Epilogue #2
The entry area has benches carved from ice with thick fur throws for sitting, a small ice table, and carved alcoves where we can store our clothes and belongings. There’s even a door leading to what Elsa explains is a heated bathroom.
But the masterpiece is at the back of the room.
An arched entrance carved from ice leads into what can only be described as a sleeping alcove.
The arch is flanked by two stunning sculptures.
A wolf on one side, fierce and beautiful with every hair seemingly carved in detail, and a bird on the other, with wings tucked elegantly against its body, head turned as if watching over whoever enters.
And beyond that arch is an enormous bed, easily big enough for four people to sleep comfortably, covered in so many fur blankets and throws that it looks like a cloud made of luxury. Soft blue lighting makes everything glow like we’re sleeping inside a precious gem.
“The sleeping bags are in the wardrobe here,” Elsa is explaining, showing us a carved alcove with specialized thermal sleeping equipment.
“The room stays around twenty-three degrees Fahrenheit, so you’ll want to follow the layering instructions carefully.
The bathroom through that door is heated to normal temperatures, and you can warm up there whenever needed. ”
I’m barely listening. I’m too busy walking through the space, touching the wolf sculpture, running my fingers along the carved arch, staring at the bed that looks like something from a winter fairy tale.
The bathroom is visible through a doorway, and I peek inside to find more ice artistry—walls with decorative carvings of wolves and forest animals that match the theme of our room, and what appears to be an ice structure surrounding a normal heated tub.
When Elsa finally leaves after explaining approximately fifty things I’ll never remember, I turn to my Alphas.
“I love this room,” I announce, my voice echoing slightly off the frozen walls. “I love this hotel. I love Sweden. I love ice as a building material. I love everything about this moment, and I will carry it with me for the rest of my entire life. And I love you three so much.”
They’re watching me with those soft expressions that leave my heart fluttering.
“We’re glad you approve,” Kane adds with a sinful grin.
“Approve? I’m going to write poetry about this room. Bad poetry. Rhyming poetry. That’s how much I approve.”
“Please don’t,” Noel says. “Your creative talents lie elsewhere.”
I laugh. “Rude. But fair.”
Chris has disappeared into the bathroom area, and when he emerges, he’s carrying the most beautiful dress I have ever seen in my entire life.
It’s ice blue—of course it is, because these men understand themes—with long sleeves and a high neckline trimmed with soft white faux fur.
The fabric shimmers like it’s woven from starlight and frost crystals, catching the ambient glow of the room and throwing it back in tiny sparkles with every movement.
In his other hand is a matching mask, decorated with crystals and small white feathers, clearly designed for something formal and magical.
“Is that for me?” My voice comes out barely above a whisper.
“We’re booked for a masquerade ball in the ice bar tonight,” Chris says, and there’s this satisfied smile on his face that tells me he’s been waiting to reveal this part. “They’re hosting a special event, and we have tickets. After cocktails, we’re having dinner, and then there’s dancing.”
I make a sound that’s somewhere between a squeal and a sob.
“Is this actually my life?”
“It sure is,” Kane confirms and steals a kiss.
“We should get ready,” Noel adds, also leaning in to kiss me. “It starts in an hour.”
I’m already moving toward Chris, reaching for the dress. “Why are you only telling me this now? I need time! I need to do my hair! I need to figure out makeup that works with this mask! I need to have a moment to process the fact that I’m living inside a romance novel!”
The three of them are chuckling at me.
I clutch the dress to my chest, overwhelmed all over again. “I honestly don’t know how I can ever repay you for this,” I whisper. “This is… everything I never thought I’d get to have. I didn’t even let myself want something like this. And you just—” My voice catches. “You gave it to me.”
Noel steps in first like he’s approaching something sacred.
He frames my face with those big, calloused hands, angling me up into his gaze.
“You don’t repay us,” he says quietly. “That’s not how this works.
We choose you. We keep choosing you. And giving you the things you never thought you deserved?
” His thumb strokes my cheek. “That’s our privilege, Hannah. ”
My heart flips. God, he means it.
Then he kisses me, slow, lingering, a promise pressed directly into my mouth. The kind of kiss that has me trembling when he pulls away.
Chris is there and brushes a kiss along my jaw, warm breath trailing after it. “You have no idea,” he murmurs, “how easy it is to give to you. How good it feels.” His hand skims down my arm, fingers tangling briefly with mine. “Let us spoil you a little, sweetheart.”
Then Kane’s palms settle at my hips, drawing me into the heat of his chest. He presses his mouth to the side of my head, a slow drag of lips that makes my spine melt. “You think this is a lot?” he rumbles against my skin. “Just wait. We haven’t even warmed up yet.”
A laugh slips out of me, half breathless, half desperate to keep standing under all this attention.
They’re surrounding me—touching me, claiming me without needing to mark a single inch.
It’s dizzying. It’s perfect.
Kane nuzzles my temple. “Go on, beautiful,” he says, voice dipping low. “Get dressed.”
Chris’s hand pats my ass. “We’ve got a ball to attend,” he adds, smirking. “And trust me… we plan on being the ones who get to unwrap you later.”
My whole body lights up. And for the first time in my life, I don’t feel like someone who’s being given a gift. But like I’m the gift they can’t wait to cherish.
I float into the bathroom on a cloud of happiness. “Can you believe this is happening?” I ask the carved wolf as I blend eyeshadow. “Because I can’t.”
The dress fits perfectly. My hair goes into soft curls that cascade over my shoulders and down my chest, a few tendrils framing my face.
When I finally position the mask and look at myself in the mirror, my breath catches.
I might as well be an ice princess. Someone who belongs in ballrooms and palaces. With a deep breath, I adjust my mask one final time and step out of the bathroom.
My three Alphas are waiting, and I nearly fall over.
They’re all in formal suits, perfectly tailored to emphasize their broad shoulders and powerful builds.
Chris in deep charcoal that makes his green eyes pop.
Kane in midnight blue that somehow makes him look even more dangerous than usual.
Noel in classic black with his long dark hair pulled back, looking like a fallen angel.
Each of them wears a black masquerade mask over his eyes, and the effect is absolutely devastating. They look like secret agents. Like villains from a Gothic romance. Like every fantasy I’ve ever had made flesh.
“Your Majesty,” Noel says, dropping to one knee in front of me. “You honor us poor mortals with your presence.”
I laugh, the sound echoing off the ice walls. He takes my hand and presses a kiss to my knuckles before rising gracefully.
Chris and Kane move in like they planned it, but I know they didn’t.
They just… orbit me. Big hands skim over whatever skin they can reach.
Chris’s lips brush my bare shoulder where the neckline has slipped.
Kane’s mouth finds the curve of my neck.
Fingers trail along my waist, slow and appreciative.
“You’re so beautiful,” Chris murmurs against my skin, his breath warm and distracting.
A shiver rolls down my spine.
He continues, “This dress was the right call. I worried the blue would be too on the nose, given the venue, but…” His palm slides down the fabric over my hip, slow enough to make me inhale sharply. “It’s perfect. You’re perfect.”
I smirk. Chris kisses my shoulder again. Kane’s hands tighten on my waist as he says, “We should get you to this ball before we mess up your hair and your dress and your very carefully applied makeup.”
“Ruining my makeup seems inevitable,” I shoot back, my cheeks heating.
Noel opens the long white coat they must have brought for me. Faux fur collar. Cuffs looking as soft as clouds. He drapes it over my shoulders. I snuggle into it, moaning at the warmth.
“You really thought of everything,” I murmur.
“We tried,” Chris says, offering me his arm. There’s a subtle, devastating pride in his voice. “Come with us.”
I take his arm. Kane offers his other arm with a wicked little tilt of his mouth. Noel falls into step behind us, his palm warm and possessive at the small of my back.
We make our way through the ice corridors like we’re royalty processing to a state event. Other guests pass us—some in formal wear clearly headed to the same destination, others in casual clothes exploring the hotel—and every single one of them turns to look.
We must make quite a picture. The three massive Alphas in their dark suits and masks, and me in my shimmering ice-blue gown, looking like I escaped from a winter fairy tale.
I’ve never felt more beautiful. More cherished. More like I belong exactly where I am.
The ice bar is in a separate section of the hotel, and when we step through the entrance, I have to stop and just breathe because it’s too much to process at once.
The entire space is carved from ice—walls, seats, bar, glasses, everything—but it’s been decorated for the masquerade with incredible artistry.
Ice sculptures of dancers frozen mid-waltz are positioned throughout the room, so detailed that I can see the expressions on their faces, the movement in their gowns and coattails.
The bar itself is a huge ice structure with soft blue lighting embedded within, bottles of spirits chilling in carved alcoves that glow like treasure.
“Starting with drinks,” Noel says, already in mission mode. “Because we’re in an ice bar and it would be borderline offensive not to.” He gestures at a menu. “They use cloudberries and lingonberries and aquavit. I’m committed.”
He disappears toward the bar.
Chris, Kane, and I find a table near an enormous ice sculpture of a snow fox. It’s so intricately carved that I swear it’s watching us. I run my fingers over the table’s frozen surface, still marveling at how this entire place is made of water and cold and magic. Temporary magic.
Noel returns, carrying four drinks in ice-glasses shaped like faceted gemstones.
Mine holds a deep plum-colored cocktail that glows slightly under the lights, garnished with frozen berries and a shard of crystallized mint.
The men’s drinks are amber and rich, swirling with herbs trapped in ice like prehistoric specimens.
Chris lifts his glass with a slow smile that hits me somewhere low in my stomach. “To Hannah. Who trusted three bounty hunters enough to get on a plane without knowing where she would end up.”
Kane grins. “To us. For surviving the interrogation she put us through. I still have bruises on my ego.”
Noel raises his glass last. “To all the places we’ll go after this. Because this is only the beginning.”
I lift mine, cold seeping through my gloves. “To my three Alphas, who somehow made a surprise trip across the world feel like the most thoughtful thing anyone has ever done for me. Whatever you were trying to accomplish… you succeeded.”
They laugh, and when we drink, the taste is unreal. Sweet. Tart. Warming in a way that feels like it unfurls inside my ribs and makes room for something new.
Chris slides his arm along the back of my chair, fingers ghosting over my shoulder. “This is what your life looks like now,” he says softly.
Kane shifts closer, his palm trailing down my spine with gentle possession. “We’re here. All the way. No fear. No hesitation. You’re ours, and we’re yours.”
Noel grins from across the table. “You’re stuck with us. Permanently. We checked the contract and everything.”
I laugh. The sound rings bright and clear, bouncing off the ice walls and mixing with the soft music drifting through the space. It feels like the ice itself is carrying the sound upward and scattering it around us.
For a moment, everything fades. The world, the past, the uncertainty. All I feel is their heat pressed against my sides, their attention resting fully and completely on me, the surreal beauty of the glowing ice palace, and the knowledge blooming slowly inside me.
Happiness doesn’t feel the way I thought it would. It’s not loud or dramatic. It’s not something fragile I have to hold tightly before it slips through my fingers.
It’s warmth inside a frozen world, being held even when I’m scared. This love that melts everything I thought I knew about my life.
I turn to them, heart full, and whisper, “I’m all in for the long haul.”
Chris’s breath catches. Kane goes still. Noel’s smile is captivating. And they close in around me, our glasses clinking softly like a promise forming in the cold.
For the first time in my life, I’m not afraid to keep something wonderful.
And I’m never letting it go.