010 - Kael

I scrunched up my nose the moment I stepped into the run-down motel that reeked of mildew, stale sweat, and decades-old cigarette smoke. The air was thick and hard to breathe through. This place was a condemned pitstop off the highway, the kind of place I wouldn’t be caught dead in under normal circumstances. But tonight, it served a purpose.

The rusted back door groaned shut behind me like it, too, wanted out of this place. My boots sank slightly into the water stained carpet, and the fluorescent lights overhead flickered like they were barely hanging on to life.

I moved to the bar, keeping my pace loose, casual. Just another traveler looking for a warm cup of caffeine and a little anonymity. I ordered black coffee—no sugar, no cream, and scanned the room while waiting, cataloguing exits, blind spots, and the energy of every soul present. In my world, paranoia was just a different name for survival.

The server handed it to me with a bored glance and I took the seat facing the far window, my back to the wall out of instinct. My hands cupped the mug, allowing the heat to bleed into my fingers. It was small anchor points that kept me grounded.

.A few seconds later, another man slid into the booth behind me, and the stench of sweat, stress and barely hidden fear hit my nose immediately. Typical Elias.

I took a casual sip of my drink. "Cobalt moon," I said quietly, not turning around.

"Burns the brightest in winter," he replied with his voice tight.

I released a light breath as my brows furrowed at the faint thump of his leg jittering under his table. What was he doing?

I opened my mouth to talks but he stopped abruptly. Like he’d caught himself and was trying to act normal.

“Why are you being jittery? You’re usually calmer.”

“Because this meeting, at this time, in this place, is a goddamn risk,” Elias snapped under his breath. He tried to keep his tone flat, but failed miserably. “The theater’s got more ears than shadows these days.”

The theater was our code for The Order. And if his words were true and they had increased their spies around, something must have changed like I suspected.

My jaw clenched. “I wouldn’t have risked calling you to meet up if this wasn’t important. And what you said just confirmed this. So what happened? What haven’t you reported?”

Elias hesitated, and took a deep breath before responding, “We agreed no half-lit details.”

“We agreed every crucial detail gets reported,” I growled, my fingers tightening on my mug until the ceramic protested beneath the pressure. My control was slipping.

Was he trying to play me for a fool, right now?

“Look I don’t know the full details, okay? Word is... there was a breakthrough. I wasn’t given the full file, but security protocols tripled overnight. Entire sectors are now red access only.”

A curse burned on my tongue. “That is exactly the type of thing you report.” My breath hissed between clenched teeth. “How the hell is that even possible? We’ve sabotaged every line of research for five years. Cut off their supply chains. Took out their top scientists.”

“I know,” he muttered, guilt lacing the words. “But something slipped through. This only makes sense if there’s another lab that wasn’t accounted for on our grid or even theirs.”

My blood pounded loud in my ears. "And you’re just telling me this now?"

“I only found out last week,” Elias said quickly. “Someone in their inner circle slipped, and paid for it with his life. If anyone finds out I know... I’m next.”

“That should be the least of your worries.”

My voice rose before I realized it. The rage was clawing its way up my throat, and I could feel my wolf pushing against my skin.

Tyro slid into the booth across from me like a ghost, eyes wide with warning. I caught the subtle shake of his head—cool it.

I scanned the room. A few patrons were already glancing our way with suspicious glances.

Shit.

I dragged in a breath, choking it down with effort. “If they had a breakthrough,” I said, deliberately low, “why haven’t we heard about it? There’d be whispers. Leaks. Something.”

 “Not if they covered their tracks.”

I turned to Tyro. “Get our tech on the line. I want records of any public or private gatherings in the last year where injections were administered. Charity runs, medical outreach, vaccinations. I want everything. Fast."

Tyro nodded and tapped his earpiece, speaking quickly. Within moments, he slid me a tablet.

“One event fits. Health outreach in downtown Elmond, two months ago. A vaccine distribution under the guise of a free health outreach in downtown Elmond. There was a heavy turnout, and lots of reports of side effects and mysterious fevers afterward. But the trail went cold within days. Complaints were buried."

I nearly choked. “How many people?” I asked.

"Two hundred and thirty-seven," the tech replied. "Confirmed contact."

Two hundred and thirty-seven? My vision pulsed red for a second.

“How the hell did we miss this?!” My voice shook. The edge of the tablet cracked beneath my hand.

“It seems they might have administered something to the people who came,” Tyros continued. “His best guess is werewolf genes, hence the side effects and fevers.”

“That’s why it flew under the radar,” Elias quickly added. “That’s not their M.O., so it wasn’t linked to them.”

My pulse was thundering. I’m not paying millions in bribes and surveillance to stay ten steps behind.

The tablet shattered under my grip, the screen cracking.

“If that didn’t work,” I said through gritted teeth, “then what did? What are they guarding so tightly now?”

Elias hesitated, his body heat had heightened behind me, a response to my anger. “I don’t know. I just know that since the injections failed, they wouldn’t have repeated the same thing again and not so soon. Whatever worked… wasn’t administered that way.”

I stared at the grimy tabletop, resisting the urge to punch through it.

But something worked, didn’t it? What did?”

“But it worked, didn’t it?” I asked. “You said there was a success.”

“One. Maybe,” Elias said. “They’re guarding something. With how much protection they’ve thrown around it, I don’t think it’s a mass outcome. But they have something or someone in this case.”

My chest rose and fell fast. My wolf was snarling now, demanding release. I was one wrong word away from shifting in this godforsaken place.

It was bad enough that two hundred plus people had just gone missing, and there had been no alarm about it from anywhere, but now they had a successful case?!

“You better find out who and where, Elias. Or the next time we speak, well, there’d be no next time.”

Elias growled under his breath but didn’t argue. He slid out of his booth and disappeared.

One successful case.

My thoughts spun, and I was instantly yanked back to Ashina’s apartment and the lingering strange scent that had brought about this meeting. She’d been tensed, and I wondered why that hadn’t left even when I’d sent the nuisance at her door away. But then I’d also thought it might have had something to do with seeing me again, so I didn’t check back.

I reached for my phone and noticed the blank screen. There were no updates from the trackers.

My gut turned cold as I looked up to Tyro, slowly. “Why haven’t I received reports from the team tailing Ashina? It’s been over five hours.”

Tyro shifted slightly in his seat, making my blood run cold.

“Tyro?”

"We’ve been trying to re-establish contact. They followed her, but she was speeding and…”

“Where the hell is she?!”

Tyro’s gaze dropped for a fraction of a second. "We... lost her, Alpha."

The last thread of calm I had been holding onto snapped. I grabbed Tyro by the front of his shirt and yanked him halfway across the table.

“Find her. Now.”