42. Chapter Forty-Two
Chapter Forty-Two
Leah
M y reflection stares back at me from the metallic walls of the elevator as we rise toward the penthouse.
Gabriel is beside me, along with one of Mira’s Alphas, Zane, who came to collect me after my medical examination with Dr. Maverick.
The floor numbers climb in steady increments, but my heart hammers so loud it might as well be lodged in my throat.
Zane gives nothing away, his posture seemingly relaxed in his tailored suit. For him, riding luxurious elevators to billion-dollar penthouses is routine. This is his home after all.
Gabriel’s arm is snug around my shoulders, solid muscle and warm reassurance, but my nerves flutter beneath his gentleness.
I can’t stop marveling at Mira living in the Pinnacle building.
Not just living here, but calling this entire glittering, impossible place home.
Her Alphas founded and own Pinnacle Therapeutics.
I struggle to reconcile the Mira I knew with all this wealth and power.
The story of how they found each other must be incredible. As will be the story of how Emma found her Alphas, no matter how intimidating they all are.
I wipe sweaty palms on the thighs of my jeans, a new pair Adrian delivered to me this morning.
The denim is buttery soft, unlike anything I’ve ever owned.
Adrian brought bundles of clothing for all of us.
I’m so grateful as we have nothing but the clothes we wore when we crashed into the foyer days ago, and those were largely destroyed in the chase.
I don’t think I could have worn those items again anyway. I want no reminders.
Being brought here with Gabriel and Zane ought to be comforting, but unease still lingers.
Maybe it’s because the first time I met Zane was when he stormed the gala, looking like he’d carved a path through hell.
I silently thank whatever gods might be listening that he looks nothing like that god of vengeance now.
Or maybe it’s because the others are out there hunting.
Ronan and Jax, along with Cole from Mira’s pack and Asher and Phoenix, Emma’s police officer Alphas, are combing through Hardwick’s last three known safehouses.
The officers have authority to dig where others can't, searching for any trace of her before too much time passes and she disappears for good.
I know they’re risking themselves because of me. Because we all know Hardwick won’t stop trying to drag me back.
Gabriel notices my fidgeting and tugs me against his chest with a press of his lips to my temple. "Everything’s going to be fine. You’re safe and I’ll be in the penthouse with you."
Zane gives me a sunny smile. Something about that smile helps me to relax. "Mira and Emma have been climbing the walls waiting to see you. They’re so excited they’re practically a hazard. "
Seeing Mira and Emma again is everything I’ve dreamed about for the two years since we escaped Haven, but the pit in my stomach won’t loosen. I manage to smile at the huge Alpha, proudly wearing Mira’s bonding bite, a silvery scar on his neck. If she chose him, then I know I can trust him.
"If you’re too tired, we can go back and rest. I’m sure they’ll understand," Gabriel says.
"I’ve rested for three days." I aim for wryness, but my voice barely slips past the nerves tightening in my throat.
The plastic film in the room was removed two mornings ago after my results came back negative, leaving us with a bigger space.
Even with freedom just outside, I barely set foot beyond our nest. My bones were hollowed and heavy, my muscles thick with that exhaustion that belongs only to the aftermath of heat and finally being safe enough to let go.
We ate and slept, my Alphas feeding me until I was full and sleep would drag me back under. When I woke, they were always there. Their tenderness came in so many shapes. Ronan’s solid arms, Gabriel’s jokes and kisses, Jax’s painstaking care, each of them as necessary as breath.
We made love again and again. Slower though. Indulgent. Not directed by the urgency of my heat. Sometimes it was all three of them. Sometimes just one.
Jax, stroking every inch of me until I melted. Gabriel, making me laugh even when I sobbed against his mouth. Ronan, letting me lose myself in the safe, rough anchor of his body. Those days of touch, and rest, and slow, relentless devotion was sublime.
I wasn’t scared of them. Not of the wanting.
Not of the reckless ache their nearness stirs.
They awaken things in me I’d only ever read about or overheard in whispers between the bars of our old, haunted rooms. Now, desire and tenderness are real, as fierce as hunger and infinitely softer. I’m falling in love with them.
Unmistakably.
Helplessly.
And I don’t want to run from that knowing.
I’m terrified and hopeful and blissfully open.
The Omega voice that normally screeches in my skull is quieter.
I’m not warring with her. There are no ragged edges scraping the inside of my skull.
We’re in agreement. We both want our Alphas in every hungry, grateful way.
I hold this new peace close, for once able to finally, blissfully relax.
The Omega lifts her lazy head and whispers one word: Bond .
Want rushes through me, hot, heady and sudden, and the want…the want is so right . There’s no fear. No shame. A ball of tingles blooms low in my belly.
Gabriel tilts his head. A smile tugs at a corner of his mouth as his gaze flicks over my face. "What’s going on in that pretty head, Sweetheart?"
I tuck the sweet desire away until I can share it with them when we’re alone and it can be just ours. I smile up at my Alpha. "I’ll tell you later."
Mira, Emma and I have waited too long for this reunion. They’ve sent me notes for days, peppering me with questions through the speaker that I’ve been too exhausted to answer properly. Now I’m going to see them face to face. I’m finally going to hug them and hold them close, cry and laugh together.
And, together, we’ll give the biggest middle finger to Hardwick, Mercer and everyone else who thought they could own us.
I squeeze Gabriel’s hand, trying to keep my voice steady even as my heart wobbles. "I just want to see my friends. My sisters."
The elevator doors slide open, spilling the three of us into a vast and bright space.
Floor to ceiling windows offer billion-dollar views of Canton City, and for a moment I can’t breathe.
It’s a lot to take in, gleaming floors, miles of glass, a riot of green plants and deep, lush couches meant for sinking and sprawling.
And then they’re here. Mira is half-laughing, half-sobbing before we even cross the threshold, glossy auburn curls falling loosely over her shoulders. Emma’s right beside her, clouds of pale blonde hair catching the sunlight like spun gold, blue eyes bright with unshed tears.
Shock steals the air from my lungs and I freeze. For a heartbeat, I can only stare, drinking them in. How vividly real they are. Awe and disbelief crash through me because a part of me had lost hope I would ever see them again. The part of me that died a little each day at the Facility.
I set that shame aside to deal with later. In the end we all made it .
We made it.
"Leah—oh, Gods—Leah!" Mira rushes forward and Emma’s moving beside her, and then we’re colliding in a tangle of arms and hair and frantic, clutching hands.
Our bodies crash together, laughter and sobs jumbling until I can’t tell whose tears are whose, our cheeks wet, our shoulders trembling.
Mira buries her face in my neck, her arms locked around me so tightly I nearly gasp, and Emma hugs us both from the side, their scents winding through me.
"I thought I’d never see you again," I choke, voice splintering. "I almost… gave up."
Emma shakes her head, tears sparkling on her lashes. "It doesn’t matter. We kept hoping for you. We said every single night Leah’s coming back. She has to."
Mira pulls back just enough to cup my cheeks, studying me like she’s memorizing the shape of my bones. "You’re really here. You’re…" Her voice cracks; her thumb swipes away a tear I didn’t feel fall. "I can hardly believe this isn’t a dream. You’re here. You’re real!"
I understand the unreality of this moment.
They’re still my girls, still the souls who held my hand in the dark at Haven, but they’re changed, too.
They’ve filled out: soft healthy curves where starvation once carved harsh angles under their skin.
Their faces are alive with color, and beneath that, they glow .
They’re radiant, happiness pouring from them.
My eyes catch on the silvery marks at the base of Mira’s throat, her bond scar.
Emma’s, too, just visible above the collar of her shirt.
That’s all we ever asked for. We didn’t need the world handed to us. Or money. Or unlimited belongings.
We just wanted to be loved, and love in return.
"You both look…Gods, you look good." My voice breaks with awe and longing. "You’re both so beautiful. I can’t believe this is real."
Mira hugs me again, hard enough to drive the air from my lungs. "You made it, Leah. You made it back to us."
Emma squeezes my arm, voice all gentle wonder. "We missed you every single day. It’s never been right without you. "
All I can do is stand and hold them, shaking, laughter and tears spilling over, overwhelmed by the impossible miracle of having found each other again. I soak up the feel of them, the proof that we survived and became something better, and let it make a home in my heart.
A huge Alpha with close-cropped brown hair appears from the direction of the kitchen, wiping his hands on a dish towel.
His shoulders are broad enough to block half the hallway, and his eyes are warm and steady as his focus comes to rest on Emma.
"Lunch is ready. Would you all like to eat in here, or out in the garden? "
Emma’s face blooms with a delighted grin. She closes the distance with a quick hop and rises on her toes to kiss his cheek. There’s no mistaking the ease between them. "Leah, this is Soren. One of my Alphas. And the best cook in existence."
I remember Soren too, looking a hell of a lot different here today than at the gala.
Relaxed and open instead of the angel of death.
Soren’s smile is indulgent as he looks down at her.
"I’ll have to tell Phoenix you said that, and you know how he gets.
" There’s a drowsy, inordinately pleased note in his voice.
Emma giggles. Actually giggles . "Don’t you dare. I wasn’t trying to start trouble."
"Too late. Just be prepared for food wars tonight. You know Phoenix is going to try and outdo me now." Soren laughs.
Mira groans and shakes her head. "That’s if Adrian lets them in the kitchen."
"It’s going to be a battleground," Emma says.
Soren swoops Emma up in one effortless motion, earning a squeal that turns quickly into a delighted laugh as he kisses her soundly.
"Let the food wars begin. I’m up for any challenge.
" His tenderness is so open it leaves me aching.
A good ache, the kind that says these women have found their personal heaven.
Mira nestles into Zane’s side. His arm circles her waist, her head tucked briefly against his chest. She’s smiling over Emma’s joy and then I sense a hot, unwavering gaze cast in my direction.
Gabriel’s eyes are on me, burning with the hunger reserved for when it’s just us.
The promise in his look finds its echo in my belly, sharp and wanting, and my skin prickles with anticipation .
Later.
Later I’ll show them everything I can’t voice in this sun-bright room.
My heart steadies in this peace. "I just want to feel sunlight on my face. Lunch in the garden sounds like bliss."
I had no idea the garden would be Mira’s personal garden on top of her penthouse.
It’s beautiful and private and no one can be here except us.
Hours pass as we reunite. I’m both destroyed, saddened, and awed as my friends begin tracing the map of their last two years.
Listening to what happened to them leaves me turned inside out, grief dogging the edges of every laugh, awe pressing at my chest when I see how much they’ve claimed for themselves.
Emma places her drink back on the small table between us. "I thought I’d never be safe anywhere, but my Alphas didn’t stop showing me they are my safe place. They freed me."
Mira’s eyes shine as she smiles at Zane who is chatting to Gabriel and Soren, then to me. "I fought my Alphas too," she says, brushing hair behind her ear. "I didn’t know they were my scent-matches. Or what that even meant. Mercer and Hardwick kept so much from us. So much ."
The truth is, they shaped us to be slaves. To grind us down to be nothing but shells, and the Alphas who would have bought us were no better.
I’m filled with nerves when I ask, "How does being bonded feel? What is it like?"
Emma’s eyes light up when she smiles, and I love that look on my friend. "It’s… grounding. Like, there’s a thrum in your chest of safety, love, and want. It’s not losing yourself, Leah. It’s finally being allowed to take up space."
Mira links our fingers. "It’s nothing to be afraid of, Leah. Your bonded Alphas are an extension of your soul. It’s like… coming fully home to your body and knowing you’ll never be alone inside it again." Her eyes catch mine. "You deserve it, Leah. You deserve all of the good things."
Her words root under my skin and their essences drift around me soft and pure and honest. I nod, blinking fast, holding that hope close .
Afternoon drifts toward twilight, and shadows stretch across the flagstones.
Plates sit empty, laughter has faded to quiet hums, and we’ve traded stories until the air is thick with old sorrow and new joy, but the peace that carried us through the garden meal is unraveling.
Hours have passed. Too many. Concern has become a cold uneasiness that shivers down my spine.
There’s still no word from Ronan or Jax.
Not from Mira’s Alphas, Adrian and Cole, or Emma’s Asher and Phoenix, either.
I scan the city below, nerves winding tighter with each silent minute. Emma chews her lip, Soren’s hand coming to her shoulder. Mira’s jaw works, green eyes sharp as she watches Zane scroll through unanswered texts.
"Do you think…" Emma voices what we’re all holding back. "Maybe they found something. Or… something happened?"