"What do you want for breakfast, sweetheart?" Pine asks.
"Honestly? Toast. Just... plain toast."
They stare at me like I've suggested eating gravel.
"Toast," Cassian repeats slowly.
"Plain toast," Jett says, like he's confirming I've lost my mind.
"Yes. Because everything else sounds disgusting right now and if you make me eat eggs I will throw up on someone." I point at them each in turn. "Probably you, since you're the one insisting on eggs."
Cassian immediately dumps the eggs down the sink. "Toast. Right. We can do toast."
"I can handle toast," Pine says, moving toward the toaster.
"Everyone calm down, I've got the toast situation under control," Jett announces, shouldering Pine out of the way.
I watch them nearly trip over each other trying to make toast and decide that this is both adorable and completely ridiculous. "You know what? I'll make the toast."
"No!" They say it in unison, which would be creepy if it wasn't so funny.
"You're pregnant," Pine says, like this explains everything.
"Which means I can't operate a toaster?"
"You need to rest," Cassian insists.
"It's toast, not a marathon."
Jett points at the kitchen table. "Sit. Let us take care of you."
I want to argue, but the truth is I'm exhausted. Bone-deep tired in a way I haven't been since those first awful weeks after I arrived in Pine Hollow, running from my old life. So I sit, letting them fuss, watching them move around each other in the kitchen they've learned to share.
It hits me sometimes, how far we've all come. Six months ago, I was planning my ex's fraudulent wedding and having panic attacks in bathroom stalls. Now I'm sitting at a kitchen table in a cabin I helped choose, wearing my mate's clothes, watching my three alphas argue about the correct toast darkness setting.
Thank you, universe, for the most ridiculous redemption arc of all time.
Pine sets a plate in front of me with four perfectly golden slices of toast, cut diagonally the way I like. Cassian appears with butter and jam, arranging them within easy reach. Jett brings me water and orange juice, then tea, then asks if I want coffee before remembering I can't stand the smell right now.
"This is going to be a long seven months if you guys are going to hover like this," I say, but I'm smiling as I take a bite of toast.
"Get used to it," Jett says, dropping into the chair next to me. "We're going to be so annoying."
"You're already annoying."
He grins and steals a piece of my toast. I stab his hand with my butter knife, gently, and he laughs.
Pine sits across from me, chin propped on his hand, watching me with those intense dark eyes that always make me feel seen in a way that's both uncomfortable and addicting. "How are you feeling? Really?"
"Terrified," I admit. "But also... happy? Is that weird? To be terrified and happy at the same time?"
"Not weird," Cassian says, settling into the chair on my other side. His hand finds mine under the table, lacing our fingers together. "That's pretty much how I've felt about everything since you walked into our lives."
"Same," Pine adds. "Terrified you'd leave. Happy you stayed."
"Still terrified you'll realize you can do better," Jett says, but he's smiling. "Happy you haven't figured it out yet."
I squeeze Cassian's hand, reaching across with my other to grab Jett's. "I'm not going anywhere. You guys are stuck with me."
