Chapter 94
Kara
All three of them are wearing matching navy suits with pocket squares that exactly match my dress. The same ocean-blue-to-silver gradient. They planned this. Coordinated. Down to the last fucking detail.
When? How? We've been together constantly since we got here.
Oh. Right. This morning when they told me to nap. They were planning this.
Blake pulls out my chair, his hands visibly shaking. Cole sits to my left, so close our thighs touch. Asher takes the seat directly across from me, his blue eyes boring into mine with an intensity that makes my stomach flip.
They form a tight square around me. Trapping me. Surrounding me.
Protecting me, my wolf insists.
Cornering me, my human side counters.
"Why do you all look like you're about to face a firing squad?" I try to joke, but it comes out breathless and uncertain.
Blake's mouth opens immediately. "Because we're about to—"
"Blake, shut the fuck up!" Asher's mental roar is so loud I actually flinch. Through the bond, his voice is pure Alpha fury: "Stick to the goddamn plan!"
Blake's face goes brick red. His jaw clenches. Then he visibly forces himself to smile at me, though it's strained. "Because... seeing you like this is fucking killing me. That's all."
Liar.
But I don't call him on it. Because I'm too busy trying not to throw up from anxiety.
An elderly server appears—a wolf, judging by the way he moves and the deference in his posture. He places lobster with lemon butter in front of me, bows slightly. "Luna, please enjoy."
Luna.
First time a complete stranger has called me that. Not "Carrot." Not "girl." Not "debt-slave."
Luna.
I glance at the triplets. All three are suddenly fascinated by the table settings, won't meet my eyes.
They told the staff to call me that.
Why?
I try to eat. Force myself to take a bite of the lobster, which is probably amazing—this is a five-star floating restaurant, after all—but it tastes like sawdust in my mouth.
Because through the bond, their emotions are a disaster.
Fear. Hope. Anticipation. Dread. Excitement. Terror.
It's like trying to eat while three different radio stations play static directly into my brain.
I set down my fork. My hands are shaking. "Okay, seriously. What's going on? Are you... are you trying to give me bad news?"
Like that you're returning me to Victoria? Or that you've decided I'm not worth the trouble? Or that you want to reject the bond?
"No!" Cole's response is instant and almost violent. He grabs my hand so hard it hurts. "Kara, no."
Asher inhales sharply, and I watch his carefully constructed mask crack just a little. "The opposite. At least... I fucking hope you'll think so."
Hope.
Asher Sterling just said he hopes for something. Asher, who plans everything, who's always three steps ahead, who never leaves anything to chance.
Oh fuck. Oh fuck, what is happening?
---
The main course arrives, and it might as well be cardboard for all the attention we pay it.
Asher has been cutting the same piece of steak for what feels like ten minutes. Blake's knocked over his wine glass twice—once onto his own lap, once narrowly missing the glacier roses. Cole won't stop wiping his palms on his napkin, over and over, like he's trying to erase his own fingerprints.
And I'm sitting here, heart pounding so hard I can hear it in my ears, wondering if I'm about to have the rug pulled out from under me again.
They're going to tell me they made a mistake. That the marking wasn't supposed to happen. That they got caught up in Heat and Rut and biology, but now that they've had time to think—
"Did you... regret marking me?"
The words tumble out before I can stop them.
All three explode out of their chairs like I've just announced the yacht is sinking.
"Are you fucking insane?!" Blake roars, slamming his palms on the table hard enough to make the silverware jump. "How could you even—Jesus Christ, Kara!"
"Kara, how could you even think—" Cole's voice breaks completely. His eyes are shining with unshed tears. "We would never—"
Asher covers his face with both hands, and his shoulders shake. When he speaks, his voice is muffled and cracking. "We're handling this so fucking badly."
Wait.
Wait, they're not...
Asher stands abruptly. Walks around the table with sharp, controlled movements. And then—
He drops to one knee beside my chair.
Oh.
Oh no.
Oh fuck.
My breath stops. My heart stops. Everything stops.
Blake and Cole are suddenly on either side of him, also kneeling, and I'm staring down at all three of them—these massive, powerful Alphas who could snap me in half without breaking a sweat—on their fucking knees.
Oh God. Oh God, no. I'm not ready. I can't—I don't know if I can—
---
"Kara."
Asher's voice shakes—Asher, who never shows weakness, who's always the controlled one, the rational one—and it shakes. "For eighteen years, I thought I was rational. Strong. In control. But tonight, I'm fucking terrified."
My vision blurs instantly. Shit. No. Don't cry. Not yet. Not before you even know what he's saying.
"I'm afraid you'll say no," he continues, and his voice gets rougher with each word. "I'm afraid you think this is too fast. I'm afraid we're rushing you. But I'm more afraid..." His jaw clenches so hard I can see the muscle jump. "I'm more afraid that if we don't ask, you'll think we're not serious. That you'll think this whole thing is just about biology and obligation and the fucking bond."
The bond.
Of course it's about the bond. What else would it be about? I'm the girl you tortured for ten years. I'm "Carrot." I'm the debt-slave. I'm—
Blake grabs my hand in both of his, and his eyes are red-rimmed, fierce. "I was a complete bastard to you. An asshole. A piece of shit who doesn't deserve to breathe the same air as you. I know that. I will carry that for the rest of my goddamn life." His voice drops to a whisper. "But you make me want to be better. You make me want to be someone worthy of you. And I need you, Kara. A life without you isn't a fucking life at all."
Cole cups my face with trembling hands, and tears are streaming down his cheeks. "You're our moonlight," he says, voice breaking. "When we were lost in darkness—when we were turning into monsters—you showed us the way back. You're our anchor. Our harbor. The miracle we never fucking deserved but will spend our lives protecting."
Stop. Stop saying these things. Stop making me hope. Stop making me believe—