Silence. Heavy and sharp.
Then Corvus: "You're right."
Both Dorian and I turn to stare at him.
"She's right," he repeats, meeting my eyes. "We can't control who she talks to. Who she's friends with. We had no right to do that before, and we certainly don't have the right now."
"He's a threat," Dorian argues.
"He's a Beta," Corvus counters. "He can't break the bonds. Can't compete with Alpha biology. The only thing he threatens is our pride."
"Ourpride?" Dorian's voice is deadly. "She kissed him. She liked him. She—"
"She's allowed to like people," Oakley says quietly. "She's allowed to have friends. Allowed to have a life beyond us. We can't cage her again, Dorian. We can't."
The war plays out on Dorian's face. The Alpha instincts demanding ownership versus the human understanding that what they're describing is abuse.
Finally, he turns back to the wheel. Pulls back onto the highway without another word.
But his knuckles are white. His scent is bitter. And I know this isn't over.
None of this is over.
Therestofthedrive is silent. Tense. Me in the back seat feeling the bonds pull and strain with the emotional distance, them in the front trying to process what Ben's arrival means.
When we finally pull into Northwood campus, it's late afternoon. The golden hour casting everything in amber light. Students are moving in, preparing for fall semester. Life continuing like the last six weeks didn't happen.
Like I didn't disappear and come back claimed.
The pack house is in the wealthy residential area off campus. Old money neighborhood. The kind of place where scholarship students like me don't belong.
Except I do now. Because I'm pack.
Dorian parks in the circular drive. Cuts the engine. Nobody moves.
"Rules," he finally says. "We need rules if this is going to work."
"Okay," I agree. Because he's right. We do.
"No sabotaging Ben," I say first. "No using your money or connections or Alpha bullshit to make his life difficult."
Corvus has the grace to look slightly guilty. Like he was already planning seventeen different ways to make Ben disappear.
"No lying to him about the bonds," Dorian counters. "He gets to know what he's up against."
"Fine."
"And if he makes you uncomfortable," Oakley adds, "if he pushes or tries anything—"
"I'll tell you," I finish. "I'm not going to hide things from you. But you have to trust that I can handle my own relationships."
"We'll try," Corvus says.
It's not enough. But it's something.
We unload in silence. Them carrying my bags up to the master bedroom like an offering. Me following behind, trying not to think about how this house smells like them. How being here feels like being wrapped in Alpha scent.
How some fucked up part of me likes it.
