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“We don’t need to get into this right now, Soren, We’ll have time later.”

He cups my chin harder. Forces me to look at him.

“If not now, we might not get another chance,” he mutters.

I get it. When it feels like you’re on borrowed time, but instead of making every second count, all you can do is wonder if you’ll get any more.

Soren is right. If so many different pieces hadn’t clicked into place for us, then we wouldn’t be here, waiting for the cops to secure the scene. We’d be inside, dead. Or worse, alive and tortured.

The world is continuing around us while we sit. Even the chill in the air is something separate and held at bay by the heat rolling off of him.

“Dammit, Gillian, do you have any idea what you mean to us? To me?” he asks.

“You can’t speak for the others.”

“I can, and I’m going to, because I’m the only fucking one here to tell you this. You’re our star. You’re our guiding light and none of us realized it until you got here.” Soren shakes his head until his hair obscures his face. “I love you. I never thought it was possible, and we’re in for a huge fucking mess because of it, but you’re it for me. I can’t wait to learn how we fit.”

I hiccup through a sob. The world continues around us but here, in our bubble, it’s only us.

“I’ve probably always loved you. It’s wrong and screwed up and I’ll rot in hell for it, but I’m not letting you go. You’re mine.” He growls out the last word.

I’m damned right along with him as I kiss Soren with my heart full to bursting. “I love you,” I whisper against his lips.

Being with him isn’t easy and yet I don’t want it anyother way. He’s my anchor in the storm. How did it happen so quickly?

“We’re going to make this work,” Soren insists. “All of us. We’re going to make this work.”

He grabs me by my ass and lifts me into him, forcing me to scramble to wrap my legs around him as he bites my lip between his teeth.

“Yes. We’re going to make this work.”

“Always having fun without me.” Tase lumbers over. “No one ever waits for me to join.”

Soren releases a dark chuckle. “Is that what you want, Doc? To join?”

But he loosens his hold on me as Tase gets closer and I know what to do. Casting Soren a final hot look, I stand up and reach for Tase, and he draws me into a hug while Soren hauls himself to his feet.

Tase kisses me, tasting Soren on my mouth, tasting me. I put one arm around his waist and the other arm around Soren’s, drawing us all closer together.

The anger I’ve carried my entire life washes away. Scattered on the gently lapping water on the shore. For the first time, I’ve found what I’ve been looking for. My home is wherever they are. We can stay here, or we can move to Alaska, I don’t care as long as we are together.

But it’s not quite home yet, not without Aiden. I swipe at the tears in my eyes. “Let’s go check on Aiden,” I tell them.

The future I want may still be on the table, but it’s so much richer than I could have imagined. Brighter, more stable. So clear and strong it steals the air from my lungs.

I’m not alone. And it’s my choice.

Chapter 36

Gilli

4 Months Later

Aiden trails kisses up my neck, cupping my breast.

“Stop,” I warn. “You’re going to strain yourself.”

He murmurs a counter argument against my skin. “I won’t push myself.”