Chapter 3
Chapter three
Cole was waiting for me at the Healing Center entrance.
He stood with his back straight, hands clasped behind him, eyes scanning the corridor like he expected a threat to materialize from the walls. Professional. Controlled. The same way he'd been every time I'd seen him since we met.
"Morning," I said.
"Miss Orlav." A nod. Nothing more.
"Lumi," I corrected. "You asked me to call you Cole. Fair's fair."
Something flickered across his face. Gone before I could name it.
"Lumi," he said. The word sounded different in his voice. Heavier. "Shall we begin?"
The walkthrough was thorough.
Cole had submitted a security report after his initial assessment. Rae had implemented nearly all of it. Now he wanted me to understand every change—where the new sensors were placed, how the reinforced doors operated, which corridors had been designated as containment zones.
"The eastern wing has been fitted with silver-core locks," he explained, gesturing toward a heavy door I'd walked past a dozen times without noticing. "They can be activated remotely if a feral loses control."
"To trap them inside."
"To protect everyone else." His tone was neutral. "Including the feral. A contained situation is easier to de-escalate than a pursuit."
I nodded. It made sense. All of it made sense.
But I was having trouble focusing on security protocols. Every time the bond tugged at me, Cole stepped back.
Literally.
We'd be walking side by side, and the moment our shoulders came close to brushing, he'd shift away. Create distance. Find a reason to gesture toward something on my other side.
It was starting to piss me off.
"The east wing has new ventilation," he continued, leading me down another hallway. "Filters that can neutralize airborne sedatives if needed. Also useful for containing scent during high-stress situations."
"Containing scent?"
"Feral wolves in distress produce pheromones that can trigger packmates. The filters help prevent cascade reactions."
"You've thought of everything."
"That's my job."
We stopped outside a reinforced window. Beyond it, I could see one of the recovery rooms. Empty now. Clean white sheets on the bed.
The bond pulsed.
I stepped closer to Cole. Not consciously. Just—drawn.
He stepped back.
"The window is shatterproof," he said. "Rated for—"
"Cole."
He stopped talking.
"Look at me."
Slowly, he turned. His face was blank. Controlled. But his eyes—
His eyes were not.
"Do you feel it or not?"
The question landed between us like a stone in still water.
He didn't pretend to misunderstand. Didn't ask what I meant. He just stood there, jaw tight, hands still clasped behind his back like he didn't trust himself to let them hang free.
"Yes," he said finally. "I feel it."
"Then why do you keep pulling away?"
Silence.
"Every time I get close, you retreat. Every time the bond tugs, you shut it down." I held his gaze. "If you feel it, why won't you let it happen?"
His throat worked. I watched him swallow.
"Because I can't act on it." His voice was rough. Strained. "You wouldn't be safe."
"Safe from what?"
Silence.
I inhaled. Let my senses open.
Fear.
Not the sharp fear of danger. Something older. Deeper. The kind of fear that had roots.
"You're scared," I said.
He flinched. Barely visible, but there.
"This conversation is over."
"It's not—"
"I have other duties to attend to." He stepped back. Put three feet of distance between us like it would make a difference. "Neal can answer any remaining questions about the facility."
He turned and walked away.
I let him go.
Neal found me in the courtyard an hour later.
I was sitting on a bench, staring at nothing, trying to untangle the knot of feelings in my chest. James. Cal. Neal. Stone. Cole. The bonds pulling in different directions, each one demanding something different from me.
"You look like you're solving a very complicated math problem," Neal said, dropping onto the bench beside me.
His thigh pressed against mine. Warm. Solid. Our bond between us hummed to life, a slow heat that spread through my belly.
"Something like that."
He was wearing his white coat, sleeves rolled to the elbows, exposing the lean muscles of his forearms. I remembered those arms pinning me to his bed. Remembered the way his hands had mapped every inch of my skin.
My pulse kicked up.
He was quiet for a moment. Neal had a gift for silence—the kind that invited confession without demanding it. But I could feel him through the bond. The way his attention focused on me like I was the only thing in the world that mattered.
"Cole seemed... tense," he said finally. "After your walkthrough."
"Did he?"
"He nearly took a door off its hinges in the east wing. Very unlike him." Neal's voice was mild, but his hand found my knee. Casual. Possessive. His thumb traced a slow circle through the fabric of my jeans. "Anything happen I should know about?"
The touch sent heat spiraling up my thigh.
"I don't know," I admitted.
"That's not a no."
"It's not a yes either."
Neal shifted closer. His scent wrapped around me—clean soap, antiseptic, and underneath it, the warm musk that was purely him. The scent I'd buried my face in while he moved inside me.
"Look at me," he said softly.
I turned. His eyes were warm. Concerned. But there was heat there too—banked, controlled, the way Neal always was.
But God, the way he looked at me.
Like he was remembering exactly what I tasted like.
I wanted to ask more. Wanted to understand. But Neal's touch was making it hard to think, and the bond was flooding with warmth, with want, with the memory of his mouth on my neck, his weight pressing me into the mattress.
"Neal." My voice came out breathless.
"I know." His smile was slow. Knowing. "Wrong place. Wrong time."
"You're doing that on purpose."
"Doing what?"
"Distracting me."
His hand slid away from my thigh. I almost whined at the loss.
"You looked like you needed it," he said. His eyes were soft now. Tender.
Before I could lean into him, my phone buzzed.
A message from Rae: My office when you have a moment. Need to discuss the ferals.
"Duty calls," I said. My voice was steadier than I felt.
Neal smiled. Leaned in. His lips brushed my temple—barely a kiss, but the bond sang at the contact.
"Go," he murmured against my skin. "We'll finish this later."
Rae was behind her desk when I arrived, papers spread out in front of her, reading glasses perched on her nose.
"There she is." Rae looked up with a smile, pulling off her glasses. "Close the door. Sit. Tell me everything."
I dropped into the chair across from her. "Everything about what?"
"About you." She leaned back, studying me the way she always did—like she could see straight through to the parts I tried to hide. "How are you holding up? And don't say fine. I can smell fine from a mile away and it's always bullshit."
I laughed despite myself. "I'm... managing."
"Managing." She nodded slowly. "That's better than fine. I'll take it."
"How's Alexandra?"
Rae's face softened the way it always did when she talked about her daughter. "She's a terror. Yesterday she informed Ash that she's going to marry a dragon when she grows up, and when he told her dragons aren't real, she bit him."
"She bit him?"
"Right on the hand. Drew blood." Rae shook her head, but she was fighting a smile. "Then she looked him dead in the eye and said, 'Dragons are real and Lulu would believe me.'"
I grinned. "She's not wrong."
"Don't encourage her. Ash and the twins are already wrapped around her finger—if she finds out you're on her side too, we'll never regain control.
" Rae reached for her coffee, took a sip.
"She keeps asking when Lulu is coming for dinner, by the way.
I think she has a new stuffed animal she wants to introduce you to. "
"Tell her soon. I miss her."
"I will." Rae's expression shifted. Warmer now, but more serious. "I miss having you around too. I know things have been... a lot."
"That's one word for it."
"How are the bonds? Really?"
I exhaled. Thought about James's hands in my hair. Stone's fractured memories bleeding through our connection. Neal's mouth brushing my temple. Cole's anguished eyes.
"Complicated," I admitted. "But I'm figuring it out."
"You always do." Rae set her coffee down. "Speaking of which—I want to go over the ferals with you. Their progress. Their challenges. You're bonded to some of them now. You should know where things stand."
"Okay."
"Cal first." She pulled a file toward her. "He's doing remarkably well. The bond with you has stabilized his wolf significantly. He's sleeping through the night. Eating regularly."
Something in my chest eased. "That's good."
"It's excellent. He's ahead of where we expected him to be." She set Cal's file aside, picked up another. "Stone is... more complicated."
I knew that already. I felt it every day through the bond.
"The memories are surfacing faster than we anticipated," Rae continued. "Neal is working with him on integration techniques, but it's slow going. The trauma is extensive."
"I know."
"He's not regressing," she said carefully. "But he's not progressing either. He's holding steady. For now, that's enough."
I nodded. Holding steady. It felt like the most any of us could hope for.
"Gray is our surprise success story." Rae's expression softened slightly. "You remember him? The gray wolf who shifted briefly?"
"Well, we've started calling him Gray—he responds to it now. He's made remarkable progress in the last two weeks. Starting to communicate. Following simple commands. Yesterday he let Neal touch his shoulder without flinching."
"That's amazing."
"It is." She set Gray's file aside. "The other three are more concerning."
She spread three files across the desk. I didn't know these wolves as well. But their files were thick. Detailed. Full of notes and observations and careful documentation of trauma.
"Two are stable but static. No progress, but no decline." Rae tapped the third file. "This one is regressing."
"Regressing how?"
"Increased aggression. Last week he snapped at one of the staff." Her jaw tightened. "We need to do something before he slides further."
"What are you thinking?"
"A run." She leaned back in her chair. "A supervised outing. Let the wolves stretch their legs, reconnect with their instincts in a controlled environment."
"All of them?"
"Cal, Stone, and Gray for certain. The other two if they're stable enough. The regressing one—we'll see." She studied me. "I'd want you there. Your presence seems to calm them."
"When?"
"End of the week, if we can arrange the logistics."
I nodded. A run. Open air. Space to breathe. Maybe it would help Stone too. Give him something to focus on besides the memories clawing at his mind.
Rae was quiet for a moment. Then she said, "There's one more thing."
I waited.
"Silas wants to resume your vision sessions."
I tensed. Couldn't help it.
Rae noticed. Of course she did.
"I know you have been through a lot," she said gently. "He just wants to help."
That sounded like Silas. He was powerful, sometimes terrifying in what he could see. But he was also kind. Patient.
He was Rae's mate. Which made him family. Which made this complicated.
"He says there's more you need to see," Rae continued. "More that's coming."
"What kind of more?"
Rae sighed. "You know how he is. Cryptic as hell, even with me. He just said you'd understand when the time came." She rolled her eyes, but there was fondness underneath. "I told him that's not actually helpful information. He said—and I quote—'It will be.'"
Despite everything, I almost smiled. "That does sound like him."
"Infuriating, isn't it?" Rae's expression softened. "You don't have to say yes, Lumi. He wanted me to make that clear. This is your choice. He'll wait until you're ready."
I thought about it.
"I'll do it," I said. "Set it up."
"You sure?"
"No. But I need to know what he's seeing."
Rae nodded slowly. "I'll tell him. He'll be glad." She stood, came around the desk, and pulled me into a hug. "Take care of yourself, okay?"
She pulled back, hands on my shoulders, eyes searching mine. "From where I'm standing, you're juggling about fifteen things that would crush a normal person, and you're acting like it's nothing."
"It's not nothing. I just—"
"Don't have a choice?" She squeezed my shoulders. "You always have a choice, Lumi. Remember that."
I didn't know what to say. So I just hugged her again.