"Yes. Assuming there are no complications, we'll sign and file the paperwork next week. As soon as it's processed, I'll claim you."
My pulse spikes so hard I feel it in my fingertips.
Marie lights up, eyes shining. "You've already started the paperwork?"
"I've been drawing it up for the last week. For all three of you."
The table goes still.
Even Jasper's chewing stops.
"Three of us?" Marie repeats slowly.
Her gaze flicks from Ragon to Drake, then—like she just remembered I exist—to me.
My fork is suddenly very interesting.
"Yes. You. Jasper. Vee."
Heat rushes up my neck.
Me.
Included like it's obvious.
He continues, voice matter-of-fact. "We'll do it in stages. Marie first. Then Jasper. Then Vee, right after."
"Why that order?" Eli asks quietly, curiosity not challenge.
Ragon's attention slides to Jasper for a beat. "Because once Marie's bonded, I want Jasper stabilized in the structure. The scent chemistry works in sequence—if Jasper bonds before Marie, her signature will imprint on him too. But if we wait until after she's already claimed, the bond won't transfer her scent to him. It'll make it more even when Vee is marked. She'll have one alpha not scent-matched to Marie."
The words are a series of small detonations.
When Vee is marked.
It's not a hypothetical anymore.
He planned for this. Thought about the scent math. Considered how to make the structure less lopsided for me.
Something in my chest unfurls so fast it hurts.
He's keeping me.
Not conditionally, not as a spare, not "as long as this works."
He's literally designed the paperwork around making sure I don't end up the odd one out.
"I—" I start, and stop, because my throat has decided emotions are a choking hazard.
Jasper nods once, as if the explanation matches exactly what he'd expected. "It's cleaner. Even distribution of obligations and anchors. Less risk of one omega being structurally sidelined."
The phrase structurally sidelined makes my insides flinch.
Eli's hand finds my thigh under the table, squeezing gently. I grab his fingers like a lifeline.
I amfloating.
I am also terrified I'm about to crash into something sharp.
