Progress

Chapter 35 : Progress

Mirelle POV

I close the laptop with a soft click and place it on the small table beside the bed. The blue glow that had lit the room fades, leaving only the warm amber hue of the bedside lamp. I hesitate for a moment, staring into nothing, then flick off the light and shift under the covers.

"You shouldn't have reacted that way."

I freeze.

I turn my head slowly, surprised to find her still awake. Her silhouette is bathed in moonlight spilling through the window, gentle but distinct.

"You're not asleep?"

"I was waiting for you to finish working," she says quietly. "Didn't want to disturb."

There's something in her voice—soft, but grounded. I sigh and lean back against the pillow, turning to face her more fully.

"You could've said something."

"You were focused."

I roll onto my side. "He hurt your feelings with that comment," I say after a moment. "And I lashed out. Simple."

"I know," she murmurs. "But he had every right to react the way he did. You know what you've always called me."

"Little Miss Puppet? Devil's Advocate? Heartless? Bitch? Snake?" I list, counting them off on my fingers.

She pinches my side.

I laugh quietly. "Exactly."

She exhales and curls further into her side of the bed, but her gaze never leaves me.

"You know what my uncle and I have done," she says. "The policies. The silence. The committees I sat on, pretending to be neutral. Otherworlders are practically second-class citizens because of people like us."

There's guilt in her voice—raw and heavy. Like someone carrying a burden they never asked for. Like a child born into a legacy that was already rotten.

"And yet," she continues, "your family—your absurdly powerful, stubborn, otherworlder family—accepted me. No judgment. Just... welcome."

"Our family," I correct her gently.

She blinks at me.

"Yeah. I have to get used to that," she whispers.

"It's just... even if I said I was only following orders, that'd be a lie. I believed in my uncle's politics, at least partly. I worked so hard to be recognized—especially as someone who wasn't an awakened hunter. I was desperate for validation. And I knew, somewhere in my head, that what I was doing was wrong... but facing that truth is something else entirely."

I pull her into a hug. She resists at first, stiff in my arms, but slowly, gradually, she relaxes.

"That's right," I say, shifting the mood. "Let's get used to human contact."

She lets out a small laugh, and for a moment, the tension melts. I'll have to speak to Niall tomorrow.

Then—

"So... can you get pregnant?"

I blink. "What?"

"I've always been curious," she says, shameless. "Are you, like... intersex or something?"

I'm dumbfounded. Where the hell did that come from?

"Didn't you witness the night that got us into this situation?" I ask with a dry laugh.

"I didn't really see anything," she replies coolly. "What with you pinning me to the wall and all."

I laugh. Fair.

"Well... maybe I can," I say with a shrug

. "Male omegas are rare. Female alphas like me? Even rarer. Based on what I've researched about my constitution, it is possible. But only with another alpha, and only under specific conditions. And since I'm definitely not doing that... I guess we'll never know."

"I see," she says. And just like that, she's asleep.

I tuck her into my arms, holding her close. My fiancée. My future wife.

How strange.

But this time, it doesn't make me recoil.

And that, somehow, feels like progress.