Epilogue
Five Years Later
The long table was in high spirits, which is why they didn’t notice Hale stand from the end or hear the authoritative clearing of his throat. My gaze flew to his, the tug in my chest instinctual and natural. I laid my apple pie in the middle of the table, and Oliver did the same with his. I was envious of the intricate leaf border he’d made, the ends perfect golden brown. The scent of pastry and apple drifted through the air, quieting the crowd where Hale couldn’t.
He beckoned me to him, holding his glass high in the air.
“Our second annual Summer’s End meal in Starhaven. The sun might be leaving us, but we are abundant in so many other ways. We have each other, our town, and our freedom. As the weather turns cold, let our hearts keep us warm. So, let’s dig into some delicious pie and celebrate.”
Glasses lifted down the long, wooden table, accompanied by a hearty cheer. Hale pressed his lips on mine and he tasted of beer. Garcell had become adept at brewing the drink and it was popular.
Lunch rolled late into the afternoon, and mostly everyone imbibed except Lucinda, who was expecting for the third time. She winked at me over her water.
“Cheers to another successful season,” Ruck leaned across the table and tipped his glass to mine, Hale’s, and Bo’s. My chest glowed with pride, and I couldn’t help looking over the townspeople like they were my own.
So much happened since we arrived in Jameson’s secret paradise. The town, formerly known as Sands, had grown and changed over the years.
Hartlock Pack slipped into leadership roles by accident. It was remarkably like running a household, which I’d done with ease in Breton City. The moving parts were enormous, but the challenge energized me. Hale reluctantly became the face of the settlement, even though he fought it initially. He was happy to be the leader of Hartlock Pack, but an entire town? He refused to be called mayor or any other title that made him seem more important than any other member in town.
Oliver used all his skills from the ranch and the town had tripled in size, and with more Designated coming every day, he was instrumental in finding places for new residents to live.
Ruck had built a successful business of trading broken-in mustangs with the Designated across the ocean. The Designated across the sea were insular, more rigid and had very strict rules about trade and the behavior of their citizens. But our continued partnership helped us flourish, along with the gold we brought with us.
Our secret haven didn’t stay that way for long.
Whispers of fertile land, rich trade, and plentiful waters trickled back to Breton City. Humans tried to claim the land for themselves, twice. First with condescending negotiations, then with violence. Both attempts failed but we managed to keep them out and us safe.
This paradise was ours to claim because humans hadn’t ventured through the wildlands. The first land Designated-owned without human influence since the Hierarchy Laws came into effect. Word was spreading far and wide about a place Designated could come to live in packs.
The name Starhaven was Oliver’s idea.
He was still a man of few words but when he did speak, people took notice. This was our haven, and he suggested renaming the town something grander, citing the view of the stars that was unmarred from the top of the crest.
Secretly, he named it for me, and the name he called me with such love.
A haven for his star.
“It looks delicious, my star.” Oliver brushed his lips over my flushed cheek. Lucinda offered a bite to her four-year-old daughter, Alice. The child squeezed another morsel through her plump cheeks.
“Aunty E, when you gonna have babies?” Alice stared up at me with wide blue eyes once she’d swallowed her pie. A flush crept up my neck, and I stuttered, fanning myself with my napkin.
“Alice, honey, that’s not polite. Aunty E will have a family when she’s ready,” Lucinda scolded.
I exchanged a look with Birdie, my sister’s eyes crinkling with hidden mirth. She knew my secret, but my sister held no urge to gossip. She just smiled down at her plate.
“Where is your pack?” I asked her, trying to change the subject.
“They’re floating around here somewhere.” Birdie flapped her hand.
It hadn’t taken long for Birdie to get over the loss of her tools and discover the wonders of living free in Starhaven. Her experiments continued, and she’d even taken up space as an apothecary next to the general store. Along with her scent marker tea, she’d also created a birth control tonic. One I’d taken at each of my heats to prevent myself from becoming with child.
But not this time. I wiped my perspiring forehead discreetly. My alphas stared at the children in Starhaven with such longing, and I’d found my own chest panging with desire to have a child of my own. Especially now that Bram was a teenager, no trace of childhood clung to his gangly height and sharp features.
“Do you have something to tell us?” Oliver whispered in my ear as Ruck raised his eyebrow from across the table.
“Eat your pie.” I admonished them both, waving off Hale as he cut his conversation short to interject.
“What is it?”
“Nothing,” I snapped, internally tamping down my frustration. It was impossible to keep secrets when the three of them were anchored inside me, and my scent blocker tea was wearing off.
“I got another letter from our father. He’s getting bolder.” Birdie interrupted, dabbing the corner of her mouth. “Things are getting worse for Designated in Breton City.”
“Write that he isn’t welcome. I don’t believe for a second that he’d give up his wealth. Not when he was willing to sell his daughter to that man.” Hale’s darkened, and I let out a soft purr. The lines eased from his face, and he shook his head with a soft apology. We’d received a few letters from him over the years when news of us trickled back to Breton City. It was an unwanted intrusion into the perfect life I’d built.
Birdie tore the letter in two and brandished a floral envelope.
“I collected this letter for you, Hale.” The looped handwriting on the envelope made me stiffen.
“Burn it,” Hale grunted, picking apart his bread roll.
“Don’t you want to know what she has to say?” I couldn’t help the jealousy that sharpened my question. Claudia started sending letters the moment she heard the news of Starhaven. Hale sighed and put down his cutlery.
“You remember the first one, and I won’t be party to her delusion, especially if she’s bold enough to put it to paper.”
“It’s surprising her husband lets her. Surely he can’t approve,” Oliver’s eyebrows rose to his hairline.
“From what news I hear of Misery Creek—what’s left of it—is he barely spends time at home. I mean, he was always an ambitious man, and now he has the power he craved. That was why he was happy to bond Claudia after what happened. She’s an omega. That was another tick on his accomplishments. He gets his heirs, and what Claudia does with her time is of no concern of his,” Ruck interjected, and for a moment I felt a deep sense of pity for Claudia.
I was surrounded by my pack, in a town where we were free. My life was filled with purpose, joy and adventure. Claudia settled for penning unopened letters.
“How sad,” I whispered, trying to imagine a life where I didn’t have Hale, Ruck, and Oliver crowding my heart.
“You know you are allowed to be petty, just this once, Esta,” Bram waved off the somber moment.
I slipped out of my seat and crouched next to him. He was making conversation with a sweet, round-faced beta who arrived with her family a few months ago.
“Anna, you will have to come by our place and meet Bram’s new pet cow soon. He called her Blossom, and she’s such a sweetheart.”
Bram’s jaw clenched, and he stood, walking me back to my seat. He’d grown into a handsome young man, and his designation revealed itself when he turned twelve. A beta. It was a surprise, considering his family lineage and his outspoken nature. No matter how many years passed, his humor and cheek didn’t fade.
“If you keep embarrassing me in front of every single Designated girl in Starhaven, I’ll sneak on a ship and go live with the straight-laced lot across the sea.”
“Oh, don’t threaten me so,” I wrapped my arms around his waist. In my mind, he was ten years old and heads shorter than me. Now, he towered over me and didn’t look anything like the boy who once vowed to chase me off the ranch. I blinked, eyes watery at the sudden realization. He grew up so quickly.
“You know what I’m grateful for?” He pried my arms off with a grimace.
“What?”
“You,” he admitted, his smile tilted as tears gathered in my eyes and raced down my cheeks. I was always more emotional on the edge of my heat. “That’s right. If not for you, I’d still be stuck in Misery Creek, digging dust out of every crevice.” He tipped his head back and belly laughed.
I swiped at him, but he danced away with another smug chuckle. My hands curled around the back of Oliver’s chair, and I resisted the urge to run my tongue along the line of his stubbled jaw. I shivered and swayed, a wave of heat blistering my blood. Oliver let out a low groan, and Hale lurched from the table. His hand closed around my bicep.
“Enough. I can’t sit here any longer while you smell so damn sweet.”
I protested, not wanting to draw attention away from our Summer’s End feast. But it was too late. Ruck was at my other side, and Oliver at my back. Their hands slipped under my armpits, and I was all but carried away. Lucinda and Birdie’s laughter followed me.
“I didn’t get to eat my pie,” I pouted when they rushed me upstairs to the room we’d made for my nest.
My fingers were already working on my ties. I’d been working on my nest in increments, building up the soft, matted flooring with a wall of cushions. Ruck pulled out a checked shirt I’d taken from the wash and held it up with a grin.
“I’ve been looking for this,” he exclaimed. I snatched it out of his hand and tucked it back.
“Do you want us in your nest, wife?” Hale toyed with the buttons on his shirt, parceling out slivers of his hairy chest. Heat coursed through my veins like he knew it would. I nodded, tongue-tied with a rush of thick desire. There was nothing I wanted more than the three of us. The heat crept in slow and steady, blanketing my thoughts. Ruck eased my dress over my shoulders with a gentle squeeze. He drew over my chemise and tossed it aside, biting his lips as my breasts fell heavy and naked.
“Keep on your stockings for me?” Ruck asked, and I nodded, my fingers scrambling to undo his own shirt, but he pushed me toward Oliver, who was already naked and waiting.
He looked like a fire god, reclining on the cushion with his muscular arms behind his head. His evergreen gaze stirred the heat between my already slick legs. His thick cock curved up to the ceiling, a drop of pre-cum glistened like a precious jewel. I caught it on my tongue, swallowing his length in search of more.
“Gods, star.” His choked voice spurred me on, and his hand was heavy on my head, not pressing me down but sifting through my locks and undoing the pins. Featherlight fingers spread my ass cheeks, and I quivered as a wet, hot tongue laved me as I did Oliver. I arched my ass higher, wanting every part of me tasted.
Loved.
Ruck and Hale kissed my cheeks, my clit, the soft bud of my asshole. Until my thighs shook and Oliver’s hand tightened to the point of pain. I came off his rock-hard length with a wince.
“I want to come inside you,” he said by way of apology.
“Yes, put a baby in me,” I begged, and the hungry tongues at my pussy halted.
“A baby?” Hale whispered, crawling up the bed to search my expression. Ruck ran his hand up my back, and I shivered at his calluses. Their scents mingled, thick and strong, and like the home I couldn’t live without. Silver, moonlight painted gardens. Fresh, peeled orange rind and spiced wine warmed my nostrils. Leather heated by muscular thighs, golden dusk, and hay.
“I want to grow our pack,” I breathed in deep lungfuls of them. Excitement, nerves, and pride. Their emotions washed through me. We didn’t need words, not for this. I climbed up Oliver’s powerful thighs and hovered over his straining cock. His hands landed on my hips, and he guided me down, moaning as he carved a path of heated steel inside me.
“You want babies, darlin’?” Ruck rocked me back and forth, nostrils flaring as slick gushed from my pussy. Oliver’s eyes rolled back, content to let me use him. Hale’s hand cupped my breast, his fingers tweaking my nipple into a hardened peak. I whimpered, closing my eyes as well.
“Yes. As many as you’ll give me.”
“Open your eyes, wife,” I did as he asked. “That’s it, that’s it,” he crooned.
Hale stole my short pants, slanting his mouth over mine. Ruck kissed his way down my body, his tongue flickering between my thighs to gather up slick. My fingers curled on Oliver’s heaving chest, and he caught my wrist, yanking me to plaster against him. Our tongues tangled together, and I could taste the hope.
Ravenous for the future.
“Give me your load,” I begged, grinding down on his knot. Our kisses were crazed like the admission of expanding our family notched up their determination. Each stroke of their hands brought sparks of pleasure down my spine. Hale’s fingers snuck between our bodies and circled my clit until I writhed and moaned into Oliver’s mouth.
“That’s right, wife, Oliver can’t come, not until you do.”
Oliver’s hard, hot flesh swelled against my flushed pussy lips, and his knot inched its way inside me with an almost violent pop. I gasped, back arched as pleasure rained down on me. There was nothing I wanted more than the feeling of Oliver’s cum, hot inside me. A brand.
“Please, give it to me.” I peppered kisses over Oliver’s face, licking the sweat off his skin. His taste made me drunk with ecstasy. Hale prodded his fingers against my lips, and I swirled my tongue around his digits, hungry for every drop of my release.
“I’d give you the universe if I could,” Oliver groaned, and his cock jerked inside me, splashing my insides with his release. I sank onto his panting chest, humming with pleasure. It would be a moment before Oliver’s knot softened, but it seemed my ask made Ruck and Hale impatient. Ruck’s fingers slid between my ass cheeks, cool with liquid to ease his entry.
He’d wanted to take my ass on our first heat, and it was still his favorite. Ruck took any chance to enter that dark hole, but he rarely did it while a cock was still lodged inside me. He settled behind me, careful of Oliver’s legs as he pried my cheeks apart.
“Ruck,” My head flew up in alarm as his hungry cock prodded at my opening. Hale helped him by stretching one leg further apart and gripping the soft flesh of my ass. Ruck thrust his hips, the tip sliding in.
“Do you want me to stop?” Ruck asked, a smile twisting his lips.
Even if the heat wasn’t churning my blood with want, I wouldn’t say no. I’d discovered a side to myself that surprised even me in my heat. How did omegas ever manage with only one partner? I bonded three, and even they were exhausted by my endless lust. That wasn’t only during my heat; my body was used to their attention now, and all it took was a pointed stroke to set my blood burning for their touch.
“No, but be gentle.”
Ruck’s hand found my cheek as Hale chuckled under his breath. The movement drew another groan from Oliver, who was still thick and hard inside me. I clenched around his length, sucking in a desperate breath.
“I’m always tender with you.” Ruck slid inside my ass, slow and gentle as he promised.
“I can feel you,” I gasped, which wasn’t quite what I meant.
My throat choked at the fullness and the sensation of Ruck and Oliver together. Ruck thrust softly, and my knees melted. I slumped down on Oliver’s chest.
“Dammit, I can feel you too,” Oliver said through gritted teeth, and I choked as Ruck moved again.
“Oh, darlin’, just when I think I’ve memorized every part of your perfect body, you give me something more.”
Hale brushed my hair off my forehead, watching my slack, pleasure-drunk expression with awe. His palm ran up his hard length, and he fed me the drops of cum that appeared until I pushed myself up and begged for more. The heat made my body a furnace, and the only relief came from the alphas in my nest.
“You want my cock, pretty wife?” Hale aimed his cock toward my open mouth, but I didn’t answer him with words.
Grabbing his hips and pulling his straining member into my mouth. I swirled my tongue, moaning as drops of his seed coated my tongue. The heat made everything brighter, more sensitive, more sensual. I felt fluid, like silk or velvet. Luxurious and coveted. Between their hands, Ruck, Oliver, and Hale molded me into something precious.
A cherished omega.
Hale thrust his hips involuntarily as I dug my nails in, wanting him deeper down my throat. I wanted to consume them, keep them inside me until the heat under my skin dwindled. But it only burned hotter. My pussy clenched around Oliver, and his cock jerked.
“Ahh, gods, I felt that.” Ruck hiked my hips to meet his, pounding into me with a fervor I matched.
I sucked Hale and twirled my tongue, floating as Ruck’s movements brought Oliver to the edge again. His body tensed underneath me, and he came a second time. My insides flooded with warmth, and I moaned. This was what I wanted.
Now, I needed it a dozen more times.
Ruck’s fingers slipped under my pussy, and I hissed, my teeth scraping against Hale.
“Fuck, watch it,” Hale swiped out at him, his cock falling out of my mouth with a pop.
But Ruck didn’t respond, his hips jerking and his abs tensing. “I can’t stop, but I’m going to come soon.” He explained, his lips pressed tight together as he thrust into me, unable to halt. “You’re like heaven, darlin’.” He groaned.
My chest was tight, and I made a noise of dismay. I wanted all their release inside of me to increase the chances of getting with child.
“No, just wait,” I panted, wriggling against the intrusion of Ruck’s fingers and Oliver’s slowly deflating knot. He groaned and angled his hips, my pussy tingling with the tug as he freed himself. I cupped the flood of cum, but it didn’t matter. Ruck was there, filling me with his hard cock.
“Give me everything,” I met the desperate slap of hips, rocking back into him. Oliver rolled to the side and pressed a kiss to my sweating shoulder. Hale shuffled in front of me, offering his cock again with an arched eyebrow.
“Well, wife?”
I opened, and he slid in, the fullness of them both sending me close to the edge again. Ruck hammered into me from behind, his long fingers toying with my clit. His knot was swollen, and my pussy swallowed the hard ridge of it, sucking and locking him deep against me.
“Esta,” Ruck cried out, and his hips jerked in a frenzied movement until he spilled inside of me as well. He folded over me, his weight welcome. I purred around Hale’s cock, and he tapped my shoulder, shaking his head.
“Too good, that’s much too good.” He warned me, and I continued lazily sucking, licking, and swirling my tongue around his length until he made me stop that as well.
Hale urged us onto the side and sucked on my breasts, covering both of them in red marks with his thick beard. He didn’t like to answer questions about his scar, and I liked the way his beard looked on him.
“You need more, greedy girl?” Oliver licked a path down my body, sucking my clit into his mouth.
His tongue made me whimper and whine, writhing against Ruck’s back until he choked. His cock was still hard inside of me, and Oliver and Hale pushed me close to the edge. Hale scraped his teeth on my nipple, and I came, shuddering through my release. My walls clamped around Ruck, and he cursed against my shoulder blades. Waves of pleasure coursed through me, and slick gushed to coat my legs and the nest.
“More,” I gasped as Ruck’s knot slid from me, and he muffled a laugh against me.
“You’re going to kill us this heat, aren’t you?”
I was too busy tugging on Hale, desperate for his load as well. He sat back on his haunches and slapped his thighs, urging me to come to him. I crawled up his body, angling my pussy to swallow his cock. There was nothing between us, as he found his home inside me.
The place where he belonged.
His hands cupped my ass, and he lined me over his length. My necklace slapped between my breasts. My three wedding rings jostled by the sensual movement.
It didn’t feel fair that only Hale said his vows to me. Even though my body treasured all their marks, it wasn’t right. So, we’d planned a ceremony years ago, looking over Starhaven at dusk. Oliver and Ruck said their vows, and Hale renewed his. Now, I wore their three rings with pride, as well as their marks. Hale pulled me closer, wrapping his arms around my back.
“Wanna stay like this,” I mumbled into his chest, the pleasure peeling away my energy. Hale’s cock pistoned in and out of my pussy, and it began to flutter again. Hale sought my lips, nipping at my swollen lower one.
“Always,” he promised, grinding his knot until it stretched my used channel and melded us together. Our movements slowed, restricted by the knot of muscle joining us together.
“Ride your husband, Esta.” Ruck encouraged, and Oliver hummed with pleasure as I tossed my ass back, stealing an inch of friction with Hale’s knot firmly lodged inside my pussy.
The movement tugged on my insides and sent a swirl of heat down my spine that had me gasping. Hale tossed his head to the ceiling, the tendons in his neck thick like cords.
So strong, so stable.
We’d come so far from our first heat together. Hale no longer worried about losing himself. He hadn’t come close since we bonded. My eyes pricked with heat at how we’d grown together. How much more we had to give each other.
Hale tensed underneath me, and as he came, he kissed his mark on my neck. I was sated; every muscle ached with diffused pleasure. It sank through my veins, warmed my blood like chocolate. Everything was sweet to me now. Hale’s hand slid between us to circle my clit again, and the warmth of Oliver and Ruck plastered against my back. Heat surged, hungry, always hungry. But this omega was satisfied, knowing the three alphas in her nest would tend to her every need and desire and always would.
“I want more,” I whispered, and they answered with their lips on my body.
But I heard the answer in my soul, between the bonds linking us together.
We were one, and we always would be.