Epilogue
Charlotte
Before them, it had always been about the visa. About her status as an unbonded, preaestral omega with no guardian and no family. It had always been about money and keeping herself safe and fed and keeping the electricity on.
Which was why, when her mate–her mate! she still cannot believe she can say that word–had called her into the dining room a week after her heat had broken and handed her the paperwork, she had paused for a moment.
She could feel through the bond that this was something serious, not the usual lightness she felt from Alex's side of the bond.
Her other two mates were already there sitting in their usual places at the table. Their faces were serious, but their bonds were flung wide open so she could feel the earnestness, trepidation, and a flicker of hope in them.
Her eyes catch on the marks showing on their flesh, claiming bites from her heat littering their body and peeking out of their shirts on their necks and wrists.
She forces herself to look away. She wasn't cleared to have sex again for another week, according to Tomas' physician, who they had insisted make a house call to see her after her heat had broken, despite her loud and frequent protests.
Besides, she was still bleeding. Her body was still shedding the unfertilized egg and uterine lining for the first time. It was an uncomfortably crampy and messy business, and Charlotte couldn't imagine doing this every month like beta females did.
And if she keeps looking at those marks, it's going to be hard to resist bending over the table and down her leggings right now, no matter how ill-advised it might be.
She looks down at the pile of papers in front of her.
"MATED OMEGA CITIZENSHIP APPLICATION" the form read at the top. It was already filled out, save her signature.
There was another form beneath it, with a "DECLARATION OF CHANGED MATING STATUS" form from the Northern Provinces also filled out.
She doesn't know how long she stares at the papers in front of her or what they must be reading from her side of the bond, but it must have been too long or too wrong, because Silas approaches her. His voice is barely a whisper like he thinks she's about to burst.
"Charlotte, we don't want to rush you if you're not ready. We'll wait if you need, but I just want you to know that you are ours, and we're going to take care of you. For the rest of your life."
A mated omega had 50% rights to whatever the pack owned. A mated omega was granted automatic citizenship to the country where the pack resided. A mated omega had rights under the law to study and work.
A memory flashes through her mind of the cheques they had written her, signed with their names. It had felt like mortgaging pieces of her soul. It had destroyed her, one line at a time.
When she signs her own name now, giving all of herself... it was worth it, she thinks.
She'd do it again. A million times over. For them.
∞∞∞
The manuscript viewing room in the Laurentian Library looks over the Medici Chapel in the Basilica di San Lorenzo in Florence.
If that wasn't distracting enough, her three alphas had been down there for the past twenty minutes deep in discussion as they admired the Michelangelo sculptures and waited for her to be finished with her morning appointment.
She tries to force herself to focus on the manuscript in front of her, taking notes on the shiny new rose gold tablet that matched her computer that Silas had surprised her with before they left on this trip. It was, on paper, a research trip.
In reality, there were no notable libraries on the Amalfi Coast where they were planning to spend the next three weeks. Just beaches and lemons and sun.
They had already spent weeks in Venice and Milan, and Silas had had to send back multiple crates already with the amount of clothes they'd purchased for her that he'd insisted she would need for her spring wardrobe.
The basilica bells chime the hour, and she carefully closes the manuscript.
It didn't have what she was looking for, but it did have a funny little collection of poems about alpha knots written in Latin.
Hunting down the texts she was looking for was half the fun, anyways, so she's not disappointed.
She places the tome back on the librarian's desk with a quick thank you, and then she makes for the terrifying spiral stone staircase that will lead her back down to the side entrance where her mates had told her they'd be waiting for her. Her mates.
It still felt unreal to think those words. When she turns the last sharp corner of the stairs and sees them, she can't stop herself from launching herself into Alex's awaiting arms.
The scent of sweet tobacco smoke and home fills her nostrils.
"So, did you find a lost first edition of the Iliad?"
"The Iliad was an oral tradition for the first thousand years, and you know that," she says happily, nuzzling her nose into his neck.
Silas pries her out of his pack brothers' arms, scent marking her and pressing a kiss into her hair.
"I made us lunch reservations along the river. It will be a nice walk," he tells her as he hands her over to Tomas.
Maybe it should make her feel offended the way they pass her around like a doll. But it doesn't. She's never felt so cherished in her life.
"But first, I have something I wanted to ask," Tomas says as he sets her on her feet.
She should've known by how empty it was. The churches in Florence were never empty of tourists.
She should've known by the scent of roses she catches on the air, rather than the dusty stone and incense that usually filled these old churches.
She should've known by the anticipation she feels building in the bond.
But even still, as he leads her into the Basilica, geometrically perfect arches lining the central nave, her heart nearly stops as she takes in the sight of thousands–millions?–of red roses lining the length of the church, filling up the black and white space with red.
Somewhere in the back of her mind she idly wonders how they could've planned this, how long it must have taken...
In the time it takes for her to take it in, her alphas are kneeling before her, each holding a ring.
She should've known...
"Charlotte Hines, will you marry us?"