“Our den? Our home? Whatever you want to call it.” He grins. “Point is, you’re coming with us, and I’m so fucking happy I could burst.”
“We all are,” Jalen says softly, and when I meet his eyes, I see they’re wet too. “You have no idea how scared I was that you’d say no.”
“I was terrified you wouldn’t come back,” I admit.
“Of course we did,” Cole says like it’s obvious. “Did you really think we’d just let you go? After everything?”
“I didn’t know what to think,” I confess. “Three days felt like goodbye.”
“That was us being idiots,” Malik says. “We seem to do that a lot when it comes to you.”
“You do,” I agree, but I’m smiling now, the tears finally slowing. “You really do.”
“So we’ll work on that,” Dax says. “Starting now. Starting with taking you home and showing you exactly what you mean to us.”
The promise in his voice makes me shiver.
“I should probably grab a few things,” I say reluctantly. “From my apartment. Just enough for tonight.”
“We’ll come with you,” Jalen offers.
“All of you?”
“All of us,” Cole confirms. “We’re pack now, right? We do things together.”
Pack.
The word settles over me like a warm blanket. After years of being alone, I have a pack.
Cole takes my hand, threading his fingers through mine. Jalen’s arm settles around my shoulders. I’m surrounded by pack scent and pack presence, and my omega is practically purring with contentment.
This is right.
This is home.
Even before I see where we’re going, I know it’s home.
Because home isn’t a place.
It’s them.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Sierra
Their house is nothing like I expected.
I’d imagined something sleek and modern, but as we pull up to a charming craftsman-style home in a tree-lined neighborhood, I realize I’ve been projecting.
“This is gorgeous,” I breathe, taking in the wraparound porch and flower boxes beneath the windows.
“Cole insisted on the flower boxes,” Malik says, shooting him a look.
“And they look amazing,” Cole retorts. “Sierra appreciates them. Don’t you, Sierra?”
“I really do.” That earns a triumphant grin from Cole.
Dax parks in the driveway and cuts the engine. For a moment, we all just sit there, the weight of what’s happening settling over us.
