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“You’re incredible,” I murmur.

“So brave,” Blaise adds.

“So fucking loved,” Xar finishes.

Her eyes flutter closed, but her lips still move.

“I love you,” she whispers. “I love all of you. But what’s an omega got to do to get bonded around here?”

It punches the air right out of my lungs.

I look down at her – eyes glassy, lips kiss-swollen, her body still knotted to mine and Blaise’s – and I feel something inside me crack open.

Blaise lets out a broken sound behind her, his forehead dropping to the curve of her spine.

Xar curses softly, brushing a kiss to her temple. “We want it too, baby. You know we do.”

She nods, but her smile falters. “Then why does it feel like I’m chasing something that’s always just out of reach?”

My heart lurches.

I wrap both arms around her, drawing her tighter to my chest, my knot still holding us together, still claiming her. “You’re not chasing anything,” I whisper fiercely. “You already have us.”

“But not forever,” she murmurs, lashes fluttering shut. “Not yet.”

Not yet.

The words burn. I feel Blaise tense behind her. Xar stays quiet – but the weight of the silence says everything.

We’ve fucked her, claimed her, marked her in every way that doesn’t count.

And she’s still waiting for the one thing that does.

EVIANA

The scent of pancakes hits me next – sweet and golden, with a hint of lemon and sugar. The nest is soft around me, the scent of my alphas lingering strong and comforting, curling around me like arms.

I’m not alone.

Warm. That’s how I feel. Not hot, not desperate – just warm.

The sticky haze has lifted. My body aches, pleasantly, like I’ve been wrung out and wrapped in silk. I blink open heavy eyes to find sunlight streaming through the curtains, dappling the edge of the nest.

I breathe in deep – alpha musk, warm skin – and exhale slowly.

Lucid.

Finally.

And yet I don’t want to move. I don’t want to break the peace, or the way Dane’s fingers are stroking slow, lazy circles over my hip like he doesn’t even know he’s doing it and a low, steady purring vibrates through my skin. He’s lying behind me, arm draped around me, chest pressed against my back like a steady, grounding wall.

Blaise is on one side next to me, his breathing soft and even, one hand resting protectively on my thigh beneath the covers.

“She’s still sleeping?”

“For now,” Dane replies behind me. “Let her rest.”

But I don’t want to rest. Not anymore.