Chase walks through the forest alone. It's rare enough to be a novelty and familiar enough that the feeling, if new, is strange.

He tucks his hands in his pockets and picks his way along the familiar path. The house at the end of it doesn't look anything like the little house he found what feels like a lifetime ago, when he was furious and desperate and broken.

It sits, beckoning and warm, and he feels a rush of affection so hot and unexpected, he has to blink back tears.

Even now, this is home. The Pack has grown since Chase became Alpha, and they've built on the forest, small houses for Pack who outgrow the den.

But this—this is home, the heart of their territory.

Magic pulses irritably in his gut and he grins as he turns away from the den, following the scent trail and trickle of magic. He could do this blindfolded and on a new moon, but it feels new as he does now. Flowers bloom as he walks and he grins.

Aurora will be pissed.

His magic twists sulkily before settling in his chest, and the flowers slow to a stop.

He reaches their allies first, the Packs and omegas that have come to the Reids to strengthen themselves, sometimes one step away from death.

Chase refuses, always, to go looking for allies, but they have a reputation that Lucas takes glee in strengthening, and so the allies came to them.

He nods at them and the packs back away, giving him a wide berth to walk past. Liss blows him a kiss from Stephen's side and he winks. They will remain here—what comes after is for the Pack.

They've grown over the past five years. Not so much that his Pack is unrecognizable from what it was, but enough that it eased the wild itching in him to build and grow.

Megan joined them first, almost a year after he became Alpha, a wild kitsune with no control of her power. After her came Leo and Lily, one freshly bitten and wild with fury, one feral from years living as a coyote.

Jamison was last, joining them six months ago. He came broken and wrong, wearing scarred skin and carrying too much baggage. Chase wanted to turn him away, for everything he'd ever done to Aurora. It was surprisingly Lucas who changed his mind—possessive, protective Lucas who had mated Aurora the second she agreed to it, his teeth in her neck almost before the word was formed.

He understood sickness, and never lost faith that Chase could mend the broken creature.

Chase thinks half of Lucas's motivation was the ability to flaunt Aurora, neck marked and ring on her finger, to the man who broke her heart. Aurora rolled her eyes and kissed her husband with a kind of desperate hunger that three years of marriage couldn't quench and smirked at the yearning expression on Jamison’s face.

But eventually, after time and rubbing salt in the wound and Tyler constantly drawing the sharp-tongued, angry man close—he did become Pack.

He stands with the other betas now, watching his Alpha as Chase steps into the clearing. They're all here, the Pack they built, Aurora and his father, and beyond them, his wolves. Lucas stands near Tyler, a fond look on his face as he watches Chase approaching, and Tyler—

Tyler watches him like he hung the stars in the sky, like he’s the moon itself, filling up the night and pulling at his life. He watches Chase like he’s precious and treasured and loved. It's been a lifetime since he stumbled across that dilapidated house in the woods and forced his way into the lives of two wolves who needed him almost as much as Chase needed them, yet Tyler still looks at him like that—with awe, wonder, and a hint of confusion.

Later, they'll run together, fox and wolf under a bright sky as the Standing Stones sing through his veins.

Later, Tyler will press him into their bed, will kiss him breathless and work him open, will lace their fingers together and cover him, kiss the mating bite on his throat, hold him close as Chase whimpers and Tyler fucks him.

Later, they'll sit down with Liss and Stephen and discuss the pair of omegas looking for a pack. He'll meet with Lucas about the dragon spotted just beyond their territory. He'll go to work and Tyler will do the same, and every small thing that they have built their lives on will continue on, endless and boring and steady.

But for now—Chase breathes through the now familiar surge in his magic as he steps up to the Standing Stones and peers up at Tyler, waiting patiently in a fucking gorgeous suit that Chase will thank Aurora for later. He grins at the man who has been friend, savior, lover, and companion his entire life.

“Ready to marry me?”

Tyler smiles then, the quiet smile Chase loves best, and squeezes his hand. Chase looks up at the sentient Stones and nods, almost to itself, as their voices, ancient and sibilant and warm, whisper through the clearing.

He laughs when he sees Tyler's expression and tugs him forward to the waiting spirit. And like he has for so long now, Tyler follows.