Lila barely noticed the sound of the front door opening. Her fingers moved feverishly across the keyboard, her mind racing as she pieced everything together. The moment she cracked the final sequence, her breath caught in her throat.“Lila?” Lucas’s voice snapped her out of her trance. She turned sharply, heart still hammering. He stood in the doorway with Jake beside him, both looking exhausted but alert.“You’re back.” Her voice was hoarse from lack of use.Jake raised an eyebrow. “You sound surprised. What, you think we were gonna let the lawyers handle the trial while we ran off on some mission?” Lila blinked. “You mean… you didn’t?” Lucas sighed, rubbing his temple. “It was a formality. The trial was never going to be a real issue. We were more concerned about what you’d find while we were gone.” His gaze sharpened as he took in the state of the room—papers scattered, multiple monitors running different analyses, lines of code flashing on the screens. “And judging by the look o
LILA POV I told them about Arika—what little I could remember. Honestly, there wasn’t much, and what I did recall wasn’t great. Arika had always been trouble.She was three years older than me and never missed a chance to make my life miserable. I still remember the relief I felt when she disappeared and never came back. But now, staring at her face on the screen, I felt uneasy. The same way she always made me feel."Is she a hacker too?" Jake asked."I don't know… but she was good at taking things that weren’t hers," I admitted. I remembered how she used to steal from everyone in the orphanage, always shifting the blame onto others. More often than not, I took the fall. She enjoyed watching me struggle."I'll have my men look for her," Lucas assured me. I nodded, but deep down, I knew it wouldn’t be easy to track her down."But for now, you need rest," Lucas added firmly. "You’ve had a long day, and I won’t hear another word about it."I narrowed my eyes at him, tempted to argue. B
Lila felt a wave of sadness when they declined to give her their full attention simultaneously. Nevertheless, once Jake finished his interaction, she sat on Lucas's lap as he continued his. It brought her a feeling of comfort for the rest of the evening, and Jake took care of her by providing food. Lucas seemed reluctant to part ways, and she found herself spending the night with him following their meal. He escorted her to his sleeping quarters for the remainder of the night."So persistent," Lucas remarked, his voice soft and low as they embraced in the bed."You seem unwilling to move," Lila noted as he remained close."It's not my intent to stay," Lucas responded, gently attempting to ease her, but his efforts proved ineffective. Instead, Lila gave him a playful nudge."If you don't intend to stay, then why are you holding onto me so tightly?" she teased, tilting her head slightly to meet his gaze.Lucas exhaled softly, brushing his fingers through her hair. "You're warm," he adm
"This is a terrible idea," Lucas muttered, rubbing his temple as he read Rikkard’s email for the third time. His hands clenched into fists."We don’t have much of a choice, do we?" Jake countered, leaning against the doorway.Lucas’s jaw tightened. "I’d rather burn Rikkard’s entire empire to the ground than ask for his help.""And yet, here we are," Jake said with a sigh. "Lila’s safety comes first. You know that."Lucas growled under his breath. His wolf stirred violently at the mere thought of Rikkard being anywhere near Lila. It was a struggle to suppress the possessive, raging part of himself."You think I don’t know that?" Lucas snapped, his golden eyes flashing. "But trusting him? After everything? It makes me sick."Jake crossed his arms, unfazed. "It’s not trust—it’s necessity. Someone’s targeting us, Lucas. And unless you plan on ripping through an entire underground network by yourself, we need Rikkard’s resources."Lucas exhaled sharply, trying to steady himself. His hatred
Lila crossed her arms, tapping her fingers against her elbow as the screen remained dark. "How long is this going to take? We’re sitting ducks here.""Patience, kitten," Jake murmured, leaning back in his chair with an infuriating smirk. "You’re acting like you have somewhere better to be.""I do—literally anywhere but waiting on Rikkard," she shot back. "And don’t call me kitten."Lucas exhaled slowly, his gaze fixed on the screen. "If this is going to work, we need to be prepared for anything. Rikkard doesn’t trust easily, and neither do I.""That makes two of us," Lila muttered. "Three, actually."The tension in the room thickened as the screen flickered. Static hummed for a brief second before Rikkard’s face appeared. His sharp, calculating eyes swept across them, lingering on Lila longer than she liked."Well, well," Rikkard mused, his voice like velvet laced with steel. "Quite the interesting gathering. Lucas, Jake, and…?""Lila," she answered flatly, unwilling to let him steer
A Breach of Trust“What is she doing here?”Rikkard’s voice, thick with disdain, filled the silent space as his image flickered onto the screen. His dark eyes narrowed, scanning the trio before him. Lucas sat rigid, his jaw tightening. Jake leaned back, arms crossed, a smirk playing at his lips. And Lila? She held her ground, unfazed by the obvious hostility.“She’s here because she needs to be,” Lucas responded curtly. “We agreed to talk. So talk.”Rikkard scoffed, barely concealing his contempt. “I agreed to speak with men of power, not a woman who has no place in this conversation.”Lila arched a brow, unimpressed. “And yet, here I am.”Jake chuckled under his breath, clearly enjoying the tension, while Lucas remained coldly silent. Lila refused to look away from Rikkard, her expression unwavering. If he thought a condescending tone would make her cower, he had another thing coming.Rikkard exhaled sharply, as if already exhausted. “Fine. Let’s get to the point.” He leaned forward,
Lucas turned to face her fully. "Arika."Lila’s fingers drummed against the table, her jaw tightening. "I’d bet my life on it."Jake nodded. "It makes sense. If she wanted to throw everyone off her trail, pinning it on Lawrence would be a smart move. But why steal military secrets? What’s her endgame?"Lila shook her head. "That’s what we need to find out."Lucas’s expression darkened. "We also need to consider another possibility—Rikkard might already know Arika is involved. He could be playing us."Silence filled the room. The thought sent a cold ripple down Lila’s spine. "You think he’s using us to clean up his mess?"Lucas nodded. "Wouldn’t be the first time he’s manipulated a situation to his advantage."Jake sighed. "So, what’s our next move? We can’t just sit here and wait for Rikkard to feed us more half-truths."Lila straightened. "The Weddard witches."Jake frowned. "What about them?""They talk," she said simply. "Loose tongues, eager ears. If Rikkard knows something about
“You’re overthinking this.”“I am not.” Lila’s voice was sharp, her eyes flashing with irritation as she paced the room. “Rikkard isn’t telling us everything. There’s something bigger going on, and if we don’t figure it out soon, we’ll be caught in the middle of it.”Jake exhaled heavily, arms crossed as he leaned against the doorframe. “I get it, Lila. But you’re pushing yourself too hard. You need to slow down.”“I don’t have time to slow down,” she snapped, raking a hand through her hair. “Arika could be orchestrating something even worse, and Rikkard might be hiding more than he’s letting on.”Lucas, who had been silent up until now, stepped forward. “Lila, we hear you. But your stress isn’t helping. It’s making everything worse.”Lila shot him a glare. “So what? You want me to just sit back and do nothing?”“No,” Jake said, pushing off the doorframe. “But I do want you to breathe, maybe sleep for more than three hours a night. You’re running yourself into the ground.”She clenche
“You’re insane, Arika. You know that, right?”“Insane?” Arika’s voice oozed with mockery. “Please. That’s such a civilian diagnosis.”Lila’s fists clenched as she took another step forward, her eyes locked on the massive screen overhead—00:09:56. The red numbers blinked with a deadly calmness, each second ticking away a piece of her resolve. Beneath the screen, her servers stood like monuments to everything she’d fought for. Wired with explosives.“You’re going to kill us both,” Lila spat, her voice shaking with fury. “All of this—just to prove a point?”“Oh no, darling.” Arika twirled the sleek detonator in her hand, its silver surface catching the dim light. “Not to prove a point. To make one.”“You planted explosives on the servers!” Lila’s voice rose, ragged. “Are you listening to yourself?”Arika chuckled softly, stepping aside to reveal a clearer view of the blinking red lights wired into each server unit. “I told you this was always bigger than us. You just didn’t want to belie
Lila followed Arika up the ramp, her boots clinking softly against the grated metal, heart thudding louder with each step. Something in Arika’s voice lingered like smoke—too calm, too measured. She didn’t trust it. Not for a second.“You keep the data onboard?” Lila asked, eyes flicking to the wall-mounted surveillance cams. The ship’s interior was sleek but sterile, with black paneling and chrome fixtures. Cold. Like its owner.“No,” Arika said, stopping at a narrow corridor. “I keep my insurance onboard.”She keyed a code into the control pad, and a mechanical hiss broke the silence. A door slid open, revealing a freight elevator platform.“After you,” Arika said with a mock bow.Lila stepped in cautiously, hand still near her weapon. The platform hummed, descending smoothly into the ship’s belly. A few seconds passed in silence. Arika didn’t move. Didn’t smile.Then the metal chamber opened—and Lila’s breath caught.Rows of blinking machines lined the container-sized space. The ser
The Vault’s Truth:Arika’s voice cut through the still air like a blade. “You ever stop and ask yourself what the point of it all is?”Lila didn’t answer immediately. The faint hum of the servers was the only sound between them. Outside, the snow still howled, muffled through thick bunker walls. Her fingers hovered over the tablet screen, pulling fragments of data—locations, funds, faces of corrupt officials—but her mind was already one step ahead.“I used to,” she said finally, gaze still fixed on the display. “I used to think the world was rotten to the core. That maybe if I set a match to everything, it’d feel better.”Arika snorted. “It doesn’t.”“No,” Lila agreed, voice softer now. “It just burns you with it.”That silenced Arika for a beat. Lila glanced over, catching the flicker of doubt that cracked through her sister’s sarcasm.“You sound like one of those therapy podcasts the Alphas play for their anxious mates.”“I sound like someone who’s been burned before.” Lila turned o
Frostbite and Fireworks:"“You sure you’re not walking me into a trap?”Lila’s voice cut through the storm, low and razor-sharp, carried on the wind like a blade tossed by fate."Would I waste this much time just to kill you?” Arika replied without glancing back, her silhouette a blur through the thick curtain of snow. “Don’t flatter yourself.”"You’ve done worse for less."Lila adjusted the grip on her sidearm beneath her coat, every muscle coiled. “And you still haven’t answered how you got the servers out of here without leaving a trail.”"You'll see.”It wasn’t a tease. It wasn’t a threat. It was a promise laced with something darker—familiar, dangerous, and maddeningly vague.The snowstorm howled around them like a feral thing, wind battering exposed skin and biting through layers as they trudged deeper into the derelict port grounds. Long-dead cranes loomed like rusted sentinels, skeletal and forgotten. The place reeked of salt, decay, and memory.Lila kept scanning—trees, rooft
The locket in Arika’s hand glinted one last time in the fading light before she tucked it into the folds of her coat, her fingers twitching as though the cold no longer bothered her—just the past that still clung to her skin.But Lila wasn’t finished.Not yet.She turned slowly, like a predator toying with a rival too confident for her own good. “You know,” she said conversationally, her voice laced with honeyed venom, “for someone who prides herself on good taste, I’m surprised you didn’t notice the warning signs.”Arika’s head tilted. “What signs?”Lila’s smile was all razor-edge charm. “Oh, just that Salicus was riddled with diseases. Biochemical ones. I should know—I left him with a few.”The blow landed with precision. A flicker of something passed through Arika’s expression—a stutter in her breath, a twitch at the corner of her mouth. She masked it quickly, but not quickly enough.“You’re bluffing,” Arika said, voice clipped.“Am I?” Lila stepped closer, letting her words drip.
Lila’s lips parted slightly, but no words came out. That sentence—so personal, so venomous—stuck in her like a blade wedged between ribs.Arika didn’t wait for her to recover. She turned and walked slowly toward the edge of the clearing, her fingers brushing the frost-covered rail of a long-abandoned cargo lift. The silence between them thickened.“I had a guest once,” Arika called over her shoulder, too casual. “You might know him. Salicus Grante.”Lila’s body snapped to attention.The name landed like a hammer.“You’re lying.”Arika looked back, one eyebrow raised. “Am I?”“Salicus is dead.”Arika gave a mocking little shrug. “Is that what you tell yourself to sleep at night? Or just what you hope is true?”Lila took a shaky step forward. Her pulse thundered in her ears. “Where. Did. You. See. Him.”“Here. There. Doesn’t matter,” Arika said. “He’s a wanderer. A very persistent one. Had a few... interesting stories about you, too. I see where you get your taste in men.”Lila’s hands
Chapter Title: Blood Tides and Buried Truths"You look older than I imagined. The cold's not kind to you, huh?"Lila’s voice cut through the air, sharp as shattered ice.Arika smirked, slow and poisonous. “And you still greet people like you’re handing out ultimatums.”“I only greet the ones who fake their deaths and sell lies for a living.”Arika’s eyes flicked down her nose, unfazed. “Still bitter, I see. At least that hasn’t aged.”The wind between them twisted, biting through cloth and bone alike. They stood ten paces apart in the heart of the abandoned clearing, surrounded by cracked concrete and frost-covered crates. The silence of the ruin only emphasized how violently the past clawed its way into the present.“You died,” Lila said, voice low now. Controlled. “That’s what they told me. What you let them tell me.”“They weren’t wrong,” Arika replied smoothly. “Not entirely.”Lila scoffed. “You faked your death and vanished. What else was I supposed to believe?”“That I had a rea
The cold gnawed at Lila’s exposed cheeks as she emerged from the warehouse’s side exit and stepped into the clearing.A vast, open yard stretched before her.Flat, white, endless.The area must have once been the central cargo bay—a wide slab of cracked concrete now buried beneath ice and powdery snow. Massive tracks were etched faintly beneath the layers, ghost-lines of long-dead machinery. Here, where shipments had once been loaded, goods transferred, and orders barked, now only wind howled and silence ruled.She stepped forward slowly.Her boots sank with every crunching step, leaving deep impressions behind her. The expanse was so open, it felt vulnerable. Naked. No cover. No shadows to slip into. Just the broad chest of the clearing exposed to the grey sky overhead.Lila exhaled through her nose, eyes scanning left to right, then back again.No movement.No signs.And yet her pulse wouldn’t slow.Something didn’t add up.If this was Arika’s meeting point, where the hell was the e
The snow swallowed their steps as they began to move again.None of them spoke.The world had gone eerily still, as if holding its breath. Lila led the way, eyes narrowed against the wind, with Jake close behind her left shoulder and Lucas covering their right flank. Their boots crunched against the crusted snow, the only sound in an otherwise dead landscape.With every step forward, the forest behind them shrank, consumed by the encroaching white.“This is madness,” Jake muttered under his breath, his voice muffled beneath his scarf. “Visibility’s garbage. We’re tracking straight into open ground. Arika wants us blind.”“She wants a meeting,” Lila shot back, not looking over her shoulder. “And I’m not turning back.”Lucas scanned the tree line one last time before sighing. “Yeah, well, if we die out here in the snow, at least it’ll be poetic.”The wind howled in answer.Their pace slowed as the ground sloped downward, snow now knee-deep. Every few steps, one of them stumbled. Lila’s