“You don’t have to,” Cash says. “Like I keep telling you, we’ll take care of you. You’re ours now, and that means you always have us to look after you when you need it.”
Emotions swell inside me, and it takes me a second to realize they’re not all mine. I can feel their feelings as well, through the bond—protectiveness, peace, fierce love—and it echoes a lot of what I’m feeling, amplifying it all. It grounds me instead of being overwhelming, steadying me. It hits me like nothing else ever could.
All that I need is this. My pack. My family.
Chapter 50
Cash
No matter how many times I wake up in bed with Harper and my pack mates, the comfort of it never gets old. It’s a week since we gave her our marks now, and I can’t stop myself from staring at her as she sleeps.
She’s so beautiful, and even more so now that she has our marks. Sometimes it hits me all over again that she’s ours. That she’s here with us and staying for the long haul. Somehow, we got so damned lucky.
I nuzzle against her, my nose brushing the mostly healed mark. Harper shivers into the touch, waking up slowly. She must be able to sense the direction of my feelings through the bond we share now because she smiles.
“It’s not fair to wake me up so turned on like this,” she murmurs.
I chuckle, pressing a kiss to her cheek. “I can’t help it. When I sleep next to you, I wake up turned on, and I probably always will. You’re just going to have to deal with that, I’m afraid.”
She laughs, opening her eyes, waking up fully. “I’ll survive somehow, I’m sure.”
I give in to the urge to dip down and kiss her, lingering with our mouths pressed together just because I can. Harper humsinto it, reaching up to thread fingers into my hair, and we stay like that for a while, enjoying the moment.
“There’s something else on your mind,” she says when I finally pull back. “I can feel it.”
She’s right about that, and I take a breath, letting it out. “It’s just that I used to spend so much time wondering ‘what if’, you know? What if I had left town to pursue my dreams instead of staying home to take care of my mom. I don’t regret staying, of course. That was something I was happy to do. But sometimes I used to think of how different my life would have been if I didn’t have to make the choice.”
“Do you still think about it?” Harper asks.
I shake my head. “I’ve realized that I didn’t have to go anywhere to have all my dreams come true.”
Her answering smile is radiant, and I can tell that she’s touched by that. Considering she’s a part of all those dreams being realized, I’m glad she knows it.
When she leans up for another kiss, I meet her halfway. This one is deeper, and her hands stroke down my back as she makes soft sounds into it. I let my hands wander as well, skimming over her soft, sleep warm skin with reverence in my touch that I hope she can feel.
Everett stirs on Harper’s other side, blinking open one eye to watch us. When I pull away, he tugs Harper over to kiss her good morning as well, and then Lincoln does the same when he wakes up. We’ve done this every morning since getting back from the hospital, and it never gets old.
Everett and Lincoln touch her too, not with the intent to start anything, just for the pleasure of touching her. She presses into each touch happily, kissing each of us back and basking in the attention.
“I can’t wait until I have two working hands again,” Lincoln murmurs sleepily. “This one is being deprived of being able to touch you.”
Harper snorts. “You keep that sling on,” she says archly.
“I know, I know.”
He’s recovering well, all things considered, and once his shoulder is healed, he’ll be starting physical therapy to regain the mobility he’s lost. It’ll be good for him to be able to function properly again and get back to work, even though I know he doesn’t regret getting in the way of that shot for a second.
Everett rolls Harper onto her back, and she makes a little noise of surprise before laughing softly. “Good morning to you too,” she says.
“Good morning,” he replies. “Are you ready to do this?”
Her eyes light up, like maybe she forgot what today is, and her smile is blinding. “Yes. I’m so ready. Let’s go already.”
I laugh, swinging out of the bed to get this show on the road.
We get dressed and start heading downstairs together. I’m in the hallway when Cora’s door opens, and she peeks out into the hall to see me standing there.
“Good morning, little star,” I say, grinning at her. “Ready for breakfast?”