I smiled back, warmth spreading through my chest. That was my pack—four ancient predators who had spent centuries alone, now unable to bear being separated from me for more than a fewhours at a time. It should have felt suffocating. Instead, it felt like being wrapped in the warmest, safest embrace imaginable.
Kaelan arrived first, his dark scales cutting through the water with powerful grace. The months since my heat had only deepened his presence—he moved like a king surveying his domain, confident and commanding, but his eyes softened the moment they found me. He didn't say anything at first—just swam close and pressed his forehead to mine, his hand sliding around my waist to pull me against him.
"You feel happy," he murmured, his deep voice vibrating through the water between us. His dark eyes met mine, filled with a warmth that still surprised me sometimes from the stern pack leader. "I felt it from the edge of the territory.”
"I am happy," I told him, reaching up to trace the sharp line of his jaw. "How could I not be?"
"Of course she's happy," Riven's voice came from my left, rough and sure, as he emerged from the deeper water. A string of fish was slung over his shoulder—fat ones, the kind he knew I liked best—and his scarred face wore an expression of fierce satisfaction. "She has us. What more could she need?"
He dropped the fish onto a nearby rock ledge—dinner, I realized, my stomach already rumbling—and swam to join us. His movements were still predatory, still dangerous, but there was a gentleness in the way he approached me now, a carefulness that would have seemed impossible from the fierce warrior I'd first met. His scarred face softened as he pulled me from Kaelan's arms and into his own, claiming a kiss that left me breathless.
"Caught your favorites," he added gruffly when he finally released my mouth, nodding toward the fish. His thumb stroked across my lower lip, wiping away the taste of him. "Thought you might be hungry after last night."
"You spoil me," I told him, reaching up to trace the scars on his cheek. He leaned into my touch like a cat seeking affection, his eyes falling half-closed.
"Get used to it," he rumbled, his voice dropping to that low register that still made my scales flush. "It's only going to get worse."
Vale arrived last, his silver scales shimmering as he spiraled down from above, catching the light like scattered moonbeams. He moved like music given form—fluid and graceful, each motion flowing into the next. Instead of pulling me into his arms, he began to sing. A soft melody, gentle and sweet, that seemed to resonate through the water itself, wrapping around all of us like an embrace.
"What's that one?" I asked when the last note faded, leaning toward him. He caught me easily, his arms wrapping around me as Riven reluctantly let me go.
"Something new," Vale said, his silver eyes warm as starlight, his voice carrying that musical quality that never quite faded even when he spoke. "I've been composing it for months. A song about finding home after centuries of wandering. About four lost souls who found their center in the most unexpected place." His fingers traced up my spine, making me shiver. "About you."
"I want to hear it," I breathed, tears pricking at my eyes. Everything Vale created was beautiful, but the songs he wrote for me—about me—always made me cry.
"Tonight," he promised, pressing a kiss to my forehead. "In the nest, with all of us together. It's meant to be sung in the dark, with only the glow of the bioluminescence to light us."
Thane swam closer, completing our circle. All four of them surrounded me now—Kaelan's steady presence at my back, Riven's fierce warmth at my side, Vale's musical grace before me, and Thane's gentle devotion beside me. The bonds hummed with shared emotion, five hearts beating as one.
"I never thought I'd have this," I whispered, my voice catching on the words. "A family. A home. People who love me." I looked at each of them in turn—Kaelan's steady dark eyes, Riven's fierce scarred face, Vale's beautiful silver features, Thane's warm amber gaze. "For so long, I thought... I thought I was broken. That there was something wrong with me because I couldn't just accept the life that was planned for me. That I wanted more."
"There was never anything wrong with you," Kaelan said, his voice rough with emotion. His hand came up to cup my face, his thumb brushing away tears I hadn't realized I'd shed. "You were brave. You were strong. You survived things that would have broken others, and you kept going. Kept hoping. Kept fighting for a life worth living."
"You fled an alpha your parents sold you to…who said alpha thought he owned you," Riven added, his dark eyes burning with something that looked almost like awe. "Hid what you were. Survived on a fishing boat full of people who would have sold you back if they'd known. That's not broken. That's the strongest thing I've ever seen."
"You have all of that and more now," Thane promised, pressing a kiss to my temple. "A family that will never leave you. A home that will always welcome you. Love that will last for centuries."
"You have us," Vale finished, his musical voice wrapping around the words like a song. "Forever. Through everything. Until the stars fall from the sky and the ocean runs dry."
Forever. The word didn't frighten me anymore. The transformation that had given me my tail had also given me their lifespan—centuries stretching before us, filled with love and adventure and the endless wonder of the ocean. I would explore every corner of the deep with them, would discover secretsthe surface world had never dreamed of, would spend eternity wrapped in their love.
And through it all, I would have them. My four mates. My pack. My home.
Later, as the light filtering from above began to fade into the soft blue of evening, we gathered in the main nest—the one they'd built for me all those months ago, now even more luxurious than before. Soft furs and woven kelp cushioned us, and the bioluminescent plants cast everything in a warm, golden glow. Thane had added new specimens from his garden—amber-colored flowers that released a sweet, calming scent, and soft mosses that conformed perfectly to our bodies.
I lay in the center, as always, my mates arranged around me in the positions that had become as natural as breathing. Kaelan at my back, his arm draped protectively over my waist, his chest rising and falling against my spine in a steady rhythm. Riven at my side, his hand resting on my hip, thumb stroking idle patterns on my scales that sent pleasant shivers through my body. Vale near my tail, humming softly as he wove tiny shells into my braids—adding to the treasures already there, the ones that clinked and sang with every movement. Thane pressed against my front, his forehead resting against mine, his hands tracing lazy patterns on my arms.
"Do you ever think about it?" Thane asked quietly, his amber eyes searching mine in the dim light. His breath was warm against my face, intimate and close. "The life you left behind?"
I considered the question, letting the memories surface—something I rarely did anymore. The arranged mating I'd fled. The alpha who'd thought he owned me, who'd never once asked what I wanted. Hiding on the fishing boat, pretending I wasn't an omega, working hard and stealing moments of peace in the water whenever I could.
"Sometimes," I admitted, my fingers tracing the line of his jaw. "But not with regret. Everything that happened—even the terrible parts—led me here. To you. To all of you." I let my gaze drift to each of them in turn. "I wouldn't change a single moment if it meant losing this."
"We would have found you eventually," Riven growled, his voice a low rumble against my side. His arm tightened around me, possessive and protective in equal measure. "No matter where you were. No matter how long it took. You were always meant to be ours. The ocean would have brought you to us somehow."
"Fate," Vale agreed, his fingers gentle in my hair, working another tiny shell into place. His voice carried that musical quality that made everything he said sound like poetry. "The currents of destiny run deeper than any of us can see. They were always flowing toward this moment—toward you finding us, and us finding you."
"We will spend the rest of our very long lives being grateful for that gift," Kaelan finished, pressing a kiss to my shoulder, his lips lingering against my skin. His voice was rough with emotion he rarely showed. "Every day. Every moment. For as long as the ocean exists."
