Page 61 of Knot My Type

We take turns worshipping her body, learning what makes her gasp and sigh and arch beneath our hands. Kael's knot locks them together with an intensity that leaves them both shaking, while Fen and I provide comfort and support and our own desperate need to touch and be touched.

When it's my turn, she looks up at me with such trust and love that I nearly lose control before we've even properly begun. "I love you," she whispers as I sink into her heat, and the words hit me like lightning, transforming everything.

"I love you too," I manage, and then coherent thought becomes impossible as her body accepts mine, as the bondbetween us strengthens and deepens until I can't tell where I end and she begins.

Hours later, we lie tangled together in the king-size bed that suddenly seems too small for all of us. Eliana is curled between Kael and Fen, both alphas still radiating protective satisfaction. I'm pressed against her back, my arm around her waist, listening to the steady rhythm of her breathing.

"No regrets?" I murmur against her hair, unable to stop myself from asking.

Her laugh is soft and drowsy. "Only that it took us this long to figure it out."

"We had to be sure," Kael says, his voice rough with exhaustion and satisfaction.

"I was sure weeks ago," she admits, tilting her head to look at him. "I was just afraid you'd think I was being too needy, too clingy. Like everyone always tells me I am."

"Never," Fen says fiercely, his arm tightening around her. "You're not too anything. You're perfect exactly as you are."

She sighs contentedly, settling deeper into our embrace. "I still can't quite believe this is real. That I get to keep you."

"You're not keeping us," I correct gently. "We're choosing each other. Every day, for as long as it works for all of us."

"Forever, then," she says with such quiet confidence that my heart stutters.

"Forever," Kael agrees, and for the first time in my life, the word doesn't scare me.

Outside, I can hear the steady drip of melting snow, the distant sound of traffic on the main road. The world is returning to normal after our month of isolation, but nothing will ever be the same for any of us. We've found something here, something precious and rare and worth protecting.

As Eliana drifts off to sleep between us, I find myself thinking about the manuscript she read earlier, about the story of findinghome in unexpected places. She wrote it as fiction, but I think she knew even then that she was really writing about us, about this feeling of perfect rightness that settles in my chest every time I look at her sleeping face.

Tomorrow we'll have to start figuring out the practical details—how to blend our lives officially, how to handle the logistics of a four-person relationship, how to make this work in the real world beyond our isolated sanctuary. But tonight, none of that matters. Tonight, we're exactly where we belong, and that's enough.

More than enough. It's everything.

I close my eyes and let myself drift, surrounded by the scents and warmth of my pack, my family, my home. Whatever challenges tomorrow brings, we'll face them together. And somehow, that makes everything possible.

ELIANA

Iwake slowly, my body heavy with satisfaction and the lingering effects of heat that's finally beginning to ebb. The first thing I notice is warmth—not just the physical warmth of bodies pressed against mine, but the deeper warmth of belonging that settles in my chest like contentment made tangible. The second thing I notice is the quality of light filtering through the bedroom windows, golden and bright in a way that tells me it's late afternoon.

How long have we been up here? Time seems to have lost all meaning in this cocoon of tangled limbs and shared breath.

I'm lying on my side, Kael's massive frame curved protectively around my back, his arm heavy across my waist. His breathing is deep and even against my neck, and I can feel the steady thrum of his heartbeat where his chest presses against my shoulder blades. In front of me, Fen sleeps with his face buried in my hair, one hand resting possessively on my hip. Rhys has claimed the space near my feet, his long frame stretched across the width of the bed, one hand wrapped loosely around my ankle as if he needs that point of contact even in sleep.

The sight of them—my alphas, my beta, my pack—makes my heart squeeze with an emotion so intense it takes my breathaway. They look younger in sleep, the sharp edges of their faces softened, the careful control they maintain when awake melted away to reveal something vulnerable and precious underneath.

Mine. The thought rises unbidden, fierce and possessive in a way that would have scared me just weeks ago. But now it feels right, natural, as fundamental as breathing. They're mine, and I'm theirs, and somehow that doesn't feel like losing myself but like finally becoming who I was always meant to be.

My body aches in the most delicious way, every movement a reminder of how thoroughly I've been claimed, marked, loved. The bonding bites on my neck throb with a pleasant soreness, and I can still feel the phantom sensation of being knotted, stretched and filled and completed in ways I never knew were possible.

But it's more than just physical satisfaction. Something fundamental has shifted inside me during these hours of joining and claiming. The anxious, uncertain woman who arrived here a month ago feels like someone I used to know rather than who I am now. In her place is someone stronger, more sure of herself, someone who knows exactly what she wants and isn't afraid to reach for it.

I shift carefully, trying not to wake anyone as I extricate myself from the tangle of limbs. My movement causes Kael to tighten his grip reflexively, a low rumble of protest vibrating in his chest even though his eyes remain closed.

"Shh," I whisper, pressing a soft kiss to the back of his hand. "I'm just getting some water. I'll be right back."

He releases me reluctantly, his arm sliding away with obvious reluctance. Fen makes a similar sound of complaint as I ease away from his warmth, but neither of them wake fully. Only Rhys opens his eyes, those green depths immediately alert despite having been deep asleep moments before.

"Everything okay?" he asks quietly, his voice rough with sleep and recent exertion.