Page 243 of What We Become

We reach the bottom without further incident. Mars waits in the hallway in a tutu, her tail swishing as we approach. I stop long enough to scratch behind her ears. Despite her role in one of Stephen’s traps, I could never hold a grudge against an animal with a heart as pure as a dog’s. She will literally do anything for praise and treats—much like Milo.

The sliding glass door is open when we reach it. Summer air drifts in, tangy with cut grass and the floral arrangements. For half a second I just hover at the doorway, watching them.

All five of my men turn as one.

FIFTY-EIGHT

SAGE

Ican’t breathe.

It’s ridiculous, because I’ve seen these men covered in blood, in masks, in moonlight, in bed, in the aftermath of murder and panic and dildo-cake proposals. I know every face. Every scar. Every expression.

And still, the sight of them standing together under that arch—waiting to marry me—steals the breath from my lungs.

Micah’s mouth parts first, soft and wrecked in that way that always makes me feel seen all the way through. Milo visibly forgets how to stand like a normal person and just stares at me like I’ve personally walked out of a hallucination tailored to ruin him.

Knox goes motionless in that total-body way of his, every inch of him suddenly locked on one point. Holden’s expression doesn’t change much, but one of his hands flexes once at his side like he has to physically stop himself from coming to get me right now. Eli puts a hand over his heart.

And me?

I forget how feet work.

Amy nudges me from behind. “Forward, bride.”

“Right,” I whisper. “Walking. I know that one.”

The music is some instrumental thing Micah picked because he said it sounded like “hope, but with taste.” It floats over the yard while I make my way down the little path Knox laid with flat stones two weekends ago. The grass on either side is bright and clipped. The flowers at the arch smell soft and sweet. Everyone is watching me, but I’m only paying attention to the men in front of me.

I can’t believe I get to keep them all.

Forever.

Amy links her arm through mine for the first few steps, then lets me go so I can walk the rest myself. Which feels right. I got here under my own power. Bloody and terrified and half-feral. And now I walk toward them bold and brave, on somewhat shaky legs. But I’m here. And I’m happy. And that’s something I wasn’t expecting at the start of this.

By the time I stop in front of them, I’m already fighting tears.

“You look so beautiful, kitten,” Milo stage-whispers.

I smile a wobbly smile as the music ends.

Gloria opens the leather folder and clears her throat. The yard goes quiet.

“We are gathered here,” she starts, “in this backyard, on this afternoon, to witness and celebrate the commitment of six people who have found in each other something the world told them didn’t exist.” She looks up from the folder. “I was asked to keep this brief. I was also asked not to bring the shotgun. I’ve complied with one of those requests.”

Milo’s eyes go wide. He scans the arch. Gloria smiles and continues.

“Love is not a thing I pretend to understand conventionally. I have loved many men. Some of them are sitting in this yard. Some of them are in the garden.” She pauses when Holden chokes. “That’s a joke.”

“Is it?” he whispers.

“Marriage, in the traditional sense, is a contract. A legal framework. A structure built by people who assumed love came in pairs.” She closes the folder. “What these six people have built is not a contract. It’s a covenant. A conspiracy. A shared refusal to accept the limits the world tried to place on them.” She looks at each of us in turn. “Sage Adams came to this town running from a past that wanted to swallow her whole. Eli Ward came carrying grief like a second skeleton. Micah Raine arrived already hollowed out by loss. Knox Mehlar—” She pauses, and Knox shifts his weight, uncomfortable with being named. “Knox came as a wall, and found himself needed as a door. Holden Cross came believing justice was something you could file in triplicate. And Milo Hart came to burn the whole thing down, and accidentally built something instead.”

Milo’s hand finds mine and squeezes.

“They have lied for each other,” Gloria continues. “They have fought for each other. They have buried the darkness and refused to let it win. That is not traditional marriage. That is something older and more durable.”

She opens the folder again.