(LIAM'S POV)
My heart started pounding. My chest tightened. A sharp, aching pain radiated through my ribs, making it hard to breathe.
These weren't just friends.
These were the men who had held me when I fell apart. The men who had looked at me—broken, angry, terrified me—and chosen to stay.
The word "friends" felt like a betrayal.
I took a shaky breath. Then I met my mother's eyes.
"Mom," I said, my voice steady despite the trembling in my hands. "These are my boyfriends. Dylan and Roland."
The word "boyfriends" felt small. Insignificant. It didn't capture the depth of what they meant to me. It didn't capture the mate bond that pulsed between us, the way their presence calmed the storms in my soul, the way I couldn't imagine existing without them anymore.
But it would have to do for now.
The silence that followed was deafening.
My mother's eyes went wide. Her hands dropped from my face, falling limply to her sides. Her mouth opened, then closed, then opened again.
