Page 125 of Knot Heirs: Serenity's Reign

The thought sent a small thrill through her—not of fear, but of anticipation.

"Good," she said simply. "They should."

Lucian finished with her feet and moved to sit beside her on the couch, his presence warm and solid against her side. "Tomorrow we start making moves. The Society will feel the shift in power even before they understand what's happening."

"And if they come for any of us before the bonding ceremony?" she asked.

"They won't get close," Darius promised, his voice a low growl that vibrated through the room. "Not to you. Not to any of us."

Serenity leaned back into the couch, suddenly exhausted but resolute. The path ahead was fraught with danger, but for the first time, she wasn't facing it alone. She had three of the mostpowerful Alphas in the country at her side—not controlling her, but aligning with her.

"Five days," she murmured. "Then either we're the most powerful pack on the East Coast, or..."

"We will be," Ronan finished for her, absolute certainty in his voice. "The Society has ruled through fear for centuries. But they've never faced what we're about to become."

Serenity nodded, her golden eyes with their distinctive red flecks reflecting the dim light of the room. Whatever came next, she was ready to meet it—not as the frightened Omega she had been, but as the leader she needed to become.

The Alphas' voices faded into the background as Serenity stared into the dying embers of the fireplace. Her blistered feet still tingled from Lucian's skilled fingers, but her mind was already miles away, calculating moves and countermoves like the financial chess master she'd trained to be.

She flexed her fingers, imagining the Vale Empire's resources flowing through them like liquid gold. Not just money—power. The kind that made men bow, that altered the course of nations. The kind her father had wielded before his death.

"Serenity?" Ronan's voice broke through her thoughts. "You still with us?"

She blinked, pulling herself back to the present. "Just thinking about what happens when we win." Not if. When.

"And what does that look like to you?" Darius leaned forward, his dark eyes studying her with that penetrating gaze that seemed to strip away pretenses.

"It looks like freedom," she said quietly. "Not just for me, but for every Omega who's been told their only value is in submission."

Lucian chuckled low in his throat. "Planning a revolution already?"

"Maybe I am." Her lips curved into a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. "My father built an empire through fear. I'm going to transform it through strategy."

She stood, ignoring the protest from her sore feet, and crossed to the window. The city lights sprawled before her, a constellation of possibilities.

"The Society thinks they're hunting me," she continued, her silhouette sharp against the glass. "But they've never dealt with prey that bites back. They expect an Omega who'll eventually break under pressure. Who'll be grateful for protection."

"And instead they get you," Ronan said, admiration evident in his tone.

Serenity turned, golden eyes gleaming with fierce determination. "They get someone who spent her entire life preparing for a battle she didn't know was coming. My MBA wasn't just paper. It was armor. Every financial model I built, every corporate weakness I identified—I was learning to hunt without realizing it."

She ran a hand through her long brown hair, pulling it back from her face as if preparing for combat.

"When my father died, he left me more than money. He left me a legacy of brutality that I'm going to reshape. The Society thinks they're facing Marcus Vale's helpless daughter. But I'm not just his bloodline—I'm what comes after. The evolution."

Darius stood and approached her, his movement deliberate. "And what does this evolution require of us?"

"Everything," she answered without hesitation. "Your loyalty. Your strength. Your willingness to follow my lead when necessary." Her voice softened. "And in return, you get an Omega who stands with you, not behind you."

"Dangerous talk," Lucian observed, but his eyes sparkled with appreciation.

"Dangerous times," she countered. "Five days from now, we're either standing on the ashes of the old order, or we're buried beneath them. I don't plan on being buried."

As the night deepened around them, Serenity's mind continued racing through possibilities, contingencies, risks. The Vale name would no longer be whispered in fear but spoken with respect. Not as lords of the criminal underworld, but as architects of something entirely new.

The path ahead was fraught with peril—she harbored no illusions about that. But for the first time since discovering her inheritance, the danger felt like a challenge rather than a threat.

"Whatever comes," she said, more to herself than to them, "I'm ready to become exactly what they fear most."

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