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The hand that isn’t in a cast anymore.

I still haven’t fully recovered from the shock of realizing he took it off.

He catches me staring again and raises an eyebrow.

“Stop looking at me like that.”

“You’re putting the cast back on tomorrow.”

His brothers burst out laughing instantly.

“I’m serious,” I warn him.

“Okay, pixie,” he says calmly, taking another sip of whiskey.

“Jesus Christ,” Kai mutters. “He’s domesticated already.”

“We lost him,” Noah adds with a grin.

“We absolutely did,” Theo confirms.

“We’re trending again, by the way,” Liam says, scrolling through his phone. “Every news outlet picked it up.”

“With a video like that?” Colt snorts. “Obviously.”

“I can’t stop replaying it,” Thalia admits from Ethan’s lap.

“You two looked unreal today,” Sierra says softly.

Then her expression warms even more as she looks directly at me.

“Seriously, Selene. You are absolutely beautiful.”

Emotion catches unexpectedly in my throat.

Nick pulls Sierra a little closer to his side, turning his attention to me.

“Welcome to the family,” he says. “Officially.”

Something in my chest aches at his words.

Theo lifts his glass first.

“To our family.”

“To us,” everyone echoes almost at once, glasses clicking together around me.

I smile, but the emotions pressing against my ribs grow stronger, sudden and overwhelming.

“Thank you, guys,” I say quietly.

The conversation fades almost immediately, and every face turns to me.

Even Zayn.

I'm sitting between his legs on an outdoor couch, his hand moving slowly up and down my back as he watches me with that unwavering attention that always makes me feel far too seen.

My gaze moves from one to the next as I continue.