Chapter THIRTEEN-KIAN

I start to pace, the tension crawling up my spine like fire ants.

My Crew’s eyes are on me.

Watching.

Waiting.

But for once, I don’t have a joke to deflect, or a cocky remark to throw like armor.

Just this gnawing fear in my gut.

“Y’all know about me?” I ask, stopping mid-stride, struck by this sudden and honest-to-gods idea that maybe, just maybe I don’t have to carry this alone.

They’ve been my brothers for months now.

My family.

Even if most days I’m the punchline to our collective sitcom.

Emmet cocks his head. “What do you mean?”

I exhale. Tight. Pained. “When I came here, I was running from something.”

Zeke, blunt as ever, scaly rage simmering just beneath the surface, hisses, “Fuck, bro. We’re all running from something.”

But Max, Alpha calm, Alpha clear, he just cuts through the noise.

“What is it, Kian?”

And I say it.

Whisper it, like the word itself might bite me.

“The Rut.”

Silence falls like a guillotine.

Even the barn seems to hold its breath.