Chapter 60
sixty
Finn insists on carrying me outside.
Normally, he’d regale me with details from his afternoon with “pipsqueak” and “the big guy.” Tonight, he seems subdued. When we reach the kitchen, his anxious aqua eyes dart between the back doors and my face.
“Listen, firefly,” he starts. “I had this idea… but if you don’t like it, or you think it’s a waste of time or money…
It’s just… something I do for all our big parties.
Sort of like a grand finale. I wanted to show you, because I think you might—” He shakes his head.
“It feels kind of stupid now, honestly. But it’s all set up, so… ”
He still isn’t accustomed to feeling uncertain, but, ironically, Nervous Finn is one of my very favorite versions of him. I stroke his cheek, smiling. “Will you show me?”
My mate gives a jerky nod and finally closes the distance to the doors. I can’t help but peek through the warped antique glass, trying to gauge what I’m in for.
For a long second, I don’t understand. It’s basically dark outside—but there are… flying flickers? Scattered across the horizon, moving in slow swirls. Almost like—
The floating lights.
Atlas opens the exit and steps back, allowing Finn to carry me through. My chest immediately tightens on a choked inhale.
I can’t process what I’m seeing. Dozens of orbs glow low in the sky, drifting upward in leisurely clusters.
My gaze tracks their warm flickers as my mouth falls open in awe. I go entirely still, aside from wild blinks. A memory floods my mind, filling it with images from the night I thought would be my last. When I peered out the one crack in my shuttered window and saw…
This.
I was right. They aren’t stars or fireworks or random floating flames.
They’re lanterns.
Shock locks the rest of my body into stillness while I blink wildly, certain the lights will disappear. Finn watches me, his muscles tense until my numb lips move.
“How—how did you know?”
His flawless features crease. “Know?”
I try to swallow, but my throat is too dry. “The night before you guys found me. I was—I thought I wasn’t going to make it. And I was lying there, waiting… looking through the little window strip...”
Finn snaps the rest together. Shock fills his expression. “You saw lanterns in the sky? From a distance?”
I try to nod, but it’s more of a shiver. “Yes. Was that—”
“Me,” he supplies, gazing directly into me. “Yeah, it was.”
It’s amazing how quickly my astonishment fades to certainty. Because, of course, it was him. This alpha has done nothing but try to light up my world from the second he stumbled into it—despite being smacked in the head by a wayward frying pan. Twice.
Finn and I are still focused on one another when Atlas appears at his packmate’s elbow, petting my hair. “We had a party that night. Finn decided to do lanterns as a special send-off for our guests.”
Nonsensical tears track down my cheeks. I turn to the man holding me.
The one who gives me the most unforgettable gifts. The one who’s been all-in from the moment he saw me. The one whose efforts have never wavered—not even when he didn’t know what he was doing.
I stare into his crystalline eyes while mine water. “They’re beautiful.”
His mouth kicks into my favorite soft smile. “I used to think so,” he replies, glancing at the sky before returning his focus to my face. “Until I learned the real meaning of that word.”
Me, I think, heart bursting. He’s talking about me.
Finn brushes his mouth over mine in a slow kiss.
That same, sweet uncertainty fills his features as he pulls back, bouncing his eyes between mine.
“I love you, Violet.” His mouth quirks higher.
“You must know that, right? I’m not exactly famous for my subtlety.
And I know I’ve been a complete fucking idiot, sometimes, but—”
I press my fingers to his lips as a deep swell of adoration steals my breath, leaving me with a thick throat. I try to purr anyway, whispering, “I love you, too, Finn.”
My mate’s grin is a genuine, glorious thing. So dazzling, my vision tunnels a bit as he clutches me closer. His chest stutters on a gasp… which he then expels with a victorious whoop.
“Did you fuckers hear that?! My omega loves me!”
“Yeah, yeah,” Ryker’s raspy voice gripes. “We heard.”
His timbre draws my attention to the space between the back patio and meadow. There, Ryker and Gideon crouch in the grass, lighting one final group of lanterns before Gideon carefully lifts them into the air.
The final paper cylinder drifts out of his grasp and he steps back, dusting off his hands. He tosses a smirk over his shoulder, aiming it at Finn. “Took you long enough to get the balls to tell her,” he teases.
They’re both at our sides within seconds. All four men exchange loaded looks. Finn clears his throat, bending to scent-mark my cheek.
“You’ve lit up our world, firefly,” he says. “We thought it was only fair if we did the same for you, tonight.”
Ryker nods, stepping up to Finn and leaning down. His beard tickles my chin as he steals a rough kiss, husking a correction. “Forever. If you’ll have us.”
Gideon slides into Atlas’s side. Our alpha squeezes him, dropping a long, grateful kiss onto his crown. Gid grins at me, all honest contentment. “You’re supposed to make wishes on them.” A hint of his usual snark flashes through his smoky eyes. “Lame, right?”
I’m so full of soaring, shimmering joy, my head feels like it might float away as I shake it back and forth. “No,” I tell him. “Not lame at all.”
His delighted smile returns. “In that case… care to try it?”
When I nod, Gideon steps forward, gently taking me from Finn. He starts to carry me to the nearby table and nestles his nose against my temple. Scenting his alpha on me.
His own perfume winds into the air as he hums. “Mmm. Fuck. You smell like a goddamn miracle, sweet girl.”
I release a breath I didn’t know I was holding, relieved to have his final approval. Gideon feels me relax and snuggles me closer, brushing his lips between my brows. “Here. Look.”
He places me on my feet in front of the patio table, where five flattened lanterns sit in a row. Atlas bends over the last one, accepting a pen from Ryker and writing a cursive line.
He leaves the Sharpie on the remaining blank lantern and comes to stand behind Gideon, wrapping his arms around his omega. “Read them,” Gideon urges.
They’ve all filled in their wishes. My eyes leap from one to the next, scanning their four different scrawls. Ryker’s is the most familiar. My heart cracks as I read it:
To never be separated from Violet again.
My lion nuzzles the back of my shoulder, scraping his teeth along the exposed skin. Instead of hoarding me for himself, he tilts his chin at the next lantern. “Read Pretty Boy’s.”
I would have known it was Finn’s, even if no one told me. He’s drawn violets all over the paper, surrounding a single line. The most poetic one, of course:
Always, forever Violet.
Atlas comes next. His elegant script is simple, reflecting all the feelings that sing through our still-open half-bond: To be the alpha both of my omegas need.
I swallow a hoarse lump of tears, turning my head to face him. Gideon snags my gaze first, smirking. “I know. His wish has already come true.”
I snicker with him, despite the emotion blocking my windpipe. His hand finds mine, squeezing before he gestures to the last lantern. I brush my free fingers across his line.
To give Violet and Atlas everything they need, especially each other.
Before I can burst into sobs, he sighs, settling his chin on my shoulder. “We wanted you to see these so you could know… you are what we want to wish for. Every last one of us.”
His words soak into the center of my soul, throwing sparks into the darkness.
As I lift my head, gazing at the incredible scene they’ve created for me, the whole world seems to blot and blur.
Their lanterns, the flickering lights, the four of them, surrounding me.
I take it all in, hope and certainty expanding behind my heart.
The small voice in my middle nudges me. I know what to do now. It’s time.
For a second, part of me wants to fight her. Fear spikes in my chest, but Gideon’s arm is solid around my waist, holding me up. Warming my spine.
Trust me this time, my Omega pleads. I promise I know what I’m doing.
I release a deep breath, sinking into the other omega’s embrace. Tracking the lanterns as they float above us, burning this moment into my brain.
The lights glimmer and spin. And I’m grateful they’re once again the last image I see before my Omega takes over, and everything goes dark.