MARIA.

"God damn it!"

The words never left my lips, but they roared violently inside my head, shattering every tiny thread of composure I had left. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

I was exhausted, bone deep, soul deep, heart deep. Tired of the accusations. Tired of being pulled in different directions like a plaything. Tired of feeling like I didn’t own my body, my thoughts, or my fate.

Why were they all determined to push me over the edge?

Aidan, with his burning heat and reckless lips. Vanessa, with her hatred sharp enough to carve flesh. Darren, returning like a nightmare I thought I’d left behind.

And Damien, dragging me away like I was property just to belittle me, humiliate me, scream at me like I was some filth who dared breathe his air.

He didn’t understand that every word thrown at me had weight. Every demand, every order, every insult scraped against wounds that hadn’t even begun to heal.

I didn’t defend myself, not because I was guilty, but because I was tired. Too tired to fight his assumptions. Too tired to defend a heart they were all too eager to tear apart.

So I stayed quiet.

I let him shout, let him accuse me. I let him vent every ridiculous thing he believed.

Inside, my exhaustion folded in on itself, layer after layer, until I felt hollow, like I was floating outside my own skin. His words blurred, losing shape, losing meaning, and somewhere between one insult and the next... I stopped hearing him.

I don’t remember deciding to speak.

I don’t even remember forming the thought.

But suddenly, the words slipped out of my mouth like they’d been sitting there forever.

"Alpha Damien," I murmured softly, my voice raw, brittle, but steady enough to carry meaning. "I need a favor from you."

He froze, not dramatically, but subtly.

His shoulders stiffened. His jaw stopped moving.Something flickered in his grey eyes, shock, maybe, or annoyance, or something unreadable.

He didn’t respond, he didn’t grunt, didn’t ask what I meant.

He just stared at me.

I swallowed hard, refusing to shrink back under his silence. If silence was the only space I was allowed, I would fill it with what I needed to say.

"I don’t belong here." My voice cracked slightly, but I pushed through it. I lifted my chin, forcing myself to meet his eyes.

Still, nothing.

Not a word.

It felt like he was punishing me with the same silence I had used on him earlier.

Fine.

Two could play that game.

"I want you to release me."

The air in the room stilled, turning thick and suffocating. I knew what the request meant. Rogues didn’t simply walk away.

Not from Moonbridge pack’s territory, not with Alpha blood in the air.

If I wanted to truly be free, all four Alphas had to agree, and stamp the release themselves.

The idea fueled a tiny sliver of hope in me.

Maybe if they were all so eager to accuse me, control me, distrust me...They would finally be eager to let me go.

Damien still didn’t speak.

His eyes flickered to the side, distant, like a thousand thoughts were racing behind them. But none of them made it past his lips.

The silence stretched painfully. So heavy I felt like I was suffocating beneath it.

"I want you and your brothers to release me," I repeated, louder this time, firmer, because if I didn’t say it with strength, I feared I might crumble. "Kindly talk to them. I want to leave."

That finally seemed to reach him.He blinked once, jaw flexing. He took a step back from me, not too far, but enough to show the crack in his composure.

It was the first time he looked unsure.

Like the request had knocked him off balance. Like he hadn’t expected me to want freedom. Like my desire to escape this place, escape them, was somehow unthinkable.

But it wasn’t unthinkable to me.It was the only thing keeping me sane.

Then his expression darkened, his wolf bleeding through his gaze, and his voice thundered so suddenly I jumped.

"Shut up!"

The shout slammed into me like a physical force. I flinched, not from fear, but from disappointment.That wasn’t the response I needed. Not even close.

"Shut up, Maria," he repeated, voice low and seething. "You’re talking nonsense."

And just like that, whatever tiny spark of hope I had, the fragile spark that maybe someone would finally listen, would finally let me breathe, went out in a puff of cold air.

I stared at him, feeling something inside me, and maybe something inside him, crack.

And there, in the thick quiet that followed, I realized he wasn’t rejecting my request because he hated me.

He was rejecting it because something inside him refused to let me go.

But I was too tired to understand why.

Too tired to care.

And far too tired to stay.

The door swung open so suddenly the air in the room shifted, and before I could gather myself, two figures spilled inside, Aidan first, broad shoulders filling the doorway, and right behind him, Vanessa, wrapped possessively around his arm like she belonged there.

Their laughter drifted in with them, light and careless, mocking me with the reminder that life moved effortlessly for some people while others, like me, fought for every breath.

"Damien!" Aidan said cheerfully, not yet noticing anything off. "Vanessa has something to tell us..."

But his words cut abruptly when his gaze finally landed on me. I watched the confusion flicker across his face, followed by annoyance, then something like discomfort—before he schooled his features into a bland mask.

Vanessa, however, missed nothing.

"What are you doing here?" she snapped immediately, her nose wrinkling as if the very sight of me offended her. "Why are you always everywhere you don’t belong?"

Her eyes burned holes through me, accusing, hateful, gleaming with the kind of self-assurance I had never possessed.

Still, I said nothing. Silence seemed to be my only shield today.

Damien’s face, the same face that had been twisted with fury moments before, shifted instantly,almost seamlessly, into something warm, controlled, and smooth.

The pivot was so sharp I had to blink.

He plastered a smile on his face like the anger had never existed.

"Vanessa," he said gently, turning fully toward her, "what is it you’d love to tell me?"

His voice, low, coaxing, wrapped around her with a softness he had never spared for me.

He reached for her arm with deliberate care, his fingers sliding down before he took her hand. Then, without shame or hesitation, he leaned forward and placed a tender kiss on her forehead.

Vanessa melted into it immediately, her entire body relaxing, and she beamed, radiant, glowing, like a woman whose world made perfect sense.

"I love you, Damien," she murmured, looking down shyly as if the confession took courage when everyone already knew.

The words hit me like a quiet sting, unexpected yet predictable.

Of course she loved him.

Why wouldn’t she?

Why shouldn’t she?

Still...it startled me how much it hurt, even though it shouldn’t have.

So she loved Damien.

Meaning she loved the quadruplet Alphas as a whole. Not just one, four identical faces, four identical hearts tied by one soul.

I pushed down the pang of jealousy growing like a weed in my stomach.

It was useless, ridiculous even. Someone loving them was the most logical thing in the world.

And if they loved her back, as it clearly seemed, they had absolutely no need for me.

That should make everything easier.

Let them have what they want.

Let them have her.

Let them love her, bond with her, claim her.

Then maybe, just maybe, they would finally agree to let me go.

"Are you serious, Vanessa?" Damien asked again, his voice breathless now, like he needed to hear the words twice to believe them.

He smiled, really smiled, his usual controlled demeanor slipping away, excitement crackling across his body like static.

For a moment, it was as if the world shrank to just the two of them.

He looked younger suddenly, lighter, happier than I had ever seen him.

"Yes," she replied softly. "I do."

"Good. Good." His smile widened, shoulders relaxing, and for a second he seemed almost giddy. "Finally."

Aidan nodded approvingly from beside her, his earlier posture smug and satisfied.

He might as well have said, We told you it would happen.

Vanessa leaned closer, her voice dropping to a hopeful whisper filled with certainty.

"Yes, and I hope tomorrow, when my wolf fully awakens..." she paused dramatically, eyes shining, "I will be your mate."

The words froze the entire room.

The effect was instant, electric.

Damien’s body went rigid.

Aidan’s grin faltered.

Their eyes widened, not in delight, but alarm.They stiffened, shoulders locking, expressions draining of color.

And only then, only in that split breath of stunned silence, did both of them remember I existed.

Their gazes snapped toward me.