The silence that followed was absolute and terrible. I felt it press against me from all sides, heavy with horror, rage, and grief.
Lucian made a sound like he'd been punched, a choked gasp that ended in something close to a growl. I saw his jaw had dropped open, his eyes wide with shock and pain.
Kade had gone completely still in his chair, but I could see the fury radiating from him in waves. His jaw was locked, and every muscle in his body was taut with barely restrained violence. Not directed at me. At them. At what they'd done.
“Three days later,” I continued, unable to stop now that I'd started, “there was blood. So much blood. And pain, and—” Another sob tore through me, making my whole body convulse. “I lost everything. The baby, any hope that things would get better, any reason to stay.”
Theo's hand stroked through my hair, his touch infinitely gentle. “Let it all out,” he said again, his voice rough with emotion. “Just let it all out, honey. You don't have to hold it anymore.”
So, I did. I let myself fall completely apart in his arms, let the grief and trauma and rage pour out of me in wracking sobs that seemed to come from somewhere deeper than my chest. I cried for the baby I'd lost, for the innocence they'd beaten out of me, for all the months I'd spent surviving alone when I should have been healing.
“Never again,” Kade's voice cut through my sobs, low and fierce and absolutely certain. “Do you hear me, Jasmine? We will never let anyone hurt you again. Not them, not anyone. You're under our protection now, and that means something.”
“It means everything,” Lucian added, his voice tight with emotion. “You're safe now. You're home.”
Home. The word settled over me, both impossible and precious. I'd never had a home, not really. Not since I had to leave my mother, not since the day she had been forced to give me away to those monsters.
My sobs gradually quieted, tapering off into hiccupping gasps and then into exhausted silence. The afternoon light had shifted again, painting long shadows across the floor, and I felt hollowed out, emptied of everything I'd been carrying for so long.
Theo's arms stayed around me, steady and warm. Kade had moved at some point, his chair pulled closer to the bed, his hand resting on the mattress near where Lucian sat.
My eyes grew heavy, exhaustion pulling at me with insistent fingers. I tried to fight it, tried to stay present, but my body had other ideas. The safety of their presence, the release of finally telling someone, the sheer emotional exhaustion of reliving my trauma—it all conspired to drag me down into sleep.
“Sleep,” Theo murmured, his hand still stroking through my hair. “We'll be here when you wake up.”
I wanted to argue, wanted to tell them they didn't have to stay, that I'd be fine alone. But the lie wouldn't form, and the truth was I didn't want to be alone. Not anymore.
My breathing evened out as consciousness slipped away from me. The last thing I registered was the feeling of being held, of being protected, of being seen and understood in a way I'd never experienced before.
For the first time since arriving at the penthouse, since fleeing my old pack, since losing everything that had mattered, my face was finally peaceful. The lines of fear and pain that had been etched into my features smoothed away, leaving behind something younger, softer.
The three Alphas stayed exactly where they were, maintaining their protective positions around me, watching over my sleep. And somewhere in the space between waking and dreams, I let myself believe that maybe, possibly, I really was safe.
Chapter Twenty
Jasmine
The streets were endless and dark; sharp edges stretched before me, like fangs ready to tear me apart. My bare feet slapped against the wet pavement, sending jolts of pain through my healing ankle, but I couldn't stop. Couldn't slow down. Behind me, I heard them getting closer. “You can’t run, little Omega. We will find you!” a voice called out, and I recognized it with a horror that made my stomach drop. Bane's voice, smooth as poisoned honey.
I rounded a corner, and the city shifted, buildings melting and reforming like wax under heat. Nothing looked right. The penthouse should have been here, should have been my refuge, but instead I saw more empty streets lined with boarded windows and shadows that moved wrong.
My lungs burned. Each breath tasted like metal and ash, coating my tongue until I wanted to gag. The footsteps behind me grew louder, closer, and I pushed harder, my legs screaming in protest.
“You can't run forever, little Omega,” Bane's voice echoed through the city blocks. “Did you really think we wouldn't find you?”
I stumbled, my weak ankle finally giving out. The pavement rushed up to meet me, and I threw my hands out, but the impactnever came. Instead, rough hands grabbed me from behind, fingers digging into my arms with bruising force. I was yanked backward, my feet leaving the ground, and I screamed.
The sound died in my throat as I hit the floor, and hands grasped at my throat, strangling me. There was no air. I couldn't breathe. I gripped at my throat, at the hands twisting and squeezing me there, and came face to face with him. Bane.
He pulled back and leered at me. Cruel laughter erupted all around. How many of them were there? I twisted, trying to see, trying to break free, but the hands holding me were iron-strong and multiplying. They were everywhere, grabbing my wrists, my shoulders, my hair.
“No,” I gasped out, the word barely a whisper. “No, please—”
They dragged me backward through streets that shouldn't exist, past buildings I recognized from months ago. The city was reshaping itself around us, pulling me toward the one place I'd sworn never to return to. I dug my heels in, but the pavement turned to liquid beneath my feet.
My old pack house materialized out of the darkness. Gray stone walls, narrow windows with bars caging you inside. Then I saw it, that door, that heavy wooden door I'd left through, pretending to go out for groceries, and never returning. It stood open now, yawning black, and I could smell what waited inside. Pine and old sweat and something metallic that might have been blood or fear or both.
“Home sweet home,” Bane's voice came from everywhere and nowhere. The hands propelled me forward, and suddenly I was through the doorway, and the temperature dropped so sharply I could see my breath fog in front of my face.
