Page 17 of Reckless: Chaos

“I can’t—” My voice breaks. “I don’t know how to be what you all need.”

“We don’t need you to be anything,” Ryker’s voice gentles for the first time since we returned. “We just need you to stay.”

“Even if I break all your rules?”

“Especially then.” A ghost of a smile touches his lips. “Because you’re the chaos that balances our control. The question that challenges our answers. The beta who makes us all feel human.”

The truth of it settles in my bones, beautiful and terrifying. Because this isn’t just about attraction or pack dynamics or designation biology.

This is about belonging. About finding your perfect match in not just one person, but four. About falling in ways that have nothing to do with airplanes and everything to do with trust.

“Stay.” The word falls from Theo’s lips like a song. He moves closer, omega grace in every step. “Stay and break every rule. Stay and drive us crazy. Stay and be exactly who you are.”

My chest feels too tight, too full. Because this is everything I never knew I wanted and everything I’m terrified to have.

Jinx prowls closer, perpetual motion finally settling as he reaches us. “You think we care about rules?” A wild laugh escapes him. “Sweetheart, we’re the fucking disaster squad. The ones they send in when everything else fails.”

“What he means,” Finn’s thumb traces circles on my palm, sending shivers up my arm, “is that we’re all broken in our own ways. All misfits. That’s why we work.”

“Do we?” I look between them—these four men who’ve somehow become my gravity. “Work?”

“You tell me.” Ryker’s voice carries challenge now instead of anger. “Tell me you didn’t feel it during the snowball fight. Tell me you don’t feel it every time Theo plays for you. Every time Jinx lets you see his darkness. Every time Finn challenges your mind.”

Every time you push back against my chaos with your control,I think but don’t say. Because he’s right—I do feel it. All of it.

The way Theo’s music touches something wild in my soul. The way Jinx’s feral energy calls to my own chaos. The way Finn’s intellect sparks against mine like flint on steel. The way Ryker’s authority somehow shores up my freedom instead of cage it.

“I feel everything,” I whisper, and it comes out like confession. “Too much. All the time. With all of you.”

Theo reaches out, his fingers ghosting over my cheek. “Good. Because we feel you too. Even when you’re running. Even when you’re fighting. Even when you’re jumping out of planes with our beta.”

“Your beta?” I glance at Finn, catching the heat in his eyes.

“Always have been.” He tugs me closer, and I go willingly. “Just like you’re ours. All of ours. In different ways, different intensities, but ours all the same.”

“And if I break more rules?” The question comes out breathless as Jinx moves behind me, his heat seeping into my back.

“Then we’ll make new ones,” Ryker says, and something in his voice makes me shiver. “Together.”

“Together,” I repeat, testing the word. “Does that mean I get to paint the basement?”

The question catches them off guard, breaking the heated tension with startled laughs.

“The basement?” Ryker’s eyebrows rise. “That’s what you’re thinking about right now?”

“Those white walls are killing my soul.” I step out of their circle, finding my footing in this new dynamic. “If I’m staying, if I’m... yours,” the word still feels strange on my tongue, “then I need color. Life. Something that isn’t military precision and perfect lines.”

“Oh god,” Finn groans, but there’s affection in it. “You’re going to destroy my security hub’s aesthetic, aren’t you?”

“Planning to.” I flash him a grin, remembering how he’d destroyed my perfectly controlled world just hours ago. Turnabout is fair play. “I’m thinking maybe sunset orange. Or electric blue. Something that’ll give Ryker an aneurysm.”

“You are not painting my security center orange.” But Ryker’s lips twitch, betraying him.

“Our security center,” I correct, and watch something flash in his eyes. “Unless you’re taking back that wholetogetherthing?”

Jinx’s laugh carries pure chaos. “She’s got you there, Alpha.”

“I could help,” Theo offers, practically vibrating with artistic excitement. “Create a mural maybe? Something that bridges order and chaos?”

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