“Before,” Julian adds.
I smile. "Next heat…"
"We'll be there," Calder promises.
"Every heat," Tyler adds.
"Always," Julian finishes.
The bond between us feels different now. Deeper. Not marked, but bonded, nonetheless.
Afternoon finds us facing the inevitable return to reality.
"Can't hide forever," Julian observes, practical as ever.
Getting dressed feels strange. My clothes smell like all of them now, a permanent pack scent everyone will recognize. No hiding what happened.
I don't want to hide.
At the suite door, ready to face campus as a pack, Calder checks one more time. "You ready?"
I look at the three of them, cedar-smoke strength, sunshine warmth, crisp calm. My pack.
"I've been ready since I chose you."
We step outside together. Some students stare. Some whisper. Some smile (Lila, waving from across the quad with a knowing grin and thumbs up).
We don't adjust our stride. Don't separateor hide.
This is who we are.
Three days pass in blissful normalcy.
Well, normal for a newly bonded pack navigating campus as a visible unit. The stares continue. The whispers follow us everywhere. But we're together, and that makes everything else manageable.
We fall into rhythm. Morning coffee in the greenhouse before classes. Study sessions that actually involve studying now that heat has passed. Dinners at our usual table where Calder sits close enough that our thighs touch, where Tyler steals food from my plate with that grin, where Julian keeps meticulous notes on pack dynamics like he's conducting a lifelong research project.
The bond hums between us constantly now. I can feel them even when we're in different buildings. Calder's steady presence. Tyler's bright warmth. Julian's focused calm.
But on the fourth day, something shifts.
We're in the dining hall when I notice it. Whispers that feel different from the usual gossip. Darker. More urgent.
A group of students at the next table, voices low but not low enough.
Lila joins us, breathless, as though she wanted to reach me before the rumors did. "Did you hear about Kira Matsuda?"
Julian goes very still beside me, fork halfway to his mouth.
"What about her?" I ask quietly, dread already pooling in my stomach. I know the name. I would probably recognize hereven though she’s a senior, and we share no mutual professors, so this is making goose bumps pop on my arms.
"She died,” Lila’s voice is barely audible. “Right after her heat, we think. It's all really unclear."
My blood runs cold.
Another omega. Another death.It could’ve been me.
"When?" Calder's voice is tight, controlled in a way that means he's working hard to stay calm.
