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I cannot breathe. “I— Yes. Yes, I?—”

“Say the words.”

“I enjoy being f-fucked.”

“By?”

“I enjoy being f-fucked by Gabriel, Lennart.”

Gabriel’s laughter is mean and affectionate. Triumphant.

“She’s close, Lennart. Your mate is so close. Aren’t you happy for her?” He licks the base of my throat. Presses his palm against my lower belly, shrinking the space he’s carved for himself inside me, making me feel even fuller. “And I have even better news. I’m definitely going to let you live. Want to know why?”

It’s a rhetorical question, but Lennart is broken enough to stutter, “Y-yes?”

“Because Sofia is not your mate. She never was and never will be. She was always meant to be mine. And nothing makes me happier than knowing that for the rest of your miserable life, you’ll remember me ten inches deep inside her. This Omega whom you profess to love but have hurt unspeakably. And when she’s round with our children and swollen with my bite, I will parade her in front of you, and you will regret every single vile thing you?—”

My release is a violent, full-bodied thing. My thighs tremble, and I seize around Gabriel’s cock, overwhelmed by the pleasure that makes my spine dissolve and my muscles jerk. I must lose consciousness because I don’t hear the rest of what he says. In my next moment of awareness, I’m limp in his arms, empty, happy. He cradles me lovingly, more so than I thought him capable of. His knot pushes against the walls of my cunt, spreading me open, stuffing me full.

His come and mine trickle down our thighs, mixed together. Pools onto the floor. Gabriel’s release is not finished yet, but I can feel his grin unfurl against my throat. It’s more pleasure than I ever imagined.

“Mine,” he says. Then he pulls us down onto the bed and half flattens me underneath him, turning us away from Lennart and his near-silent, inconsequential weeping.

Aftershocks of my orgasm still twitch through me. “You’re serious about this,” I say.

It’s not a question, but he presses a kiss against my cheek. “Yes,” he says. Simple. To the point. I have no doubt that he means every word.

And suddenly, laughter bursts out of me.

“What?” he asks.

“Just…the children you mentioned.” I shake my head, but I can’t stop laughing.

Gabriel pulls me more closely into him. “Hmm?”

“When they ask about how their parents met, how are you going to explain any of this to them?”

He presses a small, amused kiss behind my ear. “We’ll think of something.” He sighs into my skin, and I let myself smile, too.

Chapter23

THE END

Sofia

Things that change a lot sometimes don’t change at all.

Lara is still my best friend, even if she lives in the military wing now and is being trained by Martia to become an engineer. House Larsen is still powerful, but its head is now an Alpha from another branch of the family, and she’s much more willing to collaborate with the army. Lennart and Lady Larsen are still alive, even if they no longer enjoy the privilege they always had.

I’m still a healer, and Gabriel is still the general, except these days I’m the one who treats all his injuries. The Lows are still becoming rarer and shorter, but when they come, he takes me outside and spends hours staring at me under the pure, unfiltered sunlight. My father is still gone, but I know he would be happy and proud of me. I’m still walking down a stone corridor, barefoot, toward my mating ceremony. The dress I’m wearing this time around, though, is much more beautiful than the last.

“I can only imagine how stunning you’ll look by yourthirdmating ceremony,” Bastian says from my side.

“Leave my future sister alone,” Ivar admonishes, rolling his eyes at him.

“All I mean is, the theater of this seems redundant,” Bastian says. “Protocol for protocol’s sake.”

“A seneschal hating on protocol,” I muse. “How interesting.”

“Given that your bite mark is the size of this very stronghold, I’m not sure why we’re going through the formality of this, but if it’s important to the general, who am I to?—”

“We’re here.” Ivar’s hand squeezes my shoulder. “Any last words?”

I think about it. Shake my head. Watch the doors part.

On the other side, Gabriel smiles at me.

I murmur to myself, “Now,thisis the rest of my life.”

* * *