
He disappears toward the bar.
Chris, Kane, and I find a table near an enormous ice sculpture of a snow fox. It’s so intricately carved that I swear it’s watching us. I run my fingers over the table’s frozen surface, stillmarveling at how this entire place is made of water and cold and magic. Temporary magic.
Noel returns, carrying four drinks in ice-glasses shaped like faceted gemstones. Mine holds a deep plum-colored cocktail that glows slightly under the lights, garnished with frozen berries and a shard of crystallized mint. The men’s drinks are amber and rich, swirling with herbs trapped in ice like prehistoric specimens.
Chris lifts his glass with a slow smile that hits me somewhere low in my stomach. “To Hannah. Who trusted three bounty hunters enough to get on a plane without knowing where she would end up.”
Kane grins. “To us. For surviving the interrogation she put us through. I still have bruises on my ego.”
Noel raises his glass last. “To all the places we’ll go after this. Because this is only the beginning.”
I lift mine, cold seeping through my gloves. “To my three Alphas, who somehow made a surprise trip across the world feel like the most thoughtful thing anyone has ever done for me. Whatever you were trying to accomplish… you succeeded.”
They laugh, and when we drink, the taste is unreal. Sweet. Tart. Warming in a way that feels like it unfurls inside my ribs and makes room for something new.
Chris slides his arm along the back of my chair, fingers ghosting over my shoulder. “This is what your life looks like now,” he says softly.
Kane shifts closer, his palm trailing down my spine with gentle possession. “We’re here. All the way. No fear. No hesitation. You’re ours, and we’re yours.”
Noel grins from across the table. “You’re stuck with us. Permanently. We checked the contract and everything.”
I laugh. The sound rings bright and clear, bouncing off the ice walls and mixing with the soft music drifting through thespace. It feels like the ice itself is carrying the sound upward and scattering it around us.
For a moment, everything fades. The world, the past, the uncertainty. All I feel is their heat pressed against my sides, their attention resting fully and completely on me, the surreal beauty of the glowing ice palace, and the knowledge blooming slowly inside me.
Happiness doesn’t feel the way I thought it would. It’s not loud or dramatic. It’s not something fragile I have to hold tightly before it slips through my fingers.
It’s warmth inside a frozen world, being held even when I’m scared. This love that melts everything I thought I knew about my life.
I turn to them, heart full, and whisper, “I’m all in for the long haul.”
Chris’s breath catches. Kane goes still. Noel’s smile is captivating. And they close in around me, our glasses clinking softly like a promise forming in the cold.
For the first time in my life, I’m not afraid to keep something wonderful.
And I’m never letting it go.
