Page 198 of Unmarked
“And now?”
“Now, I want four of you.” It comes out like a joke, but my voice cracks. “Which, by the way, is absolutely unhinged.”
He doesn’t laugh. Just leans forward a little.
Still steady. Still safe.
“I always thought a bond would erase me,” I admit. “But it’s not like that. It’s…loud. But it’s me. Still me. Just… with backup singers.”
Theo’s mouth twitches. “Your body’s adjusting. It’ll settle.”
“Is this forever?”
“It can be. If you want it.”
I chew on my lip. “And it’s not just heat brain making me want you guys?”
“No,” he says softly. “You reached. We all felt it.”
I blink down at the shimmer still drying on my thighs. The lingering scent of Ash. The ghost of Lucian’s hand at my throat. The echo of Kai’s laugh somewhere in my bones.
It’s a mess.I’ma mess.
And maybe for the first time, that’s okay.
Because it’s mine. All of it. My choice. My chaos. My pack.
Even if I have no idea what I’m doing.
“I didn’t really know what I was choosing.”
He smiles - soft, a little sad. “No one ever does.”
I glance down at myself, still vaguely sticky despite the shower, robe tied like it’s holding my life together, hair drying in a frizz halo because I got cocky and skipped the conditioner step. Again.
And beneath it all, four Alpha bonds pulsing in my bloodstream like I’m running some kind of illegal multi-user emotional VPN.
Honestly? It’s a lot. Like,should’ve-come-with-a-user-manual levela lot.
“But it is a lot,” Theo says, like he read my mind. “Four bonds at once? Most omegas bond one alpha, maybe two if they’re lucky and their nervous systems aren’t made of wet spaghetti.”
“Okay, so it’s not just me,” I say. “It’s weird.”
“Not weird.” He hesitates. “Rare. I think… you might be a rare-pack Omega.”
The words drop like stones.
I blink. “That’s not…real. That’s just something you all say on heat forums to excuse possessiveness.”
“It’s real,” Theo says gently. “Rare. Almost unheard of. Butreal. An omega born with the capacity to bond with multiple alphas - not just tolerate them, butbalancethem. Match them. Pull them into a pack that actually works.”
I try to laugh, but it comes out cracked. “You think I’m a fucking unicorn?”
He shrugs, eyes warm. “You’re something. And not because of what you can do - because of how you’ve handled it.”
I meet his gaze.
“You seriously think I’m handling this?”
