Lincoln presses a kiss into my hair before pulling back so I can read his lips. “Just stay.”
Korbin speaks the word that settles everything: “Home. Well, for now. We have to find our forever home.” He winks.
Standing there—wrapped in their arms, surrounded by their scents, held by their certainty—I finally understand what that word means.
It isn’t a place.
It’s this.
This pack. This choice. This unwavering decision to move forward together.
For the first time in my life, I don’t feel like I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop.
I belong.
And they chose me.
Every part of me.
Chapter 61
Bayleigh
The next monthmoves so fast it barely feels real. It’s like I’m in a dream I never want to wake up from.
Each day I wake up expecting to realize it was just the haze of my heat. That I never bonded with my pack, that instead I used some heat clinic my parents had selected. But when my eyes flutter open and the scene before me becomes clear, I know my dreams are reality.
My pack is always there surrounding me. Lincoln’s stable presence always keeps me steady, Milton dancing while making coffee to some tune I can never hear. Then there's Korbin, my grumpiest bond. He’s always watching, making sure I’m safe.
Everything is happening in a whirlwind—quickly, permanently. And I wouldn’t change a thing.
When the guys said they wanted a bigger house, one that was ours and had everything I needed, they weren’t just saying the words. They meant it.
We’ve been touring houses over the last month in between practices, press obligations, and stolen afternoons that still feel unreal. My fingers drift through the listings our realtor gave us for today. I haven’t found the place that feels like home yet inall the ones we’ve looked at, and I’m about to just give in to whichever one the guys love.
But they won’t settle.
If I don’t like it, if I can’t decide, then it’s a no-go for them as well.
For the first time in my life, I have alphas who are all about me. And I don’t know how to handle it.
I think a part of me is also afraid that if I find a home I love, that I’ll want it so badly and it’ll slip through our fingers.
Do you like any of these more than the others?Korbin signs, I can’t help but smile at how much he’s improved and expanded his knowledge of ASL.
I just shrug my shoulders as I pick at the tab on my can of Pepsi.
This one has a good kitchen. You know how we all love to cook together. We’ll have plenty of room to move around.Korbin signs while simultaneously speaking.
It does.
“This one has too many blind corners,” Lincoln interjects, immediately dismissing it.
When the guys said they wanted the communication in our home to be the same as my parents’, they weren’t lying. They sign and speak everything. Sometimes, they just sign, especially if we’re in public because they like to see how many filthy things they can say to get me to blush.
Spoiler. It doesn’t take much. My alphas are protective, caring, and filthy as hell. I love it.
“This one feels wrong,” Lincoln says, fingers brushing my wrist like he’s checking in with my instincts as much as his own.
