"Deal." Remy's laugh was warm on my skin, his fingers tracing lazy patterns on my hip. "We're very good at looming."
"The best," Silas agreed, his voice a sleepy rumble, and there was a softness in his expression now, a warmth that made my chest ache in the best way.
I looked at them—these three ridiculous, possessive, overprotective Alphas who had somehow become my whole world. Who had shown up ready to defend me without hesitation. Who had driven me home at reckless speeds just so they could touch me properly. Who were now wrapped around me like I was something precious, something worth protecting.
Mine.
"I never did buy anything at the general store," I realized suddenly, a giggle bubbling up from my chest at the absurdity of it all.
"We'll get it tomorrow," Harper said, his voice a satisfied rumble against my hair as he pulled me closer, his arm tightening around my waist. "Right now, I'm not letting you out of this bed."
"Possessive," I accused, but I was smiling so hard my cheeks hurt, my heart so full it felt like it might burst.
"Very," all three of them said in unison, and then we were all laughing, tangled together in the afternoon light, and I thought maybe—just maybe—this was what happiness felt like.
The antiques could wait. Right now, I had everything I needed.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Artemis
Iknew it was coming before I even opened my eyes Thursday morning. The fever had started sometime in the night—a low, persistent warmth that had nothing to do with the Louisiana humidity. My skin felt too tight, too sensitive, the cotton sheets almost unbearable against my bare legs. Every thread scraped against my nerve endings like sandpaper wrapped in silk, making me hyperaware of every point of contact. Even the weight of my own hair against my neck felt like too much.
Pre-heat.
I lay there for a long moment, staring at the ceiling, taking inventory. The slight ache in my lower belly—a deep, pulsing emptiness that demanded to be filled. The way my nipples had tightened against my tank top, so sensitive that even the soft fabric felt like a tease. The slick—just a hint of it, but unmistakable—gathering between my thighs, my body preparing itself for something it desperately wanted.
My heat was coming. Maybe two days out, maybe less. My body had always run like clockwork, every three monthswithout fail, but this felt... different. Faster. More intense. Like something had triggered it early.
Or someone. Three someones.
I groaned and pressed the heels of my hands against my eyes, watching stars burst behind my eyelids. Of course my body had decided now was the perfect time. I'd just started officially courting three Alphas. We'd barely had a week of this—the gifts, the scent-marking, the slow building of something real. My heat wasn't supposed to hit for another three weeks.
Biology didn't care about timelines. And apparently, being surrounded by three compatible Alphas had kicked my cycle into overdrive.
I dragged myself out of bed and into the bathroom, my legs unsteady beneath me, every step making me aware of the slickness between my thighs. I splashed cold water on my face, gasping at the shock of it against my overheated skin. The mirror showed me flushed cheeks, too-bright eyes that seemed to glow with something feral, lips that looked swollen even though no one had kissed me yet today. I looked like I was already in the thick of it.
The nest called to me.
The pull was almost physical—a hook behind my sternum, tugging me toward the bedroom. I'd been building the nest for days without really thinking about it, my instincts driving me to gather and arrange and perfect. Harper's flannel from the back of a chair. Remy's shirt from where he'd left it after the courtship talk. The hoodie Silas had forgotten, still carrying his scent of rain and ozone.
The nest was a mountain of soft things now, all of it drenched in their combined scents. Pine, woodsmoke and moonshine. Honey and whiskey. Ozone and cold steel. And underneath it all, my own apple cider, sharpening into something sweeter, headier, more desperate.
I crawled into the center of it and let out a sound that was halfway between a sigh and a keen—a helpless, needy noise that I couldn't have stopped if I tried. The scents wrapped around me like arms, like bodies, like the promise of everything I wanted. Better. This was better. Surrounded by them even when they weren't here.
My phone buzzed, and I fumbled for it with trembling fingers.
Harper: Coming over tonight. All three of us. Dinner.
I stared at the message, my thumb hovering over the screen, my heart pounding against my ribs. They'd know the second they walked in. There was no hiding this—my scent would give me away immediately. The whole cabin probably smelled like an omega on the edge of heat, sweet and desperate and wanting.
Me: I need to talk to you. All of you. Before anything else.
The three dots appeared immediately, and I held my breath.
Harper: What's wrong?
Me: Nothing's wrong. Just... we need to have a conversation. An important one.
