When it finally ebbs, I’m sobbing.
Not from sadness. Fromoverwhelm. From being so thoroughly claimed, so completely loved, that my body doesn’t know what to do with it.
“Shh,” Thane murmurs, pressing kisses to my temple, my cheek, the corner of my mouth. “We have you. We’ve got you.”
“That was…” Seth sounds as wrecked as I feel. “That was…”
“Yeah,” Thane agrees. “It was.”
The room settles into aftermath.
Not all at once—there’s no clean ending, no moment where everyone stops. Just a gradual slowing, bodies untangling and retangling in different configurations.
Wes is still on the couch, sandwiched between Gray and Stellan, looking thoroughly wrecked and completely content. Stellan’s hand has found his ankle again. Gray’s fingers are back in his hair. Something has shifted between the three of them—something that was always there but finally got spoken aloud.
Jace is sprawled in the armchair now, looking thoroughly debauched even though he never got off—his pants are still undone from earlier, his hair a mess, his mouth swollen from kisses I didn’t see him steal. When Stellan catches his eye, something passes between them—a question, maybe, or an answer. Jace’s mouth curves into something softer than his usual grin.
“Later,” Stellan says quietly.
“Yeah,” Jace agrees. “Later.”
Rhett is back in his spot near the fireplace, sprawled out and looking thoroughly satisfied. He catches me looking and his smile goes warm and knowing.
“Best view in the house,” he says. “Told you.”
“You watched most of it.”
“I watched all of it. Even when I had you against the wall, I was still paying attention to the rest of the room.” His smile widens. “Watched Seth and Thane fuck you at the same time until you cried. I know exactly what makes each of you fall apart.”
“And you file it all away.”
“And I use it.” His eyes darken with promise. “Like I did with you earlier. You think I didn’t notice how you react when someone calls you by a nickname? When someone tells you exactly what they need from you?”
My face heats. “Rhett—”
“I’m not complaining, firefly.” The nickname makes my breath catch, proving his point. “I’m just saying—I pay attention. And I remember everything.”
“That’s—”
“Hot,” Jace supplies from the armchair. “The word you’re looking for is hot.”
“I was going to say intense.”
“Same thing.”
Thane eases out of me carefully, and Seth follows, and the sudden emptiness makes me whimper. But then they’re both there—Thane pressing a kiss to my forehead, Seth pulling me against his chest—and the emptiness fills with something else.
They share a look over my head. Something has shifted between them too—the last wall crumbling, the last distance closed. They’ve been inside me together. They’ve kissed. They’ve felt each other.
There’s no going back from that. No pretending they’re just two men who happen to love the same woman.
Thane brings water. Actual glasses of water, distributed to whoever reaches for them, because even ancient vampires understand the importance of hydration. He presses one into my hands without being asked.
“Drink.”
“Thanks, mom.”
“Don’t test me.”
