Chapter 13
Chapter thirteen
Ifound Cole in the security office.
It was late—almost midnight—but I knew he'd be there.
He practically lived in that room, surrounded by monitors and reports and the constant hum of equipment tracking every inch of the Healing Center.
The door was open. He sat at his desk, back to me, reviewing footage on one of the screens.
He didn't turn when I entered, but I saw his shoulders tighten.
He knew it was me. The bond made sure of that.
"I know what I am."
The words came out steady. Calm. I'd had hours to process since leaving Silas's study, hours of walking through dark campus paths and turning the information over in my mind until the sharp edges dulled.
Cole's hand froze on the mouse. He still didn't turn around.
"Omega," I said. "That's the word everyone's been dancing around. The thing you couldn't tell me. The biological change that can't be stopped once it starts."
Silence.
"Silas told me. The twins found records in Europe—old council documents that should have been destroyed. Because Emory erased it. Erased them. Every Omega who existed, hunted down and killed."
"I know."
Two words. Quiet. Heavy.
Cole turned his chair to face me. His expression was unreadable, but his eyes were full of something old and painful.
"I know what happened to them," he said. "I know better than Silas does."
"How?"
He was quiet for a long moment. I watched him weigh something—how much to say, how much to keep hidden. Then he exhaled, and something in his posture shifted. Surrendered.
"My mother is one of them."
The words hit me like cold water.
"Your mother is an Omega?"
"One of the last." He leaned back in his chair. "She survived the purges. She was young when Emory started hunting them—young enough that she could disappear before anyone confirmed what she was."
"Where is she now?"
"Hiding." His jaw tightened. "They've been living off the grid for decades. My dads, her mates are... protective. They don't trust outsiders. Don't trust the council—old or new."
"But Emory's gone. The new council—"
"Hasn't proven itself yet. Not to them." Cole shook his head. "They've seen what happens when people in power decide Omegas are a threat. They're not willing to risk it. Not until they know for certain the new leadership won't continue what Emory started."
I tried to imagine it. An entire pack living in the shadows, always watching over their shoulders. A woman who couldn't reveal what she was, surrounded by mates who would die to keep her secret.
"Did she tell you what she is?"
"When I was old enough to understand. She taught me to recognize the signs—the way Omegas affect other wolves." He met my eyes. "She wanted me to know in case I ever encountered one. So I could help them. Warn them."
"What did she teach you?"
"Not as much as I needed." Frustration edged into his voice. "She's careful. Even with me. She told me about the heat—that it's part of the Omega biology, something that happens when the the omega bonds with her final mate. And she told me about the eyes."
"The eyes?"
"When a wolf bonds to an Omega fully, their eyes change. A second ring appears around the pupil. Permanent. Visible even in human form." His voice dropped. "It marks them. Makes them identifiable to anyone who knows what to look for."
A second ring. A visible mark that couldn't be hidden.
"That's how the council found them," I said slowly. "The bonded wolves. They could see who belonged to an Omega just by looking at their eyes."
"Yes. And once they realized they couldn't sever an Omega bond, couldn't control those wolves..." He didn't finish the sentence. He didn't have to.
"They went after the source instead."
"It was more efficient. Kill one Omega, neutralize an entire pack of wolves they couldn't control." His hands clenched on the arms of his chair. "My mother watched it happen. Lost people she cared about. She doesn't talk about it, but I've seen the way she flinches when certain names come up."
The room felt smaller. Colder.
"You knew," I said. "The moment you met me. You knew what I was."
"I suspected." He couldn't quite meet my eyes. "The signs were there. The way the ferals responded to you. The way the bonds were forming—multiple, strong. Everything my mother taught me to look for."
"That's why you kept your distance."
"Yes."
"That's why you wouldn't let the bond complete."
"Yes."
I stepped closer. "Tell me why. Not the vague version. Not the half-truths. Tell me exactly why you've been pulling away."
Cole stood. The movement was abrupt, like he couldn't stay seated anymore. He moved to the window, put his back to me, his hands braced against the frame.
"If I complete the bond with you, it triggers everything." His voice was rough. Strained. "The heat. The change. All of it."
“The heat you mentioned,” I said. “What does that actually mean?”
He studied me for a moment, like he was deciding how much truth I could carry. “You know what heat is.”
“Animals go into heat when they’re fertile,” I said. “Hormones spike. Ovulation. Instinct takes over.”
His mouth curved faintly. Not amusement—recognition. “Yes. That part isn’t special.”
“So what is?”
“For an Omega,” he said, “heat isn’t just fertility. It’s activation.”
My chest tightened. “Activation of what?”
“The omega bond,” he said simply. “Your body doesn’t just prepare to conceive. It prepares to anchor.”
I waited.
“Once it starts, your body commits,” he said. “It doesn’t wait for permission. And it doesn’t expect you to survive it alone.”
“The pack,” I said.
“All of them.”
"And you've been holding back because—"
"Because I was trying to give you time." The words came out ragged. "Time to understand what's happening. Time to prepare. Time to make choices before biology made them for you."
I stared at him. This man who had been keeping himself at arm's length for weeks. Who had been visibly suffering every time the bond pulled between us. Who had chosen restraint over relief because he thought he was protecting me.
"How long?" I asked.
"What?"
"How long have you known? Exactly?"
"I suspected the day I met you. I knew for sure when I walked into that clearing and saw you with the ferals." His eyes were dark. Anguished. "I knew—I knew exactly what you were. What that would mean."
"So everything since then. The distance. The restraint. Watching me struggle without answers."
"I thought I was helping. I thought if I could slow things down, give you more time before the heat began—" He broke off.
"You could have told me. Any time in the last few weeks, you could have just told me the truth."
"And what would I have said? That you're something the council hunted to extinction?
That my mother lives in hiding because people might kill her if they knew what she was?
" His voice cracked. "I didn't want to terrify you.
I wanted to prepare you gradually, help you understand in pieces instead of—"
"Instead of letting me make my own choices with full information."
He flinched.
"You decided what I could handle. What I needed to know and when." I kept my voice steady, but the anger was building. "That's not protection, Cole. That's control."
He looked wrecked. "I know that now. I was so focused on keeping you safe that I didn't stop to ask if you wanted safety on those terms."
The silence stretched between us. Heavy. Painful.
"What else do you know?" I asked finally. "About the heat, the change, what's coming."
"Not much more than I've told you. The heat happens. The eyes change. The bonds become... permanent. Unbreakable." He spread his hands. "My mother doesn't share details easily. My dads, her mates are even more guarded. They've spent so long protecting her that secrecy is instinct now."
"Could I talk to her? Meet her pack?"
Something complicated crossed his face. "Maybe. Eventually. They'd need to trust you first. Trust that you wouldn't lead anyone back to them." He paused. "But if you are what I think you are, they might be willing. Another Omega surviving—that would mean something to them."
Another Omega. The words felt strange. Heavy with implications I wasn't ready to examine.
"What happens now?" I asked.
"That's up to you." He held my gaze. "All of it. I won't make decisions for you anymore. I won't hold back information or try to control the timeline. Whatever you want to know, whatever you want to do—I'll support it."
"Even if it means completing the bond? Triggering the change?"
His breath caught. "Even then."
"Even if it means everything you've been trying to prevent?"
"Yes." The word came out rough. "I'd rather face it with you than keep hurting you by staying away."
I studied him. This complicated, infuriating man who had tried to love me by keeping me in the dark. Who had made mistakes because he'd seen what happened to people like me and didn't want to watch it happen again.
I was still angry.
But I understood now where the fear came from. It didn't excuse what he'd done, but it explained it.
"You should have told me," I said quietly.
"I know." His voice was barely above a whisper. "I'm sorry. I was trying to protect you."
"I didn't ask for protection."
The words landed hard. I saw them hit—saw the flinch, the way his whole body absorbed the impact.
"No," he agreed. "You didn't. And you deserved better than what I gave you."
I turned toward the door. Stopped with my hand on the frame.
"I'm not forgiving you yet."
"I understand."
"But I'm not walking away either." I looked back at him over my shoulder. "Whatever's coming—the heat, the change, all of it—I need to face it with everyone. Including you."
Something flickered in his eyes. Relief, maybe. Or the first fragile edge of hope.
"I'll be here," he said. "Whenever you're ready."
I left without another word.
The hallway was dark. Quiet. My footsteps echoed against the floor as I walked away from him and everything he'd finally confessed.
I had more answers now. Not all of them—maybe not even most of them. But enough to understand what I was walking into.
Omega.
A classification erased from history. A type of wolf the council had tried to exterminate. A power that couldn't be controlled, so it had been destroyed instead.