Page 123 of False Catch

The Omega at the center of the storm. The problem they can’t hide anymore. I should’ve left. Should’ve never done this stupid thing. But now I’m here and I don’t know how to fix this.

I swallow. “We tell the truth.”

Gray shakes his head immediately. “Reese—”

“No.” My voice is steady even though my hands aren’t. “I’m done hiding. Done letting people like Kinsley and Andrea write the story for me. I fucked up, but maybe we can make it work. Tomorrow, we tell them exactly what we are.”

“And what are we, exactly?” Tyler asks, eyes darting between us.

I meet his gaze. “A pack. Not officially filed, not fully bonded, but a pack in the making. Two claims already. More pending. That’s not illegal.”

“It is if you lied to get on the team,” Gray counters.

“I didn’t.” My voice is sharp. “My dad changed my registration to Undifferentiated. Suppressants kept me stable before I turned eighteen. That’s legal.”

Tyler scrolls furiously, brow furrowed. “Technically true. The handbook says athletes have to disclose their known designation. If suppressants made yours unreadable…” He trails off, frowning harder. “It’s vague. Could go either way.”

“So we don’t actually know if I broke a rule,” I say.

“Pretty much.” Tyler doesn’t look up. “And the committee gets to ‘interpret’ vague however they want.”

“The claim marks though,” Gray presses.

“They prove we’re in a relationship. That’s against team policy,” I say. “So either we admit we’re forming a pack—protected under law—or you cut me loose.”

“No.” Jackson’s voice is immediate, hard. “Not happening.”

“We’re not a pack yet,” Gray says.

“Aren’t we?” Beckett chimes in, still holding my hand. “Because it sure as hell feels like one. We’ve been protecting each other, covering for each other, bleeding together. What do you call that if not a pack?”

Tyler shakes his head. “Paperwork takes months—”

“Declaring intent doesn’t,” Beckett shoots back. “We walk in tomorrow and tell them we’re in the process. That Reese is ours. That we’re doing it legal, above board.”

“They’ll still bench her,” Gray says.

“Then we don’t row without her.” Bo finally speaks, voice calm, certain. “All nine or none.”

The room freezes.

“You’d throw the season?” Gray asks, incredulous.

“I’d throw the season before I threw her,” Bo replies.

Nobody knows what to say.

The silence stretches, thick and heavy.

“We have to decide tonight,” I say. My voice is quiet, but it cuts through. “Tomorrow morning, we walk in there as a pack, or I go in there and tell them I’m leaving the university.”

"Obviously I'm not abandoning you," Jackson says immediately. "I already claimed you."

"Same reasoning," Beckett adds, squeezing my hand.

Cameron nods once. Eli says, "I mean, we're basically fucked either way, so might as well go down together."

That leaves Tyler, Zane, Gray, and Bo to declare.