Page 61 of Forget me Knot
“Ben-Dad?” Lily asks with a scrunched-up nose so cute I want to kiss the tip of it.
Max snickers. “One of my non-bio dads. He’s a lawyer.”
“You make him sound like a washing powder,” Sam jokes, and we laugh, breaking the tension that had built around the flat.
I nod enthusiastically. “I think I know the exact way to nullify any claim they think they have on her.”
“How?” Lily whispers.
“By making you our mate,” I murmur. “There will be no denying who you belong to.”
She listens intently, her eyes darting between Max and Sam. There’s still fear, but underneath it, I can see something else blooming. Hope. Belonging.
It reminds me of that night five years ago, when I first saw her naked in that cold, sterile facility. She was so small, so scared, but there was a fire in her that refused to be extinguished. I knew I had to risk everything to get her out.
“Jack?” Lily’s voice pulls me from my thoughts.
I realise I’ve been staring, and I give her a soft smile. “You don’t agree?”
She sighs and looks around. “It’s too fast.”
“Not for me. The day couldn’t come soon enough.”
She nervously bites her lip. “What if I’m not ready? What if some of you need more time?” Her eyes are on Max.
Max smiles at her. “I already told you, you’ve got me, peaches. It’s not about rushing you, Lily. It’s about making sure you’re safe. We’ll take it at your pace.”
“Peaches?”
“That fake scent. I get it now why you use it. I could smell your true scent underneath, and it was driving me wild.”
“Really?” she murmurs.
“Really.”
“So you are my mate then,” she states with confidence. “That masker is potent. I don’t fuck about with it. You shouldn’t have been able to smell my real scent.”
“Guess I am,” he whispers.
I watch her process his words, her eyes flicking between us. She’s been so strong for so long, carrying the weight of her past alone. Now, she doesn’t have to.
“I want this,” she says quietly, almost to herself. Then louder, with more strength, “I want us. It’s so fast. What about all of you?”
“I’ve wanted you forever, Lily. I will wait as long as you need me to, but I want you more than anything in this life,” I say.
“Well, I don’t have a proclamation like that to make,” Sam says with a cheeky smile that makes her giggle, “but I have known for some time that I wanted you, even when I didn’t really know you, I knew. I could smell your scent lingering on Jack, and it would drive me wild.”
“Same,” Max murmurs. “It was potent, distracting. But Jack wanted to keep you a secret, so I didn’t force his hand… until you delivered those flowers to me.”
“It wasn’t that I wanted to keep her a secret,” I grit out. “It was just…”
Lily presses her fingers to my lips. “It doesn’t matter. We are here now.”
“Yes, we are, and whenever you say the word, we will make you ours forever.”
She leans forward and kisses me. Her scent wraps around me, her lips hot from her heat.
“Is it time?” I murmur.
