"Yes yes yes yes YES!"
I'm running before I consciously decide to move, sand flying up behind my bare feet as I sprint across the beach toward them. Tank barely has time to brace himself before I'm launching myself at him, tackling him with enough force to send us both sprawling backward onto the sand.
He laughs--a full, genuine laugh that rumbles up from his chest and vibrates against me where I'm now lying on top of himlike an overly enthusiastic starfish. "I'm taking that as a yes," he manages between laughs.
"It's a yes!" I confirm, kissing his face repeatedly--his cheeks, his forehead, his nose, the corner of his mouth. "It's absolutely a yes! It's the most yes answer I've ever given to anything in my entire life!"
Above us, the drones are shifting again, rearranging themselves into a new message. I catch sight of it over Tank's shoulder and squeal again, fresh tears springing to my eyes.
SHE SAID YES!
"They said yes," I breathe, staring at the words glowing in the sky. "The drones know I said yes."
"That's because I'm controlling them," Julian says dryly, holding up his phone. "I'm very good at dramatic timing."
Tank sits us both up, still laughing, and suddenly Elias is there too, wrapping his arms around me from behind in a hug that's all warmth and campfire smoke and overwhelming joy. Then Julian joins in, his embrace more reserved but no less genuine, his expensive cologne mixing with the other scents to create something that smells exactly like home.
We're a tangle of limbs and laughter and happy tears on a beach in Brazil, and I can't remember ever being this purely, incandescently happy.
"Okay, okay," Tank finally says, gently extracting himself from the group hug. "Let's do this properly. Stand up, Sweetness. Let me put this ring on your finger before I lose it in the sand."
Elias and Julian help me to my feet, steadying me when my knees threaten to buckle from sheer emotional overwhelm. Tank rises too, brushing sand off his pants, and then takes my left hand in his with a gentleness that makes my heart ache.
"Rosemarie Carlisle," he says, his voice low and serious despite the smile playing at his lips, "will you officially, legally,and enthusiastically become our Omega, our partner, and eventually our wife?"
"You already know the answer," I whisper, my voice thick with happy tears.
"I want to hear it again."
"Yes." I watch as he slides the ring onto my finger, the pink diamond catching the light of the fireworks still exploding overhead. "Yes, I will be your Omega. Yes, I will be your partner. Yes, I will marry all three of you and spend the rest of my life being ridiculously, obnoxiously happy."
The moment the ring settles into place, a fresh wave of fireworks erupts across the sky--bigger and brighter than before, a celebration written in fire and light. The drones rearrange themselves one final time, spelling out a message that makes me laugh through my tears:
CONGRATULATIONS TO THE PACK!
I stare at the sky, at the ring on my finger, at the three men surrounding me with varying degrees of smug satisfaction and genuine adoration. Sasha is running circles around us, barking at the fireworks like he's personally responsible for making them happen.
"This is," I announce, my voice wobbly with emotion, "the first and absolute best late Valentine's Day ever. I demand we do this again next year."
All three of them groan in unison.
"Not the kidnapping part," Elias clarifies quickly. "Please, for the love of all that is holy, not the kidnapping part."
"I don't think I can afford another private island on such short notice," Julian adds, though there's no real complaint in his voice. "The logistics alone were a nightmare."
"I'm not shooting anyone else," Tank says flatly. "Once was enough. My paperwork quota for the year is full."
I laugh, the sound bright and carefree in the tropical night air. "Fine, fine. We'll skip the kidnapping and the shooting next time. Just the proposal and the fireworks and the drone show."
"We can work with that," Elias agrees, pulling me into another hug. "Though technically you can only be proposed to once."
"Then we'll renew our vows. Every year. On Valentine's Day. With increasingly elaborate drone shows." I grin up at him. "It's called romance, Elias. Look it up."
Sasha barks his enthusiastic approval of this plan, tail wagging so hard he nearly knocks himself over in the sand.
Tank steps closer, his scent wrapping around me like a physical embrace--cedar and pine and the salt of the ocean breeze, all mixed together into something that smells like home and safety and the promise of forever. His hand comes up to cup my cheek, tilting my face toward his, and even after everything, even after all the time we've spent together, the intensity in his eyes still makes my breath catch.
"What do you say we make this a proper knotty Valentine's Day?" he murmurs, his voice dropping into that low register that does things to my insides, that makes my Omega instincts sit up and take very interested notice. "I believe we have some unfinished business."
