Page 27 of Enticing Little Omega (Twisted Little Tales #5)

William

C hrista was finally asleep.

Really asleep this time—not dozing between waves or slipping under for a few minutes before waking up needy and sweet and slick. Her body was limp, completely boneless where she lay between us, one arm flung across Anton’s chest, the other tangled with Annerly’s. Her face was soft. Peaceful.

She looked young like this.

In the last four days, I’d seen her wild. I’d seen her desperate. I’d seen her aching and begging and shaking apart in our arms. But this version, this sleepy, safe, and cuddly version, did something to me I couldn’t quite explain.

Made me feel like maybe we’d done something right after all.

“She’s beautiful,” Annerly whispered beside me, voice reverent.

Anton nodded, his hand stroking slowly up and down her bare back. “Strong, too.”

“I don’t know how she survived that long on her own,” I murmured, reaching over to brush a damp curl from her cheek. She didn’t stir. “But I’m glad she did. I’m glad she found her way to us.”

Drew shifted at the edge of the nest, legs crossed, arms loose around his knees. “Do we really get to keep her now?”

It wasn’t said with doubt—just awe. Like the rest of us, he still couldn’t quite believe she was real. That she wanted us back.

“We’re not letting her go,” I said firmly. “Not again.”

Annerly leaned into my side. “No. I need her like I need my next breath. The same way I do you.”

My heart ached with how much I loved them. All of them. Even Anton, in his gruff, reserved way, had softened. Had kissed her forehead, whispered to her in the dark when he thought we weren’t listening.

We were hers as much as she was ours.

A small sound interrupted my thoughts.

A soft, sleepy moan. Then: “Daddy?”

Christa blinked her eyes open slowly, her pupils clearer now, no longer blown wide from instinct or arousal. Her skin was flushed but not fevered. Her scent was calm. Settled.

The heat really was over.

I leaned in. “Hey, little one. You okay?”

She nodded, nuzzling closer. “Tired. Sore. Really, really tender.” Her smile was slow and lazy. “But…happy.”

My throat tightened. “You were incredible.”

She blinked up at me, then turned to take in the others. “Are you all okay?”

Anton made a quiet, amused sound. “We’re not the ones who took all our cocks over and over again, little Omega.”

She flushed, but didn’t hide her smile. “Just checking.”

A pause.

Then she looked at me. Really looked. Her fingers curled in the sheet, nervous. “Now that I’m not in heat anymore…”

I sat up a little straighter, watching her carefully.

Her voice was soft. Barely above a whisper. “Could we bond now?”

My heart stopped.

She licked her lips. “If you want to.”

If we want to?

I nearly laughed. Instead, I cupped her face gently and leaned in until our foreheads touched.

“There’s nothing I want more.”

Drew let out a shaky breath. “Fuck. I didn’t know how much I needed to hear that until now.”

Annerly kissed her shoulder. “We’ve been waiting, princess. For you.”

Anton didn’t say anything. He didn’t need to. His hand covered hers on the sheet and held it tight.

Christa looked at each of us ?her eyes shining.

“Okay,” she whispered. “Then I’m ready.”

And I knew deep in my bones, in the bond that hadn’t even been made yet, that nothing had ever felt more right.

I took a breath. “Okay. We’ll go slow, little one. You tell us if anything doesn’t feel right.”

Christa nodded, already tipping her head, offering her throat with so much trust it made my vision blur.

I leaned in first.

Her pulse fluttered beneath my lips, warm and steady and strong. I kissed her there once. Then again. Then sank my teeth in.

Her breath hitched—a soft, startled sound—and then she melted, her fingers gripping my arm as the bond snapped into place. A surge of love and belonging rushed through me like fire and sunlight and something older than both. My chest ached with how right it felt.

I licked the mark gently, sealing it, before resting my forehead against hers. “You’re mine now,” I whispered. “And I’m yours.”

Her lashes fluttered. “Always.”

Drew was next. He crawled in closer, cradling her like she was made of starlight, his voice shaking. “May I, pretty girl?”

She smiled and nodded, tilting her head for him too. He pressed a kiss to her jaw, then up to her lips, where he bit down.

Asshole.

That was a clever move.

She gasped, one hand flying to his back, holding him close.

He lingered a second longer than I had, his lips brushing her skin as the bond tethered into place between them. I felt it. Not just their joy, but the way my bond to him deepened too, like we were being stitched together through her.

Anton came last.

He didn’t speak. He didn’t need to. Christa turned to him like a tide pulled by gravity, and he bent over her slowly, his hand gentle on her cheek. He nuzzled her once, then bit low on her shoulder—hard enough she whimpered.

And then she exhaled. Sagged into the nest with a dazed, dreamy sound, all her bonds humming in the air like golden threads.

But there was one left. I could feel him in the bond I shared with him. His worry at being left behind. But he should have known better.

Christa blinked blearily at Annerly, then reached for him.

“Come here,” she whispered, a little hoarse. “I want you too.”

He laughed, choked and wet. “You sure? It’s a bit different with a Beta…”

“I know how it works,” she said, tugging him closer until he was kneeling beside her. “Silly Beta, thinking I wouldn't want to bite him and claim him for myself.”

A pause. He swallowed hard, eyes shining. “You're right. Such a silly Beta.”

She kissed the underside of his jaw, soft and sure, before she bit him on the opposite side of my claiming bite on him. Just deep enough to break skin and seal what was already there. Loyalty, love, something older than instinct.

Annerly let out a quiet sigh as the bond snapped into place.

And then she slumped back into the nest, surrounded by us, bound to us, glowing from the inside out.

It was done.

We were a pack.

I looked at the others. At my brothers, my partner, my mate. At her .

Christa, our brave, battered, beautiful girl, who had survived the fire and walked back into our arms with her chin lifted.

She was still glowing, eyes half-lidded, lips parted in a blissed-out smile. “Feels good,” she murmured. “Feels like…everything’s complete.”

“That's because it is,” I said, curling around her again.

Anton stroked her hair. Drew wrapped around her legs. Annerly held her hand.

And for the first time in years, the silence between us wasn’t heavy with loss.

It was full of peace.