I braided his hair slowly, taking my time, letting him feel every pass of my fingers. His hair was the warmest color of all of them—honey and gold and sunshine, even in the dim light of the deep ocean. The fabric from my shirt looked almost wrong against it, too rough, too plain.
When I finished and he reached up to touch it, his face crumpled with fresh tears.
"It's perfect," he whispered, his voice breaking on each syllable. "It's the most perfect thing anyone's ever given me."
"It's just fabric and clumsy braiding," I said, suddenly self-conscious, wondering if I should have tried harder.
"It's you," he corrected fiercely, cupping my face in his hands, his golden-brown eyes blazing through the tears. "It's you, claiming me, choosing me, saying I'm worth keeping. That's the most perfect gift anyone could ever give." He kissed me—soft and desperate and tasting of salt. "Thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you?—"
I kissed him to stop the words, pulling him close, letting him shake against me until the worst of the sobs subsided. When I finally pulled back, all four of them were watching me. Fourancient, terrifying, beautiful creatures. Four alphas who had been waiting centuries for someone to claim them. Four braids, rough and imperfect, woven with strips of my own clothing.
Mine.
They were all mine now.
"I've decided," I said, and my voice didn't shake at all. "I want to stay. With you. I don't want to go back to that ship, to that world, to any of it."
Silence. Absolute, ringing silence. Then Riven made a sound like a dying animal and surged forward, crushing me against his chest.
"Say it again," he demanded, his voice cracked and desperate against my hair. "Please. I need to hear it again."
"I want to stay," I repeated, wrapping my arms around him, feeling his heart pound against mine. "I want to be yours. All of yours. Completely. Forever."
"Forever," he echoed, the word coming out broken, reverent. "Forever. She said forever."
"She said forever," Vale confirmed, and he was crying again, his silver eyes streaming, a smile breaking through the tears. "She's staying. She's actually staying."
Thane couldn't speak at all. He just pressed himself against my back, his face buried between my shoulder blades, his whole body shaking with silent sobs. Kaelan was the last to move. He swam forward slowly, his dark eyes never leaving my face, and cupped my cheek in one massive hand.
"You're sure," he said, and it wasn't quite a question. His thumb traced my cheekbone, gentle despite the intensity in his gaze. "This is what you want. Not because you're afraid, not because you're running out of options?—"
"Because I'm ready," I finished for him, covering his hand with mine. "Because I want you. Because I'm done running." Iturned my head, pressing a kiss to his palm. "Because you're worth staying for."
The sound he made was quiet—nothing like Riven's broken cry or Thane's sobs. But the tears that tracked down his face said everything.
"Then you're ours," he said, his voice thick with a thousand years of waiting. "And we're yours. Forever."
"Forever," I agreed.
The word tasted like freedom.
The potion started to wear off too soon. I felt the familiar tightness in my lungs, the subtle warning that my time underwater was ending. But this time, when I looked toward the surface, I didn't feel the usual dread.
"I have to go back," I said reluctantly, feeling the ache of separation already building. "One more night. To get my things. To?—"
"We'll come for you tomorrow," Kaelan said immediately, his hand tightening on my waist, possessive and protective. "The moment it's safe. We'll take you away from that ship forever."
"What about the crew?" I asked, worry flickering through me. "They'll notice I'm gone. They might?—"
"Vale will handle it," Riven interrupted, a dark satisfaction in his voice, his golden eyes glinting. "His voice can make them forget. Make them think you fell overboard, or never existed at all. Whatever we need."
I looked at Vale, who nodded, his silver eyes still wet with tears but determined now.
"I'll make sure no one comes looking for you," he promised, his voice steady despite the emotion in it. "No one will ever hurt you again. No one will ever find you."
The thought should have been frightening. Disappearing from the human world entirely, becoming someone—something—else.
Instead, it felt like the first day of the rest of my life.
