Page 20 of In Their Arms

He nods with understanding, his smile softening even further. It’s like he’s here to truly help me, to listen to me in a way that Nola wasn’t. Maybe it’s a tactic that Hearthstone uses but it doesn’t feel like that.

I rub at my eyes, exhaustion creeping in at the edges of my mind. “I just want to go home,” I say, and fuck, I hate how broken it sounds. I swallow past the tightness in my throat, but the words still come out raw. “I don’t understand why I couldn’t have just stayed where I was. With my pack.”

Wilson exhales, giving me a small, almost sad smile. “My heart breaks for you, Luca. The choices you have aren’t great.”

I let out a sharp, humorless laugh, shaking my head. “Great?” I echo, my voice bitter, sharp. A mixture of panic and rage bubbles up into another laugh as I stretch out my legs, my hands fisting in my lap. “Hudson, my ex-Alpha, is a fucking sponsor of this place. Do you even understand what that means?”

Wilson doesn’t say a word but he raises one of his brows in silent question.

“He has access to me. The guy who did this—” My hand shakes as I yank down my collar, exposing the jagged ruins of my skin, the scarred-over mess Hudson left behind.

Wilson lets out a low whistle, his eyes narrowing slightly, gaze sweeping over the evidence carved into my neck. None of this makes any sense. Nola’s conversation with me was warranted, her own twisted way of calming an erratic Omega but Wilson should be having this moment in an office or the nurse’s station. It shouldn’t be in my room, this Beta relaxed and yet concerned.

He’s studying me, searching for something and I’m not sure I have anything to give. He runs his tongue along his top teeth before blowing out a heavy breath and sitting forward, meeting my gaze straight on. “What would you give up to protect your pack, yourself, and your future?”

I don’t even have to think about it. All I’ve ever wanted was my own fucking happy ending without Hudson, without my parents, without anyone else trying to creep into my life and take over my world. “Everything.”

Wilson nods, like he was expecting that answer, like it only confirms whatever twisted thought process led him to this conversation in the first place. His whole demeanor softens, but it’s not comforting. It’s worse. Because pity never means good things.

“There’s another option,” he says carefully. “I wouldn’t mention it if I hadn’t seen your file.” Wilson’s gaze flickers to my neck, his eyes lingering a little too long. Then he nods toward the mark, the jagged, ruined skin where Hudson’s claim still sits like a brand I can never scrub off. “As long as Hudson has a claim on you, you’ll never really be allowed back into the Keller house. Not without fighting Hudson in some way, every goddamn day.”

I’ve known that but there’s nothing I can do about it.

“It’s a strange situation,” Wilson continues, “But with the pull Hudson has, with the connections he has, getting him dismissed from your life entirely is going to be nearly impossible.”

I swallow hard, trying to push past the sharp ache in my chest. My voice doesn’t sound like mine when I finally manage to speak. “What is the third option?” Wilson tilts his head, the Beta mulling around for an answer but I’m fed up with all of this. “Just tell me. You’re scaring me.”

“The third option is removing that bite.”

I knew it was possible. In the darkest corners of my mind, I’d thought about it, about what it would take, about whether it was worth the risk. Hell, I tried digging it out so many goddamn times, bleeding all out on the floor, still tethered to that man. But hearing Wilson say it so plainly, like it’s just another option on the table, like it’s just a fucking decision I can make—

I shake my head, barely aware that I’m doing it, my breath coming in short pants. “Removing a bite is illegal and dangerous.”

“Not if it’s done the right way. Not if you have someone who knows what they’re doing.”

This man is giving me an out I never truly gave weight to before. Highly illegal if not court sanctioned and yet… a freedom I would never get anywhere else. I stare at him, my pulse hammering so hard I can feel it in my teeth. My hand flies up instinctively, slapping over the jagged scar burned into my skin, fingers pressing hard against the ruined flesh like I can protect it—like I can stop it from being real just by holding it in place.

The mark throbs beneath my palm, almost like it knows we’re talking about it, like it can hear what Wilson just said. My mouth is dry when I finally manage to choke out, “That requires a court order and Hudson would never allow that.”

Wilson laughs, but it’s not a nice sound. It’s rough, knowing, completely fucking humorless. “Luca,” he muses. “What I’m suggesting? This option I’m giving you? It would never be approved by a court. Hell, it wouldn’t be approved by anyone.” Wilson’s eyes flicker toward my hand, toward the ugly scar hidden beneath it. “It could kill you. But if you survive?” He leans forward slightly, his fingers tapping once against his knee. “You’d be free of him.”

A world where Hudson isn’t attached to me anymore.

A world where I don’t feel him lingering in my head, his presence weighing down on my instincts, his bite pulling at me even when he’s not in the fucking room.

Because that’s the worst part, isn’t it?

It’s not just that Hudson is obsessed, controlling, cruel.

It’s that he’s in me.

A ghost living under my skin, whispering in the back of my mind, tainting everything I love with the reminder that I was his first. Removing the bite would mean I was only tethered to Hudson by marriage. And marriage? That’s just paperwork. Marriage can be broken.

I swallow hard, my throat tight, my fingers still pressing hard against my neck. “But if it’s not legal,” I murmur, forcing myself to meet Wilson’s calm, unreadable expression. “What’s stopping them from throwing me in jail after?”

The silence tells me everything I need to know. A procedure this risky, this illegal, wouldn’t just put me at risk. It could throw away everything I’ve worked so damn hard for. And yet, the possibility of not carrying Hudson around in my head anymore, of never having to feel the weight of his claim, of my bond with the Keller pack no longer being tainted by him in any way… it’s alluring.

“If I did it,” I say, choosing my words wisely. “What would it take?”

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