His mouth curved faintly. Not amusement—recognition. “Yes. That part isn’t special.”
“So what is?”
“For an Omega,” he said, “heat isn’t just fertility. It’s activation.”
My chest tightened. “Activation of what?”
“The omega bond,” he said simply. “Your body doesn’t just prepare to conceive. It prepares to anchor.”
I waited.
“Once it starts, your body commits,” he said. “It doesn’t wait for permission. And it doesn’t expect you to survive it alone.”
“The pack,” I said.
“All of them.”
"And you've been holding back because—"
"Because I was trying to give you time." The words came out ragged. "Time to understand what's happening. Time to prepare. Time to make choices before biology made them for you."
I stared at him. This man who had been keeping himself at arm's length for weeks. Who had been visibly suffering every time the bond pulled between us. Who had chosen restraint over relief because he thought he was protecting me.
"How long?" I asked.
"What?"
"How long have you known? Exactly?"
"I suspected the day I met you. I knew for sure when I walked into that clearing and saw you with the ferals." His eyes were dark. Anguished. "I knew—I knew exactly what you were. What that would mean."
"So everything since then. The distance. The restraint. Watching me struggle without answers."
"I thought I was helping. I thought if I could slow things down, give you more time before the heat began—" He broke off.
"You could have told me. Any time in the last few weeks, you could have just told me the truth."
"And what would I have said? That you're something the council hunted to extinction? That my mother lives in hiding because people might kill her if they knew what she was?" His voice cracked. "I didn't want to terrify you. I wanted to prepare you gradually, help you understand in pieces instead of—"
"Instead of letting me make my own choices with full information."
He flinched.
"You decided what I could handle. What I needed to know and when." I kept my voice steady, but the anger was building. "That's not protection, Cole. That's control."
He looked wrecked. "I know that now. I was so focused on keeping you safe that I didn't stop to ask if you wanted safety on those terms."
The silence stretched between us. Heavy. Painful.
"What else do you know?" I asked finally. "About the heat, the change, what's coming."
"Not much more than I've told you. The heat happens. The eyes change. The bonds become... permanent. Unbreakable." He spread his hands. "My mother doesn't share details easily. My dads, her mates are even more guarded. They've spent so long protecting her that secrecy is instinct now."
"Could I talk to her? Meet her pack?"
Something complicated crossed his face. "Maybe. Eventually. They'd need to trust you first. Trust that you wouldn't lead anyone back to them." He paused. "But if you are what I think you are, they might be willing. Another Omega surviving—that would mean something to them."
Another Omega. The words felt strange. Heavy with implications I wasn't ready to examine.
