The dumpster fire inside the laptop still sitting in my armchair.
The three larger-than-life guys crammed into my tiny apartment.
Koda’s insane near-death experience, followed by his, Leif’s, and Hawk’s unexpected arrival at my door as a fully bonded maul.
“You don’t know what to say,” Koda repeated softly, his gaze flicking down to the floor, then back to me. “In that case, this next question is really going to confuddle you.”
He took a deliberate step back to stand between Leif and Hawk, his expression unreadable.
Then my heart stopped beating when all three of them sank to one knee.
24/
well, i knew this would have to come up sometime
leif
This was all planned out. Sort of.
I’d picked out a ring at Maple & Diamond on Robson Street before we drove over to Holly’s neighborhood in the DTES—what we locals call the Downtown Eastside, I’d explained to Hawk on the way.
And we’d talked about what we’d say as soon as she opened the door.
Takoda would start with a big speech about how he’d never been as happy or content as he was last night, falling asleep in her nest. How she’d shown him what the real prize in life was—love.
Hawk was supposed to go next with a heartfelt monologue about how this maul and our mate were better than anything he could have envisioned. The best reward for his redemption arc.
And finally, I’d tell her how I knew I’d grown up because I’d never felt as ready for anything as I did to spend the rest of my life on Bear Mountain with her and our maul.
But having to threaten Corey—and Holly being more tearfully furious than happy to see us—hadn’t been in the plan.
So, after a lot of explaining and apologizing, we all just ended up dropping to one knee, pouring our feelings into Hawk’s maul bite. Takoda lifted his arms, his shirt sleeves pulling back to show the maul bites Hawk and I had given him on each forearm, as he flipped open a scarlet box to reveal the entwined rose gold and platinum three-band diamond ring I’d picked out.
“Will you marry us?” he asked on all three of our behalves.
Holly slapped both hands over her mouth. Then immediately put her shields back up so we couldn’t feel or hear what she was thinking.
Fuck.Did that mean the answer was no? I could feel Takoda and Hawk worrying the same thing beside me, their tension rolling over the bond.
“I…” Holly lowered her hands, lips parting as if she were about to say something. But then she clamped them shut again, her face crumpling like she was about to cry—not the happy kind of tears.
Takoda was full-on panicking now, pushing backup plans into our heads.“Alright, the two of you will need to stay in Vancouver and woo her back.”
“Nah, Koda, don’t try backing out now. This maul doesn’t work without you,”Hawk insisted.“Andyou don’t want the puppy to give you another black eye.”
“I’ll do it!”I confirmed--and threatened.
“I’m not backing out,”Takoda insisted, his voice grim. “I’ll return to Bear Mountain, finish un-death trapping the den, and figure out a big enough grand gesture to win her heart?—
“Hey, ssh!”I cut the conversation short.“She’s talking again.”
“I’m sorry, guys, but I can’t…” She shook her head, her voice breaking. “I just can’t...”
All three of our hearts sank.
Until Holly cracked up laughing and pointed at us.
“Ican’tbelievehow good it feels to feel the three of you panic like I did when I woke up in the den alone!”
