Fact: The pack shared a soulmark, which meant they were biologically bound to each other AND to me.
Fact: Running wasn't a long-term solution.
Fact: Breaking the bonds wasn't an option — not with five pack-bonded alphas.
Fact: I was probably going to die no matter what I did.
That last one hit harder than I expected. I pulled the blanket tighter around myself, pressing my face into the soft fabric, and forced myself to think through the options.
Option one: Complete the bonds. Let them claim me. Become pack omega, bound to five alphas for the rest of my life. Become consumed, maybe. Controlled, probably. Lost in a sea of alpha scent and omega instinct until there was nothing left of the person I'd fought so hard to be.
Option two: Break the bonds. Try to sever the connections before they consumed me. Die in the process — because if my mother barely survived breaking one bond with one alpha who wasn't pack-bonded to anyone, there was absolutely no way I'd survive breaking five pack bonds. The attempt alone would probably kill me before I even finished the first severance.
Option three: Keep running. Refuse to complete the bonds, refuse to break them, just exist in limbo. Die slowly from soul sickness instead of quickly from severance.
Every option ended in destruction.
Every path led to losing myself.
Or, my omega murmured, her voice softer now, almost hesitant,every option ends in them. In pack. In home.
"That's not?—"
You keep saying what it's not. But you don't know what it IS. You've never let yourself find out.
I didn't have an answer for that.
The nest was warm around me, soft and safe in a way I hadn't felt since I was sixteen years old and our maid had found me building a blanket fort in my closet after I first presented. I'd been so ashamed then. Afraid of what it meant about me, about my designation, about the future that awaited an omega who couldn't control her instincts.
The nest had helped then, too. Even when I'd been too scared to admit it.
Maybe... maybe I didn't have to fight everything.
The thought slipped through my defenses before I could stop it, and I was too exhausted to push it away. I reached for my phone, suddenly desperate to talk to someone who wasn't the voice inside my head. Someone grounded and real and separate from the chaos of bonds and destiny and pack alphas who smelled like sunshine and woodsmoke.
My fingers found Jeni's contact without conscious thought.
Can we meet tomorrow? I need to talk.
I stared at the words for a long moment, watching the cursor blink, before adding:
It's important.
The response came almost immediately, like she'd been waiting by her phone:Of course. Same café? 10am?
The same café. The one outside of which I'd collided with Hwan. The place where the first bond had triggered and everything had started falling apart. Also the place where Jeni had listened to me talk about my fears, where she'd held my hands and told me I deserved happiness even if it came in a form I didn't expect.
Maybe facing it was better than running from it.
Yes, I typed back.Thank you.
I let the phone drop into the nest beside me and burrowed deeper into the blankets, pulling the soft cocoon around me like armor. Sleep was pulling at me, heavy and demanding, and for once I didn't fight it. My omega was quiet now, settled, apparently content with the small victory of the nest.
Tomorrow I would talk to Jeni. Tomorrow I would figure out what to do about the three remaining SIREN members who were going to trigger bonds with me whether I wanted them to or not.
Tonight, I will just rest.
Chapter Six
