Chapter Thirty-Eight
Theo
I find Lucian exactly where I expect him - in his office, by the window, arms folded like he’s preparing to wage war on the sunrise.
Honestly, the man’s made of stone and spite. If you told me he hadn't moved in hours, I’d believe you.
“Lucian,” I say evenly. “We need to talk.”
His spine goes even straighter, like that’s physically possible. He breathes in like the air might disagree with him, then - finally - turns.
“About what ?”
“The others are in the sitting room. We need to figure out next steps.”
He gives a clipped nod like he’s doing me a favor. We walk together, but not side by side.
I’m just close enough to count as company, not close enough to catch whatever emotional plague he's warding off.
Kai’s already in the sitting room, barefoot and shirtless, spinning a throw pillow in the air like he's trying to decide whether to toss it or hump it. Ash sits in the corner like he’s seconds from issuing commands to invisible troops.
The second Lucian steps in, the temperature drops three degrees.
“She’s asleep,” I say, without preamble. “But the worst of the heat’s passed.”
Lucian leans against the far wall like it personally offended him. “Talk.”
“She told me everything.”
Kai stops mid-spin. “Define everything. ”
"Confirmed it all - mostly what we’d already suspected. She’s unregistered. Been on black-market suppressants since she was eighteen. She planned to live out her life as a beta."
Ash’s jaw clenches. “Black-market suppressants?”
“Every day,” I nod. “No breaks. No variance. She planned to fake being a beta forever.”
Lucian’s eyes narrow. “That explains a lot.”
“She never learned how to handle a heat cycle because she never planned on having one,” I continue. “She didn’t want to. She wasn’t just hiding - she was building a life designed to bury what she was. Her heat wasn’t just surprise - it was a complete biological jailbreak.”
“She said all this?” Lucian asks, tone clipped.
Ash’s brow furrows. "Why?"
“Because her mother was killed by a jealous Alpha,” I answer. “She learned early that being wanted isn’t always safe. So she made herself invisible.”
Kai blows out a breath. "Well, now I feel like a dick."
"You usually are ," Lucian sneers.
“Do you practice that in the mirror?” Kai deadpans. “Because your insults are starting to sound like rejected Batman dialogue.”
“Not the time,” I cut in. “She’s scared. About the OMB, about what it means to be bonded to four alphas, about being… this .”
Kai’s brows lift. “This?”
“She’s not normal,” I say, and Lucian’s eye twitches like I just insulted his bone structure. “She scent-bonded all of us in a single cycle. That doesn’t happen.”
"It’s not supposed to be possible,” Lucian says, the frustration in him audible. “It doesn’t make sense.
Not unless you’re a walking biological anomaly.”
“She called it static,” I say, forcing myself to stay calm, to stay rational . “That hum? That’s a multi-bond. She’s tethered to four alphas. That doesn’t happen unless -”
“She’s a Rare-pack Omega,” Ash finishes.
The words land with a thud.
Kai moves first; leaning back against the armrest .
“Well. Shit .” He whistles. “Cool, cool, cool. Just casually rewriting biology. No pressure.”
Lucian shakes his head, already dismissing it. “Rare-pack’s a myth.”
“No,” I say. “It’s rare. Not imaginary. There are case studies. Documented.”
Kai holds up a finger. “Also mentioned in that Alpha-Omega erotica series you swore you didn’t read.”
Lucian glares at him. “This isn’t a joke.”
“And yet here we are,” Kai mutters, dropping dramatically onto the couch. “Jokes and knots and panic attacks. What a life.”
“It explains everything,” Ash says quietly. “Why we didn’t go feral. Why we didn’t fight. Why every time one of us bonded her, the others felt it too.”
Lucian’s glare is thunderous. “And what - conveniently, we’ve just stumbled into one?” he continues. “Are you seriously
saying we just happened to find an omega whose biology is wired for all four of us?”
“No,” Ash mutters. “We didn’t just stumble into her -”
“No - she ran into us,” Kai corrects, with a lazy wave of his hand. “Literally. Through a gala. In heels . Iconic, really.”
Lucian shakes his head. “No one’s that lucky.”
“Or that doomed,” Kai adds. “Depending on your perspective.”
“Dramatic,” I note.
Kai just grins. “I mean, statistically speaking, I’ve definitely been overdue something wildly inappropriate and illegal.”
I brush him off with a shake of my head.
“She’s a biological anomaly,” I say. “But it doesn’t matter how rare it is. The OMB won’t accept it.”
“They’ll call it deviant,” Ash adds. “Unnatural.”
Kai scoffs. “They still think bonded alphas sharing a toothbrush is a felony.”
“We need to get ahead of it,” I say. “There’s a loophole. One I think Lucian’s father accidentally gave us.”
That gets his attention. His eyes sharpen.
“What loophole?”
“If we can prove her bonds are instinctual and stabilizing - not chaotic - we might be able to classify her as a Pack-Stabilizing Omega. It’s not a common designation, but it exists.”
Kai perks up. “Wait, is that like being the emotional support omega?”
Ash grunts. “More like biological glue.”
“She’s not glue ,” Lucian snaps.
“No,” I agree. “She’s the structure. The one thing holding four alphas together without any of us losing our minds. That’s the definition of a stabilizing force.”
“And the claim?” Ash asks.
“We wait,” I say. “Until she’s ready. Until we have paperwork. Until the OMB has no excuse to intervene.”
“And if they come early?” Lucian drawls.
Ash’s voice is flat. “Then we lock it down.”
“And we fight if we have to,” I say. “Together.”
Kai grins. “You know, for a pack that wasn’t supposed to exist, we’re already very good at teamwork.”
Lucian doesn’t answer. But he doesn’t argue, either.
And for Lucian? That’s practically a hug.
Kai flops onto the couch, arms spread.
"So if she’s rare, and she’s ours... what now?"
"Now, we figure out what she needs. What we need. We can't stay in this house forever, but we need a plan before we move out anywhere. Rhea didn’t choose this, but her scent did. Her body did,” I continue. “Every time one of us touched her, it deepened. There’s a reason we’re all still feeling it.”
Lucian crosses his arms. “There’s also a reason we’re not all drooling and rutting in the hallway. We have control .”
“Do we?” Kai mutters. “Because I’ve been two steps from feral since she looked at me like I hung the damn moon.”
Ash looks at him sideways. “You licked your own teeth when she moaned in her sleep.”
“Instinct’s a bitch.” Kai smirks, then tilts his head, considering. “So - this... claim . We’d all do it? Four Alphas, one Omega. You realize how batshit that sounds out loud, yeah?”
Ash shrugs. “It’s not about how it sounds. It’s what is. ”
“We can’t mark her unless we’re all in,” I say firmly. “Otherwise it won’t hold. A split bond will fracture her, and won't stand with the OMB, either. It has to be all of us. Together.”
Silence.
Then Lucian laughs.
Short. Cold. Dismissive.
“No.”
The word slices the air in two.
I turn toward him. “No?”
Lucian meets my gaze without flinching. “I don’t share.”
Kai lets out a soft oof and leans back like he’s watching a fight about to happen.
“You don’t share ?” I echo. “She’s already bonded to all of us.”
“Then the bond’s flawed,” Lucian snaps. “And I’m not tying myself to something unstable.”
Ash stiffens. “She’s not a thing , Vale.”
Lucian’s jaw tics. “She’s unregistered. She’s unclaimed, and -”
“She’s also scared,” I say, stepping closer. “She’s survived more than any omega I’ve ever seen, and she did it alone . You think your pride’s more important than her safety?”
“If I mark her, I mark her alone,” he says. “I’ll protect her, I’ll give her everything she needs - but not with the three of you in the same bed.”
Kai raises a brow. “What is this? A pissing contest or a proposal?”
“I don’t propose, ” Lucian says smoothly. “I decide .”
“You know it doesn’t work that way,” Ash growls.
“It does for me.”
I stare at him. He stares back.
Then Kai breaks the silence with a slow clap.
“And here I thought I was the asshole in this little pack .”
“You still are,” Ash mutters.
“Don’t fucking say that word, ” Lucian growls.
Kai ignores him entirely, responding directly to Ash. “Okay, but like - less of one.”
“This isn’t funny ,” I say, rounding on him now.
“I know it’s not funny,” Kai says. “But we’re talking about fully marking and claiming a girl who didn’t even know she was rare until a few days ago. You’re ready to swear a bond that doesn’t even have terms yet.”
Ash’s voice cuts through, low and sure. “I am.”
“So am I,” I say.
Kai hesitates. “Look - I like her. I really like her. But I don’t know what this is yet. And I’m not exactly the bonding type. I’m here for the chaos. The claw marks. Not the picket fence.”
Ash eyes him. “But?”
Kai sighs. “But I’m not leaving her. Not unless she tells me to.”
Lucian scoffs, stepping away. “You’re all going to ruin her.”
“No,” I say. “You will, if you make this about power instead of her.”
He doesn’t respond to that. He just stands there, a silent wall in a tailored suit, cold and rigid and unbending.
Ash turns to me. “So it’s not just her we have to convince.”
I nod once. “No. It’s him, too.”
Kai rubs a hand over his face. “Awesome. So now it’s an omega rescue and a trust fall exercise.”
Lucian sneers. “She makes her choice, and so do I.”
Ash exhales slowly. “This is going to break something.”
“No,” I say, watching Lucian’s back disappear into the shadows. “It’s going to change everything.”
Kai shakes his head. “Still voting for group therapy and a bottle of bourbon.”
“Yeah, well, I’m voting for her,” I say. “No matter how long it takes.”