Page 372 of Knot the Firefighter Alphas' Bookish Mate

I looked at the kingdom.

At the three men standing beside me who’d started as mysterious firefighters in a small town and turned out to be the other half of my heartbeat.

The world stretched beyond the mountains, human and lycan and everything in between, waiting for a bridge that had taken a thousand years to build.

“I used to hide,” I said. “From anything that might hurt me if I stood still long enough for it to find me.” The pendant caught the starlight. “But now, I stopped hiding,” I said.

Percy’s arm settled around my waist. Lucian’s hand found the small of my back. Solomon’s grip tightened on my fingers.

“Veyndral hid too,” I said. “For a thousand years. And now it’s stepping into the light, the same way I did. Scared, ready. Choosing to be seen.”

The Glowwood pulsed and the sea glimmered. Somewhere in the castle behind us, Percius murmured in his sleep and Mirielle adjusted her position and Solian slept peacefully.

I leaned into my mates. All three of them.

The bond carried us in a current that would run for centuries, connecting a bookshop owner from Ashvale to a king, an enforcer, a knight and three children.

To a kingdom that was about to discover what the rest of the world had to offer.

The doors open tomorrow.

Finally, I am home.

THE END