"I have something to tell you," I say during a lull in the conversation, the champagne giving me courage to share news I've been holding close for the past week.
All three of them turn to look at me, their expressions shifting to attentive concern.
"Good something or bad something?" Kael asks.
"Good something," I assure them quickly. "Very good something. My agent called yesterday. She's fielding offers from publishers for Finding Pack. Three offers so far, and she thinks there might be more."
The silence that follows is profound, then suddenly I'm being congratulated and hugged and kissed until I'm dizzy with happiness.
"That's incredible," Rhys says, his eyes bright with pride. "How do you feel?"
"Terrified," I admit. "Excited. Grateful. Like maybe all of this is too good to be true and I'm going to wake up any minute."
"It's not too good to be true," Fen says firmly. "You worked for this. You earned it."
"We all did," I correct. "The book wouldn't exist without you, without this life we've built together. You're all going to be thanked in the acknowledgments, whether you like it or not."
"I like it," Kael says immediately. "I want the whole world to know we belong to you."
The possessive pride in his voice makes my chest tight with emotion. These men are proud of me, proud to be with me, proud to be part of whatever success comes my way. After Marcus, who saw my writing as competition for his attention, the unconditional support feels miraculous.
"There's more," I continue, emboldened by their enthusiasm. "Sarah thinks this could be the start of a series. Multiple booksexploring different kinds of pack dynamics, different ways of building chosen family. She's already talking about a two-book deal, maybe more if the first one does well."
"A series," Rhys repeats, grinning. "Our Eliana, the bestselling author."
"Don't jinx it," I protest, but I'm smiling as I say it.
"Not jinxing," he insists. "Just stating what's going to happen. You're talented, the book is brilliant, and people are hungry for stories that show them different ways to love and live. It's going to be huge."
The confidence in his voice, echoed in the faces of the other two, settles something anxious in my chest. Whether the book succeeds or not, whether I become a bestselling author or remain a midlist writer scraping by, I have this. I have them. I have a family that believes in me and supports my dreams and celebrates my victories as their own.
As the sun sets behind the mountains and the first stars begin to appear in the darkening sky, I think about the woman who stumbled through this door six months ago. Lost, heartbroken, uncertain about everything except her determination to escape a situation that was slowly killing her spirit.
That woman couldn't have imagined this life, couldn't have conceived of love this generous and partnerships this equal and happiness this deep and steady. She was too afraid, too wounded, too convinced that she was asking for too much when she dreamed of being truly cherished.
But somehow, through a combination of courage and luck and the mysterious forces that bring people together exactly when they need each other most, she found her way here. To this porch, these men, this life that feels like coming home after a lifetime of wandering.
"What are you thinking about?" Fen asks, reading something contemplative in my expression.
"Just all of it," I say, gesturing vaguely at the house, the mountains, the three of them. "How different everything is now. How grateful I am that I was brave enough to leave, even when I didn't know what I was leaving for."
"You were always brave enough," Kael says quietly. "You just needed the right moment to prove it to yourself."
"And now?" Rhys asks.
I consider the question, taking inventory of who I am now versus who I was then. The anxious, uncertain woman who doubted every decision and apologized for taking up space has been replaced by someone stronger, more sure of herself, more willing to claim what she wants and defend what she values.
"Now I know I can handle whatever comes next," I say with quiet certainty. "Not because I'm not afraid anymore, but because I know I don't have to face anything alone."
"Never alone," Fen agrees, his hand finding mine in the gathering darkness.
"Never," Rhys echoes, his arm tightening around my shoulders.
"Never," Kael confirms, his deep voice carrying the weight of absolute promise.
As we sit together in the comfortable silence that follows, surrounded by the scents of pine and approaching autumn and the lingering traces of our celebratory champagne, I think about the future stretching out ahead of us. The wedding we'll plan, the business we'll grow, the books I'll write, the family we might expand in ways both expected and surprising.
None of it will be easy, I know that. Unconventional relationships require more work, more communication, more resilience than traditional ones. There will be challenges from the outside world, legal complications, family tensions, and theordinary difficulties that come with any long-term partnership multiplied by the complexity of our arrangement.
