Laughing, I grab a box of bulbs and cut the tape to open it. The base colors are red, white, and green, but their patterns vary. Some are glittery, others striped. I pass her one, and Foster shows her how to hang it on a branch. Together, we get all the colored ornaments onto the tree. There is another box of them sitting beside the couch, but they’re sentimental, so we’ll wait for Shepherd and Manny before we add them.
“Ready for the best part?” Foster asks as I add the tree skirt. He leans down and plugs the lights in. I sit back on my heels andpull Kaitlin to my side, watching her stare up at the branches in awe. Foster briefly disappears, returning a moment later with Everett in his arms. “I didn’t want him to miss it.”
The garage door rattles, and Kaitlin jumps to her feet. “My papas are home!” She rushes to the hallway, and I yell after her, making her promise to stop at the door into the garage and wait for them to get out of the car. Foster follows her, leaving me to sit by the tree and wait.
“Come on, Papas, hurry!” Their voices carry down the hall as she urges them to move faster. Her excitement makes them laugh and warms my heart. Even though it only lasted a few brief days, I missed the sound of our pack filling the house.
Kaitlin appears first, dragging both men by their hands. “S’prise!” she shouts, letting them go to skid to my side and dramatically show them the tree. Manny stops and stares, mouth agape, as he sees what we have done. There is a pile covering the table of other decor to go around the house, but the tree is all we had time to put up before they returned.
“Wow, you did all this for us?” Manny asks, slowly crossing the room to join us. “It looks amazing, Princesa.”
“It isn’t finished yet.” Kaitlin glares at me, but I ruffle her hair and smile, grabbing the box with their ornaments. “We saved these for you. They seemed important.”
Manny’s face softens as he accepts the box. “They are.” He glances over his shoulder at Shepherd. “For both of us.”
Shep raises a brow and steps closer to look inside. “Are these…”
“From your mother.” Manny confirms. “I asked if she had any ornaments from your childhood that we could add to our tree.”
Foster wedges himself between them, both to look inside the box and to feel them pressed against him. My Omega has missedhis mates. He’s going to need several nights with all of us in his nest to prevent this distress from affecting his health.
“You made these?” Kaitlin asks, standing on her tiptoes to see the ornaments. Manny drops to his knees so she can see better, and goes through the ones he made one by one, showing her each and telling her how old he was when he made it. She lights up when he tells her he wants to make new ones with her.
“Would you like to help us hang them?” Shepherd asks her, helping Manny back to his feet. He grimaces, obviously still sore from being attacked. Feelings of guilt bubble in my stomach, but I push them back down, reminding myself that I’m not responsible for the actions of others.
Everett stirs in Foster’s arms, searching for food, so I take him and settle on the couch to watch my mates finish decorating the tree with our daughter. The life I’ve found with these men is more than I could have ever dreamed of. There is laughter, and there are tears, but there is also love—the foundation for a wonderful future.
Chapter Forty-Three
I’mthe first one awake the morning after I return from the hospital. Peace blankets the house, a quiet that settles my racing heart after waking from a nightmare of flying fists and my mates being dragged into the darkness. The warmth of their bodies pressed against mine helps shake the lingering fear.
I’m at home. Colin is in jail and can no longer threaten our family. We’re safe.
Shifting to my side, I study my mate’s faces. They’re sleeping soundly, wrapped in the love of our shared bonds. We all piled into Foster’s nest last night, leaving the door cracked in case Kaitlin woke and tried to come upstairs to find us. He talked to her before about needing to spend time here to settle his inner Omega, so she knows where to look for us if we aren’t in the pack bedroom.
What would twenty-year-old me think if someone told him this was our future? That we would have a pack of our own one day, with beautiful children and a house on the lake? He would have scoffed and denied it, because I never believed this would be real.
Hannah, Foster, Shepherd, the kids—they’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me.
I couldn’t be more grateful that Fate brought me onto their paths.
Movement in the nest pulls my attention away from the gratitude in my heart. Golden-brown eyes lock on me, a sleepy smile stretching across Shepherd’s face. He presses a finger to his lips and nods his head toward the door. Untangling myself from Foster’s legs, I crawl out of the nest and meet him in the hallway. “Good morning, Alpha.”
“Good morning, Beta.” He crowds me against the wall, one arm braced above my head. My breath catches, eyes tracking the way his biceps bulge beneath his long-sleeve shirt. “How are you feeling?”
I can barely form a coherent thought as he trails a finger down my jaw. “G-good?” My answer comes out as a question, voice quivering as desire surges through my body.
“Define good.” He leans close, breath tickling my neck. His tongue darts out to glide against my skin, tasting me. “Good as in sore and tired, or good as in ready for me to finally make you mine?”
“That. Definitely that.”
I feel his grin against my throat, and then his arms are beneath my thighs, lifting me into the air. Scrambling to hold on to him, I let him carry me across the hall and into the bedroom. He kicks the door shut behind us. The sound of it locking is almost as loud as the frantic beating of my heart. My butt hits the edge of the bed, and then I’m falling backward, crashing against the comforter. He follows, mouth connecting with mine. Our kisses are hurried, matching the way we tear the clothes from each other’s bodies.
He leans on one elbow and wraps his hand around both our cocks. I hiss, loving the way his warm palm feels as he gives us one long stroke. Pre-cum beads on my tip, rolling down to mix with the thicker stream leaking from him. His lips blaze apath down my throat, lavishing extra attention on the juncture where my throat and shoulder meet. Lower he descends, tongue flicking over my nipples and tracing a path across my stomach. And then his mouth is on me. Wet, warm, and powerful. The suction of his cheeks grips me tight, fueling the fire fisting my spine.
When he pops off my length, spit still connecting us, I nearly lose control. That’sso fucking hot!He rolls onto his back and reaches for the bedside table, grabbing a bottle of lube that he drops between us. I miss his weight, and sigh in relief when he rolls back. His bergamot and sandalwood scent smothers me, so thick in the air I can taste him on my tongue. It blends with my weaker white tea and sage scent, creating an addicting blend that could only get better with the addition of our other mates.
“Roll over.” I comply, shifting to my stomach so he can press himself against my back. Shock rolls through my spine when he grips my hips and spreads me open, tongue licking a stripe from my balls and up my ass. It swirls around my hole, teasing me until I’m writhing beneath him. Cold lube drizzles on my skin, shocking me as it wars with the warmth of his wet tongue.
