Epilogue
Michelle
I stood in the doorway of our new apartment, keys still clutched in my hand, surrounded by bags and boxes and the lingering scent of my mother's tamales from the leftovers she'd insisted we take.
Our apartment. Our home.
The words felt surreal even in my own mind.
"You're overthinking again," Lucas said from behind me, his arms sliding around my waist. "I can feel it through the bond."
"I'm not overthinking. I'm processing."
"You've been processing for the entire drive from Cedar Falls," Ro observed, carrying in another box. "That's overthinking."
Dex appeared with the last of the bags, closing the door behind him with a definitive click. The sound echoed in the half-furnished space, and suddenly the reality hit me.
We were alone. Completely alone. No parents down the hall, no siblings bursting in, no cameras recording, no audience watching. Just us. Just pack.
"It's so quiet," I said, the words coming out smaller than intended.
"Is that bad?" Dex asked, setting the bags down.
"No, it's just..." I turned in Lucas's arms to look at all three of them. "We haven't actually been alone since… well, ever. There's always been family or viewers or someone around."
"And now it's just us," Ro said, moving closer. "Is that scary?"
"Terrifying," I admitted. Then, quieter, "I wanted you. During the holidays. During the ceremony. Every night in my childhood bed I wanted you, but I couldn't... not with my mother's superhuman hearing and her door-open policy and the whole house knowing exactly what we'd be doing."
Lucas's arms tightened around me. "We know. We felt it through the bond."
"Every night," Dex added, his voice rough. "Every night you wanted us and held back."
"I didn't want our first time as mates to be in my teenage bedroom with boy band posters watching," I said, attempting humor but my voice came out breathless. "I wanted it to be ours. Private. Just for us."
"Policy public, intimacy private," Ro quoted my own words back to me, and there was heat in his eyes that made my stomach flip.
"Exactly." I took a breath, gathering courage. "I want tonight to be for us. No cameras, no content, no performing for anyone. Can we... can we have that?"
"Michelle," Lucas said softly, turning me to face him fully. "Of course we can have that. We can have anything you want. Everything you want."
"I want to finish our nest," I said. "Properly. Make it ours. And then..." I met each of their eyes in turn. "Then I want my mates. All of you. The way we couldn't at my mother's house."
The tension in the room shifted, thickened, became something electric.
"Bedroom," Dex said simply, already moving to grab bags. "Nest first. Then we claim our omega properly."
The word 'claim' sent heat through me, and from their synchronized intake of breath, they all felt it through the bond.
We moved together with the coordination that had developed over the past weeks, carrying bags and boxes to the main bedroom. It was the largest room in the apartment, with windows overlooking Elliott Bay and enough space for what we needed, a proper nest that could hold all of us comfortably.
"We bought supplies," Ro said, opening one of the boxes to reveal soft blankets, pillows, fairy lights. "While you were on client calls yesterday. We wanted to be ready."
"You planned this?"
"We hoped," Lucas corrected, pulling out a string of warm white lights. "We hoped you'd want this as much as we did."
We worked together building the nest, and it felt different from the quick comfort nests we'd made at Mom's house.
This was deliberate, permanent, ours. Ro arranged the fairy lights around the headboard and windows, creating soft, warm lighting.
Dex layered blankets with tactical precision, ensuring both comfort and structural integrity.
Lucas added pillows and the soft throws that smelled like cedar and vanilla from his apartment.
And I wove through it all, arranging and rearranging until the scents were perfectly mixed, until it smelled like pack, like home, like us.
"It's perfect," I said finally, standing back to look at what we'd created.
The bed had been transformed into a proper nest. Soft layers of blankets and pillows, fairy lights casting gentle shadows, and our scents mingling together into something that made my omega purr with satisfaction.
"You're perfect," Lucas said, moving behind me again. "And you're ours."
"Officially and permanently," Ro added, his fingers ghosting over the fresh mating bite on my neck, making me shiver.
"No one listening through walls," Dex said, closing the bedroom door with deliberate firmness. "No one to interrupt. Just pack."
I turned in the circle of my alphas, my mates, and felt the last of my walls crumble.
"I love you," I said, the words coming easier now after weeks of practice. "All of you. And I want this. Want you. I'm just—"
"Nervous?" Lucas supplied gently.
"It's been a long time since I let anyone close like this. Since before suppressants and walls and protecting myself from everything." I touched each of their mating marks on my neck, still tender, still new. "I don't know how to not be in control."
"Then we go slow," Ro said, cupping my face with gentle hands. "We have all night. All our lives. There's no rush."
"Can I..." I started, then stopped, flustered.
"What do you need?" Dex asked.
"Can we just... be close for a bit? Touch and kiss and exist without jumping straight to... more?"
"Of course," all three said in unison, and I laughed at their synchronization.
We moved to the nest, settling into the soft blankets and pillows. I ended up in the middle, Lucas pressed against my back, Ro at my front, Dex's solid presence at our sides. For a moment, we just breathed together, letting our scents mingle, feeling the bond hum between us.
"This is nice," I murmured.
"You sound surprised," Lucas teased, pressing a kiss to my shoulder.
"I've been alone for so long. I forgot what it felt like to just... be held."
"Never again," Ro promised, tilting my chin up to kiss me properly.
The kiss was different from the chaste ones we'd shared at Mom's house. Deeper, hungrier, full of weeks of want finally allowed release. When we broke apart, I was breathless.
"My turn," Lucas said, turning my head to claim my mouth.
His kiss was playful, teasing, making me smile against his lips. He nipped gently, soothing with his tongue, until I was pressing back against him seeking more.
Then Dex, careful and thorough, kissing me like he had all the time in the world to learn every response, every sound I made.
"You're wearing too many clothes," I said when he pulled back.
"So are you," he countered.
"Then help me fix that?"
They did, slowly, carefully, like I was something precious. Lucas pulled my sweater over my head while Ro unbuttoned my jeans with steady hands. Dex unclasped my bra with surprising gentleness for such large hands.
"Beautiful," Ro breathed, his artist's eye taking in every detail. "Perfect."
"I'm not—"
"You are," Lucas interrupted. "To us. For us. Everything about you is perfect."
I reached for their clothes in return, needing to feel skin against skin, needing the equality of vulnerability. They let me undress them at my own pace, patient even though I could feel their want through the bond.
"Oh," I breathed when they were finally bare before me. "You're all..."
"Yours," Dex finished. "Completely yours."
My breath hitched. The certainty in their voices made my omega preen even as my human mind tried to process.
"Show us," Lucas said softly. "Show us what you like. What feels good. We'll learn your body the way we've learned your mind."
Ro's hand slid lower, his touch feather-light over my hip. "No pressure. No expectations. Just pack."
Dex's fingers found the mating bite on my shoulder, pressing gently. The sensation sent a jolt through me, making my back arch involuntarily.
"Like that?" Dex murmured, doing it again.
A whimper escaped me before I could stop it. "Yes. Like that."
Their touches became more deliberate. Lucas's hand cupped my breast, his thumb circling my nipple until it peaked. Ro's fingers traced the curve of my waist, then slid between my thighs. Dex's mouth found the mating mark on my neck, his tongue soothing the tender skin.
I gasped as pleasure arced through me. "Too much—"
"Not enough," Ro corrected, his fingers finding exactly the right pressure. "You can take more than you think."
Lucas captured my mouth in a deep kiss, swallowing my moans as Ro's fingers worked magic between my legs. Dex's large hands gripped my hips, grounding me as sensations threatened to overwhelm me.
The bond between us flared with their combined desire, their need to please me, to claim me completely. I could feel their restraint, the way they held back even as their own arousal grew.
"More," I gasped against Lucas's mouth. "I need more."
Their control snapped.
Lucas rolled me onto my back, his body covering mine as his mouth trailed down my neck. Ro's fingers were replaced by his tongue, hot and skilled. Dex's hands roamed my body, touching everywhere at once.
I arched into them, my omega instincts taking over. The suppressants were completely gone from my system now, and my body responded with primal need. My nails dug into Lucas's shoulders as Ro's mouth worked between my thighs, Dex's fingers teasing my nipples.
The bond between us pulsed with their combined arousal, their need to claim me, to mark me as theirs. I could feel their emotions as clearly as my own, their love, their possessiveness, their absolute devotion.
"Mine," Lucas growled against my skin, his teeth grazing my mating mark.
"Ours," Ro corrected, his voice rough with need.
Dex's hands slid under me, lifting me slightly as he found the perfect angle with his mouth. The sensation was too much, too intense. I cried out as pleasure crashed over me in waves.