I'm trapped between them, between their strength and my own weakness, and I can't breathe. The scent of them—all alpha, all protective—is usually a source of comfort, but now it's suffocating, a reminder of everything I'm about to lose.
What’s going to happen when I confront my mother?
Oh god.
“Here,” Colter announces gruffly as the transport lurches to a stop.
We file out. The main base spreads out before us, a patchwork of tents and makeshift structures that suddenly feels like a fortress against an enemy I can't see. An enemy that might already be lurking among us.
Who here knows about the virus?
Who here condoned it? Supported it?
Ridge is already moving, his long legs eating up the ground as he strides toward the tent we claimed as our own.
The interior looks the same as it did when we left.
So why does everything seem so different?
I don’t think I was in shock when we met with the princes. But now? Now I’m not sure about anything anymore.
“Kylian, I want you to coordinate with the general. We need to figure out what he knows about this, but be discrete. I know that’s not your specialty, but try, okay? Colter, get a secure line to the castle. Tell them the crown prince is on his way home. Arrange transport.”
They're a well-oiled machine, each of them falling into their roles with an efficiency that would normally impress me. But today it just feels like they're moving in slow motion, their words muffled as if I'm underwater.
I follow them numbly, my feet dragging through the dirt like anchors. Each step is an effort, a monumental task that requires more energy than I possess.
As Ridge barks out orders, I move behind the partition and strip out of the bodysuit. I know we’re going to be on the road in an hour, but I just need…to feel like me. To feel like Brylee.
Once I’m dressed in my normal clothes, I return to the others, unnerved by the sudden silence that seems to saturate the tent, oozing over everyone present.
It's only then that I notice it—the way Ridge, Kylian, and Colter exchange glances, their eyes flicking toward Luka with an intensity that sets my teeth on edge. Luka nods, a subtle movement that I would have missed if I weren't watching so closely, but I can't decipher the meaning behind it. It's like they're speaking a language I don't understand, and the thought sends a fresh wave of anxiety crashing over me.
Are they keeping something from me?
Is there more to this than what the princes told us?
“We'll be back,” Ridge says, his hand briefly squeezing Luka's shoulder before he turns to leave. “Keep an eye on her.”
And then they're gone, disappearing through the flap in the tent and leaving me alone with Luka. The silence that descends is thick and suffocating, broken only by the distant sounds of voices and the rustle of canvas in the wind. I feel adrift, untethered, and the fear that I've been pushing down rises up, threatening to drown me.
“You're spiraling,” Luka says softly, his voice cutting through the fog in my mind.
He stands in front of me now, his dark eyes searching mine with an intelligence that always leaves me feeling exposed. He's theanalytical one, the one who sees patterns where I see chaos, who finds logic in the midst of emotion.
And right now, that’s what I need. I’m feeling too much, too keenly, and I just…
Fuck, I want someone to untangle the web of my thoughts, to create coherence out of the mayhem.
To keep me sane when I feel as if I’m going crazy.
“I don't understand,” I whisper, the words catching in my throat. “How could she do that? How could she risk so many lives? Those people… They weren’t all our enemies. We don’t go after innocents. That’s what we’ve always been told. So how could she? Why would she? What was she thinking? Is she a monster?”
The questions spill out of me, a torrent of fear and confusion.
Luka reaches out, and his fingers brush against my cheek with a gentleness that makes my eyes burn.
“We don't know all the facts yet,” he says, his voice calm and steady. “The princes could be lying, or they could be mistaken. We're making arrangements to return to the castle, Brylee. You'll be able to confront her yourself, to hear the truth straight from her lips.”
