“Ready?” she asks, and she looks at all four of us as if we’re one unit already.
We take our places. I stand between Pine and Jett, their shoulders brushing mine, steady and grounding. Cassian standsacross from me, his gaze locked on mine with so much tenderness it nearly sends my heart into orbit.
My pulse is thundering. I swear the whole chapel might hear it. This is real. This is happening. In a few minutes, I’m going to be officially, legally, permanently bonded to three alphas.
"A pack bonding doesn’t follow the rules of a traditional marriage," the woman explains. "It’s a vow that binds three alphas and one omega into a single unit. Scents merge. Lives merge. The pack becomes the center of everything. It’s a commitment that rises above all others and a promise to put each other first, always."
She turns to me.
"Sharon, do you choose these three alphas as your bonded pack? Will you stand with them and let them stand with you? Will you honor the bond you're about to create and place your pack at the center of your life, even when it asks more of you than anything else?"
"I do," I say, and my voice is steady even though I'm terrified. "I choose them. I choose this. I choose pack above everything else."
She turns to them one at a time, her expression soft but steady.
“Jett. Pine. Cassian. Do you choose Sharon as your bonded omega? Do you promise to protect her and respect her and love her for the rest of your lives? Do you promise to put her at the center of your choices and your hearts?”
Their answer comes together, perfectly aligned.
“We do.”
The sound of it sends a warm shiver through me. There’s no hesitation in any of their voices, no uncertainty. Just absolute certainty that I belong with them.
The officiant nods once, almost reverently. “Then we make it official. The first bonding bite goes to the primary alpha.” Her gaze settles on Jett. “Would you like to honor Sharon?”
Jett steps forward and gently pulls down my dress collar. He exposes the soft skin where my neck meets my shoulder, the place where my scent is strongest. I can feel him breathing in deeply, inhaling my scent like he's been waiting for this moment since the day he met me.
He leans down, and his teeth find the junction between my neck and collarbone. The bite is quick and precise, and it doesn't hurt. It's not supposed to hurt. It's a connection, a claiming, a physical representation of the bond that's about to form. I feel his bite like electricity through my entire body, like my scent and his scent are literally merging into something new.
When he pulls back, there's a small mark. His mark. The bonding mark. It's going to fade eventually, but right now it's there, and it's his.
Pine goes next. He bites my other shoulder, on the other side. His bite feels different from Jett's. More intense somehow. More possessive. When he pulls back, his mark sits next to Jett's like evidence that I'm theirs. Like evidence that I belong to all three of them.
Cassian is last. He bites my collarbone, right where my dress is starting to expose skin. This bite feels like a promise. Like a completion. Like the final piece of something that was always meant to be. His teeth sink in carefully, and the mark he leaves is right over my heart.
When all three of them have marked me, I feel different. My scent is different. It smells like pack now. Like belonging. Like home.
The woman has us sign paperwork, which is funny because we're about to be legally married to each other, but thepaperwork makes it official. We're now a pack. On paper. But also spiritually. Also in every way that matters.
Savannah is sitting for the ceremony, and she stays seated afterward too. I do not blame her. She still pulls me into a tight hug when I reach her, and I hold on longer than I mean to. Jessica hugs me next, bright-eyed and trying not to sniffle. Then Savannah’s pack gathers around me with warm congratulations and the kind of gentle affection that makes my throat tighten all over again.
By the time we step outside, my face is damp and my chest feels too full. I cry a little as we walk to the car. Actually, I cry more than a little, and none of them call me out on it. They just hover close, letting me feel everything.
Climbing into the car feels different now. I am not going home as an omega who is still half-waiting for the other shoe to drop. I am going home as their omega. Mine in name, in scent, in bond. A place I never thought I would reach, wrapped up in three people who choose me again and again.
And it feels like the best part of the entire ceremony.
On the drive home, I can smell them. All three of them. Their scents have permanently mingled with mine, creating something new. Something that's uniquely ours. When I breathe in, I smell cedar and sandalwood and pine mixed with strawberry and honey. I smell like pack. I smell like belonging.
By the time we get back to the house, the last lingering effects of my heat are completely gone. My body has settled. The frantic need has been replaced with something calmer. Something more like contentment and satisfaction.
We order pizza, which seems appropriate given how things started between us. We sit on the couch, and they surround me like I'm the most precious thing they've ever held. Their hands are on me constantly, touching my arm, my hand, my leg. Making sure I'm still here. Making sure this is real.
That night, we go to bed together. Not to have sex, but just to sleep. To be together. To exist in the newness of this bonding. We're all covered in each other's marks, all carrying each other's scents, all permanently linked in ways that go beyond the physical.
"I love you," I say to all of them.
"We love you too," they reply in unison.
