Chapter 26 Vespera #2
"My control." I meet his eyes. "They kidnapped me.
Held me here against my will. Pushed boundaries that should never have been crossed.
And I could have run—there were opportunities.
I could have called for help. But instead, I stayed.
And I broke them down the same way they tried to break me, except I did it better. "
"That's..." Stephanie struggles for words. "That's not healthy."
"No," Corvus says quietly. "It's not. But it's honest. Which is more than most pack dynamics can claim."
"You're still worried," I say, watching Stephanie's face. "You're still thinking this is some kind of elaborate trauma response."
"Of course I am!" Her voice cracks. "Vespera, six weeks ago you were terrified of them. You rejected their bonds. You fled to another city to get away from them. And now you're acting like this is all fine, like they're your devoted servants?"
"Not servants." I stand, and Dorian rises with me, staying close but letting me lead. "Pack. On my terms. With my rules. And if they break those rules, I leave. But they won't break them. Will you?"
"No," all three say in unison.
Stephanie stands too, her coffee untouched.
"I came here to save you. I drove three hours thinking I was going to have to physically remove you from a hostage situation.
I've been practicing what I'd say to them, how I'd stand up to them for once in my goddamn life.
" Her voice is shaking. "And you're telling me you don't need saving. "
"No," I say softly. "I don't. But six weeks ago? At school? When I was sick and scared and being hunted? That's when I needed you, Steph. That's when I needed my best friend to be brave."
The words land like a slap. She flinches, tears starting to spill over.
"I know," she whispers. "I know, and I will regret that for the rest of my life.
I was so fucking scared, Vespera. I was terrified they'd come after me next, that I'd lose everything if I stood with you.
So I chose wrong. I chose my comfort over your safety, and I will never forgive myself for that. "
"But you're here now," Robbie says quietly. "Even thinking you might be walking into danger, you came."
"Because it was too late before, and I didn't want it to be too late again.
" Stephanie wipes her face. "I've been trying to make up for it.
Standing up to people on campus who were talking shit about you.
Telling anyone who would listen that what happened to you wasn't okay.
I know it doesn't fix anything, but I needed you to know that I'm different now. That I won't run again."
I study her face, seeing the genuine remorse, the fear, the desperate need for forgiveness. Part of me wants to stay angry, to make her suffer the way I suffered. But I'm tired of anger. Tired of pain.
"The police," I say. "You really called them?"
She nods miserably. "They're supposed to be here in like fifteen minutes."
"Fantastic." I pull out my phone. "What's your cover story going to be when they show up and I tell them this is a false alarm?"
"I... I didn't think that far ahead."
"Of course you didn't." But I'm almost smiling as I dial. "Hi, yes, I need to cancel a wellness check. The address is... yes, that one. No, I'm fine. My friends were worried but it was a misunderstanding. No, no need to come out. Thank you."
I hang up and look at Stephanie. "You're going to have to do better than a dramatic rescue attempt if you want back in my life."
"I know," she says immediately. "I'll do whatever it takes. I'll help you however you need. I'll stand up to anyone who comes after you. I'll—"
"You'll start," I interrupt, "by helping me go back to school on my terms. We have one week before classes start. I need someone to run interference with administration. I need someone who knows how the social dynamics work and can help me navigate them from a position of power instead of fear."
"I can do that." Her voice is stronger now. "All of that. Whatever you need."
"Even if it means going against your sorority? Your social circle? The people who will tell you you're making a mistake by associating with me?"
"Fuck them," she says, and I believe her. "I already lost you once by being weak. I won't make that mistake again."
Robbie stands, moving to my side. "I'm in too. Whatever you need. Though I have to say—" He looks at the three Alphas, who have been watching this entire exchange with varying levels of tension. "—this is the weirdest pack dynamic I've ever seen."
"Good," Corvus says dryly. "We'd hate to be conventional."
"So we're..." Stephanie looks between me and the Alphas. "We're okay? You're okay?"
"We're not okay," I correct. "But we're working on it. And you can work on earning back my trust by helping me make sure that when I go back to campus, everyone knows that I'm not the Omega who got claimed and ran. I'm the Omega who came back stronger."
"We can do that," she says firmly. Then, hesitantly: "Can I hug you?"
I consider for a moment, then nod. She crosses to me quickly, wrapping her arms around me tightly.
"I'm so sorry," she whispers against my shoulder. "For all of it. For abandoning you. For not being brave enough when it mattered. For assuming the worst instead of trusting that you knew what you were doing."
"You're here now," I murmur back. "Late, but here. Don't make me regret giving you another chance."
"I won't." She pulls back, wiping her eyes. "I promise."
Robbie hugs me next, and he's trembling slightly. "You scared the shit out of us," he says. "Please don't disappear like that again."
"I'll try." I step back, suddenly exhausted. "Now both of you sit down and eat. Oakley made enough bacon for a small army, and the French toast is getting cold."
"I can make fresh," Oakley offers.
"See?" I gesture at him. "Eager to please. It's almost disturbing."
Stephanie sits back down slowly, still looking shell-shocked. Robbie joins her, eyeing the Alphas warily.
"So," Robbie says carefully, picking up a piece of bacon. "We're going to have breakfast. With the pack that kidnapped you. Who you're now in charge of. At the lake house where you were held against your will. And we're going to plan your triumphant return to school."
"That about sums it up," I agree, sitting back down. Dorian settles at my feet again, and Stephanie's eyes widen.
"Is he going to stay down there?" she asks.
"Until I tell him otherwise." I run my fingers through his hair again, watching her reaction. "Problem?"
"No, I'm processing."
"Okay," Stephanie says slowly, setting down her coffee cup. "So if we're accepting that this is... what it is... then we need to talk about what happens next. You're going back to school in a week."
The question hangs in the air, heavier than it should be. I haven't actually thought about it. Not really. Being here at the lake house, away from everything, it's been easy to exist in this bubble. But campus means reality. People. The same halls where they hunted me.
"The pack house," Dorian says quietly. "We go back together."
"All four of you?" Robbie's eyebrows rise. "Living together? That's going to turn heads."
"Let them look," I say, but my voice wavers slightly.
Stephanie catches it. "You're scared."
I want to deny it, to keep up the strong front. But what's the point? "Yeah. I'm scared. That place was hell for me."
"It won't be like before," Oakley says quietly.
"Won't it?" I turn to look at him. "The same people will be there. The same Alphas who watched you three hunt me and learned that scholarship Omegas are fair game. You think they're going to accept that we're a pack now and leave me alone?"
"They will if we make it clear you're not to be touched," Dorian starts, but Robbie cuts him off.
"You couldn't protect her before," he says bluntly. "That's why she rejected you and ran in the first place. What makes you think you can protect her now?"
"Because we're not trying to control her anymore," Corvus says. "We're with her. There's a difference."
"Is there?" Stephanie asks. Not hostile, genuinely uncertain. "Because from the outside, this still looks really complicated. You four worked something out here, fine. But you're going back to a place that has context. History. People who remember what happened."
"So what do you want us to do?" I ask, hearing the frustration in my own voice. "Hide? Pretend we're not a pack?"
"No," Stephanie says firmly. "I want you to be realistic about what you're walking into. It's not going to be easy. People will talk. Some will judge you. Others might see you as weak for going back to them, or see them as monsters for what they did. You need to be ready for that."
"I know people will talk," I mutter.
"Do you?" Robbie leans forward. "Because there's a difference between knowing it intellectually and actually facing it.
Walking into the dining hall and having conversations stop.
Seeing people whisper. Having other Omegas avoid you because they don't want to be associated with the girl who got claimed by her bullies. "
The words hit harder than I expect. I haven't thought about that part. About how other Omegas might see me.
"Or worse," he continues, "having some see you as an inspiration. Like you 'tamed' them or something. Turning trauma into some kind of power fantasy when really you're all trying to figure out how to exist together."
"Jesus, Robbie," Stephanie mutters.
"What? Someone needs to say it." He looks at me. "I'm not trying to be cruel. I'm trying to make sure you're actually ready for this and not running on adrenaline and false confidence."
I sit back, feeling the weight of his words. He's right. I've been so focused on what happened here, on the four of us, that I haven't really thought about going back to real life.
"What do you actually want?" Stephanie asks gently. "When you go back?"
I take a breath, forcing myself to be honest. "I want to feel safe.
I want to go to class and rehearsal without looking over my shoulder.
I want to live my life." I look at the three Alphas.
"And I want us to figure out how to actually be a pack.
Not this constant testing and proving thing. Actually together."
"That takes time," Stephanie says. "Real time. Real trust."
"I know." My throat feels tight. "I know and I don't know if we can get there. But I want to try."
"Then try," Robbie says, his voice softening. "But go in with your eyes open. Know that it's going to be hard sometimes. That you might have days where you regret it. That people are going to have opinions and some of them will hurt."
I look at Dorian, who's been quiet through this whole exchange. "Are you ready for that? For people judging you? Seeing you differently?"
"I don't care what people think," he says.
"You should," Corvus corrects. "Because perception matters. If people see us as predators and Vespera as our victim, that affects her safety. Her reputation. Her scholarship."
"My scholarship," I echo, that cold feeling returning. "I didn't even think about that."
"You need to maintain your GPA and stay out of major trouble," Stephanie says. "Which you can do. But you need to be smart about it. Keep your head down academically. Don't give them reasons to look too closely."
"So we go back and try to be normal?" Oakley asks.
"As normal as you can be," Robbie says. "Which isn't very, but it's better than making yourselves targets."
Stephanie stands, brushing off her jeans. "Look, we came here thinking we were rescuing you. Clearly you don't need that. But you do need friends who aren't part of your pack dynamic. People who can give you perspective when you're too deep in it to see clearly."
"And we can do that," Robbie adds. "Be there if you need us. But this—" he gestures at the four of us, "—this is yours to figure out. We can't fix it for you."
"I don't want you to fix it," I say. "I need to know you're there if it falls apart."
"We are," Stephanie says firmly. "I fucked up once by running. I won't do it again. But I also can't be inside this with you. That's between the four of you."
"I know." I stand, suddenly exhausted. "Thank you. For caring enough to drive three hours with a tire iron and a rescue plan."
"Next time maybe text us back so we don't have to go all vigilante," Robbie mutters, but he's smiling as he hugs me. "Seriously though. Stay in touch. Let us know you're okay."
"I will," I promise.
After they leave—after more hugs, after Stephanie makes me promise to text her when we get back to campus, after Robbie extracts a vow from all three Alphas to keep me safe—I sink onto the couch.
"That was intense," Oakley says quietly.
"They're right though." I lean back, staring at the ceiling. "About all of it. We've been in a bubble here. Reality is going to be different."
Dorian sits beside me. Not touching, close. "Are you having second thoughts?"
"No." I turn to look at him. "But I'm scared. Of going back. Of this not working. Of everything being too hard."
"Then we'll be scared together." He takes my hand, and it doesn't feel like claiming or controlling. It feels like partnership. "Figure it out as we go."
"We have a week," Corvus says from the kitchen doorway. "We should use it to prepare. Actually prepare."
"Prepare how?" I ask.
"Mentally," he says. "Emotionally. We've spent six weeks focused on us. Now we need to think about how we function out there. In the real world."
"That's practical," Oakley observes.
"That's terrifying," I correct. But I nod. "Okay. Let's prepare. Starting with figuring out how we're going to handle living together in the pack house without killing each other."
"Or how we're going to handle the inevitable questions about where you've been," Dorian adds.
"Summer program," I say. "Which is true. I was in Columbus for six weeks. They don't need to know about... everything else."
"Simple. I like it," Corvus approves.
We sit in silence, the weight of going back settling over all of us.
"One week," I murmur. "One week and everything changes again."
"We'll figure it out," Oakley says. "Together."
"Together," I echo.
Maybe that's enough. Not knowing exactly how it will work, but knowing we're choosing to try. Choosing each other despite the fear and the uncertainty and all the ways it could go wrong.
Maybe that's what makes a real pack. Not dominance or submission or power games. Choosing to face the hard things together, even when you're terrified.
I guess we'll find out in a week.