Harper’s [POV]
If I thought they were possessive before, it’s on a different level now.
I sense their anxieties as if they’re afraid I’ll break any second. Grey keeps a hand on the small of my back as we enter then the next morning. Beau and James walk next to us, and I catch both of them shooting worried glances my way as we enter the front room, where Charlotte waits for us.
Her face lights up when she sees me and she pulls me into a hug the moment I step foot inside.
“I’m so glad you’re alright,” she says. “I’m so glad.”
There’s an arrow, and Wilson jumps on the reception desk, padding towards me, his tail flicking high and proud over his head.
“Hi, honey,” I whisper, pulling him into my arms. He purrs obnoxiously loud, and I tear up as I hold him to my chest.
I’m home.
“Your room is ready for you,” Charlotte adds. “If you want to rest.”
But my attention turns to the window and I stare out into the garden that I’ve missed with all my heart.
I never thought I would see it again.
“I’d like to sit outside,” I murmur, placing Wilson down. He trots around my legs, rubbing his face aggressively on my pants.
I’m itching to burst through the French doors, but I purposely take my time, taking it all in again.
There are visitors in the garden, and they smile when they see me, some waving and saying hello.
They must have known me as Evelynn.
However, the gazebo is unoccupied, and I make my way to it.
The Alphas don’t follow me.
Despite their unease, they know I need this moment to myself.
I need the privacy that Michael so cruelly took away.
As I sit in the gazebo, allowing myself to relax, I reflect.
The doctor says I’m still in shock, and I’m sure she’s right. But the garden is my place of solace and comfort, and my head clears as I attempt to start the difficult healing process in my soul.
Footsteps interrupt my thoughts, followed by Beau’s earthy scent. He hands me a cup of coffee and then sits next to me, still dressed in his sweatshirt and jeans from last night.
But there’s a white box in his hands which he places in his lap as he sits down.
I glance at it as he drums his fingers on the lid. “I have some things I’d like to show you,” he says. “If you’ll let me.”
I nod, interested.
He lifts the lid and smiles at the contents, dimples showing on his cheeks. Then, he hands me the items.
Photographs.
I place my mug down with a shaky hand, my mouth falling open as I gingerly pick up a photo.
It’s me. Teenage me, with long hair and a rounder face sticking my tongue out at the camera.
Beau and James are next to me, grinning. Beau’s hair is longer and unruly, and James’ is dirty blonde, not yet touched by bleach.
We’re kids.
“That’s from the group home,” Beau says. “You were with us for a few months. That’s when you taught me about plants and gardening.”
“Where did I go?” I whisper, my heart aching.
Did I ever have a family?
“They moved you to a different place, but then you aged out. We found you later.”
I stay silent, and he takes my hand in his, intertwining our fingers. “You were my best friend growing up. Besides James. We were half in love with you back then, even when we were kids.”
I huff out a laugh. “Even before I presented?”
I wouldn’t have presented as an Omega until after I turned eighteen. Alphas and Omegas don’t go through hormonal changes until eighteen or older.
“Well, we didn’t know we were going to be Alphas, either,” Beau says, smiling. “At the time, I didn’t care. You were the kindest person I’d ever met.”
My heart aches.
How could I have left them?
There’s another photo underneath, this time of me grinning, leaning over an empty planter bed in the greenhouse.
“That’s right when we started the garden,” Beau says. “Right after we built the Inn.”
“And how on earth did we do that?” I murmur. “I assume we didn’t have much money.”
“Ah.” Beau smiles, his eyes sparkling. “Turns out Grey had a long-lost relative and he found his inheritance late.”
“And he just…wanted to do this?” I ask, gesturing around.
He nods. “That’s his story to tell, but yes. We all wanted a place we could call home.”
Home.
The Aurora Innis is one-quarter mine, which includes the garden.
“You and I worked on most of this,” Beau says, his hand coming to rest on my thigh. “We picked what flowers we wanted and worked with landscapers. It was our passion project.”
I place the photos down and grip his hand. His fingers trace the lines of my palm, and I sigh into his touch.
Despite his dimples showing, there’s a weariness on his face, as if he’s nervous.
“What’s wrong?” I ask.
He shrugs. “Just thinking about everything,” he murmurs, staring at our joined hands. “How we almost lost you. Again.”
Guilt flows through me. “I don’t remember that day,” I murmur. “But I have a feeling I would have come back to you three, eventually. I might have been overwhelmed at the moment.”
He’s unconvinced, and it breaks my heart.
Then I remember…
“I don’t know exactly what that awful letter that Michael wrote said, but I could never feel that way about you. You have my heart, Beau.”
He lets out a shaky breath and chokes out a laugh. “Really?” The waver in his voice breaks my heart.
“Yeah. Really.”
“Oh, God.” He pulls me into his arms, almost crushing me to his chest. He kisses the top of my head, and he chuckles against my hair.
My head swims with his scent, and the box of photos is forgotten. I climb into his lap, my thighs straddling his hips, and he groans.
“Fuck. If we start now, I don’t know if I can stop, baby.”
I chuckle. “Just kiss me, Beau.”
His mouth finds mine easily, and he tastes just as I remembered. I grip him by the front of his sweatshirt, pulling him closer to me as his hands dart down to my chest.
I moan into his mouth, and he breaks away from the kiss to bring his lips to my gland, his mouth trailing over the delicate skin.
I jolt in his arms as his erection presses against my core.
“How often have you thought about this?” I murmur in his ear, my fingers combing through his soft, unkempt hair. “How long have you wanted to claim me?”
He groans, thrusting his hips, causing me to bounce in his lap. “Too long. Fuck…”
I close my eyes, inhaling him and the garden, debating on my next words.
“If you bit me now, what would happen?” I whisper to him, and he sucks on my gland, forcing me to stifle a scream.
His cock is impossibly hard underneath me, even through his jeans. “It would…we would…fuck…”
“Tell me,” I beg, thrusting my hips against him, pushing my crotch down against his length. “Tell me what would happen.”
“Ah. You would be mine. Forever.” He tongues my gland wildly, growling into it, and heat floods my body.
I could come just like this.
Oh…
A rush of slick soaks us both, leaking through my leggings and staining his lap.
“Fuck. Fuck,” he chants into my neck, panting. “Come on me, baby, come on…”
I lean back and he gropes my breasts through my shirt, pulling gently on my nipples as he meets my thrusts. He looks at me, his pupils blown with lust.
“I love you.”
I whimper at his words, closing my eyes as the orgasm floods through me and I ruin my leggings, gushing all over us both.
“Holy shit, you’re squirting,” he gasps in disbelief. “Oh fuck, my perfect girl, my perfect Omega, yes, just like that…”
And with a violent thrust of his hips, I realize he’s coming, too.
He grips my hips, hard enough to bruise, and I ride the waves of pleasure with him. His neck muscles strain as he jerks against me, his face contorted in beautiful agony as his orgasm tears through him.
When it’s over and I come back to reality, I collapse against his chest, and he growls, the rumble in his chest soothing me.
“When I claim you,” he pants. “I want it to be when you’re secure in your nest, where I can take care of you. Where we all can.”
I shudder in delight at the image I conjure.
All of them. Their cocks in me, their teeth at my mating gland.
And when those thoughts consume me, a slight cramp starts in my womb.
My Heat is coming.