Page 123 of Knot Heirs: Serenity's Reign

Despite everything—the danger, the uncertainty, the barely controlled chaos of their plan—Serenity felt something unfamiliar unfurl in her chest. Not desire, though that was certainly present whenever she was near any of the Alphas. This was different. This was...trust. Just a fragment, just beginning, but undeniably there.

"We're actually going to do this, aren't we?" she murmured, watching Lucian's hands work their magic on her blistered heel. "Take on the Society. Change everything."

Lucian's amber eyes met hers, all traces of his usual manipulation absent. "Yes," he said simply. "And it will work because we have you."

Serenity closed her eyes, allowing her thoughts to drift through the day's events like sorting through financial ledgers—methodical, searching for patterns. The server outages at Vale Holdings. The missing files that reappeared with subtle alterations. The call from the SEC about "irregularities" that vanished upon closer inspection.

"Too many coincidences," she murmured, more to herself than anyone else. "Every problem today required my personal attention. Every crisis pulled me away from finalizing the transition paperwork."

The methodical pressure of Lucian's fingers against her arch paused momentarily.

"What are you thinking?" Ronan asked from across the room, his voice cutting through her thoughts.

Before she could answer, Darius's deep voice rumbled through the space. "The Society is making its move."

Serenity's eyes snapped open to find Darius watching her with those penetrating gray eyes, his posture deceptively relaxed against the bar counter.

"You think the Society caused those problems at my office?" she asked, pushing herself up slightly.

"I don't believe in that many coincidences," Darius said, swirling amber liquid in his crystal tumbler. "Especially not with five days left before our deadline. The glitch in your building's security system that trapped you in the elevator for forty minutes? The sudden emergency board meeting called by a director who later claimed he never requested it?"

Lucian's fingers resumed their massage, moving to her other foot. "They're burning your time. Keeping you from us."

"From completing the pack bond," Serenity clarified, her business mind calculating rapidly. "But why? If they want me to fail?—"

"Because they want you to fail on their terms," Darius cut in, setting his glass down with a sharp click against the marble. "They've realized you're more resourceful than they anticipated. They need to control how this plays out."

Serenity felt a chill run through her that had nothing to do with the room's temperature. "What happens if we don't complete the bond in five days?"

The silence that followed hung heavy in the room. Ronan was the one who finally broke it.

"The hunt officially fails," he said, his usual jovial tone absent. "You lose immunity. The Society can declare you unclaimed."

"And then?" Serenity pressed, though something in her gut already knew the answer.

"Then you become fair game," Lucian said quietly, his hands stilling on her foot. "Any Alpha can claim you—by any means necessary."

"They'd auction you," Darius stated flatly. "Not officially, of course. But the Society would broker arrangements. The Vale fortune, the Vale operations, all tied to an Omega they could control through whoever claims you."

Serenity felt her throat tighten, the familiar rage building in her chest—not the helpless anger she'd once felt at being an Omega in an Alpha's world, but the cold, calculated fury of someone who refused to become a pawn.

"So we have five days," she said, her golden eyes hardening. "Five days to complete a bond that typically takes weeks to form naturally."

"It's not impossible," Ronan offered. "It just requires..." He paused, clearly searching for the right words.

"Intensity," Darius finished for him. "Shared danger. Heightened emotion. Trust." His gray eyes locked with hers. "The very circumstances we find ourselves in."

"And if we fail?" Serenity challenged, needing to hear it all.

"We won't," Darius stated, with the absolute certainty of a man who had never allowed himself to contemplate failure.

"But if we do," she insisted.

Lucian's fingers resumed their work on her foot, but his touch had changed—there was protectiveness there now, possessiveness.

"Then we burn it all down," he said simply. "We take you and go so deep underground that even the Society's longest reach can't find us."

"That's not a solution," Serenity countered. "That's running."

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