Page 177 of Down Knot Out
When they finish, four pairs of eyes turn to me. The officiant signals that it’s my turn to speak the vows I’ve carried in my heart for months.
“I once believed love was a fairy tale,” I begin, my throat tight. “A story I wrote for my characters but never expected to experience myself. With you, I learned that love is real. It’s messy and difficult. It needs to be fought for. And every second makes life wonderful.”
I turn to each of them in turn as I continue. “I promise to trust when fear tells me to run. To speak truth when lies would be easier. To build our pack with intention rather than circumstance. To choose you, every day, as you have chosen me.”
The exchange of rings follows, simple bands that symbolize our connection. When the final ring slides onto my finger, a warmth spreads through my chest, radiating outward along the pack bonds that connect us. The sensation grows until it fills every corner of my being, sealing what was begun with the Marks on my neck months ago.
The officiant smiles. “By the authority vested inme, I now pronounce the Wright pack of Misty Pines formally and legally bonded.”
My Alphas move as one, surrounding me in an embrace that blocks out the rest of the world. In this moment, wrapped in their arms, surrounded by their pheromones, and filled with their love, I know a truth deeper than any I’ve ever written.
This is where I’ve always been meant to belong.
Epilogue
Chloe
6 Months Later
My fingers sink into the dark soil as I pat the earth around the young lilac sapling.
Its branches quiver in the cooling breeze, fragile but determined. I had worried about it after the fire, and Nathaniel had spent the end of spring and all of summer nurturing it with the promise that it would be fine so long as we planted it before the first frost.
Now, I breathe in the sweet, earthy scent and let the last of the tension I’ve carried since we began rebuilding slip away.
Beside me, Nathaniel kneels in the dirt, focused as he tamps down the soil on his side to form aperfect basin to catch the rain when it comes. His rolled-up sleeves reveal forearms corded with lean muscle, dirt clinging to the light dusting of blond hair, and sweat beading at his temple despite the mild autumn air.
“A little more on the far edge.” He gestures toward a spot where the soil dips.
I scoop more soil into the depression, fingers working the earth until it meets his approval.
“I thought it would take more time for it to feel like home again.” I brush a smear of dirt from my wrist.
My skin, once pale from never leaving the house, now holds a hint of sun-kissed gold, with freckles across my forearms from working outside as we rebuilt our life piece by piece.
Nathaniel’s head lifts, his dark eyes catching the sunlight. “Our crew really worked to earn their bonuses to get us out of Cabin One and back into the Homestead before winter.”
It had taken six months, during which our pack lived in the small cottage I first rented. Back when I thought I would just be here for a two-week vacation, and then decided never to go back home. It had been tight with four Alphas, one Omega, a six-year-old pup with too much energy, and one giant Newfoundland. Grady had opted to bunkdown with Kyle in between staying on the island and returning to his apartment on the mainland.
We had spent a lot of time outside, but we were more than ready to give up the camping life by the time the inspector signed off on us moving back into the Homestead.
I lean against his side, shoulder to shoulder, breathing in the mingled scent of earth and clove while the bond between us pulses with contentment, a steady heartbeat that connects us. “Do you think it’ll bloom this season?”
His arm comes around my waist, and he gently cups the rounded swell of my stomach. “Not until next year. It needs time to grow strong.”
Blushing, I bury my face in his quilted jacket.
From the path to the lodge, a cheerful bell clangs twice, the sound carrying across the lawn, clear in the still air.
I lift my head from Nathaniel’s shoulder. “Is that?—?”
“Lunch bell.” He checks his watch. “First tour guests are back from Blake’s hike.”
I wipe my hands on the worn denim of my overalls and laugh. “I forgot we were officially open for food service today.”
Between the tree planting and the hundred other tasks still left on our list, it slipped my mind.
Nathaniel’s lips quirk upward. “Shame on you. Holden’s been baking up a storm since before sunrise!”
