Page 34

M ere minutes pass before Annika, Waimārie, and I jump; a furious shout echoes from the confinement den’s depths, dousing my skin in goosebumps.

The Lunas grip me tight, turning to meet my eyes; that wasn’t either of their mates.

“Shit,” I whisper, glancing at Reid’s tight frown above me.

He’s guarding our row of chairs—only a hallway and a spiraling stone staircase away from the basement’s high-risk confinement den.

What’s going on? I mindlink Noah.

Noah doesn’t respond at first, but I can feel his emotions whirring.

I grip Reid for stability, keeping a protective palm on our baby. “I need to go in there, Reid. But I don’t want Mason to look too closely at me.”

Reid nods, gripping the back of my chair to bring it in with us.

Waimārie rubs my back, her voice low. “Would you like us to come with you, darling?”

I sigh. “It’s up to you both. He has a mouth on him, and I’m sure it could be triggering.”

As I suspected, Annika pales. “I-I’m sorry, Luna, I—”

My heart drops. Gripping her hands, I stare Annika in the eyes. “Never apologize for what someone did to you. You should always have the choice whether it feels safe to confront this. I’m not offended that you need to stay safe—not in the least.” Turning to Waimārie, my chest puffs. “Will you stay with our dear Queen Luna, Waimārie—”

As Waimārie breaks into a smile, I blink a few times, realizing my mistake; Annika isn’t Queen Luna anymore. I am.

Annika breaks into breathy giggles, her shoulders loosening. “Thank you, Omega-Alpha Aliya—who is absolutely not our Queen. We’ll both be here when you’re done.”

I’m surprised I still have the ability to laugh at a moment like this, except I also know who I’m looking at—what their kind presence stands for. This is a different world of our own making. Someday soon, it could be one where Mason/Stevens will no longer thrive.

Either way, nothing can prepare me for the face I’m assuming I’ll find on Mason’s human form.

Descending the stone staircase, dim lighting does little to warm the basement’s stinging chill. I’m grateful there’s a hall leading to each cell in the confinement den, preventing us from having to be seen by any captured Alphas we don’t want to associate with today; their murky hatred clings to the air as it is, chattering my teeth with nerves.

When we enter the confinement den, Noah’s angry brows lift, revealing his underlying panic. “Luna, what—”

Viktor rushes over, grabbing the chair from Reid. Multiple wolves follow him, instinctually protecting me from the dangerous figure locked into his cage.

I huddle into Noah as he guides me from Reid’s side. With everyone's help, I’m stationed with a chair facing Mason’s cell.

But I don't sit. I cling to the back of the chair, using it to cover my belly.

“Does this work?” Reid whispers.

“Yes, thank you, I—”

Noah growls. “No. He’s not safe to be around yet. Not only is the fucker still trying to shift back, he’s manipulative as fuck, and a waste of our Queen Luna’s time.”

“Noah.” I gaze up at him, stroking the back of his tense hand. “It’s okay. I want to experience everything with you—good and bad.”

Noah’s heart aches with both love and despair.

Then I hear a curdled cry.

“Stop! This is inhumane!” A figure scrambles to the back of Mason’s cell, keeping his head obscured from view.

I almost don’t recognize Tāne’s voice, losing its shining intonation as he growls through each word. “Hate to break it to you, bro, but it’s not a civil right to abuse others. We’re not letting you shift tonight—not until there’s no one nearby you can hurt.”

My eyes widen when our wolven allies step out of my view, revealing a cage full of Alphas and Betas pinning down one cowering Alpha.

Mason struggles, his claws extending and retreating in a failed attempt to shift. With Tāne grabbing a better hold of Mason, Johannes injects him with more Alpha rut suppressants, his rusty brown fur sinking back into his human skin. Mason’s back remains turned, the Alpha hunched into himself until he looks like a small mound on the stained stone. I can hardly see a human form, let alone his face.

A part of me wants to feel pity. But that only makes me angrier.

“Mason, that's enough,” I say.

He sucks in a heavy breath, then freezes.

Everyone’s expression contorts in confusion.

“He stopped struggling. It's the first time today,” Viktor mutters.

“I don’t like this.” Noah’s breath speeds up beside me. “He fits your profile, Aliya. And I know you have to be the one to confirm it, but I can’t fucking stand it—”

All thoughts escape me when Tāne attempts to turn Mason’s head towards me with a handful of Mason’s hair. “Let’s get this over with then, eh? Is this who you think it is, Luna?”

I catch a glimpse of short, dirty blonde strands in Tāne’s fist. If that wasn’t enough, I spot a little mole above Mason’s eyebrow—the one I always used to kiss.

My heart threatens to stop.

The more his body struggles against furious hands, the more I recognize his gait. The way he carries his shoulders. How he shifts them out of the way, tilting one up to bend his body to his advantage rather than wasting energy by jerking around.

My very first thought is odd: I always thought Steven was too agile to want a desk job out of college.

Then all his other lies come crashing down, one by one.

It’s true. Noah’s suspicions about Steven being a wolf, the lies Noah and I picked apart on our last phone call, my suppressed memories that came flooding out of me last night, all of it.

I’m looking at Steven Barrett.

Steven is Mason.

Even after all this time in therapy, and no matter how tough I want to appear, my shaking body admits the truth: he still scares me.

At first, disappointment creeps in—a bitter piece of me spitting at the thought of him still soiling my mind. Logically, I know I have new reasons to be scared after his Alpha-domination stunt, if my initial traumas weren’t reason enough. But that’s not what I’m truly afraid of.

This secret is too huge. Is this the extent of the damage he’s done to me? To everyone?

What else do I not know?

Then denial kicks in. I blink, expecting to stop recognizing his face. When my eyes verify it, over and over again, reality bends until I can no longer feel my hands.

I thought I accepted this as a possible truth, but now that it’s here, I’m too shocked to speak, my gaping mouth desperate to shout, scream, or even cry. All I can do is gasp for air.

Until a raspy whisper escapes me. “Why did you even lie about your name?”

Noah’s head slowly turns, recognizing my fear in our bond.

When I glance at Noah’s eyes, they’re already yellow.

Then he’s no longer at my side.

In a flash, Noah enters the cage. He rips Mason from the wolves’ hands like he’s stealing a floppy piece of cloth, chucking Mason to the stone ground.

I cry out when Noah strikes, a sickening crack of bone on bone echoing throughout the den.

Mason— Steven —screams.

But Noah screams louder. “Shut the fuck up! I’m gonna fucking kill you!”

I know I should stop Noah—this isn’t what we agreed upon either, and Mason holds so many truths—but I can’t move or speak. It’s happening in slow motion, each of my breaths more labored than the last as Mason’s cries are muffled by his arms protecting his head.

Then I think back to our last phone call. I didn’t get to share what I really wanted to: to speak my truth to his face.

As Mason cowers beneath Noah’s fist, I realize I might never get the chance. Panic strikes my heart.

“Wait!” I say.

Everyone freezes. All eyes are on me, but my stare locks onto Mason. He’s still alive, wheezing on the ground in a whimpering heap. Despite bleeding down his lips and chin, he keeps both elbows folded around his face, not allowing me to see him beneath the cover of his arms.

But I can even recognize his busted lips.

This is real.

As I come back to my senses, my emotions come crashing down all at once—as do Noah’s.

My eyes zip to his, and for a second, I don’t even recognize him. His strained gaze is almost rabid. “He tried to kill you last night— again . How could you stop me?”

Noah's upset looks like it's directed at me, but I know what he really means. If Jack was right here, and it was after a long night of attempting to kill Noah, I wouldn't understand either if Noah stopped me from hurting Jack. Especially when, like Noah said, no matter what I could physically do to Jack, he’s still scarred Noah for life.

There are so many things I could say. Instead, I just shake my head.

No one dares to speak another word until I do. But my voice quivers, echoing throughout the den. “I’ve always wanted a chance to explain to him how badly he hurt me.”

Noah’s expression warps, pain rippling across his features until he looks a decade older. “He... He won’t listen, Luna... I’m so sorry to have to say that, but—”

Despite my quivering lip, I smile. “It’s okay. I need to do this, anyway.”

Noah glances back to Mason, still limp in his grasp. Now that I can take a closer look, I’m surprised Mason isn’t hurt worse. Some part of Noah knows we still need to question him. Force him to help us find Jack and any other leading Alpha-domination figures that escaped, or else this Super Pack could reunite with twice the fury.

Even still, Noah’s rapid breath tells me letting this go is one of the hardest things he’s done.

“Everyone, please leave us,” I say.

Wolves evacuate from the room without a second thought.

Noah’s stare shifts into wide-eyed panic, thinking that means him too. I give him a weary smile.

I know it’s a big favor to ask of you to watch me in pain, but I’ve needed to do this for a long time. Will you please stay here and stand by my side, my love?

As all the pain and sadness I’ve held onto for years brings me to tears, Noah’s lip wobbles with mine. Okay. I love you so much.

I love you too.

Noah releases Mason.

We both hold our breaths; we’re the only wolves in the den that are ready to strike if Mason decides to defend himself.

But he remains motionless beyond his labored breath.

So I take a breath too. And another.

“Steven?”

Mason flinches.

Fuck. With no plausible denial left to keep me afloat, the truth rolls through me in nauseating waves, forcing me to white-knuckle the chair to keep from toppling over.

Noah grips his hair, his breath rapid and uneven. His rage boils in our bond, driving my heart rate higher. He not only lied to you about who he was, he fucking stalked you this entire time, making you believe he was far away!

I-I know, it's... I don't even know how to describe it to Noah. Despicable, sickening, and petrifying aren't dark enough.

But now that we’re here, the anger I’ve carried for Steven subsides to reveal its true form, bringing me to grieving, gutted tears.

I have so much I want to say.

But am I ready?

I look to Noah, my limbs shaking. This is finally my chance, but... I’m scared.

Noah’s head droops, our bond screaming in agony. I promised you, he’ll never have a chance to do anything to you again. And I stand by that. I don’t care how much we need him, if he hurts you more, I’m not afraid to break him.

I shake my head, my heart sinking. You were right to stop my wolf from hurting him beyond repair to begin with. I’ve never wanted to hurt anyone, and I still don’t. Not even Steven.

Noah deflates.

But my words inspire a revelation. Wait, Noah— That’s exactly why Steven hurt me so badly.

Noah's eyes widen, his breath just as shaky as mine as he stares at me for answers.

I know exactly what I’ve always wanted to say.

Hobbling on shaky legs, I grab a discarded towel on a nearby table beside empty Alpha rut suppressant syringes. Gathering as much saliva as I can, I spit on the towel.

Steven glances over his shoulder, terrified of me coming closer. But I simply pass the towel through the cage door.

Neither wolf inside takes it.

So I step inside.

Noah’s chest puffs, but I grip his arm. “Trust me, sweet Alpha.”

After a tense silence, Noah relaxes enough to step back, giving me room to enter while remaining within arm’s reach.

I drop the towel in front of Steven’s face.

At first, his scent warns of fear and overwhelm. Then he croaks out a dry, sarcastic laugh. “So you’re playing nice now? Being the good girl you always acted like you were?”

Noah’s growl hums throughout the cage, heightening all of our emotions.

But Steven only strengthens my resolve.

“Steven, you—” I take a deep breath, and speak my truth. “You think I tricked you. Forced you to hurt me. Hurt others. All because I was your girlfriend, and I never gave you a chance to debate it when I broke up with you.”

Steven’s mouth closes like I spoke for him.

Then he gives a weary, bloodied smirk. “So you agree with me, deep down? This is even more fucked up then. Letting your mate beat me to death, all for nothing?”

“No, stop. I just know exactly how you think, and what you want to say,” I snap. “Because I took time to actually see you. Listen to you. You never truly saw me, and you never wanted to.”

I swallow my shaking voice, but no matter how confident I want to seem, the pain he inflicted forces my entire being to keep quivering.

I continue anyway.

“All that time, I was there. You saw a kind, obedient woman, and thought it fit your mold of how life was supposed to look. But I had no other choice except to obey you. I never had a choice.”

Steven shakes his head against the stone wall, not even sparing me a glance. “Oh, come on. Clearly you did, otherwise we wouldn't be here after you broke my fucking heart in the most humiliating way.”

“I told you the truth! You didn't give me what I needed in the relationship, and I was leaving you out of fear! But even if you think that was cruel, why didn't you give me any other choice, then? In your fucked-up world, where a man deserves power over everything a woman says and does, wasn’t it your job to grant me that choice to stay? To protect me instead of hurt me?”

Steven takes a breath to speak, but I stand, my claws extending with my heightening volume.

“Maybe I did hurt you back. I broke your heart, breaking up with you when you expected me to remain loyal for life. But no matter what, you hurt me irreparably that night you broke in. You saw a grieving, scared, and alone woman, and you did everything you could to make me feel weak!”

I let out a heavy sob, hardly able to catch my breath. Noah recoils with me, tempted to join my side. But I shake my head no.

And Steven scoffs. “If you understood me so well, you’d know exactly why I did that. You started acting like an Alpha, when you're really an Omega. You needed a reminder where you stood—”

I grip Steven by his shirt collar. The blood dripping from his nose and mouth sticks the fabric to my sweaty fists. “If you truly believe men should feel nothing, then fucking look at me as I’m talking to you!”

For the first time since we’ve started talking, Steven’s eyebrows flinch in visible fear.

But he still won't look at me.

“I would’ve talked it out with you! Instead, you took my health and safety from me! You claimed ownership over my body, and you hurt it in ways it’ll never heal from! Do you know what that was like to experience, right after losing my family? You were part of the family I lost too, and after you emotionally abused me, I grieved the person I thought you were—even before you hurt me worse! Then I had to grieve myself!”

Noah whimpers now, shuddering through angry tears.

But Steven’s eyes finally lock onto mine.

When I’m tempted to back away in fear, my wolf pushes to the surface, showing me she has my back now too.

“I couldn’t even hurt you back to stop you because I still cared about you! That was real love, Steven. You took everything from me, but I was never yours to take!”

The resulting silence scares me more than anything Steven could say. Both men have their eyes on me, and I’m still holding Steven with shaking fists. I drop him in a hurry, afraid to make a hypocrite of myself.

But as Noah rushes to my side, Steven finally snaps out of his petrified stupor.

“You did hurt me. I had to run for my fucking life.”

My skin erupts in goosebumps. I didn’t imagine it; my wolf came out to protect me.

And Steven’s suppression of her was intentional.

As my heart races faster, the hatred in Steven’s pale, empty eyes chatters my teeth. “So, because I had Alpha in me, and I was supposed to be your obedient Omega, you beat the shit out of me and raped me?”

Steven growls through a half-there laugh, thinly veiling his fear. “This makes no fucking sense. I was just trying to cheer you up after he died, but you blew up on me, all because I asked to have sex. You were my girlfriend, so, naturally, I thought—”

My teeth clench, my rage blasting in full force. Steven stops at my wild eyes alone.

“I know what you believe, but you’re fucking wrong!” My shout echoes throughout the den. “After all this, all you still care about is that I wouldn’t keep fucking you? Get over yourself! My body is all that will ever be mine, and you scarred it in every way you could, even taking my family from me! I just wanted to love you!”

Steven scoffs.

But I scoff louder. “I wasn’t done.”

Steven freezes. Noah shuffles in the corner, his breath heightening with mine.

“If you couldn’t have me, then no one could, is that right?” I cough, my voice scraping in disgust at the reality of his actions. “Even before breaking in, you shot my dad to get back at me for pulling away from you, didn’t you, Mason?”

If I thought Steven’s eyes were cold, Mason’s ice over. Gritting his teeth, he drops his head. “That wasn’t the plan.”

Horror races through my veins. He didn’t deny it.

“You sick fucker,” Noah hisses.

But does this mean it really was an accident, or was Mason aiming for Ritchie and he hit the wrong target? And who else shot our dads alongside him?

Mason’s eyes sink into his skull, gaping up at us like a skeleton. All I see staring back is honest, soul-destroying guilt.

Worst of all, I know that guilt isn’t for what he did to us. It’s for how he’s destroyed his own life, unable to fathom how he’s let himself down so severely by finally getting caught.

My head spins. “Oh, my God, Steven. You did do it.”

“No, I wasn’t lying to you on the phone!” Mason sputters. “It wasn’t my fault! Jack planned it all out, and your dad wasn’t supposed to be there. I don’t know what happened, I— The rifle went off on its own.”

Shaking my head, I clasp my hand around my mouth, my heartbeat pounding in my skull.

“On its own? ” Noah grits his teeth.

As my blood burns, Mason’s eyes haven’t left mine. I never want to see his twisted face again, yet I can’t stop gaping at him, unable to fathom how I let this monster into my home to help me grieve over the crime he committed.

Mason blubbers on the ground at my feet. “Aliya, I didn’t— Takahiro wasn’t supposed to be there. I knew he was busy, otherwise I would’ve persuaded Jack to pick another time.”

I back away from him, but the second his words register, my eyebrows arch, sorrow striking me in the gut.

“Because I had to skip lunch,” I whisper.

Noah lets out a strangled cry, grasping me as I reel. “Goddess, Aliya... Fuck.”

Meeting Noah’s eyes, I see the same pain reflected. That’s right; Ritchie took over Noah’s perimeter run shift too. But instead of dissolving back into his old guilt pattern, Noah straightens at my side, staring Mason down.

“So it’s his fault? Aliya’s fault? My fault?” Noah’s voice scrapes out, gutting me further.

“No ,” Mason croaks. “It’s— It’s Jack’s. It was just supposed to be Ritchie. When the rifle went off, Takahiro came for us, Jack had no choice but to save our lives, and—”

Squeezing my eyes shut, I grip Noah tight as our souls twist in agony at the thought.

“What the fuck? What the fuck,” Noah rasps beneath his breath, gripping his hair.

But as horror shifts into numbness at the sight of the sniveling, fake man beneath me, I can barely mutter out my words. “So even now, it’s everyone else’s fault, huh?”

Mason’s eyebrows furrow. “You’re not listening! I swear, Aliya, I didn’t—”

Noah’s voice deepens into a snarl. “You both fucking killed them. Who the fuck cares if the job was accidentally done too early? Do you think that really fucking changes anything? I don’t even care if it turns out you weren’t even holding the gun; you planned it, and that’s that.”

At first, there’s silence, the terrible reality behind Noah’s words echoing through my mind on repeat.

Then it clicks.

“So, with all this fighting at the Summit, you’ve just been trying to finish the job,” I mutter. “Because in your mind, it wasn’t Jack’s fault he got kicked out. It wasn’t Jack’s fault he abused the children around him and left you behind, and now it’s not your fault that you’re continuing to cause chaos either. Because you were trying to kill Ritchie, yes, but you were also trying to kill Noah .”

Noah freezes beside me. My hands quiver as I grasp Noah’s hand, terrified to let go. I really could’ve lost everything and more that day. As Noah chokes out a furious growl, my chest puffs.

And Mason’s voice thins out. “ Aliya — No, don’t look at me like that, please — It wasn’t supposed to happen like this. You were supposed to be my—”

“I’m done with you,” I say.