Page 143 of Found by the Pack

The cabin smells like us. Like salt, sex, sweat, and the sharp edge of an Omega’s heat finally answered. It’s heavy, primal, everything I’ve wanted and everything I didn’t think I could handle until I had no choice.

Her eyes flutter open, gray-blue clouded, tears still wet at the corners. She shifts, winces, then sighs as Gabe kisses her shoulder from behind, still buried in her. Shepard murmurs something soft, something only she hears, and she smiles weakly, her lips brushing his wrist.

“Hey,” I whisper, pressing my mouth to her temple.

She tilts her face toward me, exhausted but present. “Hey.”

“You with us?” I ask.

Her throat works as she nods, voice raw when it comes out. “Yeah. I’m here.”

I stroke my thumb over her cheek, and something in my chest cracks wide open. “You scared the hell out of me, crying like that.”

“I wasn’t scared,” she says, her voice catching. “It was too much. And I needed it.” Her gaze finds mine, then shifts to Shepard, then Gabe. “I needed all of you.”

The words wreck me more than the sight of her did.

Shepard bends to kiss her hairline, his voice low. “You’ve got us, Sadie. You’ve got us now.”

Gabe groans behind her, knot finally easing, and he pulls out slow. She hisses, clutching at me, and I hold her tighter, murmuring nonsense into her hair.

Gabe collapses onto the other side of the bed, sweat slicking his chest, his scar stark against his skin. He drags a hand down his face, then looks at me with eyes that say everything he won’t out loud yet—this is insane, this is dangerous, this is ours.

I press a kiss to Sadie’s forehead, then her lips. “You love us,” I murmur, reminding myself, reminding all of us of what she said when she was breaking apart. “You said it.”

She blinks up at me, something vulnerable sparking in her tired eyes. “I meant it.”

The silence that follows is sharp, full. Gabe shifts, resting a hand on her hip like he can’t stop touching her. Shepard’s thumb drags over her knuckles, his body leaning in.

I bury my face in her neck because I can’t handle how much it means. “I didn’t think this was possible,” I say into her skin. “Any of this.”

Her fingers thread through my hair, nails scratching lightly at my scalp. “It’s real. We’re here. We’ll figure it out.”

My throat tightens. “You’re ours now.”

“I’ve always been mine,” she says gently. Then, firmer: “But I want to be yours too.”

Fuck.

I kiss her again, desperate and deep, tasting everything she’s offering. When I pull back, Shepard meets my eyes.

There’s understanding there, and wariness, but also a kind of surrender. Gabe’s jaw flexes, his Alpha instincts still running hot. His hand on her hip isn’t letting go.

This is truly the first time it feels like a pack. Not three men and an Omega fumbling through disaster. A pack.

I tuck the sheet higher around her, brushing her damp hair back, trying to shield her even though she doesn’t need it. “We’ll take care of you, Sadie. All of us. We’ll figure the rest out later.”

Her smile is small, sleepy, but it’s real. “Good. Because I’m not going anywhere.”

Relief floods me so hard I almost laugh. Shepard does, soft and surprised, pressing another kiss to her temple.

Gabe mutters something like a curse, but his thumb rubs circles against her hip. And I just hold her, finally letting myself breathe.

We lie like that, tangled together, the yacht rocking beneath us, the world outside slipping away. I don’t know how long passes. Minutes. Maybe an hour.

All I know is the way her breathing evens out, the way my own chest matches it, the way everything feels right even though it shouldn’t.

Then—three sharp knocks on the door.