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“I will,” I say quickly.

The call ends after three more warnings, two affectionate threats, and Scarlet promising to update my family without details that would make my mother drive across the state.

After I hang up, I set down the phone.

Ezra is watching me with the careful expression of a man pretending he isn’t hopeful.

Theo hands back the spoon. “Food first.”

I take it. “Questions after.”

His purr rolls through the room in approval.

The next half hour becomes a bright, strange little pocket of joy. I eat soup while Ezra asks whether Darwin has a formal title. Theo brings more water and his folded black shirt, explaining that I can change in the bathroom across the hall if I want. The shirt smells like him, which is a fact my omega appreciates with alarming sincerity.

The ache low in my body has an answer about the shirt before I can form a single rational thought. I want the soft cotton against my skin. I want Theo’s scent closer. I want Ezra’s eyes on me when he realizes I chose to wear it. The overwhelming sense of wanting is new, but beneath the nerves is a fizzing, champagne-bright thrill.

My body is working. Late, dramatic, inconvenient, and apparently ready to flirt with a haunted duo, but working.

I change out of my damp T-shirt and overalls in the bathroom, keeping my underwear on beneath Theo’s shirt. “Thank you.”

“You’ll be more comfortable.”

“It already feels true.”

Theo’s gaze drops briefly to my mouth. His gaze keeps me held, my body warming the longer he looks at me.

Ezra clears his throat. “As the only person here currently capable of thinking beyond instincts, I’m intervening.”

The spell breaks. I return to the soup and eat the bite without making any more slutty eye contact.

A soft knock sounds beneath the floor. One tap. The stone remains dull.

I look at it, then at the soup. Every scientific part of me rises on tiptoe.

Theo lifts one brow.

I take another bite. “I’m choosing not to ask the question.”

Ezra smiles. “That feels like it might be a historic win.”

When Honey, Junie, and Scarlet arrive at the gate, I walk down with Theo but stop well inside the cemetery, wrapped in his shirt. It hangs nearly to my knees and makes all three women stare from the other side of the bars.

Honey clasps both hands to her chest. “Pep, you look painfully cute.”

Junie holds up my cooler. “Darwin is safe.”

Scarlet studies Theo for a moment before handing him the bags. “Thank you.”

He nods. “She’s safe here.”

“I believe that.”

The quiet trust in Scarlet’s voice warms me.

They stay outside the gate to give me space while my first heat settles in, but they wave, blow kisses, and leave me with supplies, privacy, and enough snacks to feed an exploratory mission.

When we return, Ezra comes to stand in the doorway, solid in the shade. The two men look at me as if they’re waiting for my next choice.