Page 102 of Nesting With My Three Alphas
"Where's the fun in that?" Jonah asked, but his smile was soft with contentment.
"The fun is in this," Kit said, gesturing around at all of us. "The ordinary, everyday magic of having people who love you and work that matters and a place that feels like home."
"To ordinary magic," I said, raising my own glass.
"To family," Jonah added.
"To art that changes the world," Reed contributed.
"To Kit," Charlie said seriously, "who makes everything better."
"To all of us," Kit finished, her voice carrying the quiet confidence of someone who finally believed she deserved the happiness she'd found. "To home."
As we sat in the peaceful aftermath of celebration, surrounded by the evidence of love freely given and cherished, I couldn't help but think about how much had changed since that autumn morning when a frightened woman had walked into my bakery asking for coffee and kindness.
She'd asked for coffee and kindness. She gave us a family and a future. That's more than magic. That's Kit.
Chapter 32
Kit
The first hint that my heat was approaching came on a Tuesday morning, when the scent of Jonah's coffee made me dizzy with want and Reed's casual touch against my lower back sent electricity straight through my entire nervous system. I'd been expecting this, tracking my cycle, preparing emotionally, discussing timing with my pack, but the reality of my body beginning its transformation still caught me off guard.
Fifteen months. Fifteen months since my first heat with them, since the night everything changed and I stopped running from love. We’d had other heats since then, each and every one had been magical in its own way.
This time was different, though. This time, I was choosing this heat cycle with the full knowledge of what it meant and what I wanted from it.
"Charlie," I said carefully over breakfast, watching our now eight-year-old daughter carefully arrange her cereal into color-coordinated groups, "you know how we talked about you going to Aunt Emma's this weekend?"
"For your special omega time," Charlie said matter-of-factly, not looking up from her organizational project. "So you and the dads can have privacy for important pack bonding."
The casual way she discussed heat cycles never failed to amaze me. In the world I'd grown up in, such things were shrouded in secrecy and shame. But Charlie had grown up with age-appropriate explanations about biological realities, treating heat cycles as a normal part of omega health rather than something mysterious or embarrassing.
"Well, we might need to move that timeline up a little," I said, catching the way all three of my alphas went very still around the kitchen. "I think my special omega time might be starting sooner than we planned."
Charlie's head snapped up with interest. "How soon?"
"Maybe tonight or tomorrow," I said, already feeling the telltale restlessness that preceded full heat onset. "Which means..."
"I need to pack!" Charlie jumped up from her chair with the enthusiasm of someone whose favorite aunt spoiled her shamelessly and let her stay up past bedtime. "Can I bring my new art supplies? Aunt Emma said she wanted to learn watercolor techniques."
"Yes, you can bring your art supplies," Jonah said, his voice carefully controlled in the way that meant he was managing alpha instincts while trying to have a normal parental conversation. "But first, finish your breakfast."
Charlie dutifully returned to her cereal, but I could feel the anticipation radiating from everyone at the table. Not anxiety. We'd moved far beyond that particular emotion. But the focused intensity that came with preparing for something important.
Something sacred.
Because that's what this heat felt like. Not just biological necessity or physical bonding, but a conscious choice to deepen the connections we'd built, to officially try for the baby we'd been discussing for months, to claim this future we'd constructed together.
"I'll call Emma," Reed said, already reaching for his phone. "Let her know Charlie's coming over early."
"And I'll finish the prep work at the bakery," Micah added. "Lily can handle things for the next few days."
It was a dance we'd choreographed over every heat that had come before, each alpha knowing exactly what needed to happen to ensure my heat cycle could progress without outside interruptions or obligations. No work emergencies, no social commitments, no anything that might interfere with the intimate bubble we'd create around our bond.
"What about you?" Jonah asked me quietly. "How are you feeling? Really?"
I considered the question seriously, taking inventory of both my physical state and my emotional landscape. The restlessness was building, yes, and my body temperature was already climbing. But underneath the biological preparation, there was something else.
