Chapter 96
Kara
The moment my "yes" leaves my lips, the world shifts.
Blake's roar of triumph echoes across the ocean, raw and unrestrained. Cole's tears fall faster, mixing with breathless laughter. Asher closes his eyes, and I feel through the bond—oh God, the relief—like he'd been holding his breath for a decade and finally, finally allowed himself to breathe.
But then something changes.
The air around us thickens. Their scents—black ebony and tobacco, gunpowder and leather, mint and ozone—surge with a wild, uncontrolled intensity I've never felt before. It crashes over me like a physical wave, and my knees buckle.
Blake catches me instantly, his hands trembling where they grip my waist. "Kara—"
"The marking," Asher says, his voice strained. His eyes flash gold, then back to blue, then gold again. "It's responding to the engagement. To the... the promise becoming real."
I touch my throat where the three bite marks rest. The skin is burning, silver light pulsing beneath my fingertips in rhythm with my racing heartbeat. Through the bond, I feel their wolves clawing to the surface, not in aggression but in desperate, overwhelming need.
Mine. Ours. Mate. Luna. Wife.
The words echo through the bond in a trinity of voices that aren't quite human anymore.
"Is this—" My voice cracks. "Is this normal?"
Cole pulls me against his chest, his face buried in my hair. "The ring activated something. The runes... they're ancient magic, meant to seal mate bonds permanently. Your wolf is responding, and ours..." He groans, the sound vibrating through his chest into mine. "Fuck, Kara, you smell like everything."
My white musk and first snow has intensified to the point where even I can smell it, thick and sweet and laced with something new—something that makes all three of them shake like they're barely holding onto their human forms.
Blake's hands slide up my sides, fingers digging into my ribs. Not painful, but possessive. Claiming. "Baby, we need to get you inside. Now. Before we—" He cuts off with a harsh breath.
"Before you what?" The question comes out breathy, and I hate how my body is already responding, heat pooling low in my belly, skin hypersensitive where their hands touch through the thin silk of my dress.
Asher steps close, boxing me in between the three of them. When he speaks, his voice carries that Alpha command that makes my wolf want to roll over and bare her throat. "Before we lose control completely and take you right here on this deck where anyone with a telescope could see."
Oh.
Oh God.
Through the bond, I feel it—the barely leashed violence of their Ruts synchronizing. The three of them feeding off each other's instincts, amplifying until it's not three separate Alphas wanting me but one massive, overwhelming force.
And my Heat...
I press my thighs together as liquid warmth floods between my legs. The marking sites pulse with silver light, and suddenly I need—
"Inside," I gasp. "Please—"
Blake lifts me before the word fully leaves my mouth. I'm cradled against his chest as he strides across the deck, and through the fog of mounting desire, I notice how careful he's being. How he angles my body away from where his obvious erection strains against his dress pants, giving me space even as every instinct must be screaming at him to pin me down and—
Stop. Breathe.
Cole holds the door open, and the moment we cross the threshold into the master suite, I'm hit with a wall of their combined scents so intense I nearly black out from the rush of endorphins.
The room is... perfect.
Projection lights cast rippling aurora borealis across the ceiling and walls. The massive bed is covered in white silk sheets that look like fresh snow. Everywhere—nightstands, windowsills, floating in bowls of water—are Alaska ice roses, their pale petals glowing faintly in the low light.
They did this. For me. For tonight.
"The safe word," Asher says, appearing at my side as Blake sets me on my feet. His hand cups my face, forcing me to meet his eyes. They're more gold than blue now, but his voice is steady. Controlled. "Say it, Kara. I need to know you remember."
"Mistletoe," I whisper, and something in his expression softens.
"Good girl." He strokes his thumb across my cheekbone. "Once you say it, everything stops. No questions, no explanations needed. We stop immediately. Understand?"
I nod, but my attention is fragmenting. Cole is circling behind me, his mint scent wrapping around me like a cool blanket even as his hands ghost over my shoulders. Blake stands at the foot of the bed, chest heaving, fists clenched at his sides as he visibly fights his instincts.
"Tonight," Asher continues, his thumb now tracing my lower lip, "you're in control. You tell us what you need. What you want. What's too much." His eyes flash gold again. "There is no 'we want.' Only 'you need.' Tell us, Kara."
The permission crashes through me like a tidal wave.
For ten years, I had no control. No choices. No voice that mattered.
And now three Alphas—three powerful, dominant, possessive Alphas—are looking at me like I hold the sun in my hands and waiting for my command.
My wolf howls in triumph.
My human side trembles in disbelief.
"I want..." My voice shakes. I clear my throat and try again, stronger this time. "I want to see you. All of you. Everything."
Blake's eyes go wide. Cole's breath catches behind me. Asher's lips curve into something that's half smile, half predator's satisfaction.
"You want to watch?" Blake asks, and there's something vulnerable beneath the raw hunger in his tone. "You want us to... strip for you?"
"Yes." The word comes out firmer than I expected. "I've spent years being looked at. Being... being judged and mocked and told I wasn't good enough to be seen." I lift my chin, even as my pulse hammers in my throat. "Tonight, I want to see. I want to watch you want me."
The bond explodes with their reactions—arousal so intense it makes my knees weak, but underneath it, something else. Something that makes my chest ache.
She wants to own us the way we've been owning her.
Fuck yes.
Beautiful. She's so fucking beautiful when she's brave.
Asher steps back first, his movements deliberate. He shrugs off his jacket, letting it fall to the floor. His eyes never leave mine as he loosens his tie, pulling it free with a soft whisper of silk against cotton.
"Keep watching, my Luna," he murmurs. "We're yours. Every inch."
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