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“Yeah, maybe,” she says. “But I wonder if that’s not just an excuse to take blood money.”

I sigh. I don’t answer.

I remember this security guard who I talked to when I was looking for my mates right after they escaped. He talked about how he kept his job at Cedar Falls because if he left, Cedar Falls would keep doing whatever they were doing, but if he stayed, he had the ability to make small changes from within.

That guy’s still there.

I see him in the halls sometimes.

He used to offer me cigarettes, because that time I talked to him, I pretended to be out there because I smoked. I had to lie and say I quit. It got to be a big thing, and I had to tell him I used nicotine patches and he was real curious, saying he tried it with the gum and it never worked for him, and…

Anyway.

Real life isn’t always about easy black-and-white choices.

“I’m going to take it,” I say. “We could use the health insurance, right? In case Knight fucks with your birth control again, this time successfully.”

“Yeah,” she says. “Yeah, I’m not getting younger. Neither are you. Neither are our mates. We should do that, soon, I think. We should start seriously thinking about getting pregnant.”

I think about whether or not we should bring a child into a world like this, one as flawed as this one is, and I know the answer. Yes. We can’t stop living and loving because the world is a bad world. We have to find the light in the darkness wherever we can.

Our pack is my light.

Our love.

I think it, and I feel the bond surge, lighting up my connection to each of our mates.

Then, one by one, they start to filter into the room.

“So,” says Knight, “what are we doing? Armed insurrection? I looked up the dude who owns the big corporation. I don’t mind kidnapping him. Having a talk with him with my fists. Or with knives, if necessary. I’m flexible.”

“Calix is taking the job,” says Lotus, still brushing at my hair. I’m still lying in her lap.

“Well, I’m in full support,” says Striker, sitting down next to us. “I think we can do some good from within. It’s a long fight. This is just one battle.”

“They’re lifting the gag order,” I tell Striker. “You can talk about Cedar Falls on TikTok if you want.”

“Really?” says Striker. “That’s interesting.”

“I think they’re going hard for their official position, which is that they hadno ideawhat was going on there, and they werehorrifiedto find out, and now they’re fixing everything.” I’m sarcastic.

“It’s still good news,” says Arrow. “I don’t know, you guys. Maybe we’re still going to be the prophesied superhero scent-match pack who leads the revolution.”

“Well,” I say with a little laugh, “if that’s the will of the Goddess, who are we not to answer the call?”

* * *