Chapter 78
Kara
The walk from the pool back to the villa should feel like relief.
It doesn't.
Every step sends heat lancing through my core—sharper than before, deeper than the three orgasms Blake, Cole, and Asher just gave me. My legs tremble. Not from exhaustion. From need.
Blake carries me. His bare chest presses against my side, and even through the damp towel wrapped around me, I can feel the furnace heat of his skin. His scent—gunpowder and leather, usually sharp—has gone thick and cloying, like smoke trapped in a closed room.
It makes my mouth water.
It makes my wolf whine.
"Blake." My voice comes out breathless. "Put me down. I can walk."
"No." His grip tightens. Gold flickers in his eyes—wolf surfacing. "You're shaking."
"I'm fine—"
"You're not." Asher's voice cuts through the humid night air. He's walking ahead, shoulders rigid, movements too controlled. "Your scent changed in the last five minutes. The honey-caramel note is stronger now. Much stronger."
I don't understand what that means until Cole—padding barefoot beside us—explains in a strained whisper:
"You're not in Pre-Heat anymore, Kara. You're transitioning to full Heat. And we have maybe two hours before—" He swallows hard. "Before you won't be able to think clearly. Before your body will hurt so badly you'll beg any male to—"
"Stop." Blake snarls the word. His arms shake around me. "Don't fucking finish that sentence."
We reach the villa. Asher holds the door open, and Blake carries me straight through the living room—past the half-eaten dinner still on the patio table—toward the master bedroom suite.
The bed is enormous. King-size, maybe bigger. White linen sheets. Floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the ocean, curtains open to let in moonlight and the sound of waves.
Blake sets me down on the edge of the mattress. Doesn't let go.
"Kara." Asher kneels in front of me, eye-level. His blue-gold gaze holds mine. "Listen very carefully. Your first Heat is coming. Now. Not tomorrow. Not in a few days. In the next hour or two, your body is going to—" He stops. Jaw clenched. "It's going to hurt. Badly. Empty. Like you're being hollowed out from the inside. And the only thing that will stop the pain is—"
"Mating." Cole finishes quietly. He's standing by the windows, hands fisted at his sides. Mint scent gone sharp and cold—like he's using it to leash himself. "Penetration. Knotting. Biting."
My heart slams against my ribs.
"But we promised," I whisper. "We promised we'd go slow. That I could choose—"
"And you still can." Asher's hands cup my face. Gentle. Reverent. "We're giving you a choice right now. Before the Heat takes away your ability to think clearly."
Blake drops to his knees beside Asher. Gold eyes burning. "Option one: We leave. Right now. We find a doctor. Get you emergency suppressants. They'll hurt like hell—might make you sick for days—but they'll stop the Heat. We can delay the mating. Give you more time."
"Option two." Cole's voice cracks. He turns from the window, and his eyes are wet. "You let us mark you tonight. Here. In this bed. Completely. Permanently. All three of us."
The room spins.
"I—" My throat closes. "I don't—"
"Think, Kara." Asher's thumbs stroke my cheekbones. "If we don't mark you, your Heat will spiral out of control. You'll be in agony. And if you leave this villa—if you go anywhere near other males—your scent will call to them. Unmated males. They won't be able to resist. And we—" His voice drops to a growl. "We won't be able to stop ourselves from killing anyone who touches you."
Blake's hands shake on my knees. "But if we mark you while you're not in your right mind—if you're too far gone to say yes or no—we'll never forgive ourselves. So we're asking now. Before the biology takes over."
I look at each of them.
Blake: Desperate. Feral. Barely holding his wolf back.
Asher: Controlled. But his scent is spiking—ebony and tobacco going dark and possessive.
Cole: Tears streaking his face. Mint scent wavering between calm and panic.
And I realize: They're terrified.
Not of losing control.
Of me.
Of the choice I might make.
"If I say no—" My voice shakes. "If I choose the suppressants—you won't hate me?"
"Never." All three of them say it at once. Through the mind link I can suddenly feel—fragile and new—I sense the truth of it. The aching, desperate love.
My breath hitches.
"Kara?" Asher's voice gentles. "What are you thinking?"
I meet Blake's eyes. "That night. When you locked me outside. I thought—I truly believed—you'd leave me there to freeze. That I'd die alone in the snow."
Blake's face crumbles. "Kara—"
"And now you're asking me to give you everything." My voice breaks. "My body. My future. My wolf. To trust that you won't—that you won't throw me away again when you get bored or angry or—"
"We won't." Blake's hands slide up to grip my thighs. Not sexual. Pleading. "I swear on my life, Kara. I will never put you outside again. I will never leave you in the cold. I will never make you feel worthless. I was a coward. A monster. And I have spent every day since hating myself for it."
"We all have." Cole kneels on my other side. "Kara, that night—we heard you crying in the storm. We knew you were out there. And we did nothing. We fell asleep in our warm beds while you nearly froze to death."
"I remember your fingers the next morning." Asher's voice is rough. "Blue. Frostbitten. You couldn't feel them for days."
"I remember sneaking you back inside." Cole's tears fall harder. "You were shaking so badly. Your lips were gray. And I thought—if you'd died, it would've been my fault for not standing up to Blake sooner."
Blake's head drops to my lap. His shoulders shake. "I'm sorry. God, Kara, I'm so fucking sorry. I can't take it back. I can't undo it. But I swear—I swear—if you let me mark you tonight, you will never feel cold again. You will never spend another night alone. You will always have a home. With us. Forever."
My hands move without permission—burying in Blake's hair.
And I realize:
This is why I'm afraid.
Not because I don't want them.
But because I do. So desperately. And I'm terrified that if I give them everything—if I let them see me, truly see me, naked and vulnerable and marked—they'll realize I'm not worth keeping.
That I'll end up abandoned again.
But as I look at Blake sobbing into my lap, at Cole's tears, at Asher's jaw clenched against his own emotions—
I think:
Maybe they're just as scared as I am.
"I don't want the suppressants." The words come out steady. Sure. "I don't want to wait. I want—" I take a shaking breath. "I choose you. All three of you. Mark me. Tonight. Completely."
Blake's head snaps up. "You're sure? Completely sure?"
"I'm terrified," I admit. "But I trust you. Not because of biology. Not because of fate. But because—because in the last few weeks, you've shown me who you really are. And I want this. I want you."
Asher closes his eyes. When he opens them, they're pure gold. "Then we do this right. Properly. With every step designed to make sure you feel safe. Loved. Cherished."
"Starting with—" Cole's voice is hoarse. "Starting with cleaning you. Getting you comfortable. And then—"
"And then," Blake finishes, voice raw with emotion and need, "we show you exactly how much you mean to us. Every touch. Every kiss. Every breath. You'll never doubt again that you have a home. With us. Forever."
And as Asher lifts me into his arms, carrying me toward the bathroom, I feel something shift inside my chest.
The scared little girl who froze in the snow?
She's still there.
But tonight—tonight—she finally gets to come in from the cold.
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