Page 186 of Knot Baked Out For This
This feels like the first time I've let myself believe that joy and safety can exist together. That I can be happy without waiting for the other shoe to drop. That three Alphas can want me without wanting to change me, control me, make me smaller.
"You're thinking too loud," Levi mumbles against my shoulder.
"How can thinking be loud?"
"Your face gets all scrunchy."
"It does not!"
"Does too. Like you're doing calculus."
"I don't even remember calculus."
"Neither does Levi," Luca says dryly. "Failed it twice."
"Once! The second time was algebra!"
"That's worse."
"Numbers are hard!"
"You run a ranch. That requires math."
"That requires Luca doing math while I look pretty."
They bicker over my head while fireworks paint the sky, and I realize I'm smiling. Not the careful smile I perfected during mymarriage, not the customer service smile I wear at the bakery, but a real, unguarded, probably goofy smile that makes my cheeks hurt.
"Happy?" Rowan asks, noticing.
"Yeah," I admit. "Really happy."
"Good. You deserve to be happy."
"We all do."
Another firework explodes—purple this time, painting everything in violet light for a moment. In that light, I can see my pack clearly: Levi still somehow covered in caramel despite multiple napkins, Luca pretending he's not cold even though he's shivering slightly, Rowan solid and warm and present behind me.
"Next year," Levi announces, "we're doing couple costumes."
"Pack costumes," Luca corrects.
"I am not being a sexy anything," I state firmly.
"Sexy baker?"
"That's just me in my apron."
"Exactly!"
I throw Fred at him, which starts a stuffed spider war that has nearby festival-goers giving us wide berth. We're those people now—the chaotic pack that can't go anywhere without causing a scene.
And I love it.
"Home?" Rowan asks eventually, when the fireworks end and the bonfires start dying down.
"One more cider," I request. "It's not midnight yet."
"Cinderella rules?" Levi teases.
