Page 102 of Stream Heat
Protecting my pack. How's that feel?
Like I don't deserve you guys.
Wrong answer. Try again.
There was a pause and I worried for a moment that I’d offended her somehow.
Like I'm lucky to have you.
Better. Now go rest. Let me handle the mess.
Thank you. For all of it.
I lingered on the message, a slow tension rolling off my shoulders. She was safe, at least for now. She knew I'd got her back.
I turned back to Ruin Squad. “Okay, so we get the point about bots. But while we’re here, let’s talk about something better than hate. Like, who actually deserves support. The voices that should be louder.”
Next hour, I boosted every Omega streamer I could find. Every voice that didn’t get a fair shot. By the time I was done, #TeamKara wasn’t just a slogan anymore, it was a movement.
The door swung open again. Reid, this time, with a plate of food and a look I didn’t trust.
“Heard you declared war on the internet,” he grumbled as he put the plate beside my keyboard.
“Just a nasty little corner of it. And I’m winning.”
He studied the screens, the trending tags, the avalanche of support. “You know this isn’t just about pack, right?”
I almost choke on my food. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means you just spent ten hours destroying a botnet because someone went after Kara. That’s not just loyalty, Theo. That’s…” He frowned, searching for it.
“That’s what?”
“That’s love,” he said. “The kind that makes you burn down the world for someone, without asking.”
Suddenly my sandwich was forgotten. “She doesn’t need to know.”
“Sure about that?” Reid leaned in. “Pack bonds change. The question is whether you’re honest about it or not.”
“And what does it mean for me?”
He smiled, startlingly gentle. “You’re in love with an Omega who's brave enough to change everything. And you just proved you’d torch the whole internet for her.”
I looked at the chaos I’d made, mapped and weaponized. The walls I built around her. My pack. My person.
Maybe Reid’s right. Maybe this was what it was supposed to feel like.
“Victoria’s going to hate this,” I smirked.
“Good.” Reid’s voice was pure satisfaction. “Let her. She started this.”
Our pack. Our Omega. Maybe more.
I could live with that.
I started a new document. If Victoria wanted a war, she could have it. But she was playing my game now. And I was very, very good at chaos.
CHAPTER THIRTY
