Images flooded my mind—hands dragging them away, cages filled with frightened, crying children, lives stripped away before they’d even begun. The weight of it hit me like a freight train, and for a moment, I couldn’t breathe.
“ “ T-They're children!" I gasped, wide-eyed staring at them. "How could you--"
The beta laughed. " Monsters right?”
I couldn't breathe. I refused to breathe. If I let it in, if I allowed this truth to settle inside me, it would shatter something irreparable. My vision blurred, the cage and the children melting into a mess of memories and rage. I thought of things to push it all away—anything to escape the weight of what I was hearing. I thought of Ashton. Luther. Colt. Blaze. Their laughter. Their stupid jokes. The warmth we shared when the world was nothing bu
