Chapter 40
Ford
I’ve been chewing on this idea for days.
Started as a splinter. Something sharp I couldn’t shake. Now it’s buried deep, festering.
I’m not the “flowers and picnics” type. Never have been. My idea of romance is making sure the doors are locked and the walls are thick enough that nobody hears what I do to her after.
But Lo?
Lo deserves more than what I am.
So I sit at the kitchen table, big hands wrapped around a mug that’s gone cold, and stare at the grain in the wood while I figure out how the hell to make this right. Make it more than just us saying words we already mean.
“She deserves more than a claim bite,” I say when Beck and Hayes finally sit down with me. “More than a knot and some random marks.”
Beck snorts. “She deserves the moon, Ford. You planning on stealing that next?”
I look at him. Just look. Until he goes quiet and shifts in his chair like the cushion’s got teeth.
“I’m serious,” I say. “This is Lo. Our Omega. You want the whole damn town knowing what she means to us? Or you want some cheap half-assed gesture that gets forgotten by Tuesday?”
Hayes runs a hand over his jaw, slow. “What are you thinking?”
I lean back in my chair. Coffee’s gone bitter and cold, but I drink anyway. Feels right on my tongue. Dark, biting, similar to what I’m about to say.
“Something she won’t see coming,” I tell them. “Not some big, public circus. No parades. No banners. She hates that shit.”
“She does,” Beck says, dragging a hand through his hair. “Wouldn’t even walk across the stage for graduation. Said it was ‘too performative.’”
I ignore the grin.
“It’s gotta feel like her,” I say. “Quiet. Private. But… not small. Not cheap. Something that shows her we’ve been paying attention.”
Hayes tilts his head.
“Paying attention,” he repeats. He’s in planning mode now. “What does Lo love most?”
“Us,” Beck fires off, too fast, leaning forward with a smug look.
“Not what I meant,” Hayes says, but there’s a twitch at the corner of his mouth.
I close my eyes and let it come. Easy. “She loves the lake,” I say. “Always has. Summers out there in that busted -canoe, hair wet, sunburn on her nose. That place is hers.”
Beck whistles low. “Out by the north point? With the old dock?”
“Yeah.”
Hayes drums his fingers on the table, thinking. “Could work. It’s quiet out there. No one goes anymore.”
“Not just the dock,” I say. “The trees. The wildflowers. Lights strung up through the branches. Lanterns in the water.” I can see it now, clear as timber grain. “I want it to look like something out of a dream. Her dream.”
Beck leans back, grinning. “Damn, Ford. Didn’t know you had a Pinterest board hiding in that grumpy head of yours.”
I give him a look sharp enough to peel skin.
He just grins wider. “What? It’s cute.”
“Say ‘cute’ again, I’ll knock your teeth in.”
Hayes clears his throat, amused but trying to keep it on track. “So. Dock. Lights. Water lanterns. You want flowers?”
“She hates roses,” I say automatically. “Think wildflowers. Things that feel… her. Messy, but beautiful.”
Beck nods. “Okay, nature boy. We can do that. I’ll handle the flowers. Got a guy.”
“You got a guy for everything,” I mutter.
“Damn right I do.”
Hayes is already making a list in his head; I can see it behind his eyes. “What about the timing? Night? Sunset?”
“Sunset,” I say. “She likes that blue hour. Sky going dark while the water catches fire.”
Beck whistles again. “You’ve really thought about this.”
“Been thinking about it since the first time she smelled like rain and told me she wanted to live in a house with big windows.”
There’s a beat of silence, then Hayes says quietly, “Alright. Sunset on the lake. Flowers. Lanterns. What about the actual proposal? How do we… ask?”
“Rings,” I say. “Not matching. Something custom. One from each of us. She’ll wear them all.”
Beck raises his brows. “She’s gonna need a whole damn hand.”
“Then she’ll have one,” I growl.
Beck laughs. “I’ll take care of the jeweler. Got a guy.”
“Of course you do,” I sigh.
Hayes nods, still calm. “Okay. You handle the dock and the lights, Ford. Beck does the rings and the flowers. I’ll coordinate everything else. Timing. Cover story to get her out there without suspicion.”
Beck grins, leaning forward, about to pitch something stupid. “We could tell her it’s a pack dinner. Or… better yet, a bonfire.”
“She’s not gonna buy that,” I say. “Not from me. She knows I hate small talk.”
Hayes smirks. “She also knows you hate surprises. That might help.”
Beck points at him. “Good thinking, Beta boy.”
Hayes’s smile falls. “Don’t call me that.”
“Then stop acting like the human calendar,” Beck shoots back.
I cut them both a look. “You done?”
They go quiet. For about three seconds.
“So…?” Beck drags the word out. “What are we wearing? Because if you think I’m showing up in work boots and smelling of engine oil—”
“You’re not wearing a tux,” I snap.
“Never said tux,” Beck says, smirking. “Just saying, maybe I throw on a button-down. Open a couple buttons. Show some chest. Give Lo a view while she cries those big Omega tears.”
I stare at him. “You planning on making her sob harder or run screaming?”
Hayes chokes on a laugh, and Beck looks way too proud of himself.
“Dress clean,” I say, done with the conversation. “That’s it.”
“Sure, Dad,” Beck mutters under his breath.
I ignore him and push back from the table, the legs scraping loud against the floor. My pulse is steady now, the plan locked into my bones. “Sunset. Dock. Lights. Flowers. Rings. We do this right.”
Beck leans back, grin lazy. “She’s gonna lose her mind.”
Hayes’s mouth curves in the smallest smile. “She’ll hate how much she loves it.”
“Good,” I say, heading for the door. “Then let’s make it happen.”
The dock doesn’t look like the same place by the time we’re done.
Two days of hauling planks, stringing lights, and Beck almost breaking his neck because he “doesn’t believe in ladders,” and here we are.
Lanterns bob on the lake like fireflies, the glow threading across the water, soft and golden.
Wildflowers spill from crates Beck swore were “tastefully chaotic.” And Hayes…
hell, he organized all of this like he’s running a goddamn wedding already.
It smells of oak and Christmas and the faint copper slice of sunset. And I’ve never been more on edge in my life.
I pace the boards while Beck leans against a post as if he’s posing for some magazine cover, shirt half open and smug grin in place. Hayes sits on a barrel, calm as a monk, hands folded like he didn’t spend an hour cussing over tangled lights.
“Relax,” Beck drawls, swinging his foot. “She’s coming. Unless you scared her off with all this broody energy.”
I shoot him a look sharp enough to peel bark. He just smirks, the bastard.
Hayes glances at his watch for the tenth time. “The cab left town twenty minutes ago. Any second now.”
“Good.” My jaw works. “’Cause I’m not doing this twice.”
“Big talk for someone about to pass out,” Beck says. “Try not to choke when you open your mouth, Romeo.”
I shoot him a glare. “You wanna see choking? Keep talking.”
Beck just grins wider, teeth flashing. He knows I’m two seconds from decking him.
Then, headlights sweep the trees, tires crunch on gravel. My stomach knots tight. Real tight. Like before a fight, only this isn’t a fight. It’s worse. Because I can win a fight.
This? This is her heart.
And that’s a battle I can’t afford to lose.
Hayes stands, straightening his shirt. Beck stays loose, cocky as ever, hands in his pockets. I just stand there, fists flexing, every muscle taut like a trip wire.
Then, she steps out.
My Lo.
Loose dress brushing her feet in the cold winter air, oversized sweater swallowing her whole, hair catching the wind, eyes soft and curious in the dark. She looks at the glow on the water, then the dock, then us.
“What…” Her voice is a breath. “What is this?”
Hayes moves first, smooth as always. “Come see.”
She walks down. Beck offers a hand halfway; she takes it, smiling just a little. Clearly, she can’t believe this is real. And then she’s standing there. Flowers despite the cold, and lanterns despite the wind, and light flickering on the water behind her despite the looming winter all around us.
She’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.
My throat tastes of gravel, but I force it out. “This is for you. Because there’s not a damn thing in this world big enough to hold what you are to us. But this…” I gesture at everything, at the way the whole damn night is bent toward her, “it’s a start.”
Her lips part, tears already shining. “Ford…”
“No.” I roughen. “Let me finish.”
I pull the box from my pocket, heavy in my hand. Silver, strong, like the promise I’m about to make. My chest is splitting open, but I don’t stop.
“I’m not good with words. Never have been.
But I’ll give you this: I don’t half-ass anything I care about…
and, Lo?” I step closer, holding her gaze.
“I care about you more than air. You’re my first thought in the morning, last before I crash at night, and every beat in between.
You’re mine. Always were. Always will be.
Ever since I scent matched you in high school, I knew this would be the way it ended for us. ”
Her lips tremble, and something in me nearly breaks.
Then Beck steps in, sliding his arm around her waist because he can’t help himself. His grin’s still there, but softer now, curved with something that might wreck me if I look too long.
“You were my first everything,” Beck says.
“First kiss that meant something. First love that burned so damn bright it blinded me. And then I blew it. I lost you. Thought that was it for me… game over.” He swallows, eyes flicking to hers, raw.
“But somehow, you came back. You gave me a second chance, Lo. You don’t know what that does to a guy like me.
I’m never wasting it. Not one breath. Not one day.
You’re the spark, the chaos, the fire, and you’ve ruined me for anything else. And I’m not even sorry.”
Lo laughs, a sound that is shaky and wet with tears. Beck kisses one off her cheek because he can’t stand to see them fall.
Hayes comes last, because he always waits. Always measures. He doesn’t rush, just steps in close enough that his scent wraps all of us in that calm he embodies so naturally. The calm that this entire pack needs. He is quiet, but carries smooth as cream.
“You’ve been my best friend for as long as I’ve had a heart worth trusting,” he says.
“I told myself that was enough. That loving you from the sidelines was safer than ruining what we had. So I stayed quiet. I held every word back, every feeling, because I thought I was protecting you. Truth is…” He takes her hand, presses it to his chest. “I was just hiding. And I’m done hiding.
You’ve always been it for me, Lo. Always. ”
Her breath breaks. Tears spill, and this time, she doesn’t try to stop them.
“Lo,” I rasp, because I can’t hold it anymore. “Marry us. Be ours in every way.”
Hayes and Beck lift their boxes, too. We all crack the tops open, revealing the personally designed rings. Three of them, each different.
Mine: heavy silver, simple, solid. Beck’s: gold curls like it barely knows what shape it wants to take. Hayes’s: sleek, a line of three small stones with the look of a constellation.
She stares. Hands to her mouth. And for a second, I think I’ve asked for too much.
Then she breathes out, shaky and bright: “Yes.”
The sound rips me open.
Beck whoops loud enough to shake the trees. Hayes exhales happily. And me? I just stand there, staring at her because she’s a goddamn miracle.
She laughs, broken and wild, and throws her arms around all three of us. And right there, in the glow of lanterns, with the lake whispering and the air thick with snow and promise, I swear the rest of my life starts now.