Page 170 of Pack Frenzy
“You walked into this house and made it breathe again.” Rowan’s palm warms the back of my neck, thumb stroking slow circles. “You made me want mornings. Laughter. You made me want you. Remember that first day? You told Cassian not to call you sweetheart, and you said it in a way that sounded like you’d jam the chopstick in his eyeball if he did it again. I knew then—even if he didn’t—that you weren’t just passing through. That was the first day in years that didn’t hurt.”
A sound rips out of me, half laugh, half sob.
“Losing Meredith didn’t just break us—it hollowed us,” Eli says, threading his fingers through mine. “Rowan buried himself in work. Cassian fought everything with a pulse. I kept waiting for something to feel right again. It never did.
“Not until you. You didn’t replace her, Jess. You healed us. You hum when you do dishes, and it makes this place sound alive. Every time I see Churro on the couch or that ridiculous wall-eyed shark you won at the carnival, I remember what home feels like.” His smile wobbles. “And I love you for it. Every loud, impossible, beautiful inch of you.”
He loves me. The words hit like an impact, stealing my breath. My knees dip, and I’m grateful for his hand.
“You drive me insane,” Cassian grinds out. “You talk back. You throw knives better than anyone I know. Half the time, I don’t know if I want to kiss you or lock you somewhere safe. But you’re it. You’re home. My damn sun—the center everything spins around now.” His hand slides into my hair, tipping my face up. “I don’t let people in. Then you showed up—stubborn, brave—and knocked me off my feet.”
“I love you, Jess,” he says, voice shaking. “I love you so goddamn much it scares me.”
I can’t breathe. The air won’t go in right.
They love me. Not the performance. Not the sharp-edged, car-stealing, knife-throwing version I’ve been selling since I was sixteen. They loveme!
Something inside me just—breaks. Shatters. I make a sound I’ve never made before, raw and ugly and too big for my chest. Then I’m crying—not the pretty kind, but the kind that rips through you, the kind you can’t stop or control or apologize for. The kind I haven’t let myself cry since the night I realizedSabrina wasn’t coming back, and no one was going to look for me the same way.
My hands shake as I reach for them, trying to hold on while my entire universe reshapes itself around three words:I love you.
Rowan’s palm stays firm at my nape. Eli presses his forehead to my temple. I’m surrounded by them—bergamot, amber, leather, sandalwood, rain—and everything that means home.
“We choose you,” Rowan murmurs into my hair. “Not out of duty. Not because the trial’s over. Because you belong with us, I love you, Jess.”
“So stop protecting us from yourself,” Eli adds, a smile in his voice. “We’re not going anywhere unless you order us to go.”
“Good,” I huff, wet-laughing. “Because I’m not letting go.”
I pull back to see their faces. They’re all looking at me like I hung the stars, and any version of choosing anything but them stabs me clean through my ribs.
“After Sabrina disappeared, I learned how to disappear first,” I say. “How to not ask. How to pack light and keep moving.”
“It’s your call,” Cassian says quietly, hand at my jaw. “If you walk out that door, we won’t stop you. We’ll break, but we’ll let you go.”
That undoes me more than anything. Because they would.
“I know,” I whisper. “But every time I trusted, I got burned. So I swore I’d never do it again. Then you three happened.” My chest aches with how big it feels. “I love you. All of you. You gave me everything I thought I’d lost—family, home, people who see me. You fixed parts I didn’t know were broken. And I still pick you—eyes open.”
“Say it,” Cassian murmurs, rough as gravel.
“I want to be yours,” I say, and my voice doesn’t shake. Not this time. “I want to be your Omega. I want to be part of this pack.” I look at each of them—my steadfast Alpha, my fierceAlpha, my sunshine Beta. “I spent years being the girl no one chose. The spare daughter. The one left behind. I learned to run before anyone could leave me first.”
I take a shaky breath. “But you three? You make me want to stay. You see the real me—the loud, reckless, broken parts—and you didn’t flinch. You didn’t leave. So yeah.” A smile breaks through the tears. “If you’ll have me, I’m yours. I choose you. I chooseus.”
Rowan’s eyes close for a beat, then shine. “We’ll always have you.”
Cassian’s grin breaks through the wreckage. “Thank God. I was this close to kidnapping you.”
I laugh.
“Okay,” Eli says, swiping at his eyes. “Now I can call Nexus without throwing up on the paperwork.”
He sets his phone on the mantle. Light blooms as two holograms form—an older woman with silver hair, a man with kind eyes. Nexus insignia glint at their collars. My heart stumbles but doesn’t fall. Not this time. It’s not their decision anymore. It’s mine.
“Your trial period has concluded,” the woman says, soft but formal. “Nexus requires a statement of consent from all parties for permanent recognition.”
“Alpha Hale,” the man asks. “Do you consent to accept Jessica Mancini into your permanent pack?”
