Page 82 of Stream Heat
He said it so dryly it didn’t land at first. He’d been sitting here, fighting my battle online while also keeping physical watch over my prognosis. The quiet efficiency of it, the bone-deep protectiveness that didn’t require talking about it, all hit me at once.
“Thanks,” I managed. Weak, but real.
Ash just nodded, attention already back on the command line. “Reid’s statement went live an hour ago. It’s gaining traction.”
I blinked. “Reid made a statement?”
He reached for his phone, queued up a video, and passed it over wordlessly.
The first thing in the frame was Reid’s face. His jaw was set, gaze all steel, simmering with an anger that made my pulse spike. He sat before the Pack Wrecked backdrop, every inch of him Alpha to the core, radiating don’t-mess-with-my-people energy.
"By now, many of you have seen the medical records and personal documents leaked without consent by another content creator,” he said, voice calm but packed with the kind of authority that could quiet a football stadium. “I won't dignify the leak by linking to it, but I will address it directly."
He leaned in, eyes dark and dangerous.
“The invasion of Kara Quinn’s privacy through the illegal sharing of protected medical information is not whistle-blowing.It’s not truth-seeking. It’s targeted harassment designed to destroy someone’s career and potentially their health.”
I had to inhale slowly to keep from shaking while he kept rolling, bullets for words.
“Yes, Quinn was on suppressants. Yes, she presented as Beta when she’s Omega. But before you judge those choices, ask yourself what forces in our industry might drive a sixteen-year-old girl to make them. Ask yourself why an Omega might feel the need to hide their designation to be taken seriously as a competitor.”
He let it land, silent and certain.
“As for accusations of ‘performance enhancement’? That’s scientifically false. Military-grade suppressants hinder cognitive function, slow reaction time, and dampen sensory perception. Quinn wasn’t winning because of these substances; she was winning despite them.”
I felt it then, pride blooming in my chest. He wasn’t making excuses for me. He was spelling out the reality, with a logic sharp enough to cut.
“Pack Wrecked stands with Kara Quinn unconditionally. Not just as content partners, but as her pack. Anyone who comes for her comes for all of us.”
It ended there. No apology. No hedging. Just a challenge, as naked and raw as it gets.
“When did he record this?” I asked, handing the phone back like it might burn me.
“After you passed out. None of us wanted to wake you.” Ash flashed a glance. “The others made statements, too.”
I grabbed my own phone. Plugged in next to the bed. Hands shaking a little, I thumbed open a random social media platform and found a landscape completely changed from the night before.
#PackProtection was everywhere. Clips from all five Alphas lighting up the gaming world. Theo’s usual chaos weaponized against designation discrimination. Jace in his signature undertone, slicing to ribbons the concept of privacy violations. Malik, ever the anchor, methodical and unflinching laying out how suppressants impacted the body and mind. And Ash, in cold detail, breaking down why every “performance enhancer” accusation was pure garbage.
Five flavors. Same message: we’re here, and we’re not backing down.
But it wasn’t that that kicked my breath out of me. It was the swarm of responses from the rest of the industry. Callie Cross streaming, wrangling Omega creators into open solidarity. Alphas, Betas, even male Omegas, all the people who’d been forced to either camouflage or inflame their own nature just to make it. Names I’d idolized admitting they’d been manipulated by the same system.
“It’s working,” I whispered. “They’re actually listening.”
Ash looked up, pausing his coding. “People respond to truth delivered with strength. Your statement hit hardest.”
I’d almost forgotten my own post, written and sent in a moment of heat before exhaustion finally knocked me out. When I went to my timeline, I saw the numbers first: millions of likes, millions of shares, a river of comments that looked almost algorithmic.
But it wasn’t numbers that mattered. It was the words I’d thrown out, uncensored:
For eight years, I poisoned myself to be taken seriously in an industry that sees Omegas as punchlines or sex objects. I built my career on a lie because the truth wasn't allowed in the room. That ends today.
These medical records Stella leaked? They tell only half the story. They show the WHAT but not the WHY.
The WHY is an industry that told a sixteen-year-old girl she could either be an Omega sideshow or a "marketable" Beta. The WHY is a management company that provided illegal suppressants to dozens of young creators while knowing the health consequences. The WHY is a system that profits from designation discrimination while pretending it doesn't exist.
I made choices I'm not proud of. Choices that have permanently damaged my health. But I won't apologize for fighting to exist in a space that wanted to erase me.
