Chapter 25

We'd all dragged ourselves home after Shae's revelation made it clear that we needed to regroup. We hadn't really all been together as a pack since that first night at the hospital and then Theo had basically been in a coma.

Miles had raced home and carried Shae up to the nest as the rest of us moved up behind them. We all stripped out of the clothes we'd worn to work, except for Ethan, who was swimming in borrowed sweats, and climbed into the nest. Our sweet Omega squirreled away several shirts and placed them in spots that only made sense to him but at his embarrassed expression we all pretended we hadn't noticed.

Ethan pulled Shae down to be close to him and then he nervously looked between the four of us Alphas as we stood around his nest. Miles made the decision for him and laid at Shae's back. I moved to Ethan's other side so I could still reach them across Ethan. Trevor and Theo looked at each other and then simultaneously broke into some sort of scuffle. Like they were both going for the last cookie or some nonsense that I was sure would make sense to someone with siblings. Ethan's near giggles rang through the space and Shae joined in with their unrestrained laughter that ended in a snort.

Theo elbowed Trevor in the gut, dove into the spot behind me and tucked me against his front, then reached his arm across me to grab Ethan's hand. Trevor looked around the nest and I started to worry for him until the side of his mouth lifted in a smirk that he shot in Theo's direction. He got on his hands and knees and crawled to where Ethan lay on his back between Shae and I before moving right between our Omega's legs.

Ethan sucked in a startled breath, obviously anticipating Trevor was going to do something, but that breath wooshed out of him as Trevor dropped down and pillowed his head on Ethan's stomach. I could feel Theo pouting in the bond as Ethan pulled the tie from Trevor's hair and began threading the fingers of his free hand through it.

"I call that spot tomorrow, dickhead."

"Gotta be smarter next time, little brother."

Theo's petulant growl at Trevor's teasing set Ethan and Shae tittering again until Shae's laugh broke off on a yawn. Ethan turned his face toward them and kissed their forehead and began to purr. I drifted off faster than I would have thought possible, lulled to sleep by the perfect Omega in my arms and the scent of our pack surrounding me.

***

An incessant buzzing wormed its way into my dreams as I struggled to wake from the deep sleep I'd fallen into. Tilting my head toward the only light coming into the room, I could see that it was the earliest part of the evening when the sun was just starting to dip. We'd been asleep for several hours, not quite enough to make up for the sleep that Theo and I had missed the night before, but it was definitely the rest we all needed.

The buzzing of my phone started again. This time, the vibrations from a second phone somewhere in the room went off as well. Trevor's breath puffed against my stomach, where my shirt had ridden up, while his arms were wrapped around Ethan's hips, hugging him like a body pillow.

Our Omega rubbed his eyes and tried to shift when he was met with a muffled, "nuh uh" as Trevor gripped Ethan tighter and tried to burrow his face into my stomach. Ethan's smile was fond as he looked down at our burly, tattooed Alpha then around to the rest of us. When he met my eyes, his smile grew until it was the breathtaking boyish one that only appeared when he was completely at ease. The chorus of buzzing added another phone with the next round and Ethan and I both stretched to reach ours.

I saw Gia's name on my screen and Ethan turned towards me to show that it was his sister, blowing his phone up with texts. I extracted myself from the puppy pile, but Trevor still wouldn't release Ethan, so he had to go through his messages from the nest. Grumbling, Theo reached for his phone as it began buzzing as well but he just silenced it and chucked it across the nest. Ethan directed a scolding noise at him but he just pointed a finger at me and rolled into Ethan's side. Pressing accept, I lifted my phone to my ear.

"Gia?"

"Jade, I say this respectfully, but, bitch, where have you been for the last hour? I've been trying to call you!"

"Respectfully, I was taking a fucking nap with my pack because my mates have been traumatized and I had been awake for more than twenty-four hours. Tell me what the fuck is going on."

"Glad you got some rest because you're going to be awake for a while. Are you near a TV?"

"No. Why do I need a TV, Gia?"

Ethan's voice cut over whatever Gia was about to say.

"Holy shit! Aubs sent me a stream. They're all being arrested, and it got leaked."

Gia told me to call her back as soon as I got the pack up and around, then she hung up. The others got up and we stumbled down the short set of stairs to the room Miles and Shae shared. Miles switched on the TV as everyone else piled into the bed to watch the rolling coverage and listen to the announcers.

"—home of Poppy Cabot, heiress to Cabot Pharmaceuticals nearly an hour ago. Cabot, an Omega, caused a bit of a social media frenzy when she re-entered the social scene mated to a pack of relatively unknown entrepreneurs who run a casino and several other establishments."

The footage being shown was of officers escorting a cuffed Poppy Cabot from the apartment building in the city that Ethan had been monitoring. I was standing at the foot of the bed but from the corner of my eye I saw Trevor and Shae stiffen and lean into one another. Miles wrapped an arm around Shae, Theo put a hand on Trevor's shoulder, and Ethan climbed into Trevor's lap, linking his fingers with Shae's, and purring for them both. Following Poppy in a chain of cuffed individuals was the red-haired Alpha that we suspected Derek had been contacted by, and two others.

"That last one is the one she brought to the fundraiser. He seemed to hate her, barely swung at me when Aubrey decked the bitch, and claimed none of the bites were his."

"—shocking the city with allegations of running a human trafficking ring that pulled vulnerable Betas and Omegas off the streets with the intent to sell them."

"Right you are, Sarah. It's even being reported that these particular people played a role in the recent abduction of one of the members of the Owens pack, the elusive media darlings who run Drake House Securities, whose claims of pack retribution and a subsequent massacre to retrieve their missing packmate have just come to light."

"Though many have questioned why such laws still stand, calling them barbaric and archaic, I challenge those opponents to find a single Alpha who wouldn't want to invoke them if their bondmate has been abducted by people as nefarious as these are accused of being."

That must have been why Gia was calling. Someone sussed out the link between the charges against that pack, Shae's abduction, and our rescue.

"I need to call Gia. I'm going to use your office, Miles."

He nodded as he pressed a kiss to Shae's temple and I felt their eyes on me as I left the room. Closing the door to the room across the hall, I settled into the couch Miles kept in his office for when Shae wanted to lounge around but still be near him while he worked. Gia picked up almost immediately when I called her back.

"See how quickly I answered that call, Jade? Strive for that."

"Strive to act more like my lawyer and less like an annoyed friend when the news is using words like ‘massacre' to talk about my actions."

"Fair. Look, I'm not worried about that. It was sanctioned and we covered all our bases the other night with the local cops. The media can try to spin it all they want but no one is going to lose sleep over human traffickers who got what was coming to them. It's about your current retribution claim."

My body stilled and my blood ran cold.

"Explain."

"Don't go all psycho killer Domme on me. It's not my kink and you don't intimidate me. Anyway, the claim isn't challenged, but Jade, the police can't find him. He wasn't found at any of the known properties."

"The police are claiming that they will not pursue him with your claim intact. You need to find him before he runs, if he hasn't already."

"They won't look for him at all?"

"No."

There was a book next to me on the couch and I threw it against the wall to keep from throwing my phone, regretting it almost instantly since the noise was sure to draw one of my pack mates.

"Keep me updated if you hear anything, Gia."

"Will do. Fuck the cops for ducking out of this, knowing what an actual psychopath he is. You'll get him, Jade. I know you will."

I set my phone down and put my chin on my fists, breathing deeply and trying not to let the worry of how well that fucking monster had hidden from us for so long take over. Letting him roam free to potentially hurt someone else and not pay for what he'd done already was unacceptable. The click of the door latch and the soft sound it made as it opened, rubbing along Miles" rug, drew my gaze. Theo came into the room and sat down beside me, mirroring my pose with his elbows on his knees, looking forward.

"Bodhi called. It wasn't about the arrests though."

"Is Cat alright?"

"She's as fine as she can be. But Jack called him to make sure he's on alert, asked Bodhi to call me."

My eyes narrowed.

"They got a call that emergency services were sent out to Justin Grant's house about an hour after the arrests started. His wife had come home and found him dead."

"Fuck." I stood up and began pacing in front of the couch. "I thought the police were bringing him in?"

"I don't know what happened, but Graves is still unaccounted for…" he paused to gauge my reaction.

"Gia told me. Said the cops were not going to seek him out since our claim is in place and he wasn't sitting there waiting nicely to be arrested with the rest of the pack."

A low rumble came from Theo, not quite a snarl but something like its annoyed cousin.

"That explains the book-throwing, then."

I took another deep breath and sat back down on the couch, this time pressing into Theo's side and taking his hand in mine. The comfort from being close to him was enough to clear my thoughts.

"We need to make sure that we have additional people with Pack Rothchild and their Omega as well as with Cat and Ethan's family. Send Michaels to the safe house and make sure Daniels is aware so he can be in place with Bodhi. I'll ask Ethan to call Nate in so there is another Alpha there. Even if he isn't one of ours, he's family, and we know for a fact they'd worked out where to find Cat. Fuck, I need to hire more people."

Theo squeezed my hand and rubbed his jaw along my temple.

"We always have people wanting to work for Drake and an endless waitlist of clients. Focus on what we need to do now and we can deal with personnel issues after we have Graves' head on a pike."

I bumped his shoulder with mine.

"So bloodthirsty."

"You like it."

Turning toward him, I leaned in, just short of closing the distance between us. He grinned before moving the rest of the way and meeting my mouth in a slow kiss. After a moment, I pulled back and spoke against his lips.

"I really do."

"We need to tell the others."

"Ethan's probably going to demand to go back into the BullPen."

"What our Omega wants…"

"True enough."

Ethan had indeed demanded to go back to work and do whatever he could to locate Graves. Miles and Shae went to Ethan's mom's apartment in one of our tank-like SUVs. Shae had been worried about Cat, but concerned about how Ethan would take them rushing to another Omega, and Ethan had assured them that he didn't feel any jealousy or Omega possessiveness over it. We all planned that they would go with Miles to take Ethan into campus the next day for his final meeting with his advisor before the winter break. I'd set up an escort to get them to and from campus, but the number of people I trusted with the safety of my pack was running thin. I really needed to hire more bodies.

I also spent some of the time after I spoke with Gia coordinating a surprise for Ethan. I'd had an idea, since Theo's joke about needing a bigger bed in our rooms at Drake House, and it all just happened to line up. Before we went into the offices, my assistant organized a pack sized platform bed to be assembled in our designated suite in the barracks. I'd already bought duplicates of the blankets and pillows from Ethan's nest and asked each of our packmates for a shirt that carried their scent. As soon as Ethan took a break from his work on the search for Graves, I'd take him down to set up his secondary nest. I hoped that he liked it.

Theo left Trevor's office and sidled up to me, leaning against the wall next to where I stood. His scent was tinged with worry, anger, and something that was more sense than scent, like the way the air stills when lightning strikes. He was ready to fight. The need to end this was riding him hard, and I understood that completely.

"Talked to the police. Justin Grant had lawyered up. They were called in for questioning before the Jackal pack was arrested and he'd negotiated to cooperate and come in the next day. Not sure if the idiot called the Jackals or if they were just tying up loose ends, but he was missing his tongue and it's being ruled a homicide."

"Safe to assume he was the one faking results for them and probably sent Clint's pack to the Jackals then. Good riddance."

"All three Rothchild Alphas are at the safe house now with their Omega. Michaels has two of our other guys with him. Once Graves is dead, Pack Rothchild will be on their own or the police will figure something out."

"What about?—"

"Jade! Or Theo. Or Trevor. Just someone. Come over here!"

Ethan's eager voice pulled me from my thoughts and brought a smile to my face. I couldn't resist the chance to pick at Theo as we walked over to the other side of the BullPen where Ethan's station was set up.

"He asked for me first."

Theo scoffed and met my gaze with a crooked grin.

"My bite is the only one on his neck though."

"For now."

"You going to make your move, babe?"

"I'm getting that secondary nest set up for him in our barracks room. I thought I'd see where that went tonight. Unless you think?—"

Theo pulled me to a stop with a hand on my elbow and flooded our bond with joy, excitement, and love. There was no jealousy anywhere. My worries fled in the face of it and I smiled at him.

"Thank you, love."

"Let's go listen to what our Omega wants to tell us and then maybe you can sweep him off his feet."

Nerves fluttered unexpectedly at the thought. I had no doubts that Ethan was my Omega, but I hadn't got to spend much time alone with him. He had made it very clear that he didn't want the whole big show when it came to courting but fuck if I didn't want to make him understand what he meant to me and to the pack. We approached his station, and he was practically bouncing in his seat, while Cole was sitting calmly next to him on a laptop, looking amused.

"We found him! Or well, a lead at least."

"What did you find, Biscuit?"

Trevor moved over to join us as well and Ethan beamed.

"Okay so, Violet Rayne was a stage name, but Rayne was her middle name too. Knowing Graves' surname obviously helped narrow it down, but we found that a Violet Rayne Graves gave birth to a baby boy thirty-three years ago and named him Joseph Blake Graves. The birth certificate didn't list a father, but Violet obviously knew who he was, based on the name and the hush money style child support payments."

"She died eleven years ago: the cause of death was listed as an overdose. She'd changed her name again, after a failed marriage to another Beta, but her maiden name was included in the death records. I found a property, still in her name and it's only two miles from the warehouse they kept Shae and the others in."

Could it really be that easy? I threw a look at Trevor and Theo to see whether they had the same thought. Ethan caught my hesitation and continued.

"I know it seems obvious, but there's nothing to tie Blake Graves to Violet Moore without a lot of digging. Utilities are active on the property under the name Jack Collins."

He looked at us with an expression that begged us to get it like it was the punch line in a bad joke. Theo and I were trying our best not to look as confused as we felt, when Trevor snorted derisively.

"Jack Collins… Jackals. It's like we're in a fucking Scooby Doo episode instead of dealing with actual human traffickers."

He shook his head and crossed those massive arms over his chest. Ethan's perfume spiked in the space between us all, and Trevor just shot him a smirk, shamelessly flexing. After a hard swallow and a little shake of his head, like he was chastising himself, Ethan turned back to his monitors.

"Right, that's what we think anyway. Also, thanks to Cole, we have confirmed sightings of him at the gas station just a quarter mile from the house. It's worth checking out, right?"

His voice ticked up at the end relaying that it wasn't just a question but also that he was nervous that we'd dismiss his idea. I moved over and tipped his chin up so he would give me his eyes.

"Yes, Omega. It's more than we've had to go on this whole time. Theo and I will check it out tomorrow, but you need to get some sleep."

"But, I could?—"

"No buts, Biscuit. Jade will take you down to our room and you're going to sleep. Your heat is too close to fuck around and potentially trigger it early by not taking care of yourself. Trev and I will work out a plan with Cole and then we'll get some rest too."

Ethan's eyes bounced between all the Alphas around him, looking like he wanted to continue arguing, before he nodded and turned to shut down his computers. I moved to my two bondmates and they kissed me on the cheek, one either side, before Trevor tugged me into a hug, whispering in my ear as Theo moved to reassure his grumpy Omega.

"You don't need to be worried: he loves you as much as you do him. Just tell him. Talk to him and it will all be fine."

"Love you, Trev."

"Love you, too."

Ethan came over and kind of hovered near us, nibbling on that fucking plush bottom lip and looking too anxious. I pulled away from Trevor and held my hand out to him. Once he had his hand in mine, his shoulders dropped as they lost tension, and he released his abused lip.

We walked out of the BullPen and to the bank of elevators that would take us to the floor where the barracks were. With each step we took away from the BullPen, I could see the signs of exhaustion in my Omega. Designations meant fuck-all when it came to an individual's capabilities or what they could achieve, but an Omega nearing their heat needed more sleep, more food, more care. During the heat, their bodies would force them to stay awake and crave their mates for days at a time. Though Ethan wanted to push through, and could have at any other time, in the lead-up to his heat, he needed to rest.

Once we were in the elevator, he leaned into me, putting his head on my shoulder and wrapping an arm around my stomach. I pressed my lips to his temple and tucked an arm around his back. We stayed like that for the short ride down, but I wanted it to last longer. Moments like these—those perfect moments of quiet, breathing my mates in, and knowing that they were safe and with me—were what kept me going in a world full of shit and evil. The elevator pinged for our floor and I reluctantly pulled away from him, though I slid my hand into his, linking our fingers as we moved into the hall.

"I have a little surprise for you, Ethan."

His tiredness lifted for a minute and excitement danced in his eyes before he turned bashful at his response.

"At home?"

"No, it's in our room."

I tried not to let my nerves take over as I opened the door to our pack's space at Drake. Ethan stepped in and tightened his grip on my hand at the same time as he halted his steps. It happened so quickly that I nearly stumbled and had a moment of panic when I saw the tears lining his eyes. Then he smiled at me.

"You got me everything for a nest?"

"I know the lighting is harsh, but I couldn't fix that fast enough, I will though. The blankets and sheets and pillows are the same ones we have at home, and we can paint too if?—"

My flood of words was cut off when he dropped my hand and brought both of his up to hold my face, then crushed his lips to mine. I fisted his shirt at his sides and pulled him against me until we were flush. He was devouring me, and I was lost in the way his cinnamon roll scent filled the small room, driving my instincts wild. Eventually, he drew back from the kiss but kept his hands on my face, eyes moving back and forth between my own.

"It's absolutely perfect, Jade. I love it. And I love you."

"Go make your nest, sweet Omega."

Ethan's cheeks darkened and he looked to the pile of nesting materials before he bit his lip again. I gently tugged it free with my thumb and pulled at his chin so he would look at me.

"What is it?"

"I just—will you, maybe, scentmarktheblanketsforme."

I grinned, fully understanding what he was mumbling but wanting him to own up to his instinctual needs. We wouldn't deny him anything that was in our power to give him, and I didn't want him to be ashamed of what he needed.

"Couldn't quite catch that."

He huffed and leveled a brattish look at me that told me he knew I'd heard exactly what he'd said.

"I love it. It's amazing and thoughtful and having a nest-away-from-home is more than I could have asked for. But none of those blankets smell right. I can sort of catch Theo and Trevor in here, but I need it to smell like you all. I know it's crazy."

Walking a few steps away, I picked up the duffle that I'd packed for him and lifted it up so that I was holding it from the bottom, then tilted my head indicating for him to open the top. He gave me a quizzical look but drew closer and carefully unzipped the bag. I knew I'd done well when the combined scents of our pack became clear, and Ethan's face broke into a wide grin.

"Go on and make it yours, Ethan. It'll smell like our pack soon enough, but these will help until then."

He snatched the duffle from me and hugged it to his middle, like it was more precious than some pieces of emotional support laundry, then he carefully set it down, and his face took on a considering look. He toed off his shoes as his eyes flicked rapidly between the various options, apparently working on a system of organization that would only be obvious to an Omega. He started by grabbing the bag of sheets, dumping them out on the bed to choose the perfect set. Once he had the sheets in place, he shook out several of the blankets and climbed on top of them to arrange the others, and the pillows, then started rifling through the duffle bag, making happy noises as he chose where he wanted each piece of clothing to go. A smile spread across my face as I watched our Omega claiming his space, and the feeling of rightness cancelled out my earlier uncertainty about his reaction. I slid my heels off, enjoying the relief that came from not having my feet trapped, then bent down to move the shoes out of the way. As I straightened, a pillow hit me in the stomach. Looking back at Ethan, I saw him grinning and, though a hint of a blush was still there, this time he didn't mumble or try to hide what he needed.

"Make it smell like you, Alpha."

My purr broke free and his eyes took on a glazed quality as his hands fisted in the blanket he held and his perfume intensified. I held the pillow in my left hand and untucked my shirt from my pants as I walked toward him. He swallowed hard as I set the pillow on the bed and crossed my arms over my stomach, taking the hem of my shirt in both hands to lift it over my head. I'd put on a lacy, emerald-green balconette bra that, I thought, lifted my tits perfectly. Based on his sharp intake of breath, my Omega agreed.

I dropped the shirt on the bed and moved to undo the snap and zipper of my pants, sliding them around my hips and down my thighs. Ethan's lips were parted, and his chest heaved with each breath. As the matching panties were revealed, the scent of cinnamon rolls, gooey and fresh from the oven, exploded around me. Taking a deep breath, my head dropped back as my eyes nearly rolled in their sockets. The scent of his need—so strong, this close to his heat—was calling to my Alpha instincts, and its impact was intense. Dropping my chin back down and locking eyes with him, I licked my lips.

"Catch up, sweetness. We have a nest to break in. And then you need to rest."

Ethan pulled his shirt off by the back collar in that way all guys seemed hard-wired to do. He made quick work of the joggers he was wearing and then he was standing in front of me wearing only a close-fitting pair of deep-red boxer briefs. The way they hugged him made me groan and I swore the wet spot surrounding the tip of his dick grew at the sound.

"You feeling needy, Omega? Want me to lock that perfect dick? Work the cum out of you so you get a good night's sleep?"

As I spoke, his knees began to shake. He whimpered as he reached out to run his fingers down either side of me, along my ribs, then he gripped my hips before nodding fast. I stepped into him and leaned in like I was going for a kiss, but the second he moved to meet my lips I pulled back until I was just out of reach, making him whine. Feeling nervous about what I wanted to ask, even though he'd already told me he wanted it, I could only whisper my question against his lips.

"What about my bite? Do you want a bond with me, mate?"

This time, not only did I hear him pull in a sharp breath, but I also felt it, too: like he was trying to inhale straight from my lips. His voice was full of awe as he spoke as softly as I had.

"Jade. Please. Make me yours."

We collided then, my need matching his. Our lips met and our tongues danced. Hands roved over skin, gripping and caressing as we lost ourselves in the feel of our bodies against one another without being driven by his heat. We landed onto the softness of the nest. Shifting myself, I straddled his hips, pressing my lace covered pussy against his still covered length.

The sight of my Omega below me was mesmerizing: all that light brown skin, and the smallest dusting of dark hair on his chest, then the small trail leading beneath his waistband. He was softer than any of my other mates, as Omegas tended to be, and I fucking loved it. Reaching back, I freed my aching breasts from my bra and tossed it somewhere behind me as Ethan lifted his hands to cup them. He squeezed lightly and ran his thumbs back and forth along my peaked nipples, licking his lips.

Ethan curled up and took the tip of my breast into his mouth, flicking it with his tongue in rapid strokes before he closed his lips around it and sucked lightly. My back arched and I pressed myself into his mouth and hands as I ground down on his hard dick. He released my nipple and gasped in reaction.

"Off. Take them off, Alpha. Need you."

Some other time I would worry about seduction. I'd take my time to tease him, to learn all I could about what turned him on the most, what made him a desperate, whining mess. But tonight, we needed each other too much. I rolled off and shimmied my panties off as he did the same with his briefs. As soon as he'd kicked them off, I climbed back on top of him and settled my pussy against that magic dick. Biology was such a bitch, because he was literally made to fill me, and I was closer to begging for it than I had ever been.

His dick leaked so much precum that you'd think he'd already come, and it just added to the glide as I rocked against him. I leaned down, pressing my tits into his chest, and sipped from his lips as his hands settled on my ass and squeezed. I moved until I could feel his tip at my entrance and then I slid down, slowly moving him inside me and moaning at the delicious stretch. His hands clenched on the globes of my ass and he whimpered. I kissed down the side of his neck, toward the edge of Theo's bite, and his dick kicked inside me when I grazed the mark with my lips. Then I kissed right across his collarbone and back up the other side of his neck until my lips were pressed to the skin below his ear.

"Going to bite you right here, sweetness, so everyone will know that you're ours."

He whined and tried to thrust but I refused to lift my hips to allow him the leverage.

"No, Omega. You're not in control right now. You will lay there like a pillow princess while I fuck you senseless and make you mine."

"Please, Jade. Alpha, I need it. Need your lock."

I hummed against his skin and started to work my hips back and forth, rolling them slowly at first, making sure my clit was rubbing against him with each movement. It didn't take long for him to tell me that he needed more, between the death grip he had on my hips and the most delicious little panting mewls that slipped from his parted lips. Sitting up, bracing my hands on his stomach, I picked up speed, rolling my hips, then began to move up and down on his length.

I knew, from his heat, how perfect his dick was. How it could be so hard but still have a pillowy cushion that was made to take a lock, and still let me fuck him through our orgasms. My breath caught and my hands dropped to either side of his head to brace myself. My hard nipples grazed his chest and added another layer of stimulation. Ethan must have decided that he was done laying there and taking whatever, I wanted to give, because he pressed his heels into the bedding and thrust up. A high-pitched gasping sound came from me, making Ethan's eyes snap to mine as he realized he'd hit my g-spot. Like the good little Omega that he was, he kept his angle the same and began drilling into me.

"Oh fuuuuck, right there. Right fucking there, Ethan."

My lock began to tighten as my orgasm built and Ethan continued to hit that spot over and over, driving me fucking wild. If I hadn't been about to come so hard, I would have been laughing at how I'd told him he was just going to lay there and take it, while, instead, he was turning me the fuck out.

"Alpha, your lock. It's so good. I'm…I'm going to?—"

"Come for me, Omega. Come with me. Now."

Ethan cried out and thrust hard as I felt his release inside me, which sent me into my own climax. I sobbed into his neck and just as I felt his dick kick again, I my locked tightened around it and struck at his throat.

He screamed my name, pulling my hips down onto him hard as he came again. My teeth sank into the skin below his ear and the coppery taste of his blood filled my mouth as I felt that now familiar connection of a bond blooming between us. Tears ran down his cheek onto mine as we settled into the bliss that was a new bond. I released my teeth and began to lick and kiss the bite, tending it to strengthen the connection and help it to heal faster.

Ethan's hands ran up and down my back and I felt the soft vibrations of his purr against my chest as I twisted my fingers in his hair, continuing to tend the bite while I focused on that new bond between us. I picked up the awe that he was swimming in, at being able to feel me. I pushed all my happiness and affection down the bond to him and his breath caught. Pulling away from the bite, I raised myself up enough to be able to cup his jaw and look into his eyes.

"You are mine now, Ethan. Mine to protect. To care for and to love. And I do, Ethan, I love you so much. Our pack was happy and full of love and we could have gone on as we were and had a wonderful life. But when I met you, it all changed."

Tears were still rolling down his cheeks as I spoke, and he bit his lip to stop it trembling.

"The moment you walked toward me with Shae in that hospital lobby, I knew you were meant to be the sun that we all revolved around. Being your Alpha—sharing my pack, my life, with you—is one of the greatest joys I'll ever know."

Ethan opened his mouth to speak but Trevor and Shae took that moment to reach out through our connections and share their joy with me. His eyebrows rose and he laughed with such unrestrained joy that it stole my breath.

"I can feel them. They're farther away than you and Theo but… they're there! Thank you, Jade. I love you, too. So much. Putting into words what you did for me is never going to seem possible. The way you saved me, gave me a home, showed me what a pack could be and patiently let me heal and grow, and the way you love all of us. We are the luckiest pack on the planet because you are ours."

I could feel tears lining my eyes again from Ethan's words but also from feeling the sincerity behind them: the love. And it wasn't just coming from Ethan. All my mates were flooding our bonds, trying to communicate through the space that separated us how much having Ethan in our pack meant to them. We stayed in that blissed-out state for a while longer until we had no choice but to get cleaned up and get to bed.

I wished I could keep Ethan in that place of peaceful happiness, to just focus on how much love was between all of us, for as long as we wanted. But it wasn't time for that; not yet. As we lay back down in the nest, with the scents of our packmates around us, I wrapped him in my arms and began to purr. In almost no time at all, Ethan had dropped off to sleep, with the cutest little puffs of breath coming from his lips. I knew I needed to sleep, too: that I would need the rest for tomorrow. Theo and I had demons to slay; whatever it took to keep them all safe. We would become the monsters that defended our pack from the darkness and kept it at bay.