Page 104 of What We Don't Say: Part Two

“You forged Sloane’s voice,” I say. The words tremble, but they leave me. “You sent money to my account and made it look like he paid me to disappear. You arranged the courier and used this paper after it expired.”

Garrett’s expression changes by almost nothing. I know him well enough now to see the anger beneath the calm. “Calliope, you are distressed,” he says. His voice lowers as though he is trying to spare me embarrassment. “This isn't the place to repeat accusations other people have put in your mouth.”

Tears sting my eyes. I let them fall because stopping to hide them would give him the silence he wants.

“You told every person in that house something different,” I say. “You told Theo I did not want him. You told Sloane that pushing me would make me leave, and you told Idris I needed distance from him. Then you told me they had all chosen not to answer.”

The hallway has gone quiet. I can feel people watching, though Garrett remains the only face I let myself see.

“You are proving why intervention became necessary,” he says, taking one step farther into the office.

Zana lifts one hand. “Do not move closer.”

Garrett stops, but his attention never leaves me. “You were becoming disruptive. Theo needed stability, and the pack needed time to adjust without you turning every change into a crisis.”

“You used my care for them against me,” I say, hearing the break in my voice and continuing through it. “You knew I would step back if I thought Theo needed room. You knew I would ask less if I believed Sloane and Idris were overwhelmed.”

His mouth tightens. “You are making a private pack matter into a public spectacle.”

“You came into my office with expired paperwork.” My fingers tremble in Theo’s grip, though the sentence lands cleanly. “You made it public.”

Theo moves in front of me before I can stop him. His shoulders shake beneath my cardigan, but he plants himself between Garrett and me with his chin lifted.

Garrett’s face hardens for the first time. He lowers his voice, wrapping authority around Theo’s name.

“Theo, you are overwhelmed. Let the Alphas manage this.”

Theo’s fingers find the pendant beneath his shirt. The section of my bracelet that belongs to him burns brighter.

“I never chose you,” he says.

His voice is quiet, but everyone in the hallway hears it.

Garrett goes still.

Theo swallows, and I see how much effort it takes for him to keep speaking. His hand reaches behind him until it finds mine again.

“You kept telling people what I wanted because you were afraid I would say it myself,” he says. “I wanted Callie. I wanted Sloane and Idris. I did not want you deciding where I belonged.”

“You are in a compromised state,” Garrett says. “Your temporary marking and hormonal instability make your judgment unreliable.”

Theo flinches, though he does not move away from me. His hand tightens around mine until our knuckles press together.

“My bite is there because you made me afraid everyone would disappear,” he says. His voice shakes harder now, but the words keep coming. “Callie did not hurt me. You did.”

A sob catches in my throat, and pride rises through the fear so sharply that it almost hurts. Theo is trembling in front of me, speaking with the voice Garrett spent months trying to close.

Garrett reaches for him.

The movement is fast enough to tear the last of the polish from his face. His hand has barely crossed the space before Sloane surges in from the hallway.

I smell him first. Hot cedar and fury flood the hall, followed by the bond snapping tight beneath my ribs as he catches Garrett’s wrist and tears him away from Theo.

Garrett hits the wall beside my office door hard enough to rattle the framed department notice. Sloane pins his arm high against the plaster, his broad body blocking him from the room while rage strips every trace of warmth from his face.

Idris arrives a breath later and takes Garrett’s other arm. He does not slam him again. He locks the joint, steps into Garrett’s balance, and holds him with a cold precision that is somehow more frightening than Sloane’s fury.

The hallway erupts around them. Students retreat toward the opposite wall, someone calls security, and Zana moves to the doorway with Garrett’s expired order still in her hand.