Page 67 of Rupture

“Finn. If this doesn’t work. If we fail to escape from here…” Her beautiful eyes reflected her fear.

“Hey. Don’t speak like that.Whenwe make it out of here.”

She blinked, her eyes luminous.

Shit.Liev was right. She deserved to know. “Listen, there’s something I need to tell you.” His voice was rough, gravel against steel.

She stilled, then slowly bent and deposited a canister in the tank. “What?”

Memories surfaced. The sounds through the door, muffled cries, his superior officer’s grunt of surprise when Finn burst in. He tightened his grip on the canister, battling to keep himself in the present.

There might not be another opportunity and Rose deserved to understand the man he was—the kind who acted first and dealt with consequences later. A man who couldn’t let injustice slide even when it destroyed everything he’d worked for.

The green glow of the bacteria guttered across her face, but her eyes were fixed on his, unflinching, and he had to force himself to keep speaking.

“I’m not...” He scuffed his boot against the floor. “I’m not the man you think I am.” God. This was hard. “I went to prison. Military prison. I almost killed my commanding officer.”

Rose was silent, the only sound between them the background thrum of the carbon dioxide scrubbers.

Finn swallowed hard, the words fighting their way out. “He was hurting a recruit. She said no, and he didn’t stop. I couldn’t let it happen. I broke down the door, and I lost control.” His fists clenched. “I couldn’t stop.”

He stared at his hands, scarred and beaten. “They covered up what he did. Made it about me. Dishonorable discharge. My career, everything I worked for…gone. And now, with you?—”

He forced himself to meet her eyes. “I’ll understand if?—”

Rose took hold of his hands. “I understand you’re a good man who stands up for what’s right, regardless of the cost.” Her fingers tightened on his.

Finn let out a hollow laugh, shaking his head. “Good? Rose, I ruined everything. My career, my future, my—” He stopped, his voice faltering. “The Wolves, fixing what’s wrong when no one else can, it’s been the only thing that helps me move forward, keeps me sane. At least until you.”

God. The admission. It tore through him.

He braced for the shift he’d seen too many times before—the tightening of a jaw, the look of someone reconsidering who he was, what he was worth. He’d survived rejection before, but the thought of it coming from her made his chest tighten like a vise.

But her grip didn’t waver. “You protected someone, even when it cost you everything. That’s not damage, Finn. That’s courage.”

Her words settled over him. He wanted to believe her. “Courage doesn’t fix what I’ve done. And if I had to relive that moment. I’d do the same again. Every time.”

Her thumbs traced his scars, pausing on the knotted ridge of his knuckle. “Scars aren’t just reminders of pain. They’re proof you fought, you survived, and that you didn’t let the darkness win. And I’m not afraid of caring for someone who chooses what’s right, even when it’s hard.”

Her words hung in the air between them, cracking the walls he’d built. He saw himself through her eyes—not as a broken soldier, but as a man who’d chosen justice over safety, protection over protocol.

Her words settled over him, filling the cracks in his armor with something fragile but real. He wanted to believe her, to trust her view of him, even as the weight of his past clung stubbornly to his shoulders.

She leaned in, her lips brushing his—a quiet offer of something unshakable. Finn froze, his breath caught in his chest. For a moment, he hovered on the edge of pulling away, but the warmth of her kiss was a lifeline, holding him to this moment, this chance.

His hands came up to frame her face as hers gripped the front of his t-shirt, pulling him closer. For the first time in years, the blackness of his past loosened its grip, leaving space for something new. Maybe he wasn’t as broken as he’d believed.

Maybe, with Rose, he could start to heal.

“Movement detected in the lower lab,” Remy’s voice boomed, cutting through the moment like a blade.

Ethan pivoted in the doorway. “They’re waking up.”

39

“Remy, is it them?”Rose’s voice cracked, betraying her tension.

“The swarm is reforming and heading this way,” Remy responded through the comm.

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