Chapter 73
Kara
When I return from the restroom, the triplets are sitting close together, expressions somber.
They look up when I approach, and whatever heavy thing they were discussing vanishes behind careful smiles.
"Everything okay?" I ask, sliding back into the booth beside Cole.
"Perfect," Blake says, but his gunpowder scent is tinged with something bitter.
Grief.
I don't push. We all have secrets we're not ready to share.
Blake reaches across the table and takes my hand. "Kara. I need you to hear something."
I tense. "Okay..."
"Yesterday, when you put on that bikini—" His blue eyes are intense, burning. "I almost lost control. Not because I was disappointed or disgusted. Because you were so fucking beautiful that my wolf nearly shoved me aside and marked you right there. The white fabric, the curves, your skin—Baby, you have no idea what you do to me. To all of us."
Heat floods my face. My core clenches involuntarily.
Cole adds quietly, "Those girls we dated before—the size-zero models—they were nothing. Flat. Lifeless. We couldn't feel them. But you—"
"Every curve is real," Asher finishes. "Warm. Alive. Exactly what we've been craving without knowing it."
I look down at our joined hands, overwhelmed. "I'm a size four. Sometimes a six. I have cellulite on my thighs and my stomach isn't flat and—"
"And you're perfect," Blake interrupts fiercely. "Do you want to know something? When I was fourteen, I started drawing you in my journal. Every time you bent over to scrub the floor, every time you reached for something on a high shelf—I'd memorize the lines of your body and sketch them later. I have notebooks full of you."
My breath catches. "You... what?"
Asher grimaces. "He's telling the truth. I found them once. Dozens of sketches of you from every angle."
"I hated myself for it," Blake admits, voice raw. "So I took it out on you. Called you names. Made you feel ugly. Because if you were ugly, then maybe I could stop wanting you so desperately."
Tears sting my eyes. "Blake..."
"But now I don't have to hide," he continues. "And Kara, when you wear that bikini on the beach, every male wolf is going to smell how aroused we are. They'll know you're ours. And I'm going to make damn sure no one forgets it."
"Will you hurt them?" I ask quietly. "If they look at me?"
"Not unless they touch," Cole assures me. "But Kara, you need to understand—our Ruts are already building. The mint-gunpowder-ebony mix you're smelling right now? That's us barely holding on. In Hawaii, with the heat and the beach and you in that bikini—"
"I'll lose control," Blake finishes bluntly. "Eventually. Probably soon. So I need you to give me a safeword. Something that'll snap me out of it if I go too far."
I blink. "A safeword?"
"Something that means 'stop immediately, no questions asked,'" Asher explains. "Something we'll never confuse with anything else."
I think for a moment. Then: "Mistletoe."
Cole's face softens. "Like the kiss?"
I nod. "That was the first time someone touched me gently. When I say that word, you'll know I need you to be gentle. Or to stop entirely."
Blake brings my hand to his lips and kisses my knuckles. "Mistletoe. Got it. The second you say it, everything stops. I swear on my life."
Asher and Cole echo the vow.
And for the first time, I believe I might actually be safe with them.
Even when they're on the edge of losing control.
---
Boarding is announced thirty minutes later.
We're flying Alaska Airlines first class—the triplets don't do anything halfway.
The flight attendant's professional smile falters when she sees us. Three massive Alphas with a small Omega wearing a Luna collar. The power dynamic is unmistakable.
"Welcome aboard," she says nervously, gesturing to the front cabin. "Rows one and two."
Blake immediately takes the window seat, patting the middle spot. "Here, Baby."
"I thought I was sitting with Cole—"
"You'll rotate," Asher says smoothly, taking the aisle seat beside me. "Cole's across from us. We'll switch mid-flight so everyone gets time with you."
Because of course they have a system.
I buckle in, Blake on my right, Asher on my left. Cole sits directly across the aisle, close enough to hold my hand if I need him.
The flight attendant brings blankets and pillows, hands shaking as she distributes them. The triplets' combined scent must be overwhelming—ice, gunpowder, and mint in a suffocating triangle.
"Thank you," I tell her softly.
She blinks, surprised, and nods before fleeing.
Blake leans close, breath hot against my ear. "Always so sweet to people who don't deserve it."
"She's just doing her job."
"And you're too forgiving." His hand settles on my thigh, possessive. "But that's one of the things I love about you."
Love.
The word makes my heart stutter.
---
Cole
The plane takes off smoothly, engines roaring as we lift into the gray morning sky.
I watch Kara from across the aisle. She's pressed against the window, eyes wide as Anchorage shrinks below us. Blake has one arm around her shoulders, Asher's hand rests on her knee.
She's surrounded by us. Protected.
Safe.
An hour into the flight, she shifts restlessly. Her white-musk-and-snow scent begins to change—sweetening, warming.
I catch Blake's eye. His nostrils flare.
"She's getting aroused," I send through the mind link.
"I know," Blake growls back. "The air recycling system is pushing our scents straight at her. She's marinating in ebony-gunpowder-mint."
Asher's mental voice is tense. "Everyone stay calm. No touching below the waist. No kissing. Just let her settle."
But Kara doesn't settle.
She squirms in her seat, pressing her thighs together. Her breathing quickens. A soft, unconscious whimper escapes her throat.
Blake's eyes flash gold. His hand tightens on her shoulder.
"Blake, control it," Asher snaps through the link.
"I'm fucking trying—"
Kara's head lolls against Blake's shoulder. Her eyes flutter closed. Another whimper.
Then her hand moves—sliding down to grip Blake's thigh, fingers digging in like she's trying to anchor herself.
"Fuck," Blake breathes. "Asher, she's—"
"I said control it!" Asher's Alpha command slams through the mind link.
I unbuckle and cross the aisle, crouching beside Kara's seat. "Hey," I murmur, keeping my voice soft. "Kara, can you hear me?"
Her eyes crack open—glazed, pupils dilated. "Cole?"
"Yeah, it's me." I take her free hand, the one not gripping Blake. "You're okay. We're all here. But I need you to breathe for me, alright? Deep breaths."
"I can't—" Her voice breaks. "Your scents. They're everywhere. I feel like I'm drowning and I like it and that scares me—"
"I know." I start humming softly—an old Alaskan lullaby my mother used to sing when I was small. The melody is simple, soothing.
My mint-and-ozone scent intensifies, pushing outward deliberately. Cool. Calming. The mint smell cuts through the heat of Blake's gunpowder and the authority of Asher's ebony.
Slowly, gradually, Kara's breathing evens out. Her grip on Blake loosens. Her scent shifts from aroused honey-rose to something gentler.
"There we go," I murmur, still humming. "Just relax. We're not going anywhere. You're safe."
Her eyes close again, but this time she sinks into real sleep—not the fevered half-conscious state she was in before.
Blake exhales shakily. "Thank you."
"Don't thank me yet," I reply through the link. "We have five more hours of this."
Asher's mental voice is grim. "And then we land in paradise, where the real test begins."
---
Six hours later, I gently shake Kara awake. "Hey. We're about to land."
She blinks up at me, confused. Then her eyes widen as she takes in her surroundings—my shirt is wrinkled where she clutched it, my neck has a faint mark where her teeth grazed my skin in her sleep.
"Oh my God," she whispers, face going scarlet. "Did I—"
"You were dreaming," I assure her quickly. "It's okay. You didn't do anything wrong."
But her scent spikes with embarrassment and shame.
Blake leans over, tipping her chin up gently. "Princess, listen to me. If you marking me—even accidentally—is the worst thing that happens on this trip, I'll die a happy man. Understand?"
She nods shakily.
"Good." He presses a kiss to her forehead. "Now look out the window. You're about to see your first tropical island."
---