Epilogue

Ipull in behind Doc's car, Graham already opening my door. He grabs my equipment from the back of my Bronco, pulling a cup of half-eaten grapes with the camera bag. There's no telling what's in my backseat.

"Long day?" he asks.

"I squeezed in a newborn photo session and that made me late, but the photos we got were worth it." I sigh into Graham's touch, letting him fold me against him as we walk toward the front porch. His sunshine and rain ease out the minor stresses of the day and I tug his middle, stopping for a hug at the front door.

I love my family photography business. It's part time in a shared studio and lets me be creative without missing too much at home. But I need another minute before I head into our chaos. The front-door-pause is a ritual Graham and I have for letting go of the day and trying to be present at home. It doesn't always work, but it's a good practice.

From the backyard, the squeal of little girls and the rumble of my Bear brings a smile to my face, and I can't wait any longer. I tug Graham inside, dumping my stuff off on the front table and heading to the kitchen.

Pasta sauce is simmering on the stove, and the dishes are already laid out at the table. Doc stands at the sink, dressed in work clothes with his sleeves rolled up. He braces against the counter, eyes glued to the window.

"Smells so good in here," I moan. I come up behind Doc and he turns, kissing me until I'm almost dizzy with it.

"Welcome home, love," he says, pulling me back against his chest. Graham snuggles into his side, the three of us cuddling as we watch out the window.

Our girls are dressed as pirates, brandishing swords at Bear, his face covered by a crocodile mask as he pretends to circle them. They shriek when he attacks, poking him with the foam blades. He falls dramatically to the ground and rolls around in the grass. The girls jump on him, attacking. He plays with them, wrestling around until they get tuckered out and the pile turns to cuddles.

Dawn and Lilly snuggle atop Bear, the two of them looking up as their Papa shows them something in the garden.

That damn sight makes my ovaries twitch.

The look of happiness is one El's been wearing for years. It settled onto his face after we cemented our pack bonds and he finally took mate bonds with his alphas. After the twins were born, his smile grew into one that matches Graham's. From the moment Elliot laid eyes on the redheads, he was wrapped around their fingers. Almost four years later and it's no different.

It's not as if our bonds or having kids magically cured him of bad days. He still has night terrors every once in a while, and occasionally he needs to spend more time than usual on his nature walks. But we've found ways to help him through it and to talk about it when we struggle. He has more good days than bad. We all do.

The first six months after I came back to Knotty Pines following the LanCo scandal, I had a few obligations in the city and nosy reporters who came looking for another story. But it died down after my mother's trial. We sent the security team back to the city at the end of that summer. Now, I don't get recognized as anyone other than Sadie Jackson.

We have our ups and downs. Life gets hectic sometimes, but it's the kind that comes from a good life. And we're pretty good at loving each other. An Omega Kissed pack. At least that's what Doc says. And people do say we smell different. To me, they smell like mine.

Maybe I give awesome head, or have omega abilities, or maybe that's just the magic of my pack. I've learned not to fight it, but I also don't need to understand it all to know it's powerful.

"I love Papa Bear," I say, not even embarrassed by the sappy sound of my voice.

"We know. That sight got us baby number three," Graham teases.

I kiss Doc's forearm and take one more glance out the window before I pull away in search of the others.

Hunter shuffles into the kitchen as I'm walking toward the backyard. "There's Momma."

He too looks like a dream. Handsome and so enamored with the toddler in his arms that it radiates out of him. He brushes the top of Dean's dark curls and kisses his head, holding him out for me.

Dean's chubby hands make grabbing motions. His toddler belly pokes from under his train shirt, and I kiss it once before pulling him to my hip and taking a deep breath of my baby.

His sweet voice chatters, telling me about his day with Papa. The words "Thomas" and "trains" and "snacks" about the only coherent things in the babble. I close my eyes, soaking it in for a moment. He smells like our pack, baby powder, and his lavender shampoo. Possibly cheese crackers. It's the best smell in the world.

Hunter pulls me into his side, and I lean up for a kiss. Done with his summary, Dean snuggles against my chest, making a patting motion against my heart.

Footsteps sound on the stairs and Lo stumbles into the kitchen, several coffee mugs in hand. "Finished the chapter before the timer," he says triumphantly.

"I want to read it!" I say at the same time Hunter says, "Looks like we should give you a reward."

After Lo stepped back from the magazine, he went indie and switched gears all together. He writes shifter romances featuring dragons that have kinkier sex than we do. He's amazing at it, and I can't read anything he writes without crying or needing to come. Usually both. But the most surprising thing is how much he adores being a dad.

"Yes, to all the above," Lo says, waggling his eyebrows.

Lo makes a beeline for the sink, setting down the dishes he gathered from his office, and joins our cuddle. Dean reaches for him, and Lo listens patiently to the same story, kissing my cheek and then Hunter's before carrying the toddler to the highchair at the table.

Bear comes in from the back, holding both girls in awkward positions under his arms as they climb along him and generally cause mayhem. They look like little mini-mes, complete with freckles, hazel eyes, and wild red hair. Lilly is a spitfire, all sass and thunder. Dawn too, but she's a little more introverted outside our pack.

When they see me, they start talking at once, their excited voices rising over one another. I meet Bear's eyes and his grin widens. In the bond, I feel him welcome me home.

"Momma! Look. Vegetables from Daddy's garden," Lilly calls, holding out two cucumbers.

Elliot gives me a brush of lips, the girls giggling while he shuffles them down his chest and back on bouncing feet. "Love you, Red," he says, kissing my head then walking to greet his alpha mates.

Before I can respond, the girls demand my attention.

"We did it ourselves," Dawn says proudly. She holds out a fat tomato for inspection.

I bend down and take a look, very serious. "This is a very juicy-looking tomato. You've got a good eye."

"Papa helped," Lilly explains, showing me her garden spoils too. "Look, mine is the biggest," she adds smugly.

Dawn's braid swings with the shake of her head. "Mine is the brightest." The so-there is not subtle.

"No. Mine is." Lilly's face scrunches, her cheeks heating.

These two are best friends and fierce competitors.

"I think they both look yummy," I say diplomatically, ushering the girls toward the sink for a hand wash. Around us, the pack gets ready for dinner.

"You did find a pretty tomato," Lilly concedes.

Dawn smiles at her sister. "And you found two cucumbers!"

That quick, they're over it.

"Want to help me wash them for dinner?" Doc asks.

We wash and prepare the salad, the girls telling me about their day with Papa and Dad Lo-Lo. Dinner is loud and easy.

Next, it's evening routines. We clean up, do our nightly family walk, hustle through bath time, and divvy out chores. By the time I've rocked Dean and gotten him asleep in bed, story time is almost over in the girls' room.

Hunter and I sneak into their room from the nursery. He leans against the wall and pulls me against his chest as we watch Doc, Graham, and Lo put on their nightly puppet show. Both girls are curled up in El's arms, the three of them enthralled.

When they finish the story, all my men kiss our girls good night, leaving us for our little ritual. The girls share a bed tucked under a tent with canopy lights. They've never wanted to sleep separately, and we don't make them. I crawl into their nest, and they both snuggle into my sides.

They take turns telling me about their daily bucket list. Every night, we come up with something we want for the next day and something we're glad happened today. I never want them to think they don't get a say in their life or to learn to only focus on the bad. My hands card through their damp hair and my purr motors softly, singing them a lullaby.

Lilly curls her hand under her pillow and produces their rock, kissing it once and handing it to her sister to do the same. It's from the garden, though it's worn smooth now. Most of the letters have rubbed off, but I know it says, "Tiny twins in little hats."

It's Bear's rock. One of them anyway. The girls stole it the first time they found this one at the base of the old tree in our backyard. It's about the day they were born, and they love to hear him tell the story.

Bear's rocks line the planters in the garden, the sidewalks, and are hidden like Easter eggs in the tree beds. He started writing these notes after the girls were born. He went out for a morning run and came back with a river rock, a tradition born.

He has notebooks full of words. Private ones that he's written in for years. He says journaling helps keep him in the present and process the past. They're his alone, though he talks about them.

But the rocks, he says, are for us. They're love notes. I've got a few of my own favorites I visit in the garden, and one I keep on the nightstand.

Red is for setting my heart on fire.

Even thinking about it makes my heart squeeze and my bonds thrum. Maybe people are never fully healed, but my Bear is damn close. Together, we keep working toward that goal.

Lilly puts the treasure back under her pillow and climbs over me. "Love you, Momma." She kisses my cheek and rolls half onto her sister.

Dawn grunts but turns to snuggle into her sister's side. "Night, Momma. Love you."

"Love you bigger than the sky," I say, kissing their heads one last time before turning out the light.

Red exits the bathroom smelling of her rose shampoo and her bond buzzing with the orgasm Lo pulled from her in the shower. She didn't bother getting dressed, her bond telegraphing her need for her mates.

She crawls onto the bed, and I lunge for her, flipping her until she's beneath me. I meet her hazel eyes, full of a soft mossy green tonight. "I need to taste you."

Her lips part, and I suck along her jaw and her shoulder, nursing my mark until she gasps and her floral perfume fills the air.

I scrape my nose along her neck and speak low in her ear. "I've been thinking about filling you with my knot since this morning when you rushed out of the shower."

She had an early shoot and a busy day since she only works a few days a week. But it was the baby monitor that put the stop to our shower sex this morning.

"Yes," she moans, dropping her legs wider for me.

I don't think I'll ever stop being ravenous for her. I trace constellations along her freckles, marking my favorite spot along her ribs. It makes her suck in long breaths and wrap her legs around me. My cock is insistent beneath my sweats, eager to be inside her, but I don't want this to end.

My fingers skirt along her center, teasing her until she's dripping slick. "Want to drown in your scent, Red."

Graham's weight joins mine, and he leans in, plucking and rolling her nipples until she's squirming. "I love to see how needy you get."

"She's wet for us," I tell him. My dick jumps when her bond flares with heat at my words.

Doc abandons his task to lean over the bed and take her mouth.

I bury myself between her legs, eager to collect her sounds. My mates and I work together to take her apart. I suck on her clit and finger-fuck her until she's begging for my cock and coming on my tongue.

"Come here, princess, and let me get that fine ass of yours ready for me," Hunter commands.

I look up and watch the tattooed alpha stroking his hard cock. Logan follows him in a similar state, his cock hard and his ass red.

Sadie crawls from our hold to present for Hunter at the foot of the bed. From this position, her peachy ass is on display as she wiggles her hips for her mates. I fist my cock in my sweats, watching as Lo takes her in one go from the edge of the bed and Hunter lubes his fingers, playing with her ass.

Doc and Graham pull me into a messy three-way kiss. We tug off sweatpants, our hands stroking one another. I will never get enough of these two either. I love being with them, all of my mates together. Our dicks touch, smearing pre-cum between the three of us. My hands go for Doc's nipples, pinching them roughly.

Doc bucks into my touch. "Shit. I need to be fucked."

"So demanding," Graham teases. "I love to watch you lose control, Doc."

Graham gets our mate ready while I work my way to Doc's cock, sucking a long stripe from balls to tip before taking him into my mouth.

He thrusts into my throat, his hands going to my head. "Yes, El. I love how you suck me."

Sadie, Hunter, and Lo's moans join in the background, then Lo comes on a shout. I suck Doc until he's cursing up a storm, ready to come. When Sadie calls my name, I pop off, giving Doc and Graham a messy kiss before she crawls into my arms.

"You ready for me, Red?"

Her hands greedily stroke my cock, and her mouth devours mine. "So ready," she moans against my neck. "Need you to take me with that big cock of yours."

My alpha rumbles in approval, then she chirps, that sound she makes when she's about to get her way. She uses it most in the bedroom, and it cracks me up the way she undermines Hunter's constant need for control.

"Is that what you want, princess? You want El to stuff that pussy with his big cock and me to stretch your ass so you're full?" Hunter rumbles.

Red makes a sexy whine, diving on my cock and sucking me into her mouth.

Lo does the same to Hunter, sucking our Prime while Hunter fingers Red's ass. She rocks into his touch, her moans muffled. The sight of his fingers sinking between her round cheeks makes my cock twitch. He smacks her ass and I groan, holding her onto my cock for a breath before she pulls back on a moan. Behind me, I hear Doc's deep cries of pleasure.

I capture Sadie's hair and let her suck me until I'm good and slick for her. When she's spilling needy sounds in a constant chorus, Hunter scoops her up and lays her on her side. I lie down beside her, pulling her leg over my thigh and caressing her soft skin. She reaches for me, taking hold of my cock and rubbing me in her slick. I can't hold back any longer. I thrust, grabbing her hips and taking those first few tight inches.

It's glorious wet heat. She rolls her hips, taking me deeper and stretching around my cock. When she can take all of me, I still so Hunter can get in place behind her.

Together, we work her on our cocks. My alpha mates scoot in behind me, Doc's lubed cock rubbing against my ass as Graham pounds into him from behind.

Logan shuffles between our tangled legs, his fingers rubbing furiously against Sadie's clit. Hunter holds her across her chest, sucking along her neck as Doc does the same to me from behind. We crest together, our bodies speeding up, until Sadie clamps down on me. The glorious pressure draws out my orgasm. My knot wedges inside her and locks in place.

It's a chorus of slapping skin, shouts, and panted breath as the others fall into ecstasy around us. My orgasm sends me flying, my muscles going limp as she squeezes on my knot. When Doc comes on my ass, Graham shouting his release at the same time, my dick goes off again, filling Sadie and making her moan.

For long moments, everyone lies together catching their breath until we have to move or end up with cramps. We clean up, and I settle Red on my chest, still locked on my knot. The pack snuggles in around us, mates sharing kisses.

We talk about our day, the adults spending time catching up. Hunter checks on the babies once more before crawling back into bed, then the nest fills with our purrs.

My mates love me. This pack is my family, and these people are my home.

Irepeat the mantra, and tonight, sleep comes easily.