"Always." I smiled, and the expression felt natural on my face, easy in a way it hadn't been for years. We made another round, and then another. By the time the fire burned down to embers, I had chocolate on my fingers and marshmallow on my chin and more happiness in my heart than I'd ever known was possible.
"We should do this again." I said quietly, as we gathered up the blankets and headed back toward the house, the cool night air settling around us. "Not just s'mores. Just... being together. Talking."
"Whenever you want." Reid's voice was rough with emotion, his hand finding the small of my back, guiding me gently toward the warm lights of the house. "All you have to do is ask."
"Or don't ask." Kol added, his arm slipping around my waist, his warmth pressing against my side, his scent sweet and comforting. "Just show up. We'll always make room for you."
I looked back at the dying embers of the fire, then up at the stars scattered across the endless sky, then at the four Alphas walking beside me toward a house that was starting to feel like home.
"Okay." My voice came out soft, but certain. "I will."
For the first time in my life, I meant it.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
ASTER
The nightmare came without warning.
One moment I was floating in peaceful darkness, surrounded by the mingled scents of my pack. The next I was back in that farmhouse in Arkansas, fourteen years old and shaking, the foster father's shadow falling across my bedroom doorway, his voice slurring as he told me to be quiet, to be good, to not make this harder than it needed to be.
I woke with a scream caught in my throat, my heart pounding so hard it hurt, my body drenched in cold sweat. The nest that had felt so safe moments ago now felt suffocating, the walls too close, the darkness too thick. I couldn't breathe. Couldn't think. Could only feel the phantom weight of hands that had no right to touch me, the echo of fear that had never fully faded.
I was out of bed before I made the conscious decision to move, my bare feet hitting the cool hardwood, my body carrying me down the hallway on autopilot. I didn't know where I was going until I was already there, standing in front of Reid's door, my hand raised to knock, tears streaming down my face.
I knocked before I could talk myself out of it, the sound too loud in the quiet house.
There was a moment of silence, then the sound of movement—sheets rustling, feet hitting the floor, heavy footsteps approaching. The door opened, and Reid stood there in low-slung pajama pants and nothing else, his dark hair mussed from sleep, his broad chest bare in the dim hallway light, muscles shifting as he moved. His eyes sharpened immediately, scanning me with concern, his brow furrowing as he took in my state.
"Aster?" His voice was rough with sleep, gravelly and deep, but sharpening quickly as he took in my tear-streaked face, my trembling body, the way I was hugging myself like I might shatter into pieces. His hand reached toward me instinctively, hovering in the space between us. "What's wrong? What happened?"
"Nightmare." The word came out broken, barely a whisper, my voice cracking on the single syllable, my whole body shaking so hard my teeth chattered, my arms wrapped tight around myself like I could hold the pieces together.
"Come here." He reached for me without hesitation, his voice soft but commanding, his hands warm and gentle on my shoulders as he pulled me into his room, into his arms, into safety. The door closed behind us with a soft click, and then I was pressed against his bare chest, his arms wrapped around me, his scent surrounding me—whiskey and woodsmoke, warm and safe and real. The heat of his skin soaked through my thin sleep shirt, warming me from the outside in.
I broke.
The sobs came from somewhere deep, tearing through me with a violence I couldn't control. I clutched at him, my fingers digging into the warm skin of his back, feeling the muscles shift beneath my touch, my face pressed against his chest, breathing in the salt of his skin, my whole body shaking with the force ofmy crying. He held me through it, one hand stroking my hair, the other pressed flat against my spine, his heartbeat steady beneath my ear—a drum I could anchor myself to.
"I've got you." His voice was low, soothing, rumbling through his chest into mine, his lips brushing against the top of my head, his breath warm in my hair. "You're safe. It was just a dream. You're here with me. You're safe. I've got you, sweetheart."
"It wasn't just a dream." The words came out between sobs, muffled against his skin, tasting like salt and shame, my tears leaving wet tracks on his chest. "It was a memory. One of the foster homes. One of the bad ones."
His arms tightened around me, his whole body going rigid for a moment before he deliberately relaxed, his hand resuming its soothing path down my spine, his palm warm through the thin cotton of my shirt.
"You don't have to tell me." His voice was rough, strained with something that sounded like barely controlled rage, but his touch stayed impossibly gentle, his fingers tracing soft patterns on my back. "But I'm here if you want to. I'm not going anywhere."
"He used to come into my room." I don't know why I told him—maybe because the darkness made it easier, maybe because his scent made me feel safe enough to let the poison out, maybe because I was tired of carrying it alone. "At night. When his wife was asleep. He never—he tried, but I always fought, and he was too drunk to—" I stopped, shuddering, the memories threatening to pull me under, my fingers digging harder into his back. "I got moved before anything really happened because he died…drunk driving. But the fear. The waiting. Knowing he was going to come and not being able to stop it." My voice cracked, fresh tears spilling down my cheeks, hot against my cold skin. "That never goes away."
A sound escaped Reid—low and rough and dangerous, more growl than anything human, vibrating through his chest against my cheek, making something primal in me recognize the Alpha protecting his Omega. His arms tightened until I could barely breathe, his face pressing into my hair, his whole body trembling with suppressed fury.
"If he wasn't already dead, I'd kill him." His voice was barely recognizable, Alpha authority ringing through every syllable, dark and lethal and absolutely certain, his hands pressing me closer like he could absorb me into his body and keep me safe there forever. "I'd tear him apart with my bare hands for touching you. For scaring you. For making you wake up crying in the middle of the night."
"Reid." I pulled back just enough to look at him, my hands coming up to cup his face, feeling the tension in his jaw, the stubble rough beneath my palms like sandpaper, the heat of his skin burning into mine. His dark eyes were blazing, feral, more wolf than man in that moment, and I could see the predator lurking beneath the surface. "I'm okay. I'm here. I'm safe."
"You're safe." He repeated the words like a vow, like a promise he'd die to keep, his hands coming up to frame my face, his thumbs brushing away tears I hadn't realized were still falling, his touch impossibly tender despite the fury still simmering in his eyes. "You're safe here. No one will ever hurt you again. I won't let them. I swear it on my life."
"I know." And I did. That was the miracle of it—I actually believed him. We stood there for a long moment, breathing each other in, his forehead pressed against mine, his hands cradling my face like something precious. The fear from the nightmare was fading, replaced by something warmer, something that made my heart beat faster for an entirely different reason.
