Chapter 105
Kara
The suite feels smaller than before.
Maybe it's because I'm still wrapped in Cole's T-shirt, my hair dripping chlorine-scented water onto the plush carpet. Maybe it's because three Alphas are standing in different corners of the room like they're afraid to breathe too close to me.
Or maybe it's because the truth we're about to unpack will shatter what's left of my illusions.
The sunset through the floor-to-ceiling windows paints everything in shades of burnt orange and deep purple. Pacific waves crash somewhere below. It should be beautiful.
Instead, it feels like a countdown.
I wrap my arms around myself and sink into the corner of the ivory sofa, pulling my knees up. The white musk scent coming off me is sharp with anxiety, and through the bond I feel their wolves respond—three distinct pulses of protective rage at my distress.
"Don't," I say quietly. "Don't try to fix this with instinct."
Blake's jaw ticks. He's standing by the window, black hair still wet, hands shoved in his pockets like he's physically restraining himself from reaching for me.
Cole's perched on the arm of a chair across the room, mint-and-ozone scent deliberately muted. Trying not to overwhelm me.
Asher's the only one who moves—slowly lowering himself into the chair farthest from me, elbows on his knees. The black ebony and tobacco smell of him is... fractured. Broken in a way I've never felt before.
The silence stretches. Taut. Suffocating.
Then Blake speaks, and his voice isn't directed at me.
"When did we start keeping secrets from each other?"
His blue eyes—no gold, just raw hurt—lock on Asher.
"What?" My wolf stirs uneasily.
"Three years ago." Asher's voice is flat. Dead. "I got the full story from Father three years ago. Connor's addiction. Celeste's role. Victoria's... obsession with saving him. I told Cole some of it. Not all of it. And Blake—"
"I was the last to know." Blake's gunpowder scent spikes violent and bitter. "Just like her."
Oh.
Oh.
Through the bond I feel something I've never felt from Blake before: betrayal. Not directed at me.
At his brothers.
"You shut me out," Blake continues, voice trembling with an emotion I don't recognize on him. "The two of you decided I couldn't handle the truth. That I'd fuck it up somehow. That I'd—what? Tell her? Confront Mom and Dad? So you left me in the dark while you made plans about our mate behind my back."
"Blake—" Cole starts, mint scent spiking with guilt.
"Don't." Gold bleeds into Blake's eyes. "You think I don't know why? You thought I'd ruin your perfect strategy. Thought I'd blow up and make it worse. So you controlled me by controlling information, just like we controlled her."
The realization crashes through all three of them simultaneously—I feel it through the bond like a shockwave.
The way they'd compartmentalized secrets. Doled out truth in careful portions. Thinking they were protecting everyone.
When really, they'd just been perpetuating the same power games that had poisoned this family for generations.
"You're right." Asher's voice cracks. "You're absolutely right. I made an executive decision. Justified it as 'need to know.' Told myself you were too impulsive, too emotional. That if you knew everything, you'd—"
"Act exactly like I did in the pool?" Blake laughs bitterly. "Lose my shit and make everything worse?"
"Yes."
The honesty seems to knock the wind out of Blake. He slumps against the window frame, gunpowder scent collapsing into something that smells like shame.
"I would have," he admits quietly. "If I'd known the full story three years ago... fuck, I probably would've told her. Or screamed at Victoria. Or—" He squeezes his eyes shut. "You were right not to trust me."
"No." Cole's voice is small. Broken. "We were wrong. We did to you exactly what we did to Kara. Decided we knew better. Decided to 'protect' you from information you had every right to know."
He looks at me, and I feel his mint scent wrap around me gently—apologetically.
"We broke our own bond. The three of us. Before we ever had a chance to fully form one with you."
The words settle like stones in water.
I should feel vindicated. Should feel like this proves my point—that they're just as broken and manipulative as I feared.
Instead, my wolf whines softly.
They hurt each other trying to protect each other. Just like they hurt us trying to protect us.
Doesn't make it right, I tell her fiercely.
No, she agrees. But it makes them... real.
Asher turns to me then. The controlled, calculating Alpha is gone. What's left is just a man who fucked up.
"I need to tell you something," he says. "And it's going to make you hate me more than you already do."
My stomach clenches. "What?"
"Three years ago, when I first learned about Connor and Celeste..." He takes a breath. "I was relieved."
The confession hangs between us like a blade.
"Relieved?" I echo.
"Because it meant you'd probably never leave." His black ebony scent cracks open, revealing something raw and desperate underneath. "I'd been watching you for years by then. Noticing things. The way you moved. Your defiance. Your... beauty, even when we treated you like shit."
My breath catches.
"I told myself it was just physical. Just my wolf being territorial. But deep down, I knew. Knew you were special. Knew that if you ever got the chance, you'd run from us. From this place. From me."
His voice drops to barely above a whisper.
"When I learned that Victoria might know where your parents were... my first thought wasn't 'Kara deserves to know.' It was 'if she knows, she'll leave.'"
The room is so quiet I can hear the ocean.
"So I kept it from you," Asher continues, each word like he's ripping it out of his chest. "For three years, I sat on information that could have given you answers. Could have given you closure. And I justified it by telling myself you were better off not knowing."
He meets my eyes, and there's no defense there. No excuses.
"But really? I just wanted you close. Even if it meant you were miserable. Even if it meant you were suffering. I wanted you in that house where I could see you. Where there was still a chance that when you turned eighteen, you'd be ours."
His voice breaks.
"I used your ignorance to ensure your presence. That's the truth. That's what I did. And it makes me fucking sick, but that's what happened. I am completely, utterly selfish. I wanted to be happy. I wanted you. And I didn't care what it cost you."
Through the bond, I feel it—a tidal wave of self-loathing so intense it almost knocks me backwards.
And my wolf...
My wolf is pressing against my ribs, crooning softly.
He's ours. He made a mistake. He's trying. He's OURS.
No. No.
But the truth sits in my chest, undeniable.
"I love you."
The words escape before I can stop them. Quiet. Trembling. But certain.
All three of them freeze.