47. Calliope #3
When he opens the door, Idris is sitting on the floor across the hall with his back against the wall. The three sections belonging to him, Sloane, and Theo glow against my bracelet, though only Idris is close enough for me to see.
“Theo needed Sloane,” he says as he gets to his feet. “They went to the nest for a little while. They know you’re safe, and they should be back any minute.”
Footsteps sound farther down the hall before I can answer. Theo appears first with Sloane close behind him, and the second Theo sees me standing in the doorway, he stops.
His gaze finds the bite above my sweater and stays there before relief loosens his face. I hold out my hand.
Theo crosses the hall immediately, pressing himself against me with enough force that I sway back into Dash.
“I am okay, Star.” I wrap both arms around him and kiss his hair. “Come inside.”
Theo goes with me without letting go. Sloane reaches us a second later, and Idris steps in behind him before Dash closes the door. The lockoff was never designed for five people, but no one suggests moving to the larger nest.
Dash sits against the headboard and pulls me between his legs. Theo curls into my side, Idris settles near our feet, and Sloane stretches along the other side of Theo until there is no open space left on the mattress.
For several minutes, no one speaks. Theo keeps one hand around my wrist and the other pressed against Dash’s thigh, as though he needs physical proof that neither of us is leaving the room.
I turn toward him and breathe in.
His scent is sweeter than it has been all week, but beneath it is the unmistakable weight of Sloane. It clings to his neck, his clothes, and the skin near his shoulder with far more intensity than ordinary cuddling could leave behind.
“You smell like Sloane,” I tell him, rubbing my nose near his temple. “A lot like Sloane.”
Theo winces.
I pull back and study him more closely. His collar has shifted beneath my hand, exposing the swollen edge of a fresh bite near his shoulder.
“Did he just bond you?”
Theo’s face turns pink. He looks toward Sloane, who does not appear remotely ashamed, then hides part of his face against my chest.
“You and Dash were kind of loud,” Theo says. His voice remains soft, but it does not disappear. “I kept worrying even though I knew where you were, and Sloane would not stop touching me.”
Sloane’s hand moves over Theo’s hip. His expression softens before he answers, keeping his voice low near Theo’s ear.
“He asked for the mark again. I reminded him we had already agreed fear would not make the decision, and he told me he had wanted it before today. I checked him twice, and he asked me again both times.”
Theo presses his face more firmly against me. “He kept kissing me while we waited.”
Warm laughter moves through the room before I can stop it. Theo peeks up at me, his own mouth beginning to curve, and Sloane bends to kiss the fresh bite with enough tenderness that Theo’s eyes close.
“I thought we agreed no one was being left outside the lockoff,” I say, kissing Theo’s forehead. “Apparently everyone made productive use of the waiting time.”
Idris' mouth softens as he reaches over to touch Theo’s ankle. “The timing was not planned, but the consent was clear.”
Dash shifts behind me.
His breath catches, and the new bond carries a surge of feeling so strong that I turn in his arms. He looks from Theo to Sloane, then toward Idris, experiencing them without needing to study their expressions from across the room.
“I can feel them,” he says again. His hand spreads over my stomach as though he needs the contact to steady himself. “I knew I would feel you, but I didn't know they would be this clear.”
I turn in his arms. “All of them?”
His eyes move over the bed before returning to mine. “Yeah.”
“How does it feel?”
His arms tighten around me. “Like I was already making room for them before I knew what to call it.”
“And me?” I ask. “What do I feel like?”
Dash looks down at me. His arms tighten around my waist, and the love that moves through the new bond answers before he does.
“You feel full,” he says. “You’re still tired, and some part of you is waiting for the next thing to go wrong, but underneath that you’re happy.”
Theo shifts closer until his head rests beneath my chin as Sloane folds himself around both of us, Idris stretching along the foot of the bed with one hand on my leg.
“I can’t promise nothing else will go wrong again, princess,” He pauses as he squeezes my leg and then presses a kiss to my skin.
“But I can promise that you won’t ever have to go through it alone. ”
The bond between the five us surges with every bit of love that we haven’t said, every bit of assurance I still need, the last bit of uncertainty falling away.
The lockoff no longer feels like a room where I waited to learn whether anyone was coming back.
It is crowded, too warm, and full of the people I chose.
I close my eyes with all four of them pressed close, and for the first time, there’s nothing missing.