Page 66 of Nesting With My Three Alphas
"You're here now," I interrupted, reaching for him with hands that were already trembling with building heat. "That's what matters. Micah and Jonah kept me safe."
Reed's expression crumpled with guilt and relief as he settled beside the nest, not quite touching but close enough that I could feel his warmth.
"The security alarm triggered on my phone," he said, his voice rough. "Broke every speed limit getting here. When I saw the patrol car, when I thought he might have..."
"Reed." I placed my hand over his, feeling the slight tremor that betrayed how shaken he was. "I'm okay. We're all okay. It's over."
Jonah and Micah appeared in the doorway, both of them still carrying the scent of protective aggression that came from successfully defending their pack. But when they saw me reaching for Reed, when they caught the way my heat scent was beginning to spike again, their expressions shifted to something deeper, more primal.
"How are you feeling?" Micah asked gently, moving to the other side of the nest. "After everything that just happened?"
I took inventory of my body. The racing heart that was finally beginning to slow, the adrenaline crash that was leaving meshaky, and underneath it all, the building warmth that told me my heat was no longer being held back by fear.
I could feel the heat curling low in my belly, but it wasn't panic. It was permission. The nest cradled me in soft fabrics and familiar scent, anchoring me even as my instincts surged.
"Free," I said, surprising myself with how certain I sounded. "Marcus tried to take my choice away again, tried to drag me back to being his victim. But he failed. You all protected me, and now he's gone forever."
The air in the room was heavy with my changing scent. Vanilla and honey deepening into something richer, more compelling. The kind of scent that called to alphas on an instinctual level and said ready, willing, available for claiming.
"Your heat's really starting now," Jonah observed, his pupils dilating as my intensified pheromones reached him.
"I know," I said, stretching in the nest and feeling how hypersensitive my skin had become. "And I don't want to wait anymore. I don't want to be careful or scared or worried about whether this is the right time."
I looked around at their faces. Reed with his fierce protectiveness, Micah with his gentle concern, and Jonah with his steady strength, the alpha who kept us grounded even when the world spun sideways. I felt my heart swell with absolute certainty.
"I want to be claimed," I said firmly. "Tonight. By all of you. I want to go to sleep bonded to my pack and wake up tomorrow knowing I'm finally, completely home."
Reed's scent spiked with barely controlled desire. "Kit, are you sure? After what just happened, you might need time to process..."
"I'm sure," I interrupted, my voice gaining strength. "Marcus's attack wasn't a setback. It was the final proof that I'm exactly where I belong. He tried to steal my agency, my choice, myfuture. Instead, he gave me the final push I needed to claim my place in this pack completely."
"We were going to finish our work responsibilities first," Micah said carefully. "Make sure everything was handled before..."
"Everything is handled," I said firmly. "Marcus is in jail. The threat is over. And you're all here now, which is exactly where I need you to be."
The three of them exchanged glances, some wordless communication passing between them. Then Jonah spoke, his voice carrying the quiet authority that made my omega sit up and take notice.
"Are you choosing this because your heat is demanding it, or because Kit Lennox is making a conscious decision about her future?"
The question hit me exactly where it was meant to, at the heart of everything I'd learned about choice and agency and the difference between being taken and choosing to give.
"Kit Lennox is making a conscious decision," I said without hesitation. "I'm choosing you. All of you. Not because my biology is demanding it, but because I love you and trust you and want to build a life with you that has no expiration date."
Reed reached out to cup my face with gentle hands. "And you're sure you want this now? Tonight? We could wait until..."
"I'm tired of waiting," I said, leaning into his touch. "I'm tired of being careful and scared and holding pieces of myself back just in case this doesn't work out. I want to give you everything, and I want it to start right now."
The scent in the room intensified as my heat responded to their proximity, to the promise of what was coming. But this wasn't desperate, mindless need. This was anticipation, desire, the deep satisfaction of choosing to be vulnerable with people who would never use that vulnerability against me.
"Then let's show you what heat is supposed to feel like," Micah said softly, moving closer to the nest, "when you're loved."
"When you're protected," Jonah added, settling on my other side.
"When you're home," Reed concluded, his thumb tracing over my bottom lip with reverent attention.
As their scents surrounded me, as their hands began to touch me with the careful attention of alphas who understood that my pleasure was their privilege rather than their right, I felt the last of my walls crumble completely.
Marcus had tried to steal my agency, my choice, my future. Instead, his attack had proven that I was exactly where I belonged. Protected by alphas who would fight for me, surrounded by love that had no conditions, ready to claim the life I'd always dreamed of having.
