Page 65 of Nesting With My Three Alphas
The lock clicked, and then Kit was in my arms, her heat scent spiking with relief and residual fear. She was trembling, her face streaked with tears, but she was whole and unharmed.
"I could smell him," she whispered against my chest. "Even through the door, I could smell him. I thought, I was so afraid he would..."
"Shh," I soothed, carrying her back to the nest and settling her gently among the blankets that smelled like safety and pack. "He's gone. He's been arrested. He can't hurt you anymore."
"But my heat," Kit said, her voice small and afraid. "He came here because of it, didn't he? What if..."
"Kit." I cupped her face gently, forcing her to meet my eyes. "Look at me. He can't hurt you. You are protected. You have three alphas who would die before letting anyone hurt you."
"Marcus had a syringe," Kit said, her scent spiking with new fear. "I saw it when I looked down the stairs. He was going to..."
"He was going to try," I corrected firmly. "But he failed. We stopped him. Your pack protected you, just like we always will."
Kit's breathing began to slow, her scent gradually settling back toward the warm honey notes of natural heat rather than the sharp spikes of panic.
"Is it really over?" she asked quietly.
"It's really over," I confirmed. "Marcus will be going to prison for a very long time. He'll never be able to threaten you again."
"Then why do I still feel scared?"
"Because fear takes time to heal," I said gently. "But you don't have to heal alone. Your pack is here, and we're not going anywhere."
Kit nestled closer, her body beginning to relax as the reality of her safety sank in. "I want you to claim me," she said suddenly, her voice stronger than it had been since the confrontation. "Tonight. All of you. I want to be yours completely, so there's never any question about where I belong."
She wanted to be claimed. Not from heat desperation, but from conscious choice. From the need to belong somewhere safe, with people who would protect her not because they owned her, but because they loved her.
"Are you sure?" I asked gently. "After what just happened, you might need time to process..."
"I'm sure," Kit said firmly. "Marcus tried to take my choice away again, tried to force me back into being his victim. But I'm not his victim anymore. I'm your omega, and I want the whole world to know it."
As Micah's footsteps sounded on the stairs, as Reed's truck pulled into the driveway, I felt the rightness of the moment settle around us. Marcus's attack had been meant to steal Kit's agency, to drag her back into a life of fear and control.
Instead, it had given her the final push she needed to claim her place in our pack completely.
"Then let's show you exactly where you belong," I said, pressing a gentle kiss to each of her claiming bite locations. "Let's make you ours forever."
The threat was over. The future was beginning.
And Kit was finally ready to embrace everything love was supposed to be.
Chapter 21
Kit
Iheard Reed's truck roaring up the driveway just as Sheriff Rowe was leading Marcus away in handcuffs. Through the bedroom window, I watched Reed jump out of his vehicle, his face a mask of fury and panic as he took in the scene. The patrol car, the broken back door, Micah standing in our yard with the coiled tension of an alpha who'd just defended their territory.
He'd missed it. Reed had missed the confrontation, missed the chance to protect me when I'd needed it most.
I could see him talking rapidly with Micah, gesturing toward the house, his whole body radiating the kind of desperate energy that came from arriving too late to help. Even from upstairs, I could smell his distress. Leather and motor oil spiked with regret and protective fury.
My heat, which had been held in check by adrenaline and terror during Marcus's attack, was now flooding back with renewed intensity. The stress had triggered something primal inmy system, and now that the threat was eliminated, my body was remembering what it had been preparing for all morning.
I was safe. Marcus was gone. And my three alphas were finally all here, all focused on me.
The bedroom door burst open, and Reed appeared, his green eyes immediately finding me curled in the nest. His scent hit me like a wave, anxiety and relief and barely controlled need all mixed together.
"Kit," he said, crossing to the bed in three quick strides. "Jesus, sweetheart, I'm so sorry. I should have been here. I should have..."
