Page 162 of Psycho Pack

The others fall silent, but I can tell they're making more sense out of his words than I am, judging from the contemplative looks on their faces.

"What are you saying, Thane?" I ask, frowning.

"He's trying to give you a choice, little omega," Valek says, a strange melancholy in his tone. "A real one. To live the life you should have had from the beginning."

"A life that only exists here," Thane finishes, confirming they are, to my shock, on the same page. "A life we can only give you here."

It takes a moment for the words to sink in.

When it does, I shake my head slowly.

"No," I say with a firmness that surprises myself, my voice echoing through the vaulted ceilings. "I'm not—we can't just stay here while your father and the Council drive what's left of our world into the ground."

"But it's a worldwecreated," Thane says firmly. He nods to the other Ghosts. All except for Wraith, I notice. "You deserve something better."

"Thane, no," I say through my teeth, shooting up from the chair before I can help myself. "You're not leaving me here by myself while you go fight a war in Reinmich."

"Not by yourself," he corrects, looking pointedly at his brother.

Wraith growls softly in confusion, going tense. I can tell the way Thane is talking is scaring him as much as it is me.

The realization of what he's asking hits me like a bullet train.

Stay here, in Surhiira, with Wraith?

While the four of them go off, maybe forever?

Where they might die?

I open my mouth to speak, but Plague preempts me.

"It's worth considering, Ivy," he says softly. Somberly. "Thane is right. You and Wraith… you didn't choose this. The rest of us did. We all had a hand in holding up the world that inflicted so much cruelty on you." His voice tightens with guilt. "It's our responsibility to tear it down."

"Fuck your responsibility," I seethe before I can stop myself.

All five alphas are staring at me now.

As taboo as it is for alphas to curse at a royal diner, I'm sure it's a hell of a lot more taboo for omegas, but I can't hold back.Not when the very suggestion of being separated from my pack, however noble their intentions, fills me with even more dread than the idea of ending up back at the Refinement Center.

Alltheycan do is torture me.

Imprison me.

Kill me.

Being separated from my mates?

That's a fate even worse than death. It's a death of the soul, and that's the one thing I promised I'd never let those bastards take from me.

"Ivy," Whiskey begins. "They've got a point."

"No," I hiss. "We'repack. That means something, doesn't it?"

They all exchange a tense look, some unspoken argument passing between them.

"Of course it does," Thane says quietly. "But?—"

"Then you're not going without me," I say firmly. "I knew what I was getting into when I made the choice to be your omega. If Reinmich falls, it falls because of us. All of us. As a pack. As a unit." I bite back the tears prickling at eyes, but I know it's a lost cause. "Take it or leave it."