Evan's eyes go wide, his mouth opening and closing like a fish gasping for air. Blood bubbles from his lips, and I watch with savage satisfaction as the light starts to drain from those cruel eyes.
But then something else happens. His pupils dilate with a different kind of terror, his gaze fixing on something over my shoulder. The shadows, I realize. He can see them now, at the threshold between life and death. They're swelling, rising, triumphant, ready to drag him to whatever hell waits for people like him.
Payment received,they sing.Debt settled. Balance restored.
The light finally fades from Evan's eyes, his body going slack against the wall. Blood pools beneath him, mixing with all the other blood we've spilled tonight. But this blood is different. This blood is closure.
The shadows go quiet.
Not gone—they'll never be completely gone—but... settled. Like a song finally finding its resolution, a story reaching its end. They're still there, drifting in the corners, but they're not screaming anymore. Not demanding blood or vengeance or justice.
They're just... there. Part of me, but no longer consuming me.
Felix's hand finds my face, thumb brushing across my cheekbone with infinite gentleness. "You okay?"
"Yeah," I breathe, and for the first time in years, I actually mean it. "Yeah, I'm okay." I look at him fully now, taking in that perfect face I was so scared I would never see again. "Thank you," I whisper, the words barely audible. "For keeping your promise. For getting us both out."
He pulls me into a kiss that tastes like endings and beginnings, like freedom and future, and like everything we've been too afraid to want until now. When we finally break apart, the others are watching with expressions that range from satisfaction to something softer.
"Well," Bane says, checking his weapon because he obviously needs something to do with his hands, "that's one problem solved. But we've still got a building full of assholes who need killing and omegas who need saving."
"Music to my ears," Carlisle purrs, already moving toward the corridor that leads deeper into the Den. "Shall we finish what we started?"
What follows is systematic destruction.
We move through the building like an infection, spreading death to every guard, every client, every piece of shit who thought they could buy and sell people like property. The pheromones are still singing through the alphas' systems, making them faster, stronger, more vicious than usual. But it's controlled violence, with justified targets and noble purpose.
Archer kicks down a door to find a client preparing for... I don't even want to think about what. The man barely has time to register our presence before Archer's putting a bullet between his eyes. The woman on the bed scrambles back, terrified, but I'm already there, wrapping a sheet around her, murmuring that it's okay, we're here to help, she's safe now. And just like that, I realize I've become the person I needed so long ago.
Room after room, we free them. Some are catatonic, too broken to even react. Others cry, or scream, or try to run. A few recognize me and Felix, remember us from before, and the relief in their eyes makes my chest ache.
"Juney?" A small voice from one of the rooms makes me freeze. I know that voice.
"Lily?" I push past Carlisle to find a girl I knew from before, one of the younger ones who came in just before Felix and I escaped. She's older now, of course, but her eyes still have that same desperate hope. "Holy shit, you're still?—"
"You came back," she whispers, tears streaming down her face. "You actually came back."
"I told you I would," I say, though honestly I don't remember making that promise. Maybe the shadows did, in one of those moments when they spoke through me. "We're getting everyone out. Tonight."
Elias springs into action, doing what he does best. Triaging the worst cases, stabilizing those who need immediate attention. His hands are gentle despite the drugs in his system, his voice calm and professional as he tends to injuries.
Bane coordinates with his contact, the same one from our other raids. "Twenty minutes out," he reports. "They're bringing medical teams, counselors, everything we need."
"Good," Felix says, but he's not looking at Bane. He's watching me help another omega, his expression soft in a way I rarely see. "The sooner we get them out, the better."
Carlisle appears from another hallway, casually wiping his blade clean. "East wing's clear. Found three more clients. They're not clients anymore. At least, not to anyone this side of the living."
"Anyone else enjoying the irony?" Archer asks, supporting an omega who can barely walk. "Evan pumps us full of rut pheromones thinking we'll turn into monsters, and instead we use it to destroy his entire operation?"
"Poetic justice," Carlisle agrees. "I almost wish he were alive to appreciate it, just so we could kill him all over again."
By the time we get everyone outside, the helicopters are landing. Not just one or two, but a whole fleet. Bane's contact didn't fuck around. Medical personnel swarm out, taking the injured, wrapping others in blankets, speaking in soft voices to those who flinch at any sudden movement.
I watch them being loaded up, these people who were property an hour ago and are now free. Some might never recover, not fully. The shadows will follow them like they follow me. But they have a chance now. A choice. That's all any of us can ask for.
"Juniper?"
I turn to find Lily being helped toward one of the choppers. She pauses, looking back at me with those eyes that have seen too much.
