Chapter 184
Ellie's POV
I hadn't ordered food. We weren't expecting anyone. But then I caught the familiar scent—Mom?—and relaxed.
"It's okay," I told Ethan, whose eyes had gone wide with panic. "I know them."
My parents walked in carrying pizza boxes and a thermos of what I knew was moon-tea. Mom's gaze went straight to Ethan, and her expression softened immediately into something maternal and knowing.
"Miles texted us," Dad explained, setting down the pizza. "Thought you might need some backup."
Mom crossed directly to Ethan, ignoring his instinctive flinch. "Ethan, honey. I'm Sarah Green. Twenty years ago, I was exactly where you are—alone in New York, terrified every time I sensed another wolf, convinced everyone was either going to hurt me or expose me." She sat down beside him, not too close, and her voice gentled. "I spent three years thinking I was the only person in the world who understood what it felt like to be this. And it was the loneliest three years of my life."
Ethan's eyes were swimming. "How did you—how did you stop being alone?"
"I met Ellie's father." Mom smiled at Dad. "And for the first time, I could just be. No pretending. No hiding. No wondering if today was the day someone would figure it out and destroy my life." She reached out slowly, giving Ethan time to pull away, and took his hand. "A pack isn't supposed to control you or use you or force you into someone else's plans. A real pack—a real family—is just people who understand. Who'll sit with you the night before the full moon and remind you that you're not a monster. You're just someone who needs a little extra support sometimes."
Dad crouched down to Ethan's eye level. "This network exists for one reason: so kids like you never have to spend three years thinking they're alone. That's it. That's the whole mission."
Ethan broke.
Three years of fear and loneliness and constant vigilance just shattered. He doubled over, sobbing like his heart was being torn out, and Mom pulled him into a hug while he cried into her shoulder. I had to look away, blinking hard, because damn if I wasn't about to lose it too.
Jackson's hand found mine and squeezed.
When Ethan finally pulled back, his face was blotchy and his voice was hoarse. "I can really leave anytime? You won't—you won't make me do anything I don't want to?"
"You have my word," I said firmly. "This is a sanctuary, not a cage."
He looked at the laptop screen, then at my parents, then at me. "Okay. Okay, I'll—I want to try."
Watching Ethan create his profile—username "LoneStar," because of course—I felt something shift in my chest. This was real. This was working.
The interface showed eight users online now: me, Jackson, Miles, three Council beta-testers, two CVU students who'd joined quietly last week, and now Ethan.
I took a breath and typed the first official message in the public channel:
"This is a place without Alpha commands, without pack hierarchies, without human fear. This is just understanding, safety, and belonging. Wherever you've come from, whatever you've survived—welcome home."
For three seconds, nothing happened.
Then all seven other online indicators lit up simultaneously. Someone sent a moon emoji. Someone else typed "thank you." A third just said: "finally."
Ethan stared at the screen, his whole face transformed. "There are this many of us? Just at CVU?"
"And more joining every day," Miles said from the video call. "This is just the beginning."
A private message popped up in Ethan's inbox from someone with the username "NorthStar": "I'm a freshman too. I've been watching you in the dining hall for three months, wanting to say hi but too scared. I'm so glad you're here."
Ethan's hands trembled as he typed back: "Me too."
Jackson's phone buzzed. "Full moon's in four days. We need to keep recruiting, get every wolf on campus into the network before people get too unstable to think clearly."
Mom hugged me before they left. "You're doing something extraordinary," she whispered. "Something your dad and I were too scared to even imagine. I'm so proud of you."
After they'd gone, I stood on the balcony overlooking campus. Lights twinkled across the quad—humans going about their normal lives, completely unaware that hidden among them were kids like Ethan, kids like me, who'd spent years thinking we were alone.
Thalia stirred contentedly inside me. Not restless or aggressive, but satisfied. Like she finally understood what it meant to be part of a pack—not domination and control, but connection and protection.
My phone buzzed. "New member 'SilverMoon' has joined the network."
Then again. "New member 'LoneRunner' has joined the network."
I smiled at the darkening sky, at the not-quite-full moon rising over Blue Water Lake. By this time next week, every lone wolf at CVU would know: they didn't have to pretend not to see each other anymore. They didn't have to suffer in isolation.
Jackson's arms wrapped around me from behind. We stood together, watching lights flicker across campus, and I felt it—that deep, bone-level certainty that we weren't just protecting ourselves anymore. We were building something bigger. Something that would outlast us.
"Ready for tomorrow?" Jackson murmured against my hair.
"Ready," I said.
Because there were still dozen of scared, lonely wolves out there. And I was going to find every single one of them.