I watch Roxy work, her hands steady and sure as she makes my mark permanent on Juniper's skin. She's humming along to the music playing softly in the background, completely at ease with herself and her place in the world.
"Healing looks different for everyone," Elias continues, and I know he's not just talking about Roxy anymore.
"Yeah," I agree softly, my eyes on Juniper as she grins and laughs through the discomfort, regaling Roxy with tales of the alphas' ridiculousness at the nesting store. "It does."
When Roxy finishes, she carefully cleans and wraps the fresh tattoo. "It'll need proper aftercare, but it should heal beautifully. The impression was perfect." There's a glimmer in her eye as she adds, "And if you can't wait for any further marking, alpha saliva has healing properties that can help things along."
"Good to know," Juniper purrs.
I move closer to examine it, and my heart aches. There it is, my mark on her skin, permanent and unconventional and absolutely perfect. Not the traditional claiming bite, but something uniquely ours.
Juniper launches herself at Roxy, hugging her carefully. "Thank you," she says, and there are actual tears in her eyes. "Thank you so much."
"Anytime," Roxy says, hugging her back just as fierce. "We survivors have to stick together, yeah?"
Then Juniper's bounding over to the alphas, her heat scent now impossible to ignore. "Now take me home," she announces, zero filter as always. "I need to be fucked. Now."
Bane laughs, scooping her up into his arms like she weighs nothing. "Yes, ma'am," he says, already heading for the door. "Let's get you home."
Carlisle tosses money on the counter—way more than the tattoo could have cost—and smiles at Roxy. "For the inconvenience of closing early."
"And for the discretion," Archer adds, though he's already following Bane out, drawn by Juniper's scent like a magnet.
Elias pauses at the door, looking back at me. "You coming?"
I take one last look at Roxy, this omega who survived and thrived and built something beautiful from her broken pieces. She gives me a knowing smile, like she sees exactly what I'm thinking.
"Go," she says. "Your pack's waiting."
My pack. The words still feel foreign sometimes, but less and less each day.
I follow them out to the car where Juniper's already climbing all over Bane in the backseat, her heat hitting full force now that she's been marked. Soon, the alphas will add their marks, making us an official pack in the way biology demands.
And she's wearing mine first.
Epilogue
The nest is full of silk and fake fur and stolen shirts, and it feels like absolute heaven. I'm in the massive walk-in closet, surrounded by the alphas' clothes I've hoarded like a dragon with particularly soft treasure, and Felix's mark throbs on my shoulder with each heartbeat. The tattoo's fresh, but after the alphas' ministrations in the car, it's already healing.
Every time I catch sight of it in the mirror, my pussy clenches. Like a pussy version of applause.
My heat's not just ramping up, it's gone from zero to nuclear in the span of the car ride home. All the groping didn't help.
It's me. I'm the one who was groping. At least initially. Then it kind of became a sexy team building exercise.
I've stopped taking suppressants altogether, and that unconventional mark pushed me over the edge. My skin feels too tight, like I'm about to burst out of it and become something else entirely. Something that belongs to them in every way that matters. A were omega, if you will.
The shadows dance along the walls, no longer screaming but humming excitedly. They know what's coming. What I need.
"Knock knock," Archer's voice drifts through the bedroom. "Can we come in, or are you still arranging pillows according to some secret omega sacred geometry we don't know about?"
"Get your asses in here," I call back, adjusting the placement of Carlisle's shirt for the fifteenth time. It has to be perfect. This is the nest where I'm going to get marked by my entire pack, where everything changes, where we stop dancing around what we are and just fucking become it.
They file in like they're approaching a temple, which I guess it kind of is. The Temple of Juniper's Heat-Induced Insanity, services held every few weeks, clothing optional but discouraged.
Bane fills the doorway first, looking like he wants to devour me. His hazel eyes are already dark with want, nostrils flaring as my scent hits him. Carlisle follows, immaculate as always despite the fact that I can see his cock straining against his designer pants. Elias brings up the rear with Archer, both of them moving with that cautiousness that says they're about two seconds from losing their shit entirely.
And Felix. My Felix, standing slightly apart but still here, still fundamentally part of this even if he'll participate differently. His silver eyes find mine, and there's so much love there it makes my chest ache.
