Chapter 23 Rose
Rose
Full dark has settled over Main Street. The Christmas lights strung across storefronts and old-fashioned lampposts cast a warm, merry glow on vendors and patrons alike.
Somewhere up the street, the smell of roasting chestnuts drifts from a food stall.
The winter air is crisp, biting at any bare skin—but it only makes bundling up against someone all the more tempting.
Harlan walks beside me, one heavy arm slung over my shoulders like it belongs there. His body radiates heat, and every time our sides brush, I melt a little more into him. To my surprise, he doesn’t seem to mind. Doesn’t shift away. Doesn’t act like I’m asking for too much.
I knew fake bonding would be difficult. I’ve never been in a real relationship. Certainly not one that lasted. One-night stands, hookups, flings that burned fast and cold. I don’t count any of those as love. So faking a bond with a pack of stranger, gorgeous alphas should’ve felt impossible.
But it doesn’t. It feels dangerously easy.
Too easy.
There have been too many moments with Evander, with Logan…
even with Wyatt’s soft, steady gaze and Kai’s quiet attentiveness.
And Harlan, who calls me Starlight, and always seems to know when I need to breathe.
Every one of them makes it harder to remember that this isn’t real. That I’m playing a role.
And god, it stings every time I remember.
When I glance up, Harlan’s already looking at me.
“What are you thinking about, Starlight?” he asks, his voice low and slow, as if coaxing me closer. He lifts one hand, smoothing his thumb over the crease between my brows. The warmth of it makes my whole face relax, like I’ve been waiting for that single point of contact all night.
I don’t want to lie. But I’m sure as hell not going to tell him I was thinking about how badly I want this to be real. So I go for something safer. Teasing.
“How much more comfortable that bed was compared to the couch.”
His eyes darken.
Not annoyed. Not amused.
Hungry.
It catches me off guard. How fast the heat in his gaze shifts from casual to carnal. For a second, just the briefest moment, I think I catch a whiff of something warm and sharp. Pine, thick and heady, laced with want.
The memory hits hard. The one of crawling into bed last night, feeling the weight of his stare like a physical thing as it tracked over every inch of exposed skin.
Heat climbs up my neck, blooms across my cheeks. I duck into the crook of his shoulder to hide it, hoping it reads as an affectionate moment for the cameras. Judging by the nearby click-click of a shutter, it works.
Then his hand settles at the back of my neck, palm broad, fingers curling just enough to hold. His thumb tilts my chin up with practiced ease.
“I was thinking,” he murmurs, voice pitched low, just for me, “about how much more comfortable the bed was with you in it.”
My knees go soft.
He leans in, slow as sin, trailing his nose along my cheek, then down until his breath brushes the hollow beneath my collarbone. His beard scratches lightly at my skin, and I shiver.
“May I?” he asks, voice rougher now.
I can’t speak so I nod.
He dips his head and nuzzles against me. Dragging in a breath like he’s tasting me. The moment sends sparks down my spine and straight between my legs. I clench my thighs instinctively, a helpless reaction to the way my body lights up like it’s been waiting for this.
It’s been so long. Stress made the idea of intimacy feel overwhelming. Unsafe.
But this feels dangerous in a different way.
I suck in a shaky breath, trying to get control of myself before the slick pooling between my thighs betrays me.
“Are you all right?” Harlan asks, pulling back just enough to study my face.
"Yes." I quickly, stepping back. I need space. Need air. Need—
He looks like he’s about to ask something else. Something I’m not ready to answer. When a voice cuts through the haze.
Someone calls my name.
“Rose!”
Clara comes up the street arm-in-arm with her tattooed alpha. She lets go of Victor long enough to wrap me in a warm hug that smells faintly of apple pie and ink.
“I can’t believe you’re here! You never come to the town Christmas stuff.”
“So you have always been a Scrooge,” Evander teases, strolling up hand in hand with Logan.
“Yeah,” Clara giggles, “holidays are not Rose’s thing.”
“I don’t blame her. Christmas with our families was a complete bore,” Kai says. “All those fancy parties with no real cheer. Just the command to smile so our parents could make business connections.”
His soft brown eyes meet mine, shimmering with the reflection of a thousand twinkling bulbs. He slides an arm around my shoulders, pulling me gently against him. The contact steals my breath and scrambles my thoughts in the most inconvenient way.
“You okay, Sugarplum?” Wyatt asks, stepping up beside Kai.
I school my features. Like Kai said—I’ve had years of practice faking calm at those sterile mansion parties. The dutiful daughter, now the perfect omega prop.
“I’m fine,” I manage, forcing a small smile.
“I didn’t know that about your family,” Clara says softly, her brows pulling together.
Guilt twists in my chest—a reminder that I lied to my friends. That I’m still lying, even now. And yet they’re here, steady and kind, no judgment in sight.
“I just don’t like to talk about it,” I say quietly.
Clara glances at Victor. “We get that.”
“Are the rest of your pack here?” I ask quickly, eager to change the subject.
“Yes! Jack’s checking out spice mixtures, and Bram and Dagan are in line for hot chocolate and doughnuts,” she says brightly.
“Oh, doughnuts!” Evander exclaims, clapping his hands like he’s discovered the secret of Christmas itself. I can’t help the laugh that slips out. His enthusiasm is ridiculous—and contagious. He did promise me the best Christmas of my life, and honestly, that’s not a hard bar to clear.
“I texted them,” Clara says. “They’re bringing enough for everyone.”
“You didn’t have to do that,” I protest.
“She definitely did,” Evander cuts in smoothly. “But we’ll pay you back.”
“I’m not having friends pay me back,” Clara insists.
Logan raises a brow, smirking. “We’re friends now? Wasn’t your pack threatening ours with bodily harm a few days ago?”
My head snaps toward Clara, horrified.
She just shrugs. “That was days ago. This is today. Things change. Do you want doughnuts or not?”
Evander knocks his shoulder against Logan’s.
“Okay, yes, we want doughnuts,” Logan concedes, sighing dramatically. “Thank you.”
The rest of Clara’s pack arrives moments later, carrying bags of mini doughnuts dusted in sugar and enough hot chocolate to drown a small army—just as the Mayor steps onto the stage.
She’s a tall alpha woman with sleek black hair and sharp cheekbones, looking like she could command a battlefield instead of a Christmas crowd. Her beta husband stands beside her—a good foot and a half shorter, rounder, and grinning like a man born to play Santa.
“Hello, everyone!” Mayor Liu calls into the microphone, her voice carrying easily over the hush that falls across the street.
Kai slips up on my left, handing me a mini doughnut as the Mayor drones on about community and the spirit of Christmas. I glance up at him while I nibble, and his gaze drops, tracking the movement of my lips like it’s the most important thing in the world.
“I came back for you, you know,” he murmurs, low enough that I almost miss it over the hum of the crowd.
My breath catches. “What do you mean?” Even though I already know. I’m not ready for this. Not here, not now. But I ask anyway.
“At your parents’ Christmas party. Two years ago. I came back to see you.” His voice turns rough. “I wanted—”
He doesn’t finish. Just sighs and looks up at the stars before turning fully to me. The rest of the group has drifted a few steps away, leaving us in a little pocket of quiet.
He takes both of my hands in his, his eyes dark and serious. His thumbs trace slow, deliberate circles over my knuckles.
“Rosie, I wanted to see you. To see if you missed me.”
I close my eyes and let the sensation of him settle into my skin. His touch feels like safety. Like home.
“I always missed you,” I whisper.
His lashes flutter shut, and then he steps in, pressing close. So close I can feel the heat of his chest against mine, his breath ghosting over my cheek.
“When I got there, your parents said you were sick. People had seen you at the party earlier, but then you disappeared. After that… no one saw you again. They claimed you were off ‘pursuing your own interests,’ but I know what that means.” His knuckles brush the side of my face, coaxing me to look at him.
“Rich talk for sending off someone they deem troublesome,” he says, and his voice vibrates through me.
I can’t speak. Tears sting my eyes. That night… it split me open. And the pieces never quite fit back together.
“Rosie,” he breathes again, and this time my name sounds like a vow. He pulls me into his arms, and I melt, my hands sliding around his neck as he holds me like he’ll never let go.
“I’ll tell you,” I murmur, glancing at the others laughing nearby. “I’ll tell all of you. Just… not tonight. Tonight, can we forget the omega clause, my family, everything that happened—and just be?”
His forehead rests against mine. We breathe the same air. The cold bites at our cheeks, but I don’t feel it.
Around us, the town begins to count down.
But I don’t care.
Because Kai, beautiful, steady Kai, who I’ve been in love with since I was ten, leans in and kisses me.
It’s deep and slow and consuming. I open for him, and his tongue sweeps in. It’s sweet and aching, full of longing and promise.
I’ve never been nostalgic for my childhood. There wasn’t much worth remembering. But Kai… he was always the light in the dark.
When we finally pull apart, the tree at the end of Main Street explodes in color. Thousands of twinkling lights chasing away the shadows. A golden star crowns the top, casting soft light over the snow.
And somewhere deep inside, the part of me I’ve kept sedated and silent for years, the omega I’ve tried so hard to hide, finally opens her eyes.