And who I am is… angry.
Hungry for more.
To be what my Omega ancestors once were.
That’swhat fuels it.
“I can’t,” I gasp, barely able to get the words past the fire in my throat. My voice scrapes raw, ragged, torn from somewhere deep and trembling. “It’s too much. I— I can’t control it. I’ll hurt someone.”
My hands shake violently, fingers curling like they’re trying to hold something back. Something vast and dangerous and mine. Panic presses in, clawing at the edges of my mind.
How long has it been there, this raw part of me?
How long have I carried it?
I think of Knox. Of the times he’d push, and push, and I’d snap. How I’d lash out with a rage and violence I never understood, not really.
The answer is forever.
It’s always been there. The anger. Watching, waiting for me to be strong enough to hold it.
Why does it think I’m strong enough now?
“I don’t want to hurt anyone,” I whisper again, even though my voice is already lost under the roar in my blood. The fury is rising, thick and suffocating, like I’ve stepped into a current too strong to fight. It’ll pull me under. Drown me in it. And I don’t know if I’ll come back.
Knox steps forward, and I flinch.
He doesn’t touch me. Doesn’t speak right away. Just stands there with his arms crossed and his eyes,oh rut,his gorgeous red eyes locked on mine with that calculating look he gets when he’s coming up with a strategy.
He studies me carefully, and finally, just when I think I’m going to splinter apart, he speaks.
“It’s alright to be angry, Halley.”
It’s permission.
And somehow, for whatever reason, it’s enough to thaw the paralyzing fear holding me back.
It shouldn’t matter. His opinion shouldn’t carry this much weight.
But it does.
It’s ancient. Primal. My Prime Alpha has given me his support, and something inside me has stopped bracing for punishment. It’s stopped holding me back.
His belief in me fills a space I didn’t realize was hollow. Like he’s placed something steady at the center of all my trembling.
Familiar hands appear, pressing on my sweat-slicked skin, holding me.
My Pack.
They’re here. Supporting me when I need them most.
This is why the power has unlocked. I’m strong enough because I have them.
It’s okay to let the rage out, because when I do, they’ll be there to pull me back home.
“Try again,” Knox says.
So I do.
