Chapter 20
DYLAN
“And that’s everything. The whole truth. I have nothing left to hide.”
Anita’s voice cracks on the last word, and my chest feels like someone’s crushing it in a vise.
We’re all in the meeting room, the biggest one with the massive windows overlooking the harbor.
The heaters are cranked up high, making the room almost too dry.
Anita and Jasper are in fresh clothes from the Wilde Charters collection we always keep on hand.
Even if they look big on her, she’s warm, especially in the oversized winter jacket.
She’s sitting on one end of the room in a chair at the round table. We’re spread out across from her as if we’re interrogating her, and I fucking hate it.
I’m in shock, if I’m being honest. My brain is still trying to process everything she just told us. The radio show. The anonymous tip. The undercover investigation. Ash being completely fake. All of it.
And yet, at the same time, I can follow her logic and can see how things would unfold exactly the way she described. She got information that suggested we were discriminating against Omegas, and she came to investigate. No one planned for scent matches to enter the equation. How could they?
“So let me make sure I understand,” Mason says slowly, running a hand through his sandy-blond hair. “You came here believing we were the bad guys. Created an entire fake identity to expose us. And somewhere along the way realized you were wrong?”
“Yes.” Her voice is small, broken.
“And you didn’t think to just… ask us? Talk to us like normal people?” There’s no anger in Mason’s voice, just genuine confusion.
“I should have.” Anita wipes her eyes with the sleeve of the coat. “I know that now. I should have approached this completely differently, but I was in investigative mode, and I thought I needed proof before confronting anyone.”
Mason scratches his head, looking lost. Like he doesn’t know what to say. None of us do.
We’ve been lied to. Thoroughly. Completely.
“When I was myself,” Anita continues, her voice shaking, “when I was just Anita with you, that was me, no one else, no ulterior motive, just me being drawn to you four in ways I couldn’t resist.”
She lets out a bitter laugh. “And then you all went and made me swoon and forget every promise I made to myself about staying independent. I should have had control around you four, but clearly I don’t. And I got myself into this fine mess.”
She’s crying harder now, wiping at her tears almost angrily, and every tear feels like a knife in my chest.
I’m trying to come to terms with it all, to process the fact that while we were falling for her, she was investigating us. Trying to uncover if we were shady, discriminatory assholes who hurt Omegas.
That part fucking hurts.
Slater is pissed. I can see it in every line of his body. His stare is intense, burning, his jaw is clenched so tight I’m worried he’ll crack a tooth, and his lips are pressed into a thin line.
He feels betrayed like we all do. She was someone we trusted, someone we all started to care about deeply, and she was lying to us.
Jasper exhales loudly, the sound filling the tense silence. He’s the one who discovered the truth, who had to sit with it alone on the boat while they waited for rescue, who had to make that call and bring us all together.
“I can’t stop apologizing,” Anita says, looking at each of us in turn. “I never wanted to hurt any of you, and I will never stop saying sorry for what I did.”
Her gaze lands on Slater. “You stood up for me today, for Ash, when Reed was being an asshole. You defended someone you thought was just an employee. That’s who you are, a good man, a fair leader. And I repaid that by lying to your face every single day.”
Slater’s expression doesn’t change, but I notice something flicker in his eyes. She stares at Jasper next. “You gave me a ride home this morning and made me feel safe even though I was terrified I’d ruined everything. And the whole time, I was lying to you about who I was. I’m so sorry.”
Jasper’s jaw tightens, but he nods slightly.
Then Mason. “You’ve been nothing but kind. Patient. Gentle with me even when I didn’t deserve it, and I lied to you while you were being vulnerable with me.”
Mason glances away, unable to hold her gaze.
Finally, she’s locking eyes with me, and those hazel irises are swimming with tears.
“And you, Dylan, you made me laugh, made me dizzy with attraction to you, made me feel like myself even when I was pretending to be someone else. You gave me joy in a situation where I should have felt nothing but guilt. I’m sorry I couldn’t be honest with you. ”
My heart is racing, thundering against my ribs like it’s trying to escape. It’s taking everything in me not to cross this room right now and pull her into my arms.
Because she looks genuinely heartbroken. Remorseful. Like she’s tearing herself apart from the inside out. And I’m not a fighter, never have been. I’m the pack member who smooths things over, who makes people laugh, who finds the joy in dark situations.
But this isn’t just about me. It’s about all of the pack, about trust, and about having an Omega in our family, which means we need to know we can trust her completely.
“The complication of the scent matches makes this so much harder,” Anita continues, her voice breaking.
“If you weren’t my scent mates, I could walk away and never look back.
But you are, and that makes everything more painful.
I understand your reactions, and maybe you hate me now. I would hate me too.”
“We don’t,” I say before I can stop myself.
Three heads turn to look at me.
“I’m pissed,” I clarify. “Confused. Hurt. But I don’t hate you.”
Anita’s bottom lip trembles. “You should.”
“Well, we don’t,” Mason says quietly too. “Hate doesn’t come into this.”
“This is about trust,” Slater adds. “How do we trust you after this? How do we believe anything you say?”
“I don’t know,” Anita whispers. “I wish I had an answer. But I don’t.”
We fall into silence, the weight of it pressing down on all of us.
“I have nothing left to hide,” Anita says finally. “I’m doing what I should have done from the beginning, showing you the real me. And if it’s any consolation, I really struggled being a guy. You probably all saw that.”
Mason lets out a surprised laugh despite everything. “Fuck yeah, you did. You were terrible at it.”
Anita’s lips twitch like she wants to smile but won’t allow herself to. “I tried my best.”
“Your best was objectively bad,” Jasper adds, but there’s a ghost of amusement in his voice.
I’m noticing everything about her. The way she’s sitting, hunched in on herself like she’s trying to take up as little space as possible. Her fingers keep twisting in the fabric of our coat. And every tear that falls seems to take a piece of my heart with it.
I fucking hate seeing her in pain and knowing that we’re the cause of it, even though she brought it on herself.
“I’ll tell you everything you want to know,” she continues, her voice stronger now.
More determined. “My past is a shitty one, but I have nothing to hide.” She takes a shaky breath.
“After my pack rejected me, I promised myself I didn’t need a pack.
Didn’t need Alphas, and that I could be fine on my own.
” A tear rolls down her cheek. “But deep down inside…” She sniffles, wiping at her eyes.
“I wanted it so badly. So when I met you four, when I felt that pull, that connection, it terrified me. I told myself it was nothing but attraction and chemistry. But I was denying the truth because I just want to be loved.”
I shuffle in my seat, clearing my throat because it’s choking up.
She lets out a half laugh, broken and sad. “God, I’m a mess. And I’m sure you all agree with that assessment.”
No one speaks. The silence is deafening.
She’s on her feet suddenly, wiping at her tears with both hands now. “Well, unless you have any other questions, I’m sure you want time to digest all this. I’ll leave you alone.”
My chest constricts painfully.
“I promise you won’t see me again,” she says, and her voice cracks completely. “But just so you know, I regret this so much that I doubt I’ll ever get over it.” She’s moving toward the door, and I’m on my feet.
“Anita—”
“I don’t know what happens now,” she interrupts, still crying, her words tumbling out in a rush.
“Because I’ve already ruined one pack, or at least I wasn’t good enough for them.
Maybe the problem was me after all, because look how quickly I ruined things here too.
Just when I actually found my true scent mates.
And I know this is going to really hurt for all of us, but—”
She’s at the door, pulling it open, and I’m moving toward her.
“Anita, wait—”
“Let her go.” Slater’s voice stops me cold. It’s not loud, but it’s commanding. Final.
I turn to look at him. “Did you see her? How can you let her go in that state? My heart’s fucking shattered watching her cry like that.”
“And you think mine isn’t?” Slater’s voice rises slightly, showing more emotion than I’ve seen from him in too long. “You think I’m not dying inside right now?”
He’s on his feet suddenly, striding to the floor-to-ceiling windows, staring out at the ocean. The water is getting choppier, darker clouds rolling in from the north promising a storm. Probably snow.
We all stand here in silence for a long moment.
I can’t stop seeing her face. The tears. The genuine remorse. The way she looked so small and broken.
“Fuck,” I say finally, dropping back into my chair and running my hands through my hair. “Did you see how remorseful she was? I was dying watching her in pain.”
“She lied to us,” Jasper murmurs.
“Yeah, she did.” I lean forward, elbows on my knees. “But the Omega I kissed? The woman I flirted with at the bar, the one I fucked in our bed? That was Anita. There was no faking that. The connection between us was real, Omega to Alpha, scent mate to scent mate.”