His lashes flutter. His expression is wary, like he’s heard this sort of bull shit before from too many people.
I sink onto the chair beside the bed, still holding his hand like a lifeline. For once in my life, I don’t organize my thoughts into neat bullet points. I simply speak, let my heart take over for once.
“When I bit you, it wasn’t an accident,” I say. “I told myself it was rut. Instinct. A lapse. That was a lie I fed myself because it was easier than admitting I wanted you. That I wanted you to be ours. Permanently.”
Hudson’s scent shifts, the sour edge of fear slowly softening.
“I’ve spent months telling myself I was protecting you,” I continue. “That I was honoring our deal by planning to dissolve the bond. I told myself it was whatyouwanted. I told myself I was being noble.” I huff out a humorless laugh. “Really, I was a coward. I didn’t want to risk you saying no.”
My heart is pounding. I can feel Desmond and Alex outside the room, hovering on the other side of the bond, picking up every pulse of my panic and determination as well as hanging onto every word.
“The thought of losing the babies scares me,” I say quietly. “The thought of losing you is worse.”
Tears gather in Hudson’s eyes again, but he doesn’t look away. His thumb curls against my knuckles, a small, almost experimental stroke.
“You said you didn’t want an omega,” he whispers.
“I thought the three of us were enough,” I admit. “I thought wanting more was…I don’t know, selfish. I thought bringing someone in would unbalance us. Then you walked into our living room and everything in me recognized your soul and I shut it down as hard as I could. I told myself we were only hiring you as a surrogate. That I wouldn’t let it be anything else. That I wouldn’t let you change anything.”
A weak smile tugs at his mouth. “How is that working out for you?”
My answering laugh breaks on a choked sob. “Terribly.”
He stares at me. I know he’s feeling the flood of what I am not quite saying. I threw the bond wide open, giving him full access to my every emotion.
“What are you saying, Mason?” he asks.
I take a breath. Then another. I’ve stood in front of judges and juries and dismantled men twice my size and experience, yet these three words terrify me more than any verdict.
“I’m saying I love you,” I tell him. “I’m saying I don’t want the bond dissolved. I’m saying I want you to stay with us, not as anincubator,” I say, throwing that word he’s used time and time again back at him. “Not as a temporary arrangement, but as our omega. Asmyomega.”
His breath hitches. The monitor beside the bed ticks up a few beats then steadies again. The nurse pokes her head in, evaluates the numbers, and leaves without comment.
“And if I can’t carry them to term?” Hudson asks. There’s a quiver in his voice and a sharp stab of pain flies through the bond. “If they say it’s too risky? If we lose one or all of them? What then?”
I lean closer until our foreheads touch. It’s the most intimate we’ve been without teeth and heat between us.
“Then we grieve,” I say quietly. “Together. We keep you alive and safe. We decide what our family looks like from there. Because I want you, Hudson. The babies are a miracle.You…”Itakeadeepbreath. “You areeverything.”
Silence stretches between us. It’s not empty. It’s full of all the unspoken things that have been building since the moment he stepped through our front door.
Finally, he whispers, “I am so tired of being temporary.”
The words slice straight through me.
“Good,” I say. “Because I’m done treating you that way.”
His eyes search my face. Slowly, he nods. The tension in his fingers eases, his grip relaxing from a desperate clutch to something softer, more trusting.
“Alex and Des said it,” he murmurs. “I didn’t really believe any of you meant it. Not all the way.” He swallows. “Say it again.” The request is whispered, but he might as well have screamed it with the power it holds over me.
“I love you,” I repeat. The words are easier this time, as if my chest has been waiting for the chance. “You’re ours. If you want to be. If you’ll have us.”
His perfume explodes from him, warm and sweet, even under the sterile hospital smells. Relief pulses through the bond. It’s not only his; Alex and Des are practically shouting their joy down the line.
“I want you,” Hudson says. “All three of you. I just… I can’t be the only one choosing this. I can’t become your biggest regret.”
“Then we choose,” I say firmly. “All of us. Out loud. In front of you. In front of anyone you want. A ceremony. A contract. A pack registration. Whatever makes it real in your head, we’ll do it.”
