Page 129 of False Catch

"I said, sit down."

"We'll stand with our coxswain," Gray says, and his hand finds my shoulder. The touch burns through my blazer.

Morrison's jaw tightens. "Very well. Ms. Callahan, continue your statement."

"No," I say quickly. "I need to—"

"She needs to tell the truth," Cameron interrupts. His voice is steady, certain. "Which is that we're a bonded crew. All of us."

The silence that follows is deafening.

"You're..." Whitfield starts, then stops. "All nine of you?"

"Not yet," Eli says. "But we will be."

"That's impossible," Carmine speaks for the first time. "The biological dynamics alone would create chaos. Eight Alphas cannot share—"

"We can," Beckett cuts her off. "We do."

"We're aware of the university's position on mixed-designation crews," Tyler says, stepping forward. His voice is calm, analytical. "Section 47-B of the student handbook specifically prohibits romantic entanglements between teammates that could compromise performance. However, there's no explicit rule against pack bonding."

"Because it's never been necessary," Morrison snaps. "No one's ever been insane enough to attempt it."

"Insane?" Zane moves closer to me. "What's insane is pretending biology doesn't exist. What's insane is forcing us to suppress what we are."

"You're students," Harmon says. "Athletes. You have responsibilities—"

"Our responsibility is to each other first," Gray interrupts, and his fingers tighten on my shoulder. "To our pack."

The word hangs in the air. Pack. Not team. Not crew.

Pack.

"This is my fault," I try again. "If anyone should be punished—"

"Stop," Jackson says, louder this time. "Just stop, Reese."

I turn to look at them. All eight of them, standing behind me like a shield. Gray's hand on my shoulder. Bo close enough that I can feel his breath. Tyler with his jaw set in determination.

"Don't do this," I whisper. "Don't throw away your futures for—"

"For you?" Zane steps forward, pulling me into his arms before I can protest. His embrace is warm, solid, everything I've been trying not to need. "You are our future."

"Mr. Hollis," Morrison's voice is sharp. "Physical displays are inappropriate—"

"No," Gray says, and there's steel in his voice I've never heard before. "What's inappropriate is threatening to destroy our crew because we refuse to pretend we're something we're not."

"You're playing with fire," Carmine says. "Eight Alphas, one Omega. The biological imperatives alone—"

"We've been managing for weeks," Bo points out. "We just won Riverside. In the middle of a heat cycle."

"Because you finally stopped fighting what you are," Bennett speaks for the first time. "Your performance improves when you work as a pack. It fails when you fight it. Assistant Coach Torres' observation reports confirm it - your synchronization increases when you stop suppressing your biological dynamics."

Carmine flips through her papers, frowning. "Torres did note improvement in the recent practices..."

"Significant improvement," Bennett corrects. "Best times they've posted all season."

"Because we were fighting ourselves," Cameron says. "Fighting what we knew was right because we were afraid of this." He gestures at the panel. "Afraid of you."