Chapter 40
FORTY
TRINITY
If it bothers Josie that her maid-of-honor looks like she lost a fight with a fire-breathing dragon and four of the guests have oxygen tanks next to their seats, she doesn’t show it.
If anything, I’m not sure she’s noticed any of it at all.
Her glowing eyes and wide smile are exclusively aimed at her new husbands.
To his credit, Egret had offered to postpone the ceremony when we came stumbling back into the hotel lobby, coughing and covered in pounds of ash.
But I think I’ve made enough of a spectacle of myself over the last week, making a hundred people wait for me to change is too much.
Josie had quietly asked if everyone was okay, then immediately ignored everything but her upcoming walk down the aisle when I assured her we were fine.
I watch as Josie and her new husbands board the helicopter that will take them to the airport for their honeymoon, streamers tied to the landing gear fluttering in the tropical breeze.
The aircraft lifts off into the sunset, carrying my sister toward her new life as Mrs. Mahoney-Bowie-Haxfield.
Despite everything that’s happened this week, despite all the chaos and lies and volcanic ash, she looks radiant.
Matheo comes up behind me, his hand finding the small of my back as we watch the helicopter disappear into the orange sky. His touch is warm and steady, grounding me after the whirlwind of the past few days.
“I hope the pilot cleaned all the ash and soot out of the cabin before Josie climbed inside wearing her wedding dress,” he murmurs against my ear.
I laugh, some of the tension finally leaving my shoulders. “I’m officially done worrying about any aspect of this wedding. Josie’s married, everyone’s alive, and somehow we pulled it off despite natural disasters and plenty of family drama.”
“You should be very proud,” he chuckles, gently squeezing my waist. “And make sure any future clients know that you’re now experienced in search and rescue.”
“I think my fees for that would be cost-prohibitive at this point. It would take a lot of money to get me to do something like that again. The thought of going back to a concrete jungle, instead of a volcanic one, has never been more attractive,” I let myself laugh with him even though the memory of stumbling blind through a cloud of ash is still too fresh for comfort.
Though it isn’t just anxiety that sets off a tingle of awareness through my belly as his arms tighten around me.
“And I might be the worst event planner in the world, considering the very important thing I just realized I overlooked.”
He nuzzles the bend of my shoulder, and I bite back a moan. “What’s that?”
“I stopped taking my suppressants,” I say, the words coming out in a rush. “Lucas suggested it would help me figure out my scent matches, and I thought it would take a few weeks for my hormones to regulate enough to trigger anything.”
Matheo’s hands still on my waist, but I feel his body tense behind me. “Trinity...”
“But being around all of you—especially after everything that’s happened this week—it’s accelerated the process.” My voice drops to a whisper as embarrassment floods through me. “I’m already starting to feel the early symptoms. The sensitivity, the warmth, the way your scents are getting stronger.”
His breath catches against my ear. “How long do you think you have?”
“A day, maybe? Probably less?” I turn in his arms to face him, noting how his pupils dilate as he takes in my scent.
“I can’t get on that fifteen-hour flight like this.
If I go into full heat at thirty thousand feet.
..” I let out a rueful laugh to hide my annoyance at myself.
Being trapped in a metal tube with recycled air, surrounded by strangers who might pick up on my scent, possibly going into heat without any of my pack nearby to help me through it.
“I need to change my ticket and stay here for a few more days until it passes.”
He raises an eyebrow. “Just your ticket?”
My cheeks pink with embarrassment. Is it overstepping to tell him that I desperately want him—all of them—to help me through this heat? “Yours, too. If you’re free?”
“Oh, I’m free for this. Any time and any place.” He looks over my shoulder, and I smell the changing scent in the air as Kyren, Lucas, and Cash approach from behind me. “And I’m sure the others would wholeheartedly agree.”
“Agree with what?” Lucas asks, popping up beside me and placing a gentle kiss on my cheek.
I let Matheo explain and their response almost entirely in unison .
“Oh fuck, yes,” Kyren growls.
“We’re going to take such good care of you,” Lucas says as he strokes a gentle finger down my cheek. He glances at Cash. “You can rearrange any job stuff, right?”
Cash blinks. “What job?”
“See?” Matheo murmurs softly in my ear as they all laugh. “I don’t know how many times I have to tell you that we’re here for whatever you need.”
“Let me change my reservation now before I get heat drunk enough to forget.” I pull out my phone to find the email with my confirmation number. “Speaking of which, I never got confirmation of your travel details. I’ll need that to reschedule your flight when I call the airline.”
Matheo stiffens against me, enough that I turn to face him.
His expression is sheepish. “There’s something I didn’t tell you. More than one thing, actually.”
My stomach drops. After everything we’ve been through, there are still secrets?
“We arrived in a private jet,” he admits. “And I’m the majority stakeholder and original founder of one of the biggest tech companies in the world.”
I blink at him, trying to process this information. “You’re what now?”
“OurLog. I started it in my dorm room and sold it for enough money to buy a small country.” He runs a hand through his hair.
“My mother is also Amara Gamba, owner of Elite Comfort Services. We didn’t meet you by accident, and we weren’t a pack before coming here.
I convinced them to come along because I so badly wanted a way to get close to you. ”
I feel Cash, Lucas, and Kyren move closer, their anxiety practically radiating off them as they watch my reaction. They’re waiting to see if I’ll explode, if this final revelation will be the thing that breaks me.
Instead, I find myself oddly calm. After volcanic eruptions and helicopter rescues and public humiliation at rehearsal dinners, learning that my fake boyfriend is secretly a billionaire feels almost anticlimactic.
“Is there anything else I need to know?” I ask, looking at each of them. “Any other earth-shattering revelations? Secret identities? Hidden royal lineages?”
They all shake their heads quickly, relief evident on their faces.
“Good.” I cross my arms, studying them. “So let me get this straight. You’re telling me I accidentally hired the son of the matchmaker, who happens to be worth more money than some small nations, along with his now pack of equally attractive friends?”
“That’s... an accurate summary,” Cash says carefully.
I nod slowly, then ask the question that really matters. “Are any of you going to demand that I quit my job to stay home and be an omega housewife or are you intimidated by my desire for a career and some independence?”
“God no,” Lucas says immediately. “We want you exactly as you are.”
“Your ambition is the thing we appreciate most about you,” Matheo adds. “We’d never ask you to change.”
“We want to support your dreams, not replace them,” Kyren chimes in.
Cash nods emphatically. “The idea of you giving up your business would be devastating. You’re incredible at what you do.”
I study their faces, searching for any hint of deception. All I see is sincerity and hope and something that looks an awful lot like love .
“In that case,” I say, letting a smile spread across my face. “Everything is forgiven as long as you give me a ride back home in that private jet.”
The relief that washes over them is almost comical. Matheo actually sags in relief, and I catch Lucas letting out the breath he’d been holding.
“Just say the word,” Cash says, his voice light despite a subtle shine in his eyes. “I can have the pilot ready our jet as soon as your heat ends.”
“Actually,” Lucas interrupts, his voice taking on that playful tone that makes my stomach flutter. “With a private jet and us as the only passengers, we don’t really need to wait for your heat to end before we can leave.”
I turn to stare at him, heat creeping up my neck as I realize what he’s suggesting. “Lucas...”
“What?” He grins, completely shameless as he steps closer. “I’m just saying, think about all the firsts you’ve experienced this week. Why not check a mile-high heat off your bucket list?”
Cash chokes on whatever he was drinking. “Jesus, Lucas.”
“What? The cabin’s completely private, and it’s a fifteen-hour flight back to New York.
” Lucas shrugs like he’s discussing the weather instead of the most scandalous proposition I’ve ever heard.
“We could take off whenever Trinity’s ready, and I promise by the time we land, her heat will be under control enough to get her home without too much of a problem. ”
Kyren lets out a low whistle. “I have to admit, that’s actually brilliant.”
“It’s crazy,” I protest, though my body is already responding to the idea, warmth pooling low in my belly at the thought of being thirty thousand feet in the air with four men focused entirely on taking care of me.
“Is it, though?” Matheo asks quietly, his hand finding mine. “We’re already committed to helping you through this. Does it really matter if we’re on the ground or in the sky?”
I look between their faces—Lucas grinning like he’s just suggested the most reasonable thing in the world, Cash looking scandalized but intrigued, Kyren nodding enthusiastically, and Matheo watching me with that steady confidence that makes me feel like I can do anything.
“You’re all completely insane,” I say finally.
“That’s not a no,” Lucas points out.
I look around at these four incredible men—who were so desperate for me that they created a pack out of thin air and somehow became my pack for real along the way. They’re covered in ash, exhausted from the day’s chaos, and looking at me like I hung the moon.
Only an idiot would chicken out now.
“Let’s do it.”