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“New beginnings often look different than we expect them to, but the potential is always there. This nest has so much of it.”

“Thank you. I didn’t realize how much I needed that.” She sighs. “You know, you’re difficult to resist, Nate Morgan.”

“Then stop trying.”

We’re silent for a bit, bodies rocking gently as we acclimate to one another. This isn’t the frenzy of the heat or the chaos of a random meeting. It’s maybe too intimate, but I don’t know how to be a stranger to someone who feels like home. I’m not stupid enough to assume Daphne’s on the same page, though. She needs time and care; tender nurturing of the connection that’s already flaring to life between us. This is a bond beyond bites. A soul-deep tether that I treasure already.

It takes a while, but as our hearts gentle, beating together, my omega breaks. Silent breaths stuttering, tears wetting my skin. It’s a slow fall, but no less devastating.

“It shouldn’t hurt this bad.” Daphne’s broken whisper is haunted by more than just Connor’s careless words. History’s etched into her being, and he’s ripped those wounds open and left her to bleed.

My hand cradles her neck, keeping her pressed against me. I wish I could open my chest and tuck her inside where it’s safe and warm. Where she’ll be protected always. “You offered him your trust when it was too fragile to take a hit, and he broke it carelessly. Of course you’re hurting.”

“He’s your pack lead.”

And he’ll remain so, but only if he checks himself.

We fall into a comfortable silence, Daphne working through her thoughts while I gorge myself on her scent and the way it feels to hold her. Night air creeps, stealing some of the pain from the space and clearing it away until there’s only us. Only peace and this budding happiness that I refuse to let die.

Eventually, she twists in my hold, burrowing into my body. “I don’t know if I can risk him hurting me again.”

Don’t leave me.

My throat burns as I swallow down the need to say it, to beg her to stay. I can’t be selfish. Daphne deserves the freedom to make her own choices without my needs interfering.

“I’ll stand beside you, whatever you choose.” If there’s one thing she accepts tonight, I hope it’s this.

Her fingers run across my chest, tracing the lines of my tattoos absently. She drifts to my neck, gently prodding some of the hickeys she left with a smile she can’t quite hide. Marks I wear with honor because my omega gave them to me. It feels so good. I wish she’d never stop touching me.

“What if I decide to court you and Dez, but not Connor?”

My knees nearly buckle. Daph’s first reaction isn’t to walk away from all of us, just the one who fucked up. It’s more than I expected.

“That’s your decision. The omega makes their pack.”

She scrutinizes my face, looking for lies she’ll never find. “You would leave him on the outside because of this?”

“I won’t allow Connor to hurt you, and I won’t force you to try with someone you feel you can’t trust. Besides, I told him I’d leave if he ever spoke to you like that again.”

Daphne jerks, staring at me with wide eyes. “You can’t mean that, Nate. We’re not even courting.”

“So? I won’t follow a man who lashes out at someone like that.” It’s obvious Daphne doesn’t believe me. Doesn’t think she deserves this. I run a thumb across her bottom lip, stifling whatever argument she’s cooked up. “I know it will take time for you to accept this, but I need you to hear me. If keeping you means leaving everything I know behind, I’ll do it. No questions asked, no second thoughts.”

I think Dez would do the same. He sees what I have from the moment I spotted her. A future together. The family we’ve all craved. Hope we’ve been missing.

Life.

Daphne Barnes is life. One that we’ll do whatever it takes to keep.

When she still doesn’t speak, I run my lips across her cheek. “Let me stay with you. Let me be here because there’s nowhere else I’d rather be.”

Daphne’s tears come faster now and the tension in my chest unwinds as she purges a little bit of the pain she carries. When her breaths are steady, muscles soft, I lift her into my arms. Awkwardly toeing my boots off, I knee walk us onto the bed, wrapping her in what little blankets remain against the night’s chill.

Daphne’s silent as she buries her face in my neck, absorbing my presence and my purr. She lets me hold her until her lashes stop sweeping my skin. Even when she’s drifted into sleep, she stays planted on top of me as if this is where she was always meant to be. Where she should always remain.

As she rests, I pull up the pack group chat.

Me