Page 145 of Unmarked

Oh, I don’t know. A cold shower. A new nervous system. A reset button.

But instead, I say the truth.

“I need all of you.”

Kai’s the first to react, obviously.

“Shit, Bambi,” he says, running a hand through his hair. “You sure know how to cause a scene. That your signature move? Get everyone arguing and then drop a bomb like that?”

Theo straightens like someone just hit the moral override switch in his chest. Ash exhales like he's trying not to breathe fire. Or maybe just rage.

It's hard to say - he’s always got that wholeunmoved mountain with a secretlook on his face.

“Do you know what you’re saying?” Ash asks, voice rough. “Do you know what you’reasking for?”

“Yes,” I gasp. “I feel it. I need -”

“She needs us,” Theo says, voice steady like this is a courtroom and I’m the client he’s morally obligated to defend.

Kai shrugs. “And who are we to argue with a desperate omega on a very expensive designer couch in full-blown heat?”

Ash and Theo growl in tandem.

“Let me guess,” Kai sighs, “You want me to pull a Lucian and monologue from the hallway while she slicks up the furniture?”

“Don’t trivialize it,” Ash bites, stepping forward like he’s two seconds from dragging Kai out by the hoodie. “This isn’t a bar hookup. She’s inheat.And this -” he gestures between all of us, “- isn’t casual.”

Kai gives him a lazy salute. “Didn’t say it was, soldier.”

“Stop calling me that.”

“You wear the jawline,” Kai grins. “I call it like I see it.”

“Try respect, you goddamn wrecking ball,” Theo grits, sounding like the last functional nerve in his body just snapped.

And here’s where Theo, blessed golden retriever of a man, tries again to be the adult.

“Look,” he says, “yesterday, when Rhea reached out to me and Ash - she tried to bond.”

Thatgets their attention.

Kai shrugs one shoulder. “Yeah. And?”

“And we didn't take it,” Theo says, quieter now. “We felt it. Both of us. Butthis needs to beher choice.Not instinct. Not pressure.Her.”

“She literally just said -” Kai starts, gesturing wildly at me like I’m exhibit A.

“And if this becomes a full pack bond,” Theo says, “this stops being hypothetical. There are consequences. Behavioral syncing. Cycles. Territory instincts. This isn't a joke.”

Kai blinks. “You want me to sign a contract? ‘I, Kai Reed, consent to alpha madness and spontaneous scent-fueled attachment in perpetuity?’ What font are we using?”

Ash groans into his palm. “This is goinggreat.”

“I feel like a teenager in rut all over again, Theo - if I have to bond with her, then I fucking -”

“It’s notyourdecision,” Theo says evenly. “It’shers.”

I sway again, doing my best impression of a human candle.

---