Chapter 14

Damian – POV

I stood there, leaning against the far wall, arms crossed so tight it was a wonder my bones didn’t snap. Every muscle in my body was strung tight, my wolf pacing just under the surface, pressing against my skin like it wanted to tear its way out the second her fear spiked again.

Kael was still crouched beside her, every movement slow, careful. Handling her like she was glass—like if he shifted too fast, she’d shatter and we’d never be able to put her back together. His voice was low, steady, like he was talking down a skittish animal.

Then I heard him ask it.

“Can I get your name, sweetheart?”

I went still. Even my breathing stopped.

She stared at him like he’d just spoken in fucking riddles, confusion flickering across her face before something else took over—hesitation, wariness. That look alone told me too much.

And then she said it.

Soft. Barely above a whisper.

“Three-seven.”

What.

The.

Fuck.

My hands fisted at my sides before I even realized it, claws threatening to push through my skin. A goddamn number. Not a name. Not even a shred of identity. Just… that.

I felt my lip curl, not at her—never at her—but at the sick bastards who did this. Whoever broke her down so far she didn’t even know who the hell she was.

A number. That was all they let her keep.

My wolf growled low, a deep rumble in my chest that tasted like steel and blood. Rage—cold, suffocating, and merciless—coiled through me like a storm gathering speed.

I glanced toward Riven first—his jaw was locked, his eyes darker than I’d seen in weeks. His wolf was there, just under the surface, daring someone to test him. Lucas was next—his stare wasn’t just hard, it was lethal. Like he was already calculating how many walls and bones he’d have to break to get to the people responsible.

I gave them both a short nod.

Message received.

No one said a damn word. The silence wasn’t empty—it was thick, heavy, the kind that carried promises of violence.

Kael didn’t push her. Smart. Instead, he just nodded and murmured something too low for me to catch. Her hand stayed in his, trembling, but she didn’t pull away. That tiny detail hit harder than it should have.

Good. She needed someone she could hold onto, even if it wasn’t me yet.

She needed rest.

We needed blood.

And I had every intention of finding out exactly which twisted fuck took her name away. And giving it back to her—piece by piece if I had to—one corpse at a time.

The second Kael eased away from the bed, his eyes met mine.

He didn’t need to speak. I could see it in the set of his shoulders, in the way his jaw twitched like he was chewing through rage.

The kind of rage that made your fangs itch. That burned under your skin until it owned you completely. I could feel it crawling all over me too.

That girl—our omega—had just given a fucking number when asked her name.

She’d been erased. Reduced. Conditioned to believe her identity was nothing more than a tag in someone’s twisted inventory. And the way she said it? Like it was normal. Like she’d been trained to think that was all she was worth.

I wanted blood.

Real, hot, screaming, vengeful blood.

I pushed off the wall the moment Kael reached us, my voice low and sharp.

“Let’s take this to my office.”

Nobody argued.

Not when our wolves were this close to tearing their way out.

We needed answers.

And someone out there was going to pay for what they did to her—whether they were ready or not.