"Hey," I say softly, not wanting to wake the others. "You good?"
She looks up at me, those brown eyes warm and satisfied. "More than good. You?"
"Yeah." I shift slightly, making Darren mumble in his sleep as my knot tugs. "Can I tell you something?"
"Always."
I reach over Darren to brush a strand of hair from her face. It's more tender than I usually allow myself to be, but something about this moment, locked inside our omega, surrounded by pack, makes me feel raw.
"This wouldn't have happened without you," I tell her. "Not just the sex. All of it. Darren accepting himself, the pack coming together like this. You did that."
She blinks, surprise flickering across her features. "I didn't?—"
"You did," I insist. "We were a mess before you. Darren fighting his biology, the rest of us dancing around each other, pretending we didn't want more. And me handling it all in theworst possible way. You walked in and just... made it okay. Made us okay."
"Zayn..." Her voice catches slightly.
"I'm shit at feelings," I continue, because apparently my fucking emotions are spilling out along with the truth. "But you need to know. You're not just some beta we're fucking. You're the center of our pack. The thing that makes us work. Our mate." The words stick in my throat and I realize I've never actually said them to anyone. Not like this. "We love you.Ilove you."
She stretches up to kiss me, soft and sweet, and I taste tears. Happy ones, I think.
"I love you too," she whispers against my lips. "All of you."
"Even when I'm being an asshole?"
She laughs quietly. "Especially then." She settles back against Darren, but keeps her hand on my cheek. "Thank you. For saying that. For letting me in."
"Thank you for not running when shit got complicated."
"Never," she says firmly. "You're stuck with me now. All of you."
"Good," I say, meaning it more than I've meant anything in my life. "That's... good."
Especially since at this point, if she did get sick of us and leave, I'd end up stalking her to the ends of the earth to convince her to give me another chance. And I know I'd have four fellow stalkers doing the same fucking thing.
Chapter
Forty
LEXIE
The second day of Darren's heat settles over the house like a thick blanket, heavy but somehow more comfortable than yesterday's frantic energy. I stretch in the nest, surrounded by the mingled scents of pack and sex and satisfaction. My body aches in all the best ways, muscles I didn't know I had protesting from the marathon of the past thirty-six hours.
Darren lies beside me, his breathing finally even and calm instead of the desperate pants that marked most of yesterday. The flush of heat still colors his skin, but it's fading now, like watching a sunset in reverse. His hand finds mine under the blankets, fingers interlacing.
"How are you feeling?" I ask softly, not wanting to disturb the peaceful atmosphere that's descended over the bedroom.
"Like I got hit by a truck," he admits with a rough chuckle. "But a really good truck. The kind that leaves you satisfied instead of dead."
"That's quite the metaphor."
“My brain's still scrambled from how many times I came,” he says, turning to face me properly. His blue eyes are clearer now,less glazed with heat-induced desperation. "But I'm good. Better than good, actually."
The alphas are scattered around the room in various states of undress and exhaustion. Jax has dozed off in the armchair, his head tilted back at what looks like an uncomfortable angle. Zayn's sprawled on the floor with a pillow, looking utterly spent. Dmitri sits by the window with another one of his classic novels, though I've caught him watching us more than reading. And Aidan...
Aidan's pacing.
He's trying to be subtle about it, moving from the dresser to the door and back again, but there's a restless energy that's impossible to miss. His green eyes keep darting to the nest, to Darren and me tangled together, then away like he's been caught doing something he shouldn't.
