Chapter 40 #3
“I went to see my mother,” I say, my voice steadier than I feel. “She confirmed everything Thane said. I was created as part of an experiment—one of dozens of engineered Omegas born to desperate betas who let themselves be guinea pigs in exchange for social advancement and credits.”
Logan’s face hardens. “That has nothing to do with?—“
“Let me finish,” I cut him off, surprising myself with my boldness. More surprising is how quickly he falls silent. “The king funded those experiments. He promised the Great Houses more Omegas than existed naturally, and when he couldn’t deliver, he turned to science. To Thane.”
I lower the gun to my side but keep it in my hand, a reminder to them all that I’m no longer the helpless Omega they first encountered.
“There have to be more facilities like the one where Thane held us,” I continue. “More doctors conducting experiments on unwilling Omegas. More betas volunteering their unborn children for genetic manipulation.” My voice catches. “I can’t just walk away knowing that’s happening.”
Ares crosses his massive arms. “So what? You’re planning to take down the entire system by yourself?”
“No.” I meet his gaze squarely. “That’s why I have you.”
The room goes still as understanding dawns on their faces. Poe is the first to grasp my meaning, his dark eyes widening slightly.
“You want us to help you fight back,” he says quietly.
I nod, turning to face Logan directly. “I’ll stay with you—with all of you—if you agree to lead an uprising against your father.”
Logan’s golden eyes narrow, his jaw clenching. “You don’t understand what you’re asking.”
“Don’t I?” I step closer to him, close enough to see the flecks of amber in his irises. “I’m not asking you to do anything more than you once asked of me.”
“Which is what, exactly?” he challenges, voice dangerously low.
“To give up everything.”
The words hang between us, heavy with meaning.
Cillian moves to Logan’s side, eyes never leaving my face. “The king would hunt us all down. He’d never stop.”
“The city is in lockdown. He’s already hunting us,” I counter. “We’re already traitors. The only choices now are to run forever or to fight back.”
Logan turns away, running a hand through his hair in frustration. “You’re talking about civil war. Thousands would die.”
“And how many Omegas will die in those facilities if nothing changes?” I demand.
“How many children will be sold by their parents before they’re even born?
How many will end up like me—like you? You have so much blood on your hands already, wouldn’t you rather all that violence serve a worthier cause than your father’s amusement and desire for power? ”
Logan wavers, jaw working in silence.
Poe steps forward, his expression thoughtful. “She’s right, Logan. The king has gone too far. The experiments, the kidnappings, setting Thane on your own mate...there’s no coming back from this.”
Ares nods slowly. “We’ve always known the king was ruthless, but this...” He shakes his head. “This is beyond anything I imagined.”
Logan’s shoulders tense as he stands with his back to us all, staring out the window at the darkening forest. The silence stretches, thick with unspoken words and the weight of an impossible decision.
Finally, he turns back to face me, his golden eyes meeting mine with an intensity that makes my breath catch.
“You shot me,” he accuses.
“You made Cillian carve your family sigil into my chest,” I reply without hesitation.
“You tried to humiliate me in the press and turn me against my own pack.”
“You claimed me…Against…My…Will.”
He raises an eyebrow. “You only came back to the palace in the first place to use me. You signed a contract, knowing you never actually wanted to be my mate.”
I meet the challenge in his gaze with my own. “You never wanted a true mate, just a pretty pet to help cement your place as heir.”
“Maybe at the beginning,” he acknowledges. A ghost of a smile tugs at the corner of his mouth, one heavy with irony. “Now, I think I might love you.”
“You don’t know how to love, Logan,” I reply, my voice steadier than I feel. “You only know how to possess, to covet, to own .”
His face falls, the hope in his eyes dimming. I take a step closer, drawn by some impulse I don’t fully understand.
“But in another world,” I continue, softer now, “in a better world, I think you could have been a different man. Maybe you can still learn if you’re given the chance.”
I resist the urge to step back, forcing myself to hold my ground as he reaches out. His fingers brush the pendant at my throat—the Corellian crest I’ve worn since that first morning when I woke up bonded to him.
“How with us are you planning to be?” he asks, his voice rough with emotion. The question carries layers of meaning. “How much with me?”
I meet his gaze steadily, aware of the others watching us with varying degrees of hope and wariness.
“There were some good moments among the bad, and I haven’t forgotten either,” I answer him honestly. “But we’ve both hurt each other in ways that should be unforgivable.”
Logan doesn’t say anything, simply waiting for whatever it is I’m going to say next.
The silence stretches long enough that Cillian speaks quietly over Logan’s shoulder. “That isn’t an answer.”
“The bottom line is this,” I say, my voice gaining strength with each word. “Whatever happens going forward, my choices belong to me. Not to any of you. Not to the king. Not to my goddamned biology. To me.”
Logan watches me closely, expression unreadable. “If we do this, there’s no going back. If we fail, we all die.”
“If we don’t try, we’re already dead,” I whisper. “Or worse than dead.”
Logan’s hand falls away from the pendant. He looks around at the others—at Cillian’s resolute nod, Poe’s watchful silence, Ares’s barely contained growl of anticipation— before his gaze returns to mine.
“Then we fight,” he says simply.
The words hang in the air like a declaration, a promise, a vow that will change everything. I feel something shift between us—not forgiveness, not yet, but perhaps the beginning of understanding.
I need them for this. Only time will tell, if I want them for anything more.
“For justice,” I say softly, echoing my words from the warehouse.
Logan inclines his head. “For freedom.”
And in that moment, standing in a safehouse with four men I once considered my enemies, I feel something I haven’t felt in a long time…
Hope.