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I swipe again, until I find Theo.
Hands in his pockets, soft smile barely caught in frame, eyes lit like someone had just said something kind and he actually believed them. It hits me then: how easy it was to overlook him at first. How gentle he is. How steady. Like a heartbeat you didn’t notice was keeping you alive until it stuttered.
Another swipe, until I reach Ash. The first one of the four that I saw that night.
He's all brooding menace and arms crossed over his chest, leaning against a marble pillar. His eyes aren’t on the camera - they’re scanning the room, sizing up exits, threats, weaknesses. A soldier, always.
But now I know better. Now I know how his hands steady me. How he holds grief like it's a weapon he’s trained to disarm.
And then -
Kai.
Grinning directly into the lens. The only one who actually saw me, like he was in on the joke before I even knew I was telling one.
Chaos personified. Shirt unbuttoned. Eyebrow cocked. Probably already halfway through planning a heist or a kiss. Possibly both.
I scroll back through the images, heart swelling like a balloon I didn’t mean to fill. Once. Twice. Again.
They’re mine now.
Not possessions. Not captors, either.
Not in the creepy,leash-and-collar, alpha-on-a-power-tripway. But in the bone-deep, soul-threaded,rip-your-heart-out-to-keep-you-safekind of way.
Mine.And I’mtheirs.
I wipe at my eyes, laughing softly at myself even as the tears come anyway.
What the hell has happened to me?!
Ten days ago, I was practically living out of a backpack, hoarding takeout soy sauce packets and pretending freelance photography was a sustainable lifestyle. Most of my money was being spent on my suppressants, and most of my time was spent either alone or with a best friend who kept threatening to stage an intervention via meme.
I was surviving.
Now I’m... bonded. Not once. Not twice. But four times.Four.
That’s not even a romantic comedy - that’s a group project from hell that somehow turned into the best thing that’s ever happened to me.
And it terrifies me.
Because this isn’t temporary. It’s permanent. The bonds are already formed, and if we mark each other - if they mark me - it seals it.
No going back. No hiding. No pretending I’m just a beta with a temper and a good camera.
I’ll be a pack omega. Officially. Publicly. Unavoidably.
And for the first time in my life, I think I’m okay with that.
Because Lucian? He’s my mate. I feel it in the marrow of my bones, in the ache that pulls me toward him even when he’s being a cold, controlling jackass. There’s something ancient there. Unbreakable.
But the others... they matter too.
Theo, with his hands always steady and voice like a lifeline. Ash, who sees everything, says little, and guards me like he’s guarding a sacred truth. Kai, who flirts like it’s oxygen but held me like I was fragile and holy and his.
They’re each tied to different parts of me. Parts I never even knew I had. Parts that were lonely. Hungry. Hollow.
And now? I’m full. Terrified, still. Overwhelmed, absolutely. But so goddamn full.
