Page 220 of Ashley & the A-Listers

“Not even a little bit,” Ashley drawled.

Arousal and groans and bursts of pleasure filled the nest, warmth without the desperation of a heat.

River first, they promised, and Cameron sank into him again and again. Ashley met River in a filthy kiss as she moved against him, trailing her lips along his jaw and neck, nipping and teasing. She dipped to his shoulder, his arm, kissing along all the flowers that represented the most important reminders in his life and the printed words that declared an end—but what kind of ending?

To the blank space, where her bite would go, where her claim would lay, where she’d bond River and Cam and herself together for as long as they all lived.

Dylan watched from the oddly-shaped sex chair Cameron had introduced them to, approval and titillation loud in the bond as he watched her take care of the pack. He’d join them—after River was irrevocably theirs.

Cameron moaned, and his pleasure flooded the bond as Ashley rocked her hips, feeling the beta swell inside her, knowing what a sight they made for the other alpha.

She glanced up at River.

In his eyes she saw bright adoration and half-lidded arousal, his lips parted as Cameron thrust into him and she canted her hips.

“You belong here,” she panted, and River’s gaze wavered. “With us,” she said. “With me.”

She waited, timing it, watching his jaw clench and his abs tense, listening to the pitch of their moans. She knew by now which tenor meant it was time.

She brushed her lips over the skin on his arm, anticipating.

They struck it together, reaching the peak with a cry, and Ashley sank her teeth in, her lock gripping him tightly.

River came with a shout.

It was a hard bite, deep, with blood on her tongue, and like curtains parting, there was River. In the bond like he’d always belonged, twining around her and Cameron like a braid.

Together, as one. Ashley’s heart filled up with the four of them, different flavors of the same love: adoration, admiration, obsession, dedication.

They all blended until Ashley could hardly tell them apart, and her hindbrain howled in satisfaction.

Her pack was one.

Ashley soothed the bite with lips and tongue, working it, healing it. Cameron had stopped moving, resting against River’s back and stroking his arm.

Their gazes met, and Ashley paused, lifting her head. “It feels right,” she said, glancing to River. “You’re right where you belong.”

He nodded, and she felt his swell of emotion before his attention drifted over her shoulder.

She knew what was coming before Dylan ever framed her hips with his hands, settling into the nest behind her.

“I have to soothe the bite,” she told him.

“Sounds like a task for an alpha,” he mused, and pressed against her. His warm skin met hers and heat licked at her, stomach tightening with it, cunt quivering where it was locked around River.

River’s jade eyes darkened, and everyone's pleasure fluttered through the bond. With a chuckle, she lowered her mouth, pausing before contact.

“Do your worst, then,” she challenged, and lowered her lips back to the fresh bite.

She braced herself, holding onto River’s arm. Her thumb covered the courier print declaringthe end.

This wasn’ttheirend.

This was their beginning.

And it was going to be a damned good one.

EPILOGUE

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