Page 101

I pad to the window on bare feet, careful to stay hidden behind the curtain as I peer out.

They’re seated at the outdoor table beneath a massive pinetree, coffee mugs steaming before them. Kane leans forward, elbows on the table, his dark hair catching highlights in the midday sun. Finn sits with his back against the railing, long legs stretched before him, while Jace perches on the table itself, one foot swinging idly.

“It had to be done,” Kane says.

“Justin was just getting too demanding, too aggressive. It was only a matter of time before he started coming after Mia. Guys like him always escalate,” Finn adds. “It wasn’t hard to end him. He’s as weak as you’d imagine.”

I swallow past a lump in my throat. It’s not that I miss Justin, but it feels surreal to hear his death discussed in such cold terms.

“You really are just Mr. Efficient, aren’t you? See threat, destroy threat,” Jace teases.

Finn chuckles at that. “Not all of us can be as wild as you, Jace.”

“It needed to be done,” Kane sighs, his tone shifting to something more serious. “But it complicates things. The human authorities will eventually connect his disappearance to us, given their history. And with the other packs circling, knowing we have her...” He trails off, taking a long sip of his coffee.

“Speaking of our sweet omega,” Jace interjects, “any update on the pregnancy? That last knot of yours took, right? I can smell the change in her already.”

My hand flies to my belly, a gasp caught in my throat.Pregnancy? Am I pregnant? How could they possibly know before I do?

“I can smell it too,” Kane says, pride evident in his voice. “My seed took root during her heat. She’s carrying my pup.”

“Our pup,” Finn corrects, and Kane nods in acknowledgment.

“She doesn’t know yet,” Kane continues. “I didn’t want tooverwhelm her during her heat. I figured we’d tell her tomorrow, now that she’s through the worst of it.”

“She’s not going to be thrilled,” Jace says, surprising me with his perceptiveness. “She was pretty clear about not being ready for motherhood.”

Kane’s jaw tightens visibly. “She’ll accept it. She doesn’t have a choice now.”

Excuse me?

“The question is where to raise it,” Finn says, cutting straight to practicalities in his typical fashion. “She’s not safe here—not with whoever’s hunting her.”

“I’ve been thinking about that,” Kane admits. “Maybe we need to relocate. Different state, different territory.”

“Running away?” Finn’s tone sharpens with disapproval.

“Strategic retreat,” Kane corrects. “At least until the pup is born and she’s stronger. An omega carrying the next generation of our line is too valuable to risk.”

I stumble back from the window, my legs suddenly unable to support my weight. I collapse onto the edge of the nest, my hand pressed against my mouth to stifle the sob building in my throat. Pregnant. I’m pregnant with Kane’s child—with their child, as they see it. And they’ve known. They’ve discussed it, planned around it, and made decisions about my future based on it, all without telling me.

After everything, after all their talk of protection, they’re still keeping secrets and still making choices for me.

First, they hid what I was—an omega. Then they claimed me without truly explaining what that meant or what I was agreeing to. Now, they’ve hidden my own pregnancy from me, discussing it casually as if I’m some prized breeding stock rather than a person with thoughts and feelings and choices of my own.

Hot tears spill down my cheeks as I curl into myself, my arms wrapped around my middle where new life is already growing—a werewolf baby. The reality of it crashes over me inwaves. I’m going to be a mother to a child who isn’t fully human, and I will be bound forever to men who kill without remorse and lie without hesitation.

“I’m not ready,” I whisper to the empty room, to the child I didn’t know existed until moments ago. “I’m not ready for any of this.”

The tears come harder now, sobs shaking my body as I collapse fully into the nest. How many more secrets are they keeping?

And now they want to move me to another state, uprooting whatever semblance of normalcy I might have clung to, all in the name of protection from threats I barely understand. Other packs. Mysterious enemies hunting me for reasons tied to my unknown father.

I have to leave.

I cry until I have no tears left, until my throat is raw, and my eyes burn. I lie there, staring at the ceiling, feeling oddly hollow as the afternoon sun creates shifting patterns of light and shadow above me.

By the time evening falls, a cold resolve has settled in my chest. I can’t stay. Not like this- with men who make life-altering decisions for me. Not with killers who joke about murder over morning coffee. Not in a world where I’m hunted for reasons I don’t understand, valued primarily for my womb and what it can produce.