Chapter 76 Willow
Willow
The first thing I register is warmth.
Not just from the blanket tangled around my legs, but from the bodies draped over and under and around me.
Someone’s hand is curled beneath my breast, fingers twitching against my skin, while they dream.
His knuckles graze my ribs with every breath, a phantom echo of last night’s rhythm.
There’s a leg hooked over mine, and a chest pressed to my back, rising and falling in a rhythm that lulls more than it suffocates.
We’re a mess of limbs and slow breaths. Of skin and soft exhales, and the kind of quiet that only comes after something real.
I blink my eyes open slowly. The curtains are drawn, but golden morning light edges through the seam, brushing everything in gold.
Finn’s hair is a tangle of dark strands against the pillow beside me, his lips parted slightly, lashes casting shadows on his cheeks.
He looks peaceful. Almost innocent. Like he wasn’t begging and breathless just hours ago.
Carson’s behind him, one arm wrapped tight around his waist, their legs entwined. Carson’s head rests just above Finn’s shoulder, a lazy smile lingering on his mouth even in sleep.
Hunter is still behind me, chest to my back, hand still splayed low on my stomach. His breath ghosts across my neck, steady. Comforting. His presence is so constant, a second heartbeat against my skin.
And Graham’s the only one awake. Of course he is. He’s always the one holding the line when the rest of us fall apart. He’s the quiet strength in the storm.
Propped against the headboard, a pillow behind him, one arm draped around me, where my head rests against his thigh. His fingers comb gently through my hair, slow and patient, cataloging every strand. Watching over us all.
I tilt my head back to meet his gaze.
He doesn’t smile, not exactly, but his eyes soften.
“Morning,” I whisper, voice thick with sleep.
“Hey,” he murmurs. “You okay?”
I nod, too full and too content to say anything else.
He keeps stroking my hair, slow and unhurried. No expectations. No pressure.
And it hits me all at once—what we are building here. What we’re becoming. Not just something physical. Not just heat and need and chemistry.
But trust.
Pack.
Home.
It should scare me how fast this is shifting. How deep it already runs. But all I feel is calm. I’ve finally stopped running.
I close my eyes again, letting it settle deep in my chest. We can face anything, so long as we wake up like this. Together.
“Are you going to be able to skate today?” he asks.
I keep my eyes shut, but smile. “Of course, I’m going to be sore afterwards, but that doesn’t scare me.”
He trails his fingers along my ear, to my jaw, and I peek up at him. He flicks his gaze to Finn and back to me. “It looks like your stalker might become a permanent fixture in our pack. He’s not what I thought—”
“No, he’s not,” I reply. I glance toward Finn as I say it, brushing a knuckle along his cheekbone before meeting Graham’s eyes again. “He’s broken, yeah. But in a way that makes me want to stitch the pieces back together. I’m really glad you didn’t kick him out last night.”
He huffs a quiet laugh. “I don’t think I would have been strong enough to do that. You and Carson were in it when we walked in.”
“I didn’t plan it,” I say automatically.
“Yeah, I know. That would be all Carson. He knew that Finn would seek you out when you left the pool alone. And we thought it would be the perfect opportunity to see if this was something you really wanted.”
I press a kiss to the inside of his thigh, just above the scar I noticed weeks ago but never asked about. Not out of fear. Out of respect. “Thank you...for trusting my instincts.”
“I’m still not one hundred percent convinced,” he says.
I glance up, the words balancing behind my lips for a breath too long before I speak.
“I almost kissed Landon last night.”
Graham stills, then his fingers start threading through my hair again an instant later. “Yeah?” he asks almost cautiously.
“In the hot tub. It felt natural.” I sigh, squeezing his thigh as I think about it. “There’s a connection between us, and I don’t think I’m going to fight it anymore. I just wanted you to know. I know we talked about it and you three said you were okay—”
“We are, Willow. No need to explain yourself.”
Relief fills my chest. This could have been messy.
I know they want to protect me; that is what they were originally hired to do.
My well intentioned father put them exactly where they needed to be…
I don’t think he imagined that they would fall in love with me and welcome my stalker into our bed.
I can’t help the smile that pulls at my lips at that thought.
It’s crazy to even think about how life twists and turns and puts you exactly where you belong when you’re meant to be there.
Maybe everything really does happen for a reason.
“You’re kind of amazing, you know that, right?” His cheeks darken slightly, and I laugh. “Are you blushing?”
He wipes his hand down his face and looks away, a smile taking over his face as he denies it.
“Graham doesn’t blush,” Hunter says sleepily into my shoulder, before kissing me softly.
“He is definitely blushing.”
Hunter hums against my skin and tugs me fully against him, his leg wrapping around me. “Maybe he only blushes for you then.”
“Maybe.”
We’re still laughing when the door swings open.
Finn’s hair is a disaster—sticking up in every direction as if he wrestled a thunderstorm and lost. He groans and drags a hand through it, trying to tame the chaos, but Carson slaps it away with a grin.
“Don’t even try. You look like you just rolled out of a very questionable dream.”
“I did,” Finn mutters, shooting me a smirk. “Still dreaming, maybe.”
Hunter’s shirt is inside out. And he smooths his fingers over it, messing with the tag on the side. Graham steps into the hallway first, our silent protector with rumpled sweats and sleep-kissed eyes.
I follow him, still warm in the center of my chest from everything that just happened. Everything that’s changing. Carson and Finn are bickering behind me, Hunter yawning so wide it makes me laugh.
And then we see him.
Landon. And my heart skips a beat. He’s standing just a few feet down the hall, room key in hand, ready to enter his room.
He stops.
His gaze lands on Graham first—then Carson, then Hunter—each one clearly part of this. Part of me. And then it finds Finn, trailing behind them, hair messy, shirtless, a bruise blooming at the base of his throat that I definitely didn’t put there with my mouth, so it must have been one of the guys.
His eyes finally land on me.
I feel the air shift. Just slightly. But it’s enough. He doesn’t speak. Doesn’t frown. Doesn’t say anything.
But I see it. The flicker of disappointment.
The knowledge that we almost kissed last night, and this morning, I’m leaving my hotel room with not only my pack but my stalker too.
My chest hurts, like I’ve betrayed him, which doesn’t make any sense.
Is this how he felt when he kissed someone else to push me away?
I did a hell of a lot more than kiss someone else. Under different circumstances, of course, but it still hurts.
His jaw ticks, just once, and he gives a small nod, accepting something he wasn’t quite ready to admit until now. Then he turns, sliding his keycard into the door to his room. He disappears before I can open my mouth and say anything.
Graham threads his fingers through mine and squeezes. “You okay?”
I swallow. Nod. But the words won’t come.
I’m not okay.
And if Landon leaves—really leaves—I’m not sure I’ll ever be.
Graham stops me, turning me toward him and cupping my face. “Don’t lie to us.”
My lower lip trembles. I blink away the sudden burn behind my eyes. “I don’t want to hurt him. And I think… seeing us just now did.”
“It’s because he thinks he lost his chance,” Finn says, pulling our attention to him. “I’ve been watching him.” He shrugs. “It’s kind of what I do. Had to know who he was, if he was gonna be hanging around you.”
He hesitates, eyes softer now. “He’s in love with you. And if he took photos like me, you’d be all over his walls too.”
Hunter chuckles, shaking his head like he can’t believe Finn just admitted that out loud. Carson ruffles Finn’s hair with something close to affection. Graham nods.
“He’s right.”
“Of course I am,” Finn says, a little too smug.
Graham’s nostrils flare—fire sparking in his gaze. If we were still in the room, I have a feeling Finn would be face down, getting reminded who’s in charge.
“You’ll get used to it, alpha,” Finn adds sweetly.
They hold a look that simmers with heat and warning before Hunter breaks the tension.
“You want me to knock on the door? Set things straight?”
I shake my head; I’m not sure that would do more than push him further away. “No. Let’s focus on winning Nationals. My team will hate me if I screw this up over boy-drama, as they call it.”
But I glance back at Landon’s door anyway. Quiet. Closed.
Not forever, though.
“After we win,” I say softly. “I’ll talk to him. Really talk to him.”
Finn watches me, unreadable for a second, before his voice cuts through the space between us.
“You should,” he says softly. “If you don’t, it’ll haunt you.”
The words settle heavily in my chest. Because he’s right.
Carson arches a brow. “You sure he’ll want to listen?”
“I think he’s been waiting for me to say something for a long time,” I admit. “And I finally know what I want to say.”
Graham threads his fingers through mine again. “We’ve got your back. Whatever comes next.”
Hunter presses a kiss to my temple, murmuring, “Let’s win this first.”
Some things have to wait. But not forever.