Cassian had never been good at waiting.

In the army, waiting meant lost opportunities. In his family, hesitation meant weakness. He had grown up surrounded by people who believed every problem could be solved by enough money or authority.

Then Eli arrived.

Cassian had purchased three wardrobes of clothes, commissioned a specialist mattress, and ordered the finest food available in the Dominion.

Eli still flinched whenever Cassian entered a room.

That morning, Cassian found him in the library examining a picture book about forests.

Eli looked up, startled, and immediately closed it.

“You can read that,” Cassian said.

Eli held the book out, expecting it to be taken away.

Cassian stopped in front of him.

“It's yours if you want it.”

Eli didn't move.

Cassian sighed. “I'm not confiscating a book.”

The sharpness in his voice made Eli's shoulders rise.

Cassian closed his eyes. “Sorry. That came out wrong.”

He sat in a chair across the room and pretended to examine a newspaper.

After several minutes, Eli opened the book again.

Cassian watched him over the page.

The Omega paused at an illustration of a black wolf beneath snow-covered pines. His fingers traced the animal's ears.

“You like wolves?” Cassian asked.

Eli glanced at him, then nodded.

“We're not always very good at being human,” Cassian said.

The corner of Eli's mouth moved. It might have been amusement.

Cassian felt absurdly proud.

Then Eli scratched at his collar.

The skin beneath the metal looked inflamed. Cassian remembered Lucien's warnings, but he also remembered the photographs from the laboratory. That device had hurt Eli for years.

“We should get that thing off you,” he said.

Eli stiffened.

Cassian rose without thinking. “I can help with the clasp.”

He reached toward the side of Eli's neck.

Eli recoiled so violently that the book fell from his lap. He stumbled backward into the table, knocking a glass vase to the floor.

It shattered.

Cassian froze.

Eli was already kneeling among the fragments, hands behind his back, throat exposed.

“No,” Cassian whispered. “No, I wasn't—”

Eli squeezed his eyes shut.

Cassian took one step back. Then another.

“Adrian!” he called.

The sound made Eli flinch harder.

Cassian hated himself immediately.

Adrian arrived with Lucien seconds later. He took in the broken glass, Eli's position, and Cassian's pale face.

“What happened?”

“I reached for the collar,” Cassian said. “I forgot.”

Lucien knelt at a distance.

“Eli, there's glass near your knees. Can you move backward?”

Eli did not move.

“I'm going to slide a towel toward you. You can put your hands on it if that helps.”

He pushed the towel across the floor.

Slowly, Eli moved away from the shards.

Cassian stood against the wall, unable to look away from the bloodless terror in Eli's face.

He had thought the collar was a problem to solve. He hadn't considered that his own hand might feel like another threat.

Lucien guided Eli through slow breaths without touching him.

When Eli finally looked up, Cassian lowered himself to his knees several feet away.

“I was wrong,” he said.

Eli stared at him.

“I shouldn't have reached for you. I won't do it again.”

He placed his hands flat on his thighs, where Eli could see them.

“You don't owe me forgiveness.”

Eli looked down at the broken vase.

Cassian followed his gaze. “It's just glass. It doesn't matter.”

But Eli's expression said that broken things had always mattered.

Cassian returned to the library after dinner with a replacement vase, then stopped before placing it on the table. He remembered the way Eli had stared at the shattered glass. Instead, he carried the vase away and asked a servant to remove the fragile decorations from Eli's favorite rooms. When Ronan asked why, Cassian said only that the house was supposed to fit the person living in it, not the other way around. The words embarrassed him. They sounded suspiciously like something Lucien would say. But he meant them.

Later, Silas reviewed the laboratory files recovered during the raid.

The suppression collars were more complicated than the team had realized. Each contained a tracking chip, chemical-delivery channels, and a tiny engraved plate.

Silas enlarged a photograph on his monitor.

SUBJECT 07 — HEARTH LINE.

He read the words twice.

Hearth Line was an old term, one he'd encountered only in classified histories of the Dominion's founding packs.

He contacted Lucien.

“Does Eli have a birth record?”

“Only a partial intake file. Why?”

“His collar isn't standard laboratory equipment.”

Lucien arrived within minutes. Adrian joined them, followed by Ronan and Cassian.

Silas displayed the engraving.

“The laboratory marked him as Hearth Line. That's a designation used for a bloodline that supposedly died out a century ago.”

Adrian frowned. “A myth?”

“Maybe. But someone spent a lot of money hiding this one.”

Ronan leaned over the screen. “What does it mean for him?”

“I don't know yet.”

Cassian stared at the photograph. “The clasp has a second lock. That explains why the doctor couldn't remove it normally.”

Lucien nodded grimly. “And why I'm not letting anyone experiment with it.”

Adrian turned to Silas. “Find out who ordered the collar. Quietly.”

Silas opened another file. “There's more. The facility director wasn't the highest authority on the purchase orders.”

A series of payments appeared on the screen, routed through military shell companies.

Adrian recognized one of the authorization codes.

His expression hardened.

“That belongs to the Imperial Procurement Office.”

Nobody spoke.

The raid had not simply exposed a criminal laboratory. It had uncovered a trail leading into the government they served.

Adrian ordered a full inquiry into the procurement code, but he refused to bring investigators into the house. Eli had only just begun to recognize the staff and the rhythms of the halls. A parade of unfamiliar uniforms would destroy that progress. The inquiry could proceed from the command center, miles away. For once, Adrian decided, the empire could wait for an answer. Eli could not wait for a home.

Adrian ordered a full inquiry into the procurement code, but he refused to bring investigators into the house. Eli had only just begun to recognize the staff and the rhythms of the halls. A parade of unfamiliar uniforms would destroy that progress. The inquiry could proceed from the command center, miles away. For once, Adrian decided, the empire could wait for an answer. Eli could not wait for a home.

Across the mansion, Eli sat beside his blanket nest, holding the picture book against his chest.

In the library, Eli discovered that the books were arranged by subject rather than permission level. He could take one down and return it without recording his number. He tested this three times. Nobody appeared to question him. On the fourth attempt, he selected a book about northern birds. Its pages showed creatures with bright feathers and impossible wings. He sat by the window for an hour, memorizing their names. He had never imagined that learning could be something he chose to do.

Cassian had left a note outside his door. The words were large and simple.

I AM SORRY. I WILL ASK FIRST.

Eli could read most of them. He traced the letters slowly.

Then he folded the note and tucked it beneath his pillow.

He did not understand why an Alpha would apologize for touching what belonged to him.

But he kept the paper anyway.