When I finished, the room was quiet.
Stone spoke first. "The facility where they made us feral. The white rooms." His voice was rough. "They were trying to replicate something. Create stability without—"
"Without an Omega," I finished. "Yes. That's what Silas thinks."
"They failed." His hands clenched on his knees. "Obviously. All they created was destruction."
"Because they killed the thing that could have prevented it." Neal's voice was bitter. "Typical council logic. Destroy what you can't control, then scramble to replace it with something worse."
"The new council isn't Emory," James said carefully. "Rae wouldn't—"
"Rae didn't know either." I shook my head. "Not until the twins brought back those documents. This was buried so deep that even people we trust had no idea."
"But Twilson might." James's expression was dark. "He was Emory's little minion. If anyone remembers the old ways, it's him."
"Which means I'm in danger."
No one argued.
The silence stretched. I looked around at them—these wolves who had become my pack, my mates, my family. They didn't have answers. None of them could tell me what was coming or how to prepare for it.
"Okay." Ivy clapped her hands together. "So you're some kind of super-wolf. That actually explains a lot."
I blinked. "It does?"
"The way the ferals follow you around like lost puppies? The fact that you've got like seventeen mates and counting? The whole 'everyone stares at Lumi' phenomenon that I thought was just because you're pretty?" She ticked the points off on her fingers. "Yeah, it tracks."
"I don't have seventeen mates."
"Give it time." She grinned, but there was something fierce underneath. "Look, I don't know anything about Omegas or councils or whatever. But I know you. And if being this thing means people are going to come after you, then they're going to have to go through all of us first."
"She's right." Cal's voice was quiet but firm. "Whatever this means, you're not facing it alone."
"We protect our own." Stone's eyes met mine. Gold flickered at the edges—his wolf, rising to the surface. "You protected me when I was at my worst. When I almost killed people. You didn't run."
"I won't run either," James said.
"None of us will." Neal reached for my hand. Squeezed.
I looked at them. My pack. My people.
The anger was still there—it would take more than one afternoon to forgive what Cole had done. But underneath it, something else was growing. Something that felt like strength.
"Thank you," I said quietly.
"Don't thank us yet." Ivy's grin sharpened. "We haven't even gotten to the part where we make Cole's life hell for keeping secrets."
I went back to Cole that evening.
He was in the same place I'd left him—the security office, surrounded by monitors, looking like he hadn't moved in hours. Maybe he hadn't. When I walked in, he turned immediately, and I saw the hope and fear warring on his face.
"Lumi."
"I talked to the others." I closed the door behind me. "James and Neal. They didn't know."
"I know. I never told them."
"Why? If you knew what I was, why not warn them? Why not tell the people who are bonded to me that something was coming?"
