Page 28

Chapter 28

Carver

I guide Harlow to my car, my hand resting on her lower back. The evening air carries the smell of the ocean.

“Wait!”

Asher comes over and kisses Harlow on her mouth. Oliver follows. Parker hesitates before he pulls her to him like he’s been starved of her for days.

A year ago, that would have driven me crazy. Now it just feels right.

“We’ll see you at home. I have to do something on the way back,” Parker tells Harlow before he kisses her once more.

“And I’m not getting in the back of that car again,” Asher says, dragging Oliver while muttering about his legs only just feeling normal .

I’m not complaining as I open the door to Harlow. I enjoy being part of this pack, but it doesn’t mean that sometimes I want her all to myself.

“You’re quiet,” she says as I pull onto the highway.

“Thinking about the bonding application.” I glance at her. “You know you don’t have to sign it, right? No one’s pressuring you. We had a talk about it and the court will have to accept us as we are until everyone is ready.”

“You talked about it,” she whispers.

“Last night.”

“Oh. Are you signing it?”

“When you do. I’ll be wherever you are.” The words come easy now. “If being part of this pack is what it takes to be with you, I’m in.”

She shifts in her seat, studying my profile. “I only want you to do it if you feel it.”

“I feel it.” My grip tightens on the steering wheel. “More than with any other person or pack. And I know it’s because you belong here, too.”

Her smile lights up the whole car. “I love you, Carver. I think I’ve always loved you.”

My heart skips. “I’ve loved you since the first day I saw you.”

Ten minutes later, I pull into the pack’s driveway and cut the engine. Before she can move, I unclip my belt and lean over, capturing her lips with mine.

She moans as she melts into the kiss, her fingers threading through my hair.

I pull away and slide out of the car, open her door, and hold her hand as we walk to the house .

“Wait here,” I murmur against her mouth. “I need to grab something from my room.”

She nods, already distracted by Parker’s study across the hall.

I head upstairs and make a call and make my way back downstairs.

The study door is ajar, and I find Harlow perched on Parker’s desk, a leather-bound journal open in her hands.

“I shouldn’t be reading this, but—” She looks up at me, her eyes wide. “Listen to this entry from six months ago: ‘Mom asked me to meet her friend’s daughter. Beautiful as she was, she wasn’t mine. A visit to Club Midnight is all I need.’” She sighs. “Another entry. ‘I don’t know what I’m waiting for. I don’t know what I want.’”

Harlow looks at me and asks, “Is that how you felt, waiting, hoping?”

“Yeah, but it's worse when you know what you want, but she doesn't want you.”

Her eyes meet mine. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. We’re here. We’re together.”

She smiles as she flips a page.

I lean against the door frame, watching her fingers trace the words.

“Oh my god, listen to this.” She flips another page. “‘Tonight, I could smell an omega who made my alpha roar inside me. It was in Club Midnight, of all places. But she was wearing scent blockers. Not that it blocked her scent totally, but it definitely altered her scent. And I assumed she never wanted to be an omega.’”

“Was that you?” I move closer.

“I think so.” Her cheeks flush. “I felt it too. His scent... He smelled exactly like you, minus the rum.”

I can’t help but smile. “He’s been rejecting potential mates for years because of Jagger. He told me himself. ”

She bites her bottom lip and then continues reading aloud. “‘Two weeks later and I met her. The girl with the beautiful scent.’ Then he writes about the first day we talked at work, when I gave him the itinerary for the Vegas trip.” Her voice catches. “He knew it was me, but he called me ‘Colton Sinclair’s girlfriend.’”

She flips a few pages forward, scanning the words as she goes.

She laughs. “They journaled my visit to Asher for a massage.” She looks at me and then goes back to the journal and reads.

“‘It turns out she isn’t Colton’s girlfriend anymore. That was a surprise, and Oliver is doing back-flips.’”

Footsteps sound behind me. A moment later, Parker stands in the doorway, his expression unreadable.

Harlow scrambles to close the journal. “I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have—”

“I have no secrets from you.” Parker moves into the room, his eyes soft.

I pull out the packs’ bond application from my back pocket. The one Parker asked me to look at and think about myself. I place the papers on Parker’s desk.

Harlow’s perfume spikes with what I hope is joy as she picks them up.

“When?” She looks between us. “When will you all commit?”

Parker steps forward. “Now, if you want to.”

Harlow’s fingers wrap around my hand, her eyes pleading.

My heart pounds as I take the pen. She nods, and without hesitation, I sign my name on the legal document.

Her smile lights up the room, and her scent wraps around me like the most beautiful embrace .

Oliver grabs the pen next, adding his signature to the paper, and pressing a kiss on Harlow’s lips. Asher follows, his steady hand marking his commitment.

Parker cups Harlow’s face. “We’ll claim you when you’re ready. All of us. But I want you to want that—all of us claiming you together.”

“What do I do?” Her voice trembles. “To be claimed. Tell you?”

“You present your neck to one of us, which means you are representing it to all of us.”

“That’s easy.” Her scent shifts to something sweeter, more intense.

Parker moves closer. “The moment you present your neck, you’re ours. We won’t be able to stop ourselves.”

She picks up the pen, signs her name with a flourish. “You’re already mine.”

I pull her into my arms, breathing in her intoxicating scent. The others crowd around us, hands touching, scents mingling.

A small voice breaks through our moment. “Harlow?”

Jagger stands in the doorway, his pajamas rumpled. “I had a nightmare. A monster came and took me away.”

Harlow breaks from our embrace, scooping him up. “No monsters are getting past us, sweetheart.” She rocks him gently, humming softly.

Just watching them together makes my chest tighten. I could never separate her from this little boy. This is where we belong—all of us—together.

Parker lifts Jagger from Harlow’s arms. Her vanilla and pineapple scent shifts.

“Take care of her,” Parker murmurs, pressing his lips to her forehead before carrying Jagger upstairs.

“I want to take him to bed,” Harlow says. “ Let me.”

Jagger reaches out and takes Harlow’s hand as she follows him upstairs. I follow.

But by the time we reach the top, Jagger is already pressed against his uncle and sleeping softly in his arms.

Parker reaches out and cups Harlow’s cheek with his free hand. “Let the alphas look after you, baby.”

She purrs and her scent emits like thick smoke in the air.

Parker turns to me and gives me a nod. “Look after our omega.”

After Parker enters Jagger’s room, I turn to Harlow, her eyes dark with desire. “What do you want, baby?”

She glances toward Oliver and Asher’s rooms. “All of you.”

My alpha preens at her honesty. “Wait in your nest for us.”

I find Oliver and Asher in the kitchen. “She needs us.”

They follow me without hesitation. When we enter her room, the sight of her arranging blankets and pillows in her nest sends a surge of possession inside of me.

Her scent floods the air—sweet, needy, and utterly perfect.

She strips off her clothes, movements quick but graceful.

My breath catches as she kneels in her nest, looking at us expectantly.

“May we join you?” Asher asks, his voice rough.

Oliver says. “Please let us in, beautiful.”

“Please,” she whimpers.

I gaze at Harlow, kneeling in her nest, and a rush of possessiveness surges through me. She’s breathtaking. The way the moonlight catches her skin makes her glow, a perfect blend of vulnerability and strength.

My heart races as I take in her luscious curves and the way she looks at us with those bright turquoise eyes—like we’re the only ones who matter .

“You’re stunning,” I breathe out, my voice low. “Every inch of you is beautiful.”

Her scent spikes with arousal, mixing with our own—coconut, vanilla, pineapple, and rum swirling together in perfect harmony.

Oliver steps closer, his hazel eyes darkened with need. “And so perfect for us,” he adds, his tone filled with awe.

I move, capturing her lips in a deep kiss. She melts against me as Oliver’s mouth finds her neck.

Asher moves behind her, his lips trailing down her shoulder. He wraps his arms around her waist and pulls her back against him. “You need us, don’t you? Let us take care of you.”

“More than anything,” Harlow whispers, leaning into Asher’s embrace. Her body shivers with anticipation as we draw nearer.

I reach for her chin, tilting her head up to meet my gaze. “We’ll give you everything you need.”

Her breath hitches as I press my lips against hers. It’s soft at first, testing the waters, but then it ignites into something more intense.

Oliver goes to her other side, kissing down her neck while Asher’s hands slide over her curves, exploring every contour.

She moans softly—a sound that reverberates in my chest like a promise.

As we take our time with her, each kiss feels like confirmation of our bond.

Harlow gasps as I settled between her thighs and guide myself inside her, every inch of our connection electrifying.

She arches into me as Oliver holds onto her tightly from behind, and Asher presses kisses along Harlow’s shoulder, whispering how perfect she is.

“Just like this,” she breathes out between gasps of pleasure where love intertwines with raw desire .

We move together in rhythm, our bodies entwined. Her body wraps around mine perfectly; around us. It’s as if she was made for us—her alphas.

After what feels like an eternity lost in blissful intimacy, we all collapse onto the bed together. Our breaths mingle in the stillness of the night as she drifts off into sleep surrounded by us.

I stare at the ceiling.

Asher and Oliver are sleeping heavily when I hear Harlow slip off the bed and sneak to the door.

I keep a modest distance as I follow her to Jagger’s room.

She stands at the door for a moment before disappearing inside. I slip along to the doorway as Harlow reaches Parker, who is sprawled across Jagger’s bed with his nephew curled beside him.

A smile pulls at my lips at the sight of Harlow as she kneels beside Jagger and plants a gentle kiss on his forehead. She does the same to Parker before turning to leave.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Parker’s voice rumbles sleepily as he grabs her wrist and pulls her toward him. Their lips meet in a passionate kiss.

The old Carver would be so jealous of this moment they are sharing. The new Carver knows I don’t own Harlow. I love her, as do all her alphas.

The four of us are lucky that we get to share our omega, and when Parker whispers, “You belong here with us.”

It sends warmth flooding through me, and I step away, no longer jealous.