My throat tastes of gravel, but I force it out. “This is for you. Because there’s not a damn thing in this world big enough to hold what you are to us. But this…” I gesture at everything, at the way the whole damn night is bent toward her, “it’s a start.”
Her lips part, tears already shining. “Ford…”
“No.” I roughen. “Let me finish.”
I pull the box from my pocket, heavy in my hand. Silver, strong, like the promise I’m about to make. My chest is splitting open, but I don’t stop.
“I’m not good with words. Never have been. But I’ll give you this: I don’t half-ass anything I care about… and, Lo?” I step closer, holding her gaze. “I care about you more than air. You’re my first thought in the morning, last before I crash at night, and every beat in between. You’re mine. Always were. Always will be. Ever since I scent matched you in high school, I knew this would be the way it ended for us.”
Her lips tremble, and something in me nearly breaks.
Then Beck steps in, sliding his arm around her waist because he can’t help himself. His grin’s still there, but softer now, curved with something that might wreck me if I look too long.
“You were my first everything,” Beck says. “First kiss that meant something. First love that burned so damn bright it blinded me. And then I blew it. I lost you. Thought that was it for me… game over.” He swallows, eyes flicking to hers, raw. “But somehow, you came back. You gave me a second chance, Lo. You don’t know what that does to a guy like me. I’m never wasting it. Not one breath. Not one day. You’re the spark, the chaos, the fire, and you’ve ruined me for anything else. And I’m not even sorry.”
Lo laughs, a sound that is shaky and wet with tears. Beck kisses one off her cheek because he can’t stand to see them fall.
Hayes comes last, because he always waits. Always measures. He doesn’t rush, just steps in close enough that his scent wraps all of us in that calm he embodies so naturally. The calm that this entire pack needs. He is quiet, but carries smooth as cream.
“You’ve been my best friend for as long as I’ve had a heart worth trusting,” he says. “I told myself that was enough. That loving you from the sidelines was safer than ruining what we had. So I stayed quiet. I held every word back, every feeling,because I thought I was protecting you. Truth is…” He takes her hand, presses it to his chest. “I was just hiding. And I’m done hiding. You’ve always been it for me, Lo. Always.”
Her breath breaks. Tears spill, and this time, she doesn’t try to stop them.
“Lo,” I rasp, because I can’t hold it anymore. “Marry us. Be ours in every way.”
Hayes and Beck lift their boxes, too. We all crack the tops open, revealing the personally designed rings. Three of them, each different.
Mine: heavy silver, simple, solid. Beck’s: gold curls like it barely knows what shape it wants to take. Hayes’s: sleek, a line of three small stones with the look of a constellation.
She stares. Hands to her mouth. And for a second, I think I’ve asked for too much.
Then she breathes out, shaky and bright: “Yes.”
The sound rips me open.
Beck whoops loud enough to shake the trees. Hayes exhales happily. And me? I just stand there, staring at her because she’s a goddamn miracle.
She laughs, broken and wild, and throws her arms around all three of us. And right there, in the glow of lanterns, with the lake whispering and the air thick with snow and promise, I swear the rest of my life starts now.
CHAPTER 41
Lo
The call comes while I’m still in bed, tangled in sheets that smell of them. Cedar and smoke and heat and home. My phone buzzes across the nightstand, and I grope for it, half asleep and hoping it’s Hayes reminding me to eat or Beck sending another meme that shouldn’t make me laugh but always does.
It’s not.
It’s the mayor.
For a second, I think I’m dreaming. The screen glows with his name. Which is… weird.
I answer anyway, because what else do you do when the mayor calls?
“Lo.” His voice comes through smooth and official, the kind of tone that makes people sit up straighter. “There’s a community meeting tonight. Six sharp. At the hall. It’s important that you attend.”
My brows knit. “What’s this about?”
A pause. Just long enough to make my stomach dip. “You’ll see when you get here.”
