Page 102 of Knot Happening

"I'm here," he says, and his voice is rough with emotion. "Belle, are you saying what I think you're saying?"

"I'm saying I'm ready to stop taking suppressants permanently. I'm saying I want to explore this pack bond properly, without holding back. I'm saying I love you. All of you."

"Belle..." Marcus's voice breaks slightly. "Are you sure? This is a big decision, and I need to know you're choosing thisbecause it's what you really want, not because you're caught up in omega hormones."

"Marcus," I say firmly, "I've never been more sure of anything in my life. This week has shown me who I really am when I'm not fighting my own nature. And who I am is someone who wants to build a life with three incredible alphas who make me feel like I can be anything."

"In that case," Marcus says, and I can hear the smile in his voice, "we need to talk. All of us. We'll be home in an hour."

"I'll be here," I tell him. "In our nest, waiting."

As I hang up the phone and look around at the nest I've created in their living room, at the space that's become a symbol of my readiness to embrace my omega nature fully, I know that this is the last morning I'll wake up uncertain about my future.

Tonight, I'll be going to sleep as their omega. Their pack member. Their home.

The thought should probably terrify me, but instead, it fills me with a sense of rightness that goes deeper than conscious thought. This is what I've been moving toward since that first night Theo found me in heat at the library. Every conversation, every date, every moment of growing trust has been leading to this decision.

I'm ready to be their omega. More than ready, I'm eager for it.

And judging by the way Marcus sounded on the phone, they're just as eager to claim me as I am to be claimed.

The future starts today, and I can't wait to see what we'll build together.

33

THEO

I'm awake before anyone else, lying in my own bed for the first time in two weeks. Belle's been staying in the guest room since she moved in, maintaining some independence even as she's integrated into our pack life. But tomorrow changes everything.

Tomorrow, her heat start, and we finally bond properly.

The thought should probably make me nervous, but it doesn't. Eight years in the military taught me to prepare thoroughly for important missions. This is the most important mission of my life.

I can hear movement downstairs. Marcus, probably. He always gets up early when he's processing something, and we're all processing the magnitude of what's about to happen.

I pull on clothes and head downstairs, finding Marcus exactly where I expected him to be, in the kitchen, making coffee with the kind of precision he usually reserves for construction blueprints.

"Couldn't sleep either?" I ask, settling onto one of the bar stools.

"Too much to think about." Marcus pours two cups, slides one across to me. "Tomorrow changes everything."

"In the best possible way."

"I know. It's just..." Marcus runs a hand through his hair. "We've been waiting for this for so long. Now that it's actually happening, I want to make sure we do it right."

"Define right."

"I want Belle to feel safe. Cherished. I want her first bonding experience with us to be everything she deserves,” he says.

The concern in his voice makes sense. Belle's only experience with heat has been managing it alone, terrified and isolated. We need to show her what it's like to be cared for properly.

"She trusts us," I point out. "Yesterday, when she told us about her heat starting tomorrow, there was no fear in her scent. Just anticipation."

"Good anticipation or nervous anticipation?"

"Both. Which is normal."

Felix appears in the kitchen doorway, hair sticking up in several directions. "Are we having an emergency pack meeting? Because if so, I need more coffee than exists in this house."

---