"Even when we go back to school?"
"Especially then." My knot throbs inside her, drawing a gasp from both of us. "I'm not going back to who I was, Vespera. None of us are. You changed everything."
"You changed too," she says. "You chose to change."
"Because you made me want to." I pull her down for another kiss. "You made me want things I didn't know I wanted. A real pack. An actual future. You."
"You have me now."
"I know." My hands slide down to grip her hips. "And I'm not letting go."
She smiles against my mouth. "Good. Because you're mine now. All three of you. And I don't let go either."
The knot keeps us locked together for another fifteen minutes, and we spend it trading lazy kisses and planning what comes next. How to reintegrate into campus life. How to protect what we've built. How to make sure no one ever hurts her again.
When my knot finally softens enough for me to slip free, she stays sprawled across my chest, boneless and satisfied.
"You delivered," she says sleepily. "Everything you promised."
"Of course I did." I press a kiss to the top of her head. "I always deliver."
"Then here's your next objective." She tilts her head back to look at me. "Figure out how to make this work long-term. All of us. Because I'm in this now, Corvus. Completely. And I need to know you are too."
"I am," I promise. "Completely. Whatever it takes."
And lying there with her in my arms, my scent mixed with hers, I mean it with every fiber of my being.
I've been strategizing my whole life. Calculating outcomes. Playing games.
But this isn't a game anymore.
This is everything.
twenty-four
Vespera
Threeweeks.We'vebeenat the lake house for three weeks, and it feels like we're living in a different world. A world where the past doesn't exist, where we can pretend we're just a normal pack figuring out how to be together.
But summer's ending. I can feel it in the cooling air, see it in the way the light changes earlier each evening. School starts in two weeks, and we're going to have to face reality eventually.
I'm sitting by the pool, feet dangling in the water, watching the late afternoon sun paint everything gold. I'm wearing one of Dorian's shirts—stolen from his closet this morning—and nothing else. The freedom of it still feels surreal. No fear. No watching over my shoulder. Just peace.
The sliding door opens behind me and I know without looking that it's Dorian. I've learned his footsteps, his scent, the way the air changes when he's near.
"Thought I'd find you here," he says, settling beside me. His feet join mine in the water, and he's close enough that our shoulders brush.
"It's nice," I say simply. "Quiet."
"Too quiet?" There's something in his voice—concern, maybe. Fear that I'm getting bored, that I'll want to leave.
"No." I lean into him slightly. "Just thinking about how different this is from campus. From reality."
He's quiet for a moment, his hand finding mine under the water. Our fingers lace together automatically now, like our bodies have learned a new language.
"We have to go back eventually," I continue. "Face everyone. Deal with what we did. What you did to me. What I let happen."
"You didn't let anything happen." His voice is sharp. "We forced—"
