Page 121 of Found by the Pack

I press on, even though my chest aches. “But if it’s too much, if it’s too hard for you, then you are enough. Just you. This, us—it’s enough for me. I’ll never ask for more if it destroys you.”

His jaw clenches. His arms tighten around me. Then his hips shift, just slightly, his knot rocking inside me. I gasp, my nails biting into his shoulders.

“Don’t say it like that,” he mutters, voice wrecked. “Like you’d cut yourself off just to make me feel better.”

“Because I would,” I breathe. “If it meant keeping you.”

His eyes squeeze shut, and then he lets out a laugh—low, broken. “Christ, Sadie. You don’t know what you do to me.”

I stroke his jaw. “Then tell me. Please.”

He swallows hard. His gaze locks onto mine, and for once, he doesn’t hide.

“My brother Sawyer… he was everything I wasn’t. Stronger, faster, braver. He was the one people looked to, the one who made it out of the firehouse alive when I didn’t. He beat me at everything. Every damn thing. Girls, sports, work—you name it. And then I lost him. Just like that. Gone. And now… now I feel like I’m losing again. To Gabe. To Shepard. To men whoare supposed to be my brothers. And it’s killing me, Sadie. It’s ripping me open in places I thought had scarred shut.”

My chest tightens so hard it hurts.

I cup his face, forcing him to see me. “This isn’t you losing me. This isn’t them taking me away. This is me. My choice. My body. Boone, you don’t lose when I open myself to more people I trust—you win, because you were the first one I let back in. You’re the one who made me feel safe enough to even think about letting anyone else near me again.”

He blinks rapidly, eyes glassy, like my words are cutting through something thick inside him.

“You’re not competing with anyone for me,” I whisper. “Not anymore.”

He shakes his head. “You make it sound simple, but it’s not. It’s messy. It’s fucking complicated.”

“I know,” I breathe, my chest pressed tight to his. “And I’m not even sure how this is going to look. But Boone—I think I’m falling in love with you.”

His breath stutters. He stares at me like I’ve just stripped him bare.

“Yeah?” His voice is barely audible, broken.

“Yes.” I nod, tears burning my eyes. “How could you ever doubt that?”

His knot throbs inside me as his hips roll, slow and steady. The movement wrings a gasp from me, my back arching, pleasure and emotion tangling until I don’t know which is which.

“Jesus Christ,” he mutters, pressing his forehead to mine. “I feel like such an ass. For how I treated them. For how I treated you. For everything.”

“You’re not an ass,” I say softly, brushing my lips against his. “You’re human. You’re hurting. And we can fix it. But not by ignoring it. We need to talk to them. Really talk. All of us.”

He nods, slow, resigned. “You’re right.”

“Then we will.”

“I’ll never control you,” he says suddenly, fiercely. His voice vibrates against my skin. “Not ever. Not in this. Not in anything. You have to know that. But—” He swallows. “Can you be patient with me? With the sharing? Because I want to be that man for you, Sadie. I want to give you everything. I just… I’ve never had to share. And I need time.”

Tears slide hot down my cheeks as I kiss him, clenching around his knot like my body is echoing my words. “Of course. I can be patient. I’ll wait as long as it takes.”

His hand cups my jaw, his mouth crushing mine in a kiss that’s tender and fierce all at once.

I hope I’m not just deluding myself, but I believe we might actually make it.

CHAPTER 30

Shepard

The knock comes just as I’m losing myself in the same paragraph for the third time.

“Come in,” I call, tugging my glasses off to rub at the bridge of my nose.