Chapter 5 — Locked Archives

~ Nora Vane POV ~

"Hold still," Caleb commanded softly.

He brought the diagnostic scanner down against the crook of my elbow, the small needle drawing a single vial of blood before sealing the small puncture. My hand remained in his, my fingers cold against his warm, calloused palm. The faint silver luminescence beneath my skin had finally vanished completely, leaving behind only the stark crimson stain on my torn sweater.

"I don't understand what happened out there," I whispered, watching him insert the vial into the scanner's primary bay. "Wolfless humans don't heal like that. We don't heal at all without medical intervention."

"You aren't wounded now," Caleb said, his voice quiet as he initiated the sequence on his terminal. "That's what matters."

He pulled up a secure screen, connecting the terminal to the pack's military servers. A progress bar appeared, pulsing blue as it began analyzing the biological sample against the standard pack registries.

"We'll run a baseline cross-reference," Caleb said, stepping closer so his shoulder brushed mine. "It should identify the genetic markers. If there's werewolf lineage your family hid from you, the database will flag the dormant strain."

We watched the screen in silence.

The progress bar hit forty percent, then slowed. The blue interface flickered erratically, shifting to a harsh amber hue.

"Is it jammed?" I asked.

"No," Caleb muttered, his brow furrowing as he leaned over the desk, his fingers flying across the mechanical keyboard. "The server is attempting to map the sequence, but the structural alignment isn't matching any known pack template."

Suddenly, the monitor flashed bright red. A loud error tone sounded from the speakers.

SYSTEM ERROR: UNIDENTIFIED GENETIC ARCHITECTURE

DATABASE CORRUPTION DETECTED

SECURITY OVERRIDE INITIATED

Lines of corrupted code scrambled across the screen, replacing the bar graph with ancient numeric strings. Seconds later, the terminal froze, a flashing prompt appearing in the center of the display.

CLEARANCE LEVEL 9 REQUIRED

ORIGIN: ROYAL ARCHIVES — LOCKED REGISTRY (RESTRICTED ACCESS)

"The Royal Archives?" I blinked at the glowing text. "That network was decommissioned fifty years ago when the monarchy fell. How could my blood pull a clearance code from a dead database?"

"It isn't dead," Caleb said, his tone grim. "It was archived. Access to those files was restricted to sovereign lines."

He quickly opened a secondary terminal to trace the network request, but before he could enter his administrative key, a priority alert popped up on his screen.

A knock sounded at the suite door.

Caleb's posture instantly shifted. "Enter."

The door swung open, and Finn, Caleb's second-in-command, stepped inside. His face was tense, his gaze darting briefly to me before settling on Caleb.

"Alpha," Finn said quickly, closing the door behind him. "We have a situation at the central archive office."

"What happened?" Caleb asked.

"Elder Lucian's personal guards just placed a physical and digital lockdown on the central registry," Finn reported. "They disconnected the primary server stack from the main keep. Lucian claimed it was a routine security audit following the ridge breach, but my team monitored the traffic. The moment your terminal pinged the old archive codes, his squad moved in."

The room felt suddenly colder.

I looked at Caleb, the pieces falling into place with terrifying precision. "Lucian knew," I whispered. "He knew what would happen if my blood was ever tested. That's why he sealed my childhood file eighteen years ago. And that's why he sent me out to the western trail tonight."

"He wanted you dead before anyone could run a scan," Caleb said, his dark eyes flashing with lethal intent. "He used the rogue attack as cover to eliminate you without raising suspicion."

"If he knows we ran the scan, we're out of time," I said, my hands tightening into fists at my sides. "He's going to cover his tracks."

"He won't get the chance," Caleb replied, his voice deadly calm.

He turned back to the terminal and plugged a encrypted drive into the side port. With a few swift commands, he isolated the corrupted scan data, pulling it off the pack network and transferring it onto the offline drive.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"I'm wiping the local cache," Caleb said, watching the terminal screen clear as the data transferred. "If Lucian inspects the server logs, he'll see a system crash caused by a hardware fault, nothing more. He won't get his hands on your sample."

He pulled the drive from the port and turned to face me. The encrypted key sat in the palm of his hand, small, dark, and dangerous.

"We can't take this to the council," I said, looking from the drive up to his face. "Lucian controls the financial board, and your father won't risk a civil dispute without concrete proof. If we accuse them now, Lucian will turn the entire pack against us."

"I know," Caleb agreed smoothly. He reached out, grabbing my hand and placing the drive into my palm, wrapping his broad fingers over mine. "We don't fight them in the open until we hold all the cards. You and me, Nora. We find out what happened eighteen years ago together. No one else knows about this drive. Not the council, not my father, and not Lucian."

The warmth of his hand over mine grounded me, turning the rising panic into something cold. We weren't just an Alpha and an administrator trapped in a forced arrangement anymore. We were conspirators.

"Together," I agreed softly.

Caleb pressed his thumb over the back of my hand, a silent vow passing between us in the quiet room. "I won't let them touch you again. I swear it."

Before I could answer, Finn stepped forward, his radio crackling to life at his belt. He listened for a second, his expression darkening further.

"Alpha," Finn interrupted, his voice tight. "Lucian just issued a formal directive through the council channel."

Caleb didn't let go of my hand. "Spill it, Finn."

"Elder Lucian has requested an immediate, mandatory council audit of all pack medical records and baseline registries," Finn said, staring at us. "He's calling an emergency session at dawn and he's demanded that Nora present her full biological clearance in front of the board.”