“Now who’s poetic?” Casimir remarked, but there was warmth in his voice. “Still, accurate.”
“When I first came here, I was so broken,” I said. “So afraid. I thought the best I could hope for was a roof over my head. I prayed for a kind, decent husband who wouldn’t hurt me. Just that much. I never imagined…”
I gestured at them, words failing me.
“You’d get’ohana.” Koa breathed against my skin. “Found, fought for, and forged in fire.”
“ ’Ohana,” we all echoed.
His arm tightened around me as the first light of dawn snuck through a gap in the drapes and turned our room soft pink.
“Rest now, little wife,” Casimir whispered.
So I did. Surrounded by my loves, in the hush that follows the storm, our four hearts beating as one. Safe. Whole. Home.
Evermere.
A place beyond the hunt, where shadows rest and dawns endure.
28. Surprise for You
Seri
Three days later, I stood in our bedroom, staring at the lavender gown laid out on our bed, a gift from my husbands for tonight’s celebration at the werewolf palace. The silk shimmered and the beadwork glittered as I ran my fingers over the fabric.
The boys had insisted on buying me something special for the occasion. “Special” turned out to be an understatement. The dress was a flowing creation of lavender silk that shifted to silver in the right light. It hugged my body in ways that made all three of my husbands go speechless during the fitting, a feat I considered the dress’s most impressive quality.
“You’re thinking too loud,” Koa said from the doorway.
I turned to find him watching me, already dressed in a charcoal suit that fit his powerful frame in all the right places, his black hair pulled back in a tidy man bun. The sight of him, so handsome, so mine, still caught me off guard sometimes.
“Just nervous,” I admitted. “I’ve never been to a royal celebration before.”
Koa crossed the room and slid his hands around my waist.
“They invited us to honoryou, baby. You’re the hero of the hour.”
“I’m no hero.” I leaned back against his chest. “I just survived.”
“Survivalisheroic when the odds are stacked against you, beloved.” His arms tightened. “Now get dressed before Zane comes up to help, and we both know how that ends. With you verythoroughlyhelped and us very late to the party.”
That made me laugh, as he’d intended.
“He’s wearing a real suit, right?”
“Cas threatened to burn all his graphic tees if he didn’t.”
“All right.” I fluttered my fingers at him. “Shoo, Mr. Cimmerian, beforeyoudecide to very thoroughly help me.”
“That would be an honor and a privilege, Mrs. Cimmerian,” he rumbled in my neck, sending goosebumps rioting along my skin. “I’ll cash that check when we get home.”
Twenty minutes later, I descended the stairs to find my husbands in the foyer. Casimir stood closest to the door in a navy suitthat made his loose hair look like spun gold. Koa waited at the bottom of the stairs, his eyes warming as they tracked my descent. And my irreverent, impossible Zoodle was sprawled across the sofa in a dark green suit that brought out the fire in his hair, which he’d made a halfhearted attempt to tame.
“Cruor!” he whispered as I reached the bottom step, his gingerbread eyes running up and down me like hands. “We’re going to have to fight off every supernatural creature in that ballroom tonight.”
“Beautiful, little wife.” Casimir’s eyes never left my face.
“Beautiful? She’s stunning!” Zane bounced up from his seat and spun me in a circle. “A knock-out. An eleven. A sexy edible sn—”
