The Memory Room

For several seconds after the screen went black, neither Rei nor Dominic moved.

The hallway had fallen strangely silent. The students who had been whispering moments earlier were now staring at them, sensing that whatever had just happened was bigger than another argument between an Alpha and an Omega. Even Selena had stopped smiling.

Dominic kept his eyes fixed on the blank screen.

"I remember her," he said.

Rei's heart tightened.

"My grandmother?"

He nodded slowly.

"Not clearly. It's like trying to see something underwater."

He pressed his fingers against his temple.

"There was a room. White walls. A window that wasn't really a window. She was sitting on the floor."

"What was she doing?"

"Talking to me."

"What did she say?"

Dominic closed his eyes.

"She told me not to be afraid."

A shiver moved through Rei.

"Did she know you?"

"I think so."

"How?"

"I don't know."

He opened his eyes.

"But I remember you."

Rei stared at him.

"Me?"

"Not you as you are now."

He took a slow breath.

"You were a little girl."

Something inside Rei seemed to unlock.

A memory flashed through her mind.

A cold floor beneath her bare feet.

Bright lights.

A boy standing in front of her.

Dark hair.

Gray eyes.

Blood on his knuckles.

She remembered holding his hand.

Then a voice shouting.

Then her grandmother pulling her away.

Rei stumbled backward.

Dominic caught her.

"You remembered."

She stared at him.

"I knew you."

He nodded.

"We knew each other."

The revelation should have terrified her.

Instead, it made a strange piece of her life finally fit into place.

The inexplicable familiarity.

The way his presence had always seemed known.

The way she had hated him almost immediately, as if some part of her already understood exactly how dangerous he could be.

And the way she had trusted him despite everything.

"Why didn't I remember you?"

"Because someone took the memories."

"How?"

"I don't know."

Selena finally spoke.

"I do."

Dominic turned toward her.

She looked less confident now.

"Blackthorn has a memory suppression program."

Rei's eyes narrowed.

"How do you know?"

Selena swallowed.

"Because I was part of it."

Dominic moved toward her.

"Explain."

"I can't."

"Explain."

Selena's face tightened.

"They use scent conditioning, medication, and neurological stimulation. It doesn't erase memories completely. It buries them."

Rei felt sick.

"So that's what happened to me."

"Yes."

"Why?"

Selena looked at Dominic.

"Because you were never supposed to remember each other."

"Why?"

"Because the bond wasn't supposed to happen naturally."

Rei's stomach tightened.

"What did they want?"

Selena hesitated.

"They wanted to manufacture it."

The hallway seemed to tilt.

Dominic's voice became dangerously quiet.

"You're saying they created our bond?"

"No."

Selena shook her head.

"They tried to control it."

She looked at Rei.

"Your bloodline is unpredictable. They discovered that when an Omega from your family chooses an Alpha freely, the bond becomes stronger than anything they can manufacture."

Dominic stared at her.

"So they separated us."

"Yes."

"And erased our memories."

"Yes."

Rei stepped closer.

"Then why bring me to Blackthorn?"

Selena looked toward the laboratory doors.

"Because they needed you to come back."

"Why?"

"Because your heat awakened the dormant bond."

Dominic's face hardened.

"And once it awakened?"

"They could track you."

Rei's blood ran cold.

"My heat."

Selena nodded.

"Your first heat wasn't random."

Rei felt her stomach drop.

"They caused it?"

"No."

Selena looked frightened.

"They triggered it."

Dominic's eyes flashed silver.

"How?"

Selena shook her head.

"I don't know."

"You're lying."

"I'm not."

Dominic stepped closer.

"Then tell me who did it."

Selena's eyes moved toward the laboratory.

"Dr. Voss."

Rei recognized the name.

One of the academy's most respected professors.

She had seen him in the science building.

He had always been kind.

Always smiling.

Always asking questions about her adjustment to Blackthorn.

Rei suddenly remembered one conversation.

He had asked whether her suppressants were working.

She had thought he was being helpful.

Now she realized he had known exactly what he was doing.

"Where is he?"

Selena didn't answer.

The laboratory doors opened.

A man stepped into the hallway.

Professor Voss.

He was dressed in a white coat.

His expression was calm.

Almost pleasant.

"Selena."

She immediately stepped backward.

"Professor."

"You've said enough."

Dominic moved in front of Rei.

Voss smiled.

"Captain Vale."

"Stay away from her."

"I have no intention of harming either of you."

"Then let us leave."

Voss laughed softly.

"You still think this is about hurting people."

He looked at Rei.

"It's about understanding them."

"You kidnapped my mother."

"I protected your mother."

"She has a collar around her neck."

"A precaution."

Rei's anger surged.

"You call that protection?"

Voss's smile disappeared.

"Your mother has spent decades interfering with research that could change the dynamics of the supernatural world."

"Research?"

"Yes."

He looked at Dominic.

"Your families have spent generations pretending Alpha and Omega biology is fixed."

His eyes returned to Rei.

"It isn't."

Rei's fists tightened.

"What do you want?"

Voss smiled again.

"You."

Dominic stepped forward.

"You're going to have to go through me."

"I expected that."

Voss raised a small device.

Dominic suddenly dropped to one knee.

His face twisted in pain.

Rei rushed toward him.

"Dominic!"

He grabbed the floor.

His breathing became ragged.

"What did you do?"

Voss calmly held the device.

"Your Alpha response is unusually strong."

Rei glared at him.

"Stop."

"Interesting."

Voss looked at the device.

"The connection activates when she becomes distressed."

Dominic forced himself upright.

"Don't."

Voss pressed another button.

Dominic cried out.

Rei felt something inside her snap.

She lunged toward Voss.

Two guards immediately moved to stop her.

Dominic roared.

The sound shook the hallway.

His eyes flashed silver.

His body began shifting.

"Rei, run!"

She refused.

"Not without you."

Voss smiled.

"Exactly."

The guards grabbed her arms.

Rei fought violently, kicking and twisting.

"Let go of me!"

Dominic attacked.

One guard flew across the hallway.

The second guard raised a weapon.

Rei saw it.

"Dominic!"

He turned.

The weapon discharged.

Dominic collapsed.

"No!"

Rei screamed.

She broke free and ran toward him.

Blood spread across his shirt.

Her knees hit the floor beside him.

"Dominic."

His eyes opened.

"I'm okay."

"You've been shot."

"I've had worse."

"You idiot."

He smiled weakly.

"That's the first nice thing you've said to me all day."

Rei laughed through tears.

Then the laboratory doors slammed shut behind them.

Voss was gone.

So were the guards.

Rei looked around.

They were trapped.

Dominic tried to stand.

Rei helped him.

"Can you walk?"

"Yes."

"You're lying."

"Probably."

The walls suddenly began moving.

Panels slid into place.

The hallway transformed.

Rei stared.

"We're being sealed in."

Dominic looked around.

"Where are they taking us?"

A speaker crackled overhead.

Voss's voice filled the corridor.

"Welcome back to the place where it all began."

The floor beneath them opened.

Rei screamed.

Dominic grabbed her.

They dropped together.

They landed on a metal platform several feet below.

The room around them was enormous.

White walls.

Metal restraints.

Medical equipment.

And two tables positioned beneath bright lights.

Rei stopped breathing.

She knew this room.

She had never consciously remembered it.

But her body did.

She walked toward one of the tables.

Her hands began shaking.

"This is where they took me."

Dominic stared at the second table.

"And me."

A monitor flickered on.

Two names appeared.

REI ANDERSON — SUBJECT O-01

DOMINIC VALE — SUBJECT A-01

Below them was a third line.

BOND COMPATIBILITY: 99.98%

Rei stared at the number.

"No."

Dominic moved closer.

A recording began playing.

A woman's voice filled the room.

Elara.

Rei knew immediately.

"Children," the recording said, "if you're hearing this, they have found you again."

Rei covered her mouth.

Dominic stood perfectly still.

Elara continued.

"They will tell you that your bond is destiny."

The recording crackled.

"It isn't."

Rei looked at Dominic.

"They will tell you that one of you belongs to the other."

Her grandmother's voice became softer.

"That is a lie."

Dominic's expression changed.

Elara continued.

"You were chosen because they believed they could control you."

The recording paused.

Then came the sentence that shattered everything.

"But the bond was never meant to make the Alpha the master of the Omega."

A door opened somewhere behind them.

Elara's voice whispered through the speakers.

"It was meant to make them equals."

Rei turned.

A man stood in the doorway.

Marcus Vale.

Dominic's father.

He looked older than Rei remembered from the photographs.

Tired.

Broken.

But alive.

Dominic stared at him.

"You knew."

Marcus looked at his son.

"Yes."

"You knew about me and Rei."

"Yes."

"You knew what Blackthorn did to us."

Marcus lowered his head.

"Yes."

Dominic's voice shook with anger.

"Then why didn't you tell me?"

Marcus looked at Rei.

"Because if I told you, they would know you remembered."

Dominic stepped toward him.

"You let me hate you."

"I know."

"You let me believe the training was punishment."

"I needed you strong."

"You disappeared."

"I was trying to destroy the program."

Dominic's jaw tightened.

"And Adrian?"

Marcus closed his eyes.

"He isn't your brother."

Dominic froze.

Rei stared at him.

Marcus looked at them both.

"Adrian is the reason this entire nightmare began."

The laboratory lights flickered.

Then every monitor in the room turned red.

A warning appeared across the screens.

BOND ACTIVATION: 100%

Rei looked at Dominic.

He looked back.

Something powerful moved through the room.

Their scents changed.

Their wolves responded.

And somewhere deep beneath Blackthorn, an ancient system that had been dormant for generations suddenly came alive.

Marcus's face went white.

"No."

Dominic grabbed Rei's hand.

"What?"

Marcus stared at the monitor.

"They weren't trying to create your bond."

His voice trembled.

"They were trying to activate something through it."

The laboratory doors slammed shut.

And beneath their feet, something enormous began to wake.