Chapter 14 #3
"You proved me wrong. Every day. Every moment. Every time I tried to run and you followed. Every time I spiraled and you steadied me. Every time I was scared and you were patient. You showed me that pack doesn't diminish me, it completes me."
Her voice grew stronger.
"So I promise all of you this, I promise to stop running.
To trust instead of control. To be vulnerable instead of perfect.
To let you see all of me, the workaholic manager and the terrified omega and everything in between.
" She smiled through tears. "I promise to defend you the way you've defended me.
To fight for us the way you've fought for me. To keep choosing bravery over fear."
Through the bond, her love flooded toward us.
"I promise to be your omega, your mate, your pack. To build a life with you that's both professional and personal, structured and spontaneous, planned and surprising. To love you with everything I am. Forever."
The room was silent except for sniffling from the guests, and probably from the seventy-five thousand viewers watching online, not that we had the volume on.
"Well," Bill said, his own voice suspiciously thick. "I think that covers it. By the power vested in me by the state of Oregon, and by the fact that I'm the father and I said so, I now pronounce you pack-bonded. You may seal the bond with mating bites."
This was it.
The moment that would make everything permanent.
I looked at Michelle, checking one more time. "You're sure?"
"I'm terrified," she admitted. "But I'm sure. Make me yours, Lucas. All of you. Make me yours."
I moved first, tilting her head gently to expose her neck. Her scent was overwhelming, peppermint and pine and arousal and trust.
"I love you," I whispered against her skin.
And I bit down.
Not hard enough to truly hurt. But just hard enough to break the skin. To claim. To leave a permanent mark that said "mine" to anyone who saw her.
Michelle gasped, her hands clutching my shoulders, and through the bond I felt the moment the bite registered. The way it clicked into place. The way it made our bond permanent and unbreakable.
When I pulled back, my mark was clear on her neck, a claiming bite that would scar beautifully, mark her as mine forever.
Ro moved next, tilting her head the other direction.
"Mine," he said quietly, and bit down on the opposite side.
Michelle whimpered, pleasure, not pain, and I felt through the bond as Ro's bite settled alongside mine. Two alphas claiming their omega.
And then Dex, gentle despite his size.
He kissed the spot first, tender and reverent. Then bit down. The third mark, completing the claiming.
Michelle sagged against us, overwhelmed by sensation and emotion and the bond locking permanently into place.
All three marks visible. All three alphas claimed her.
She was ours.
Permanently, irreversibly, completely ours.
"Your turn," she breathed, looking at us with dark eyes.
We had already agreed that she could mark us as well. Our claiming went both ways.
I went first, baring my shoulder. Michelle rose on her toes and bit down hard enough to claim me as hers.
Through the bond, I felt the secondary click of completion as though her bite was just as important, which was unusual. What was more important though was the way her bite settled into my skin and marked me permanently.
Ro next, then Dex, both baring their shoulders for her claiming.
We were all marked. All bonded.
Not just emotions anymore. Not just scent compatibility. But permanent, unbreakable, absolute.
Pack.
The room erupted in applause and celebration.
The streaming chat exploded:
CozyFan22: I'M SOBBING
HolidayVibes: THAT WAS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL THING I'VE EVER SEEN
StreamSniper: PACK GOALS FOREVER
RegularViewer: congratulations you beautiful humans
Bill was beaming. Janet was openly crying. Maya was filming everything on her phone. Josh was monitoring chat reactions and giving thumbs up.
And Michelle was in my arms, Ro and Dex surrounding us, all of us bonded and claimed and permanent.
"Happy New Year," I whispered, checking my phone. It was 11:47 PM. "We got mated thirteen minutes before midnight."
"Perfect timing," Michelle said, her voice muffled against my chest.
"Perfect everything," Ro corrected.
Through the bond, I felt our unified completion. Our certainty. Our absolute rightness.
"Thank you," Michelle said to all of us. "For not giving up. For being patient. For loving me enough to fight for this."
"Always," we said in unison.
The guests moved in for congratulations, and we were swept up in celebration, hugs and well-wishes and champagne toasts. The Cozy Crew continued celebrating in chat, their messages filling the screen with love and support.
At 11:58 PM, Bill turned on the TV for the New Year's countdown.
We gathered in front of it, pack and family and friends, counting down to midnight.
"Ten... nine... eight..."
Michelle was tucked against my side, Ro's arm around her waist, Dex's hand on her shoulder. All of us connected through touch and bond.
"Seven... six... five..."
Through the bond, I felt her happiness. Her contentment. Her absolute certainty that this was right.
"Four... three... two..."
"I love you," I whispered to her.
"I love you too," she whispered back.
"ONE! HAPPY NEW YEAR!"
And as midnight struck, as the room erupted in celebration, as fireworks exploded somewhere in the distance, I kissed my omega, my mate, my pack, my everything.
The cameras captured it all. The Cozy Crew cheered. Our families celebrated.
And we started the new year exactly as we meant to continue, together.
As a pack.
Forever.