Chapter 41 #2
“I want to be yours,” I say, and my voice doesn’t shake.
Not this time. “I want to be your Omega. I want to be part of this pack.” I look at each of them—my steadfast Alpha, my fierce Alpha, my sunshine Beta.
“I spent years being the girl no one chose. The spare daughter. The one left behind. I learned to run before anyone could leave me first.”
I take a shaky breath. “But you three? You make me want to stay. You see the real me—the loud, reckless, broken parts—and you didn’t flinch. You didn’t leave. So yeah.” A smile breaks through the tears. “If you’ll have me, I’m yours. I choose you. I choose us.”
Rowan’s eyes close for a beat, then shine. “We’ll always have you.”
Cassian’s grin breaks through the wreckage. “Thank God. I was this close to kidnapping you.”
I laugh.
“Okay,” Eli says, swiping at his eyes. “Now I can call Nexus without throwing up on the paperwork.”
He sets his phone on the mantle. Light blooms as two holograms form—an older woman with silver hair, a man with kind eyes. Nexus insignia glint at their collars. My heart stumbles but doesn’t fall. Not this time. It’s not their decision anymore. It’s mine.
“Your trial period has concluded,” the woman says, soft but formal. “Nexus requires a statement of consent from all parties for permanent recognition.”
“Alpha Hale,” the man asks. “Do you consent to accept Jessica Mancini into your permanent pack?”
Rowan doesn’t look at them. He looks only at me. “Yes. I chose her. Every morning. Every night. Every version of what comes next.”
“Alpha Douglas?”
“Fuck yes,” Cassian’s hand finds mine, threading our fingers together. “She’s our Omega. Has been since she stormed into our lives.”
My breath catches. Ours.
“Beta Mercado?”
“Absolutely yes,” Eli says without hesitation. “She turned this house into a family again. I don’t want a future that doesn’t have her in it.”
Then both pairs of eyes land on me. “Jessica Mancini,” the woman says. “Do you, of your own free will, wish to join the Hale-Douglas-Mercado pack as their Omega?”
For the first time in my life, no one’s pushing. No one’s deciding for me. No one’s telling me who to be or what to want. The choice is completely, terrifyingly, beautifully mine.
I look at them—my Alpha who steadies me when the world tilts, my Alpha who burns bright enough to light my way home, my Beta who makes every sharp edge feel soft. The men who saw through every defense and loved me anyway.
“I already chose,” I say, and I’ve never been more sure of anything.
“The second Rowan made me laugh. The first time Cassian called me on my bullshit. When Eli looked at me like I mattered.” My voice goes rough with emotion.
“I love them. I want this pack. I want this life. I want every messy, beautiful, chaotic morning and every quiet night. So yeah—yes. A million times, yes.”
The woman smiles, small but genuine. “Consent recorded. Nexus recognizes this pack as permanent and self-determined. Congratulations.” The woman glances down at her console. “Ankle monitor authorization revoked. The device unlocked and deactivated. You are cleared to remove and dispose of it.”
The holograms fade. The room shrinks back down to four heartbeats and the soft patter of rain.
For a moment, none of us move.
A soft chime sounds at my ankle. The monitor’s green light blinks once, then dies.
I look down, breath catching.
Rowan exhales—slow, relieved, wrecked. “Nexus just deactivated it.”
Cassian sinks to a knee, fingers brushing the band. “Permission to take this thing off you?”
“Fucking hell yes!” I answer.
Eli’s already retrieving a pair of small wire cutters from the drawer—of course he has tools ready. “Been waiting what feels like forever for this.”
The metal snips from Eli’s cut, and the band falls open.
For a second, my ankle feels wrong—light, exposed, like the feel of the weight is still there. A phantom squeeze where the band lived for weeks.
Eli squints at it, head tilting. “Weird,” he says solemnly. “I’ve never seen your ankle naked before.”
I choke on a laugh. “Eli.”
“What? It’s a milestone.”
Cassian picks it up, looks at it once, then drops it in the trash without ceremony. “Good fucking riddance.”
Then Rowan pulls me in, lips at my hairline. “You have no idea what you just gave us.”
“Everything,” I whisper. But they gave it to me first.
Cassian slides in at my side, caging me between them. “You just made three men the luckiest bastards alive.”
Eli folds in from behind, laughter breaking through tears. “Guess that means we can finally put your name on the mailbox.”
I laugh—wrecked and radiant and so damn full. “I love you,” I breathe, because once isn’t enough. “I love you, I love you.”
“We love you, Jess,” Cassian says, voice rough.
“Always,” Rowan murmurs, kissing my temple.
“Welcome home, Omega,” Eli says, warm against my shoulder.
And for the first time since Sabrina disappeared and the world cracked open, I know exactly where I belong. Not lost. Not running. Not alone.
Here. With them. Forever.