Page 14 of Wisteria and Cloves

The room spun slightly around me as years of careful conditioning collided with this new reality. I steadied myself against the table, fingers pressing into the smooth surface.

"Breathe," Julian said quietly. "Just breathe."

I drew in a shaky breath, then another. The mingled scents of the four Alphas—now familiar, comforting—helped anchor me to the present moment.

"I don't know what to do with this information," I confessed, looking up to meet Julian's steady gaze. "Everything I've been taught says I should ignore what I just felt. That duty comes before...before..."

"Before happiness?" Miles suggested, his voice softer than I'd heard it before. "Before connection?"

I nodded, unable to find the words.

"Lilianna," Julian said, my name sounding different in his mouth—not a possession but a person. "What we just experienced—that compatibility—it's not something manufactured or trained. It's real. And rare."

My hands trembled slightly in my lap. I'd been prepared for so many scenarios—rejection, conditional acceptance, polite dismissal—but not this. Not genuine connection that bypassed every carefully constructed barrier.

"I don't know what to say," I admitted.

"You don't have to say anything right now," Christopher assured me, his expression kind. "This is a lot to process."

Miles nodded in agreement. "We're not asking you to make any decisions tonight."

"Though your parents will expect an answer," Nicolaus observed, his analytical mind cutting straight to the practical concern. "They'll want to know our intentions."

Julian's eyes never left mine. "What do you want us to tell them?"

The question hung in the air between us. What did I want?

Julian, seeing my mind working a mile a minute, gave me a small smile, “We can take you with us, which will make you ‘ours’ in the eyes of your parents, where we will court you…or we can tell them we want you, then find you a home somewhereaway from them, where you can be free to make your own choices.

The words hit me like a physical blow. Julian was offering me something I hadn't even dared to dream of—a choice. Not just between accepting or rejecting their proposal, but between two entirely different futures. One where I remained under my parents' control while being courted, and another where I could escape them entirely.

"You would do that?" I whispered, my voice barely audible. "Help me leave them?"

"If that's what you want," Julian said simply, but there was steel beneath the gentleness. "Your parents have treated you like property to be sold. We won't be party to that transaction if you don't want it."

Christopher leaned forward. "We have resources, Lilianna. Safe houses, legal connections. If you want to disappear from their reach, we can make that happen."

My heart hammered against my ribs. The possibility of true freedom—of making my own choices, of learning the violin, of reading whatever I wanted—was so overwhelming I could barely breathe.

"But," Miles added gently, "that would mean giving up any chance of exploring what we felt tonight. If we help you disappear, it has to be clean. No contact with us, no connection that could lead your parents back to you."

The weight of the decision settled on my shoulders like a lead blanket. Freedom from my parents, or the possibility of something I'd never imagined could exist—a pack that saw me as a person rather than a possession.

"What would courting look like?" I asked, my voice barely steady. "If I stayed?"

Julian's expression grew thoughtful. "You would come to live with us. Officially, you'd be under our protection while wedetermine compatibility. Your parents would have no say in your daily life, though they'd expect regular reports on our progress toward a formal bonding.”

"And in reality?" I pressed, needing to understand what my life would actually look like.

"In reality, you'd have your own space, your own choices," Christopher said. "We'd get to know each other as people, not as a business arrangement."

"You could learn the violin," Miles added with a small smile. "Read whatever books you wanted. Figure out who you are when no one's watching."

Nicolaus nodded. "The courting period would give you time to experience what a real partnership looks like, not just compatibility of scent."

I closed my eyes, trying to picture it. A life where I could wake up and choose what to do with my day. Where my wants mattered. Where I could discover parts of myself that had been buried under years of careful conditioning.

"How long would I have to decide?" I asked, opening my eyes to find all four of them watching me with patient expressions.

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