Chapter 104
Kara
"Felt like thirty years." Blake's words are barely human. More wolf than man. "Do you have any idea what it does to us when you—when we feel you breaking through the bond and we can't fix it? When your fear tastes like—like you're drowning and we—"
He cuts himself off with a snarl, head dropping forward.
I should feel vindicated. Should feel powerful, that I can hurt them this badly just by being upset.
Instead, I feel my wolf clawing at my ribs, trying to swim to them, trying to fix this.
"I'm not drowning," I say quietly. "I'm just... I'm angry. And I'm hurt. And I need space to—to process this."
"We know." Asher's still gripping the edge, still fighting his wolf. "We know. And we'll give you space. After we know you're warm and safe. Please, Kara. Just—just get out of the pool. You're shivering."
I am.
I didn't even realize it, but my lips are going numb and my fingers are pruning and—
God, I hate that even now, even furious and betrayed, some part of me still wants their protection.
"Fine," I bite out. "But you three stay in the water until I'm out."
"Deal," Cole says immediately.
I swim to the steps—slowly, carefully, making sure Blake's gold-rimmed eyes don't track me like prey. When I emerge, water sluicing off my gold bikini, the temperature difference hits me like a slap.
The pool room is warm. But I'm soaked, and adrenaline is wearing off, and suddenly I'm freezing.
I wrap my arms around myself, curls plastered to my face and shoulders, and try very hard not to look at the three wolves watching me from the water.
"Back up," I repeat. "All of you. Now."
Blake makes a sound like I just gutted him.
But he obeys.
They all do—swimming to the far edge of the pool, putting as much distance between us as the space allows.
And still, their scents fill the room. Still, the bond pulses with their barely-contained need to come to me.
I'm shaking harder now. Not just from cold.
"Kara." Cole's voice is soft. Careful. Like I'm a spooked animal. "Can I—I'm going to get you a towel. I'm not coming near you. I'm just going to leave it on the lounge chair, okay?"
I nod jerkily.
He moves with aching slowness—pulling himself out of the pool on the far side, padding over to a stack of fluffy white towels, returning to set one on the nearest chair.
"There," he says. "And—here."
He shrugs out of his soaked T-shirt. For a second I think he's going to bring it to me, but instead he drapes it over the back of the chair, still two meters away from where I'm standing.
"My scent's on it," he says quietly, meeting my eyes. "Your wolf might... it might help. But you don't have to. I just—I don't want you to be cold."
My throat closes up.
Because even furious, even betrayed, the mint-and-ozone clinging to that shirt smells like safety. Like home.
I grab the towel first. Dry my face, my hair, wrap it around my shoulders.
Then—God help me—I reach for the shirt.
The second the fabric touches my skin, my wolf purrs.
Not loudly. Not triumphantly.
Just... contentedly. Like some part of her that was screaming in distress finally went quiet.
Blake hears it.
His head snaps up, gold bleeding through his eyes even stronger, and he grips the pool's edge so hard the tile cracks under his fingers.
"Your wolf needs us," he says hoarsely. "Kara, please—why won't you let us—"
"Because I'm not just my wolf!" The words burst out of me. "Because my human side is furious that you lied to me! That you—that all of you knew and you let me think—"
My voice breaks.
Through the bond, I feel Blake's anguish spike so sharply I actually flinch.
"I know," he says. Voice cracking. "I know, and I hate myself for it, and if I could go back and tell you everything from day one I would, but I can't, and all I can do is—"
"Is what?" I demand. "Is apologize? Is say you're sorry and hope I forgive you because my biology says you're my mates?"
"No." Asher's voice cuts through. Quiet. Steady. "Is prove it."
I look at him.
He's still at the edge, still fighting his wolf, but his blue eyes are clearer now. More him than animal.
"You want transparency?" he says. "You want honesty? Then ask. Right now. Ask us anything, Kara. Any secret, any question, any truth we've kept from you. We'll answer. No more hiding."
"He's right," Cole says. His mint scent softens, wrapping around me gently. "We should have told you from the start. About Connor. About Victoria. About—about all of it. And we didn't because we were scared and selfish and—"
"And because I told them not to," Blake interrupts.
I go still.
He's still in the water, still staring at me with those terrible gold-shot eyes, but his voice is raw. Honest.
"I said—" He swallows hard. "When Cole found out about Connor three years ago, when Asher pieced it together from Father's files, I told them not to tell you. Because I thought—I thought if you knew Victoria hated you because of your mother, you'd leave. You'd run. And I couldn't—I couldn't let that happen."
"So you lied to me for three years."
"Yes." The word is anguished. "Yes, I did. And it was wrong. And I'm—I'm sorry, Kara, I'm so fucking sorry, but you have to understand—I've been terrified of losing you since I was fourteen. Since the moment I realized what you were to us. And every time I thought about you finding out the truth and hating us for it—"
He breaks off, chest heaving.
Through the bond, I feel it: not just his regret, but his terror. The bone-deep fear that I'll reject them. That I'll leave.
That they'll lose their mate because they were too broken and cruel to deserve one in the first place.
My anger doesn't disappear.
But something in my chest... cracks.
"You should have told me anyway," I whisper.
"I know."
"You should have trusted me to make my own choice."
"I know." His voice breaks. "And I will. From now on. I swear on my life, Kara—I will never lie to you again. Even if the truth makes you hate me. Even if it makes you leave. I'll tell you everything."
Silence.
The pool water laps gently. Their scents swirl in the humid air.
And through the bond, I feel three wolves holding their breath.
Waiting for my judgment.
"I don't trust you yet," I say finally.
Blake flinches like I hit him.
"But I..." I clutch Cole's shirt tighter. "I want to. I want to believe you'll keep that promise. I just need—I need time. And I need you to prove it."
"We will," Asher says immediately. "Whatever it takes."
"Starting now," I say. My voice is steadier. Stronger. "I want to know everything. Connor and Celeste's whole story. The debts. Why it was dangerous. How Victoria really felt. And I want to know—" I look at each of them. "How much of what you did to me was because Marcus and Victoria taught you it was okay to treat me like dirt."
Blake's face goes ashen.
Cole makes a small, hurt sound.
But Asher nods.
"We'll tell you," he says quietly. "All of it. But not here. Not while you're freezing and we're—" His eyes flash gold again. "—not while our wolves are this close to losing it."
"The hotel room," Cole suggests softly. "Warm. Private. We can talk as long as you need."
I hesitate.
Every instinct I've built over ten years screams at me to run. To lock myself away and lick my wounds alone.
But my wolf...
My wolf is whining. Pressing against my ribs. Begging me not to shut them out completely.
They're scared, she whispers. They made a mistake. But they're ours. They're trying.
"Okay," I say finally. "But I'm not—we're not—"
"No sex," Blake says immediately. "No kissing. No touching unless you ask for it. We'll sit on the other side of the room if you want. We'll sleep on the floor. Whatever you need."
"Just..." Cole's voice is almost too quiet to hear. "Just don't shut us out completely. Please."
I should say no.
I should make them suffer.
But when I look at their faces—Blake's anguish, Cole's tears, Asher's carefully controlled desperation—I see something I didn't expect.
Remorse.
Real, bone-deep, agonizing remorse.
"Fine," I say. "We'll talk. But you three are getting out first, getting dry, and giving me five minutes to change into actual clothes. And then we're going to sit in that room and you're going to tell me everything."
"Deal," all three say at once.
I wrap the towel tighter. Turn toward the pool house exit.
And try very hard to ignore the way my wolf settles when I feel their relief wash through the bond.
They're not forgiven yet.