Chapter 8

Chapter

Eight

ORION

I was shaking by the time the GPS alerted me that I was half an hour from the safehouse where Nadya and I would meet. The last meeting with the Alpha Council had been as strained as ever, all of them looking at me with hope in their eyes like I was capable of being an actual fucking hero. It terrified me, and I knew that I would either came back with Zane, or I wouldn't come back at all.

Danyal met me at my apartment later that night to show me what I needed to do, but I'd given myself the third injection that morning, and it had gone off without a hitch. At least, apart from the agonizing pain. But he was right, it was getting easier.

I had adjusted to my waning strength well enough, and I was prepared for what it would feel like the moment I came face to face with an unfamiliar Wolf. It was still unsettling to look in the mirror and see a flash of orange, but Danyal had warned me about the dangers of missing a dose and resetting the clock on the serum.

"It may end up being nothing," he'd said right before I left, "and it might make it so the serum is no longer effective."

Taking a breath, I nodded as I buckled in the small med case with everything I needed. It would get me through six days— which was far more than I would ever need. But considering that Nadya had access to the database but not the location of the labs, we couldn't be too careful.

"Do you uh," Danyal said, taking my pulse and not meeting my gaze, "do you know any of them? These spies Kor has in the city?"

Licking my lips, I felt only brave enough to shake my head. When he looked up at me, there was fear in his eyes, and I felt a brief stab of guilt. "I'm sorry."

He shook his head, but his eyes shone for a moment, and a tear escaped, trailing down his cheek. "He's all I have. He and Talia." Clearing his throat, Danyal released my wrist and swiped his fingers over his skin. "I'm sorry. I know so many have far less."

He wasn't wrong. My family had died off during the First War, and I had come home to an empty shell of a home with my Alpha missing. But I understood his pain better than anyone, and I grabbed him by the back of the neck and let my claws sink in, soothing him.

"I'm going to do everything in my power to get him home. And if not, I'm going to die trying."

"I don't want that," Danyal whispered. His gaze met mine, bright and feverish. "I don't want to lose more of our people to this fucking war."

"Neither do I, but if I have to sacrifice myself so no one else has to feel this way," I trailed off and gently let him go, taking a step back. "I'll be in touch with Kor as often as I can, so if you want updates…"

"I know," Danyal said from behind a sigh. "He told me he'd keep me posted."

I wished I had something more uplifting to give him, but I didn't. I was walking into an unknown situation with unknown contacts, and maybe it was the new Omega in me, but when Kor told me not to argue—for the first time in my life—I didn't.

I was feeling some measure of regret about that as I turned down an empty dirt road and began a trek through thick trees and brush. I was told that the house was off the grid, in the middle of nowhere—which was fine except there would be no easy means of escape. I could shift and run—and in my wolf, I could outrun a human.

I could even outrun their cars.

But I couldn't outrun their bombs, or their bullets, or the chemicals they used to put us down.

Taking a deep breath, I made the last few miles into a clearing where a small house sat. It looked run down, but honing my ears, I could hear the faint pulse of electricity inside. There was a scent on the air—not Wolf or human. Something to mask who was inside.

It made sense, but it set me on alert, and I quickly released my claws as I got out of the car and made my way to the door. I could hear a single rapid heartbeat inside. Either a Wolf or a very nervous human, but I wasn't sure which one I wanted it to be yet.

Rolling my shoulders back, I called my shift close to the surface, then pushed the door open. I wasn't entirely sure what to expect, but it wasn't some cozy mountain cabin with a crackling fire and a plush sofa covered in a layer of quilts. Nor was I expecting the very petite Omega with narrowed eyes trained on me from her spot in a highbacked armchair.

Nadya, I had to assume. She was sharp angles and thin fingers, with olive skin and a few wisps of dark hair curling out of the edge of her floral hijab. She radiated power, but she also didn't rise and attempt to posture.

"Major Peterson." Her voice was rough and slightly accented—not the cadence of a soldier, which told me she had no reason to use my title—but she did all the same. I wasn't quite sure how that made me feel, but I offered her my hand when she rose, and she shook her head.

"I mean no disrespect," she said, gently touching the side of her veil.

I pulled my hand back quickly and offered her a slight nod. I realized it was probably testing the boundaries of her faith to even be alone with me, so I made a note to be as careful as she needed. "Is there anything I can do to make this easier?"

She waved me off. "No. I understood what I had to do to get this plan off the ground. Kor assured me that you were the most effectively trained Beta serving under him." She stopped and gave me a calculating look. "You are a Beta, yes?"

I nodded. "Despite my appearance."

She lifted a brow, then her lip curled up. "Fascinating. So, the serum is as effective as he hoped."

I wasn't quite sure what she meant, and her question felt like a test. "It's as effective as Dr. Bereket could accomplish in such a short time, uh…Nadya?" It felt wrong to use her first name like that, but I hadn't been given anything else.

She gave me another once over before backing up and turning toward a low table covered in papers, stuffed haphazardly into a file folder. "My name is Nadya Abbas. I requested that General Titus not use more than my given name in case anyone else from your city is taken into human custody."

It made sense, in spite of the fact that leaving me out of the loop might have been more dangerous. "I understand. Is that…" I jutted my chin toward the table.

"Everything you need to know, including what you need to access the database. I have you listed as a new hire at ComTech, working in IT as an analyst. How much do you know about computers?"

"Next to nothing," I told her. "Sorry."

She lifted a brow at me, but she didn't seem deterred. "It's fine. I'll be working as your direct supervisor. I've been there as a director for the last year. I'm one of four Omegas as a sort of…" She wrinkled her nose, "I forget what the humans called it. Bridge hire?"

I scoffed. "Right. I remember my parents talking about that before the war. Hiring Wolves to bridge the gap." It was true. I was young, but it was a last-ditch effort the humans made in trying to keep the rebellion from turning into war. The working conditions and pay they had given the Wolves were enough to tip the scales, and just weeks later, the first bomb dropped.

"It's better now. At least, on the surface. They're only willing to hire Omegas at the moment, although…" She trailed off, giving me another long once-over. "I don't know how well you'll slip in and out unnoticed looking like that."

I absently rubbed one hand over my arm. "I don't plan to be there long. I just need you to show me where to look and what files to take."

"That's simple enough," she said with a shrug. "Breaking into the system is easy. Leaving footprints is the problem. Another one of my colleagues can cover your tracks, but there's going to be a space between you downloading the files and him being able to erase the last traces of where you've been. If they catch wind that you know where the missing Alpha is being kept, they'll move him."

"If they don't kill him first," I muttered.

At that, she offered me a smile that was almost cruel, it was so sad. "They won't kill him. Not with what they have planned."

Her words were like ice in my veins. "How much do you know?"

At that, the smile dropped from her mouth, and she took several steps back, sagging into the chair. "Too much and not enough. Some of the what, a lot of the why, but where they were taking them all was always too dangerous for me to dig much deeper than the surface."

I let out a frustrated growl, tired of fucking riddles. Moving fully into the room, I paced a little to calm the restlessness in my bones. I had tucked my claws back in, but my wolf was desperate to run, and I had no time for it. There were only a few more hours left before I had my next dose, and by morning, I would be on Zane's trail.

"Now would be a good time to clear some shit up," I told her, glancing over my shoulder to where she was sitting. "I need a starting point—beyond learning how the hell to navigate some dark web mess."

Nadya let out a small sigh, then she kicked her leg up on the table. "I can tell you that Kor's human was just the start of what they're planning. There are at least two dozen more like him in various states of…change," she hesitated on the word, and I understood why. Change wasn't right, but neither was anything else. "A lot of them die."

"Do any of them shift?" I asked, unable to stop myself from voicing the question Kor had been asking since he brought Misha to the compound.

"Not that I can tell, but not all of them are capable of handling any sort of Wolf DNA," she answered. "Most of them die of organ failure after the first month. Our team was responsible for building the reports." At that, she grimaced. "They were listed as stem-cell patients, but it was easy to read between the lines."

I dragged my hand through my hair, then glanced down at my watch, doing everything I could to be mindful of the time. "What about the Wolves?"

Nadya was quiet a long time. "Kor was the only one so far who escaped. I happened to overhear them talking about who I believe was the Beta that arranged his escape. He's presently still alive, but I have no idea what condition he's in."

My heart thrashed in my chest at the thought of Bryn alive all this time, suffering at their hands. Fuck, what could they possibly want him for? "Do you think they're keeping him in the same place they're keeping Zane?"

"I couldn't be sure. Zane is…" She bared her teeth. "He's a prize. An Alpha. They lost a lot of their progress when Kor escaped, and they're not wasting time with him now. I only know he's just the beginning of what they've got planned."

"So, what happens after this?" I asked. "You can't expect me to extract one Wolf and leave the others there to their fucking torture."

She shook her head, leaning over her thighs, and she met my gaze. "I don't expect that at all. I'm working with more than just Kor. We're going to use this opportunity to drain the database and send everything we can to every single Alpha Council that's formed against the humans."

I bit the inside of my cheek. I didn't trust the others—not entirely. Wolves like Lior were likely in bed with the ones who were setting our people up to be captured and mutilated, and there was no way to tell who they were.

Unless Nadya had some idea.

"How do you know you can trust them?"

"I don't," she said. "But I'm hedging my bets and releasing the information wide. Enough of this information will make it into the right hands. Everyone in this rebellion knew we could only operate in secret for so long."

I stilled and leaned back against the wall, my arms crossed. "You realize that this could get you killed."

"I've taken that risk every single day from the moment I got here. They don't trust a single Wolf. It's not about keeping my identity secret. It's about setting off a metaphorical fire and making sure the destruction spreads."

It was good, but it wasn't enough, though she had to know that. "Do you know their end game?"

She laughed softly. "I can only guess. But I do know the face of the man who needs to be taken down."

My brows rose. "Oh yeah?"

"Yes." Yet again, her tone petrified me. "He's charismatic, and young, and dangerous."

I opened my mouth to ask who the hell this human was, but there was a shrill ring, and I realized it was her phone. She shot me an apologetic look as she dug it out of her pocket, then gestured to the files on the table.

"I need to take this. Feel free to look around." And then she was gone. I could hear her voice trailing off, and logic told me to listen in, but it felt almost wrong to do it. Maybe it would bite me in the ass later, but I wanted to trust that Kor had made the right decision.

With a sigh, I picked up the papers and began to read, but none of the information was particularly helpful in that moment. At least, it wasn't a map to Zane. She had a meticulously organized list of Wolves who had been reported missing—organized by name and date they disappeared. There were red marks by some, and I had to assume that those red marks meant that the Wolves were either found or dead. Or likely both.

There were enough that it made my stomach twist on itself, but there were almost fifty who could still be saved. My eyes searched until I found a name I recognized—Bryn. He was on the list, close to Kor, but I was more surprised to realize how many Wolves were before him.

I moved up to the very top, and my heart beat hard in my throat when I saw the name there: Yasin Abbas. Her brother maybe? Though something told me it was a more intimate connection than that.

I tucked the sheet aside and then moved on to a list of cities. There was no key to help me decipher, but I had a feeling they were all potential labs. I could only assume the reason she hadn't passed this on to Kor was because she had no hard evidence, and there was no point in sending Wolves only to find nothing. We'd done that enough times to learn our lesson.

We were at the point we couldn't waste resources, including time and bodies.

Before I could dig further, my phone buzzed in my pocket, and I realized it was my alarm. The serum was still in the car, so hurried out to grab it, dragging both of my bags back with me into the house. When I got to the front room, Nadya was still gone, but I could hear her voice a little closer. I didn't really want a witness to my little routine, so I roamed through the hall until I found a half-bath, then shut the door and began the prep.

I hoped— desperately —that I wouldn't have to get too used to this. That it wasn't going to create some sort of addiction that I could never recover from. I wanted my eyes back, my body back. I wanted to feel myself again. It would be worth it if we found Zane, but I was tired of suffering for our cause.

With a breath, I filled the needle, then swiped my skin clean before stabbing it in and hitting the plunger. The initial pain was less, but I could feel it building in the pit of my stomach. It only took another second for my knees to buckle and my vision to white out. A scream lodged in my throat as I grabbed the edge of the sink, and when I came to, I was panting against the cold porcelain, and Nadya was standing in the doorway staring at me.

"Is it like that every time?" she asked.

I licked my lips, my tongue painfully dry, and I shook my head. "Every dose gets better," I told her, pushing to my feet. My knees were weak, but I was no longer overcome by fatigue. I wrapped the needle in a tissue since there was nowhere to properly dispose of it, and I shoved it back into the case.

Her eyes narrowed, and she crossed her arms over her chest. "Anyone who sees that is going to become suspicious. For a second, it sounded like you were dying."

I shook my head, turning on the tap so I could splash water on my face. "It won't be an issue. Doses are every twelve hours, so unless I'm there all night, the only person at risk of seeing me is you."

She didn't look entirely convinced, but it wasn't my job to sell this serum. I was on it, and it was the only way I was going to get into ComTech and get the information we needed to save not only Zane, but everyone else we could get our hands on.

After a long moment, Nadya took a step back. "You should probably eat. You've been on the road for a few days."

I didn't want to eat. I didn't want to sleep. I didn't want to do anything except learn what I needed to know in order to get Zane the hell out of the lab and somewhere safe. But I knew I wasn't going to be any good to him if I was run into the ground. I was weaker on the serum, and he was counting on me.

I followed Nadya into the kitchen where I blinked in surprise to find a massive computer set up. There were three large monitors on the table, all displaying code, and more equipment I didn't understand. I suddenly felt out of my depth, and I shot her a look as she opened the fridge and glanced over her shoulder at me.

"Are you panicking?"

I couldn't help a small laugh. "A little. I spent my entire life fighting with teeth and claws and guns. I barely know how to work a printer."

Her mouth softened into a smile, and she gestured to the little breakfast bar. "It takes some getting used to, but Kor wouldn't have sent you if he wasn't confident you could pull this off."

I wanted to argue that Kor's confidence in me was misplaced. That he felt that way because we were pack. But maybe she was right. I wanted to believe that I wouldn't have accepted the job if I didn't feel capable.

"I have leftover Chinese," she said, pulling containers onto the counter, "but it's all vegetarian. I haven't really bothered to stock this place up."

I waved her off. "Anything is fine." I settled on the stool, then gave the kitchen a once-over. It looked used, but not entirely lived in. "Is this where you stay?"

She shook her head as she dumped rice into a pan and turned on the burner. "I have an apartment in the city. It's…I guess you could call it government issued. It's their way of keeping tabs on me. I have a system set up there so it looks like I'm home when I'm not. It gives me a few hours a week to work out here undetected."

"You're sure they don't have eyes on this place?" I asked her.

She shot me a small grin and shrugged as she began to heat up the tofu and vegetables. "I'm not sure of anything, Major. Only that we're going to take them down, or I'm going to die trying."

I closed my eyes in a long blink, and then nodded. "Who did you lose?"

She was quiet so long, I wasn't sure she was going to answer. "My husband. My mate," she clarified. "It was about two months before the Equinox Treaty was announced. I got," her voice broke, and she shook her head. "I got the call that he was missing in action. I was expecting it. I think all of us whose mates went to the front expected the call."

"He was an Alpha?" I asked.

Her brows lifted, almost in a challenge. "A Beta. He was up near the Canadian border in Montana. I could feel him still," she said, reaching into the cupboard for plates. "It took about two weeks. Then, in the middle of the night it was just…"

"Gone," I whispered.

She nodded, biting her lip as she dished out the food. When she turned back to me, her eyes were glassy but dry, and her hands were steady as she pushed my plate toward me. "I knew he was dead. They asked me to report it if I felt him go, but there was something wrong about the Wolf who called me. There was something in his voice," she stopped and shook her head. "I didn't tell him. Since he was a Beta, the bond between us wasn't as strong as it would have been if he was an Alpha. I think he was one of their first tests."

"I'm sorry," I told her quietly.

Her cheek caved in a little when she bit it, and then she straightened her shoulders. "I knew I had to do something after that. My entire life I had been working with computers. I had done a lot of coding—mostly for hospital software, but I had dabbled in hacking when I was younger." Her mouth twisted up at the corner. "General Ayala found me the day after the Treaty was signed. I'm not sure how, but he offered me a job as a spy, and I had no reason to say no."

"Apart from the fact that they probably wouldn't kill you quickly if they found you," I pointed out.

She shrugged. "I don't really care. They don't scare me, and if doing this means that I can bring the people who killed my husband down, I'm willing to sacrifice anything."

I had no idea what the felt like—to love someone that much. I would lay my life down for Kor—and had nearly done that more than once during our time on the front. But it was part instinct and part being at war.

And yet…strangely, I could imagine myself loving that powerfully. I could imagine Alpha eyes holding my own, and feeling the twisting, pulsing bond of a mate. I wasn't sure if it was the Omega instincts in me now, or if I was being forced to acknowledge that this thing with Zane was deeper than I wanted it to be, but it was impossible to ignore.

"I'm sorry we didn't start this in time to save him," I told her as I dug into my food.

She said nothing as she ate. The silence between us was comfortable though, but I hated that I had nothing to offer to other than words. Actions wouldn't bring him back. Nothing could. All I could do at this point was learn everything she had to teach me and use it to start the avalanche that would hopefully take them all down.