Chapter 45 #2
“Water,” Koa says softly, reappearing with several bottles. “And sensible snacks,” he adds, placing protein bars and fruit within reach.
Kai makes a face. “Where’s the fun in being sensible?”
“Sugar crash mid-heat isn’t fun,” Koa replies calmly.
I smile faintly.
Kai drops the now-baked cookies onto the bedside table anyway. “Backup plan. Because I think if you try to feed our omega granola, she might revolt.”
Our omega. I like that. I like that a lot.
Sol’s phone rings but Finn takes it from his hand before he can move, and steps out into the hallway to answer it, voice lowering into business cadence as he handles what must be fallout – the surf school, the staff, the fact that gunshots went off in the neighbourhood.
He moves with quiet authority, containing the outside world so it doesn’t bleed into this room.
I love him for that. The outside isn’t allowed in here. This is our sanctuary, I’ve decided.
Sol hasn’t moved.
His gaze follows me as I adjust the final layer of fabric, then sit back on my heels.
The nest is substantial now. Sure, it’s not filled with fancy cushions and plush new blankets but it’s enveloped in them. It’s perfect. Layered high on three sides. Thick with scent. Pillows forming a crescent around the centre.
Even with all the money in the world, this is all I’d want. Just them and their perfect summer scents and the feeling of completeness that they bring me.
My body hums with quiet approval and I flush with pride. I did that. I built a nest and it’s a good one.
I crawl into it slowly.
The first touch of fabric against my bare skin sends a ripple through me – not sharp, not desperate – just deeply right. I burrow instinctively, shifting blankets around my shoulders, pulling one of Kai’s hoodies closer and tucking Finn’s pillow beneath my head.
A soft, involuntary sound escapes me. Kai freezes mid-step. Koa’s mouth curves slightly. Sol’s jaw tightens.
I feel it. That look.
I beam at them. Not seductive. Not coy. Happy. So overwhelmingly happy.
“I never thought I’d be allowed to do this,” I admit softly.
The room goes still.
Sol’s voice is low. “Allowed?”
I nod, fingers curling into the blanket. “If I’d presented at home, it would’ve been suppressed. Managed. Controlled. There would’ve been protocols…and punishments.”
Finn re-enters the room quietly, ending his call.
“No nest,” I continue. “No instincts. Just medication. Beatings.”
Kai’s expression shifts from humour to something darker.
“Then it’s a good thing you’re here,” he says lightly – but there’s steel under it.
Koa kneels near the edge of the mattress. “Does it feel right?”
I shift slightly, adjusting a pillow and pulling Sol’s shirt closer to my chest.
“Yes,” I breathe.
The heat pricks a little sharper now, warm and steady beneath my skin. Not overwhelming. Not urgent.
Just building.
Sol shifts, wincing faintly as he pushes himself upright.
“Stay,” I tell him immediately.
His eyes narrow slightly. “I’m not fragile.”
“I know,” I say gently. “But you’re injured. And I want you here for the duration.”
There’s something almost reverent in the way he looks at me then.
Finn steps closer to him. “Sit. Let her settle.”
Sol exhales, but he obeys.
Kai drops down cross-legged on the floor beside the mattress. “We’ve got water. We’ve got sugar. We’ve got protein. And you’ve got four alphas at your disposal. If you want us.”
I laugh softly, the sound surprising me.
Koa sits on the opposite side, back against the wall, steady presence radiating warmth.
Finn leans against the doorframe now, arms folded loosely, gaze never leaving me.
And Sol —
Sol watches like a predator who has chosen not to hunt.
The heat pulses again, stronger this time, spreading warmth down my spine and pooling low in my stomach. I shift deeper into the nest, curling slightly, adjusting the blankets around my waist.
“I can feel it building,” I say quietly.
No one jokes this time.
Kai’s expression softens. Koa’s fingers rest loosely on the edge of the mattress. Finn steps further into the room. Sol watches me with something intent and controlled in his gaze.
There’s weight in the air now.
Not just instinct.
Reality.
This is really happening. It feels so surreal and yet so right at the same time. Which in itself, feels kind of crazy…
“We need to talk about how this works,” Finn says gently.
I nod immediately. “Yes.”
Kai rubs a hand over the back of his neck. “We’ve…barely started.”
I huff a soft breath. “That’s one way to put it.”
“I’ve kissed you twice,” he says, half-smiling but not entirely joking.
“Once,” I correct.
“Rude.” Koa’s mouth curves faintly. “I’ve kissed you once.”
Finn’s voice is quiet. “And I slept with you twice. Once, without knowing who you were.”
“And I bit you,” Sol adds, steady and unapologetic. “During the best sex of my life.”
The room stills slightly at that and I flush. With pride or embarrassment, I’m not sure.
“And now,” Kai continues carefully, “we’re about to…escalate.”
He doesn’t say it flippantly.
He says it like a man aware that this could either solidify something permanent or fracture it beyond repair.
My heat pulses again – not desperate, but present. Waiting.
“I know it’s fast,” I say. “It feels fast.”
“It is fast,” Finn replies calmly.
I meet his gaze. “But it doesn’t feel wrong.”
Silence.
“It feels like we were heading here anyway,” I continue, words coming clearer the more I say them. “The heat is just…speeding up the getting-to-know-each-other phase?”
Kai snorts softly. “That’s one way to describe it.”
I smile faintly.
“If this hadn’t happened,” I go on, “I still would have wanted this. I would have wanted to explore what this is. With all of you. I just didn’t think a pack would ever want a beta and I didn’t know how I would choose to just be a girlfriend to one of you.”
Koa’s fingers tighten slightly against the mattress.
“We want you. We’re not a pack. Well, not officially. Not yet, anyway. But we definitely all want you. Beta or omega. That changes nothing.”
“So, we’re just running at double speed right now,” I say.
Sol studies me carefully. “And you’re sure that’s what you want?”
“Yes.”
Not because of the heat.
Not because of fear.
Because of choice.
They chose me. I’m choosing them. And every fibre of my being is thrumming in my blood telling me this is right.
Kai shifts slightly. “We can take the pressure off,” he says. “Help you through it. Toys. Other options. It doesn’t have to be—”
“No,” I interrupt gently.
All four of them still.
“I don’t want a workaround.”
The words land solid.
“I don’t want to manage this. I don’t want to simulate it. I want it to be real. I…if you’ll have me…I…oh god I feel crazy saying this but I want to bond.”
That changes the air entirely.
Sol goes very still.
Finn’s posture sharpens.
Koa’s breath deepens.
Kai’s humour drains completely.
“With all of us?” Kai asks quietly.
“Yes.” My voice doesn’t waver. “I want it to be official. Not implied. Not messy. Not a ‘we’ll see what happens’. But only if you all want that too.”
The heat swells beneath my skin, but it isn’t frantic. It’s purposeful.
“I’m still scared,” I admit. “But this feels inevitable – in a good way – so why wait?”
The vulnerability feels enormous but I force myself to take a deep breath and continue.
“I’m scared someone will take this away. That something will go wrong. That I’ll wake up and it’ll be gone. That the things my father has done to me will cause permanent damage.”
Finn steps closer.
“No one is taking you,” he says.
“I know that logically,” I reply. “But my whole life has been about control and correction and suppression. I’ve never been allowed to keep something that’s mine.”
Sol shifts forward slightly despite the wound but his face is showing no signs of pain right now. No, his eyes blaze with a fierce determination that steals my breath.
“You are not something that can be taken,” he says, low and certain.
“I know,” I whisper. “But I want to feel it. I want the bond. I want to know that we’re pack. That I’m yours. That you’re mine.”
The words settle heavy and deliberate in the room.
Kai exhales slowly.
“That’s permanent,” he says.
“I know.”
Koa’s gaze softens. “There’s no undoing it.”
“I know.”
Finn watches me carefully. “And after? When the heat passes?”
“Then we deal with everything else,” I say. “The communication. The history. The bet. The mess. The getting-to-know-each-other properly… Is this crazy? I’m being crazy, right?”
I smile faintly.
“But I don’t want to pretend we’re not already moving toward this.”
The heat pulses again, stronger now, tightening low in my belly.
Sol rises carefully despite the bandage.
“Come here,” he says softly.
I shift forward in the nest.
He kneels at the edge, one hand bracing against the mattress, the other sliding into my hair.
“We do this right,” he says. “No chaos. No competition. No proving anything.”
Kai nods once.
Koa’s voice is steady. “You set the pace.”
Finn adds quietly, “And if at any point you change your mind, we stop.”
There is no hesitation in them. No pressure. Only offering.
I look at each of them again. Not boys playing a summer challenge. Men choosing permanence.
“Okay,” I say. The word feels heavier than any before it. “Yes. I want to bond. If you’ll have me.”
The heat rises in answer – no longer just a prickling. Awake. Intentional.
And this time, there is no fear threaded through it.
Only certainty.