Free. The word settled into my chest, warm and true. "I want to be yours," I said. "Tomorrow, in front of everyone. I want them to know."
"They'll know." His smile was radiant. "Everyone will know."
We lay tangled together as the candles burned down. My body ached in new ways—good ways, ways that made me smile every time I shifted. Kai was tracing patterns on my chest again, thatfamiliar route of his, and I was drifting somewhere between sleep and waking.
"Thank you," I murmured.
"For what?"
"For being patient. For not pushing. For waiting until I was ready."
"I would have waited forever." He pressed a kiss to my chest. "You were worth waiting for."
"Sap."
"Your sap. Tomorrow it'll be official."
Tomorrow. The claiming ceremony. Kai, standing in front of my brothers, accepting the cut that marked him as mine. "I should be nervous," I said. "I'm not. Is that weird?"
"Probably means we're doing the right thing."
"Probably."
Silence stretched between us, comfortable and warm.
"Tyler's going to sponsor me," Kai said eventually. "Hawk suggested it. Said it might give him roots here, whatever he decides about the FBI."
"What do you think he'll decide?"
"I don't know. But I saw the way he looked at Tank tonight." Kai's voice was thoughtful. "Maybe it depends on what—or who—he finds worth staying for."
"Tank's a good man."
"You keep saying that."
"Because it’s obviously true." I smiled against his hair. "Maybe you foster boys have a type."
"Big, brooding, emotionally constipated bikers?"
"Apparently."
He laughed, soft and warm. "Could be worse."
"Could be much worse."
Outside, the night was quiet. Tomorrow would bring ceremony and celebration, the official beginning of our lifetogether. But tonight was just us—two men who'd found each other against impossible odds, building something neither of us had dared to hope for.
"I love you," Kai said, already half-asleep.
"I love you too."
The candles flickered. The darkness pressed close. I listened to his breathing slow, felt his heartbeat steady against my chest.
Tomorrow, he'd stand in front of my brothers and become mine. Officially. Publicly. But lying there, watching candlelight dance across his face, I realized something.
It wasn't enough. I didn't just want a claiming ceremony. I wanted everything. The ring. The vows. The whole damn future, whatever that looked like for two men who'd found each other in blood and chaos.
I was going to ask him. Not tomorrow—that was his day, his moment. But someday.
