“Now it's my turn,” he says.
I push Sera into his arms.
Ezra
The tremor hits me the moment she comes against me, running through her whole frame, and my hands go to her back and I pull her in and she lets me.
She is tall and solidly built. All muscle and bone, the kind of body that has been in real danger, and the cold has gone all the way into her. She breathes out, long and slow, and the breath shakes on the way out.
“Two days,” I say. “Two days, and Kev called you constantly and Lex stood in the study where it still smelled like you and we all tried to—” I stop. My grip on her loosens a fraction. I breathe out. “We were so scared.”
Her voice comes out rough. “I'm sorry, Ez.”
“You're our mate and I'm going to make sure you never forget it.”
I gather her mouth with mine. She goes still for one full second, her whole body locked. Then she gives. She makes a rough sound against me and I answer with a low groan. I slide one hand up her spine, until my palm cups the back of her skull. I angle her head exactly where I want it and push my tongue deep into her mouth. She tastes like blood orange and something colder from the tunnel, but I go past that and lick against her tongue until she opens wider for me.
I kiss her harder after that. No care left. I move with her, matching the way her body shifts against mine, and every time I angle deeper her fingers clutch tighter. She makes another sound, lower this time, and I swallow it while I press my cock hard against her hip in one firm roll. The contact pulls a sudden gasp out of her. I pull back just enough to catch the full sound of it.
Her eyes are dark and her mouth is swollen from kissing. She regards me the way she looked at Aubrey the morning he asked to be held, like she finally sees that this is real and there is no trick waiting underneath it.
“You're our mate.” I run my thumb along her jaw. “Family. Ours.” I pause. “Mine.”
She stares at me, lips wet, still searching my face, still waiting for the catch. Lex takes her from my arms.
She looks right in Lex's arms, like she belongs exactly there.
Lex
Ezra's kiss is still warm on her lips when she turns her face up to mine.
“Lex,” she says. Her voice has gone careful.
How do I love thee. Let me count the ways.
Barrett Browning. Gods, not even my usual.
Her pupils are wide and dark and she is watching me, not sure what comes next. I only want to see acceptance in her eyes. Belonging. Love.
“You are our scent-match. Espie and Aubrey gave you to us and I don't think you've understood yet what that means.” I pause. “Do you feel it?” I hold her gaze.
She holds very still. Then she nods.
“You knew,” I say.
“Wallace told me.” The words come out flat. “That's why he took me.” She looks down, then back up at me. “He told me I'd been scent-matched to all of you. Through the bond. Through Espie and Aubrey. I walked right into his trap. I thought I was protecting you. I thought if I—” She stops. Presses her mouth shut. “I'm sorry. I put all of you in danger and I'm sorry.”
“Yes,” I say. “You did.”
She blinks. She finds her footing. She was braced for something softer.
“The moment you went missing, there was nothing that was going to keep us away. There is no world where we leave you there.” I put my hand to her cheek. She closes her eyes for half a second. “That is what pack means. That is what you are to us.”
She is quiet. Her throat moves. She swallows once, hard, and she keeps her eyes on mine instead of blinking.
“I do know that,” she says. A breath. “I should have trusted it before I went.”
“Yes,” I say. “You should have.”
