Once Upon A Pack (Royalverse #1)

Chapter 57

fifty-seven

I wake up under a sapphire curtain of stars.

The sight is soothing and oddly familiar, somehow.

Which seems impossible, because I don’t know where I am. Or who I am.

All I know is burning, tingling pain . Spreading over my skin, licking high between my hips. Engulfing my lungs until a high-pitched keen tears up my raw throat.

“Ivy?”

It’s my alpha—the one with gold, worried eyes. He appears in my line of sight, his dark brown hair blurring with the deep blue surrounding us. His face is masculine perfection, but I can’t remember his name .

Will he be mad?

Will he leave?

Another painful noise sloughs out of my burning body. His features fold. “Darling, I’m here. Your alpha is here. I’ll make it feel better for you, all right?”

Relief can’t rise into my chest with this thick slab of fear blanketing my belly. Because there’s something—someone—oh God, what am I forgetting ?

Not what— who .

Because a second later, two more faces appear. One square and golden, topped with messy blond hair. The other lean and sculpted, with dark eyes that stab right into my breathless need.

A hand covered in pretty patterns snaps up and touches my head. The gentle brush of fingers through my hair has my eyes rolling back and my hips churning. “P-please,” I whimper pitifully. “A-alpha, please .”

The ache between my thighs feels hot and slick. I don’t understand it, but the alpha does. He immediately moves, hoisting me into his arms and spreading my legs around his bare body.

“You can have any damn thing you want,” he growls. “Starting with this knot.”

A knot .

Oh my God .

My body moves, bouncing, tears streaming down my face at the thought of having this powerful man stuff me and knot me and lock us together and sink his teeth into my neck and?—

Three groans fill the room, warm satin skin and tight muscles pressing into me from all sides. Soothing vibrations sink into my bones, rattling them gently until they start to gel. More wetness seeps from my center in a rush I can’t control.

The alpha holding me hums, dark eyes smoldering. “That’s my perfect girl,” he rasps, running his hands over my sides. Chasing the shiver that shakes my spine and leaving blissful tingles in his wake.

And his skin —the way it feels against the insides of my thighs. I dive forward, and he catches me, purring loud enough to drown out the fear searing my lungs. Those dark, burning beacons lock on my eyes again. “Baby, I see you. I’m here. Not ever leaving you. I love you, Ivy. So goddamn much.”

I’m only lucid enough to feel the faintest sparkle of surprise. The vaguest sort of euphoria. And the tiny voice inside me that shouts back to him, telling him she loves him, too? I realize that it’s me . I’m the smallest, weakest part of myself now. And my Omega is in control.

It should probably be terrifying. I know she was scared, being trapped inside me. Forgotten or lost or locked away.

But all I see is the dark alpha’s eyes. And all I hear are his words. Now. Echoing through time.

A memory. A promise.

I see you . Stay with me .

And sometime before, in a darker place and time. Don’t leave me, please.

I want to tell him that I’m not. That I won’t .

Somehow, though, I don’t need to. Because part of me knows that he understands—this? This isn’t me leaving them. It’s me coming home .

They all know. I feel it in their hands, the depth of their roaring purrs. The brush of lips over my crown and my shoulder. All three of my mates are here to catch me and hold me and make me theirs.

Just like I wished for .