“That sounds exhausting,” the fox shifter said gently.
I frowned slightly. “It works.”
“Control can be helpful,” Mira said, folding her hands in her lap. “Until it starts controlling you.”
The words hung in the air.
Quiet.
Uncomfortable.
Because they felt true.
I stared at the floor. “I think I may have crossed that line.”
No one reacted with surprise. No one laughed.
Connor simply nodded once beside me. “Welcome to the club,” he said.
Something strange happened then.
The tension in my chest eased. It didn’t disappear, but it was lighter. For the first time in a very long time, the things that had always felt like personal failures didn’t seem unusual in this room.
They were simply problems.
Problems other people understood.
Problems that could be talked about. Worked on. Managed.
Mira smiled gently. “You’re not alone here, Liam.”
And for the first time since I left the pack, that possibility felt real.
The meeting ended slowly. People lingered, talking to each other while Mira packed up her notebook and stacked a few empty coffee cups near the door. The room had become lighter than when I first walked in.
Connor stood and stretched beside me. “Well, you survived.”
“Barely.”
“You talked.”
“That was unexpected.”
Connor grinned. “That’s usually how it goes.”
People filtered out of the room one by one. The bear shifter clapped Connor on the shoulder on his way out. The fox shifter waved at both of us before disappearing into the hallway.
I stood up. “Connor.”
He turned back. “Yeah?”
“Do you have a minute?”
He studied my expression, then nodded. “Sure.”
We stepped outside into the cool evening. The parking lot lights cast soft yellow circles across the ground.
Connor leaned back against the side of the building. “What’s up?”
