“Technically not against the rules?” she suggests. “A foregone conclusion at this point? Potentially scandalous, but also super hot?”
“All the above,” I agree with a laugh.
“I’ve been hiding who I am my entire life,” Holly says, her voice growing stronger. “I’m tired of making decisions based on what other people might think. For once, I want to choose what makes me happy. We’ll figure out the details later. And if you decide that things aren’t working then we’ll figure out how to break the bond.”
That bond will be broken over my dead body, but I don’t want to scare with her too much intensity when we’re finally on the same page of this very messy story.
“And this would make you happy?” I gesture between the four of us. “Us?”
“I think it could,” she says simply. “If you want it as much as I do.”
I look at Grayson, who gives me a slight nod, and then at Kai, who grins and gives me an enthusiastic thumbs up. The decision, it seems, rests with me.
This is where I could leave things, but Holly’s easy manner makes it too easy to reveal myself to her. And I feel like I owe her the entire truth.
“I wanted a pack with Jamie,” I confess, her name catching in my throat as I wait for the wave of emotion that doesn’t come. Her specter feels distant, finally laid to rest in a place of honor in my soul but no longer a part of my heart. “She wanted the traditional alpha-omega pairing, so I tried to give her that. I thought I was respecting her wishes, but really, I was denying who I am.”
“And who are you?” Holly asks gently.
“Part of this pack,” I answer, the truth of it settling into my bones. “Always have been, apparently. Just took me a while to see it.”
“But you’re okay with sharing me?” Holly presses, her scent betraying her nervousness despite her steady voice. “Because I’m really trying not to blow up any more of your boundaries here.”
I see the uncertainty on her face, feel through the bond her fears that she’ll never be able to take the place of a dead woman that she’ll never be able to live up to the idea of someone who only exists as a memory.
“Jamie and I weren’t compatible,” I tell her, the admission still painful after all this time. “I only realized it later after I got the grief and the guilt under control. We were trying to force something that wasn’t there. That day on the mountain...we were only there because she was trying so hard to like the thingsI liked. We had less and less in common with each other every day we were together.”
She gently touches the back of my hand. “Noah…”
I take a deep breath, forcing myself to continue. “If we hadn’t been out there alone, if I’d had help getting her out of that ravine, we might have gotten down the mountain faster. She probably would have survived.”
Holly’s compassion flows through our bond, warming me from the inside. “You can’t know that for sure.”
“Maybe, maybe not. I do know that the only thing I regret more than Jamie’s death is that I wasn’t honest with her sooner. If I had told her things weren’t working between us, she wouldn’t have been on that mountain at all.”
The confession hangs in the air between us, heavy with implication. I’ve never said these words aloud to anyone, not even to myself in the privacy of my own thoughts.
“So you see,” I continue, my voice rougher than I’d like, “I’m done hiding from the truth, too. And the truth is, I want this. I want you, with our pack.”
Holly’s relief and joy flood through our bond, so intense it nearly brings me to my knees. She steps forward, closing the distance between us, and reaches up to touch my face.
“I want that too,” she whispers.
I lean down, drawn to her like gravity, and press my lips to hers. The kiss is gentle at first, a question and an answer all at once. Then she sighs against my mouth, and something inside me breaks loose. I deepen the kiss, pulling her against me, breathing in her scent that now carries notes of Grayson along with her own sweet fragrance. Surprisingly, the combination doesn’t bother me—it smells right, like pack.
When we finally break apart, both breathing heavily, I’m aware of Kai slow-clapping behind me and Grayson’s satisfied rumble.
“Well, that was hot,” Kai announces cheerfully. “Who’s hungry? I feel like this calls for pancakes.”
Holly laughs, the sound bright and unrestrained. “It’s four in the afternoon.”
“Breakfast for dinner is a time-honored tradition,” Kai insists, already heading toward the kitchen. “Especially after life-changing relationship discussions in hallways.”
Grayson follows him, pausing briefly to squeeze my shoulder in a gesture of solidarity before continuing on. The touch says more than words ever could—we’re good, we’re pack, this works.
And anyone who tries to get in the way of this will have to deal with all four of us.
TWENTY-FIVE
