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“I don’t want to talk with you about my problems.” Tully’s voice rose, and a dull red stained her cheeks.

I filled my lungs with a careful breath, trying not to startle her into fleeing. The moment was a tender, breakable one. I had to do everything in my power to help her understand I wouldn’t hurt her. She’d hidden away from the public eye for a reason. I suppressed the urge to pry the secrets out of her. My omega was vulnerable, and she needed reassurance.

My omega?

“You’ve been using a false ID. Obviously, you don’t want anyone to know your last name. That’s why you didn’t want to go to the Omega Center, right? Because they’d know who you were.”

“Did you go through my things?”

I looked pointedly at the wallet on the table. It was full of expired cards and held together by a weak piece of leather.

“Not intentionally. Your wallet fell apart when I tried to move it.”

“That’s remarkably restrained for the Walden Baylark I remember.” Tully pressed her thumbs to her forehead.

“I had my private investigator look into what happened after your parents died.”

Tully’s head whipped up. “W-what? Y-you can’t do that. That’s so—” She clenched her fists and thumped them on the table.

There it is.Her wardrobe might be stripped of the color I knew she once adored, but there were signs of the Tully I remembered.

She used to daydream and make movies with her imaginary friends. Doused in bright whimsy and heart-thumping energy.Reality caged, flattened, and tamed her. Tension rolled under my skin at how wrong it looked on her.

“Presumptuous, I know. Did you think I would let you walk away without making sure you were safe?”

“I’ll never be safe so long as I stay in Starhaven.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” My spine straightened.

“You should know what it’s like to have a name bigger than you are,” she whispered. “My whole life has revolved around being a Hartlock, and I-I’m sick to death of being used for it.” Her soft voice splintered.

Underneath the fight, the bluster, was this.

Tully rubbed her fists against scrunched eyes. She tried so hard to reel in the heaviness of her burden. I didn’t know the details, but I could feel it like a physical, suffocating shroud. Threatening to drag her deeper into the darkness. Tully might have been carrying the legacy of her name alone in the past, but she wasn’t any longer.

I knew intimately what it was to be known as a Baylark first and Walden second.

The legacy shaped me into an unyielding rod. I thought I would break under the scrutiny, and it wasn’t until I met my pack that I knew how necessary it was to let others help hold the weight. Which is why I reached over and pulled Tully into my lap. She trembled and let out a soft cry. Her small hands scrambled. I tensed for the prick of nails, but Tully tucked her head into the nook of my neck.

Had someone used Tully for the power of her name? Is that where her fortune went?

I wanted to pry her secrets from the inside and fix it all. I’d find any person who hurt her and make them pay. Her scent surrounded me, raw and sharp.

“There’s always someone trying to use my name to leverage themselves. But I’m lucky to have people around me I can trust. My pack has their faults, but we’re a family.”

I thought about CJ and the meeting he insisted on having me attend. If it wasn’t him, it would be someone else.

“That’s great for you.” Tully clicked her tongue with a watery mutter.

“I can help you, Tully. We all can. I can’t imagine the stress you’ve been under, having to deal with it all on your own—”

A bark of laughter cut me off. “Well, isn’t this cozy?” Pan sauntered to the table and parked his ass on the edge.

His hair hung in curls around his face. He wore a black sheer tank top and a dark blazer. Silver jewelry overwhelmed his wrists.

“Shouldn’t you be at work?”

He was wearing the collar I gave him. A collar with a silver circle. Warmth flooded my chest at the sight. Our relationship was corroded, but Pan still wanted my dominance. Tully turned on my lap, missing the simmering malevolence in Pan’s expression as she wiped her eyes.