Chapter 55 Rose
Rose
When I wake, I’m buried beneath a tangle of warm, naked alphas. Kai and Wyatt are curled around my left side, Harlan is spooned against my right, and Logan and Evander lie back-to-back at the foot of the bed, their heads resting on my thighs like contented cats.
For the first time in days, my mind feels clear. My body hums with quiet peace… and a need that won’t be ignored. An omega whine slips up my throat before I can stop it.
The men stir instantly. Harlan’s arm tightens around my waist, pulling me closer. “Starlight,” he murmurs, voice still heavy with sleep. “What’s wrong?”
I breathe in his scent—pine and oak—and the answer rises in me before words can form. I nuzzle beneath his jaw, scent-marking him gently, tasting his skin as a low purr vibrates through his chest.
“I’m ready to bond,” I whisper.
The confession trembles out of me, fragile and certain all at once. I know they want me. I know we’re already a pack, bond or no bond. They’ve proved it a hundred times over. But saying it aloud still feels like standing in the open, heart bared and waiting.
For a heartbeat, I almost hide. But Harlan tilts my chin up with careful fingers, guiding my gaze to his. His lips brush mine—soft, reverent—and I melt into the kiss. His body presses against mine, solid and unyielding, the hard line of his cock resting against my belly as he shifts above me.
He parts my knees with the slow certainty of someone who’s been waiting a lifetime. “Omega,” he breathes, bracketing me between his arms, his face the only thing I can see.
“I should have taken you that day in the garden,” he confesses, voice rough with regret. “Consequences be damned—I wish I had.”
The ache in his tone pierces me. I reach up, threading my fingers through his beard, guiding him back down to me.
“We got here,” I whisper. “That’s what matters.”
Because I don’t believe in fate the way Clara does, and I’ve never had Sunny’s certainty or Cali’s easy courage. But if Harlan had claimed me that day, maybe none of this would have happened. Maybe we wouldn’t have found them.
And god, I need them—all of them.
He presses into me slowly, achingly, stretching me until I can feel every inch of him, every pulse of control he’s fighting to keep. When he’s fully seated, his hips settle against mine, the weight of him grounding me.
He lowers his head and drags his tongue over my shoulder—once, twice—his breath hot against my skin. I thread my fingers through the short hair at the back of his neck and pull him closer, needing him everywhere, needing him inside in more ways than one.
Then he bites.
The sharpness steals my breath. It’s quick, fierce—and then it’s something else entirely.
Power.
It rolls through me like a heartbeat, not a rush but a steady, deliberate current. It fills every space that’s ever felt hollow, every corner that’s ever been afraid. It’s him—his command, his strength—but there’s no dominance in it, not the kind that takes.
This is different.
It’s a steadiness that holds. A quiet promise that I’m not beneath him—I’m beside him. His power twines with mine, and instead of drowning me, it anchors me.
Harlan groans, forehead pressed to mine, eyes wild and reverent. “You feel that, Starlight?” he whispers. “That’s us. Equal. Always.”
My heart clenches. The bond hums, solid and sure, sinking into my bones until I can’t tell where I end and he begins. It’s not about control. It’s belonging.
I cup his cheek and whisper back, “Always.”