LOGINThe command center looked like a fortress. Steel and concrete rising from the mountain. No windows. No obvious entrances. Just smooth walls and guard towers every fifty feet.“That’s where Nightshade is?” Damien stared through binoculars. “It’s massive. How many people does she have inside?”“Hundreds. Maybe thousands.” My father studied schematics on a tablet. “But most are support staff. Scientists. Technicians. The actual guard force is maybe two hundred. Still significant. Still dangerous.”“Can we infiltrate without triggering alarms?” Elena checked her weapons. “Because if we alert them before deploying the virus, they’ll initiate early activation. We lose everything.”“There’s a maintenance tunnel. Eastern side. Used for waste disposal and supply deliveries.” My mother zoomed in on the blueprints. “Minimal security. Guards check it twice daily. The next check is in four hours. That’s our window.”“Four hours to infiltrate. Find the central hub. Deploy the virus. Escape before a
“Another facility.” I stared at the dead phone. At the proof that we’d accomplished nothing. “She’s been playing us this whole time. Letting us think we were winning while the real operation continued somewhere else.”My mother touched my shoulder. Her hand is warm. Real. Alive. “Elowen. Look at me. What you did today matters. You freed hundreds of people. You saved your father and me. You dealt a massive blow to the Collective. That’s nothing.”“But it’s not enough. Not if she has another facility. Another army. Another way to activate Project Genesis.” I looked at Lycian. At the exhaustion in his eyes. “We’re always one step behind. Always reacting instead of acting. How do we win a war we can’t even see coming?”“We stop fighting her war. We start fighting ours.” He pulled me close. “We have something Nightshade doesn’t. Something she can’t replicate or counter.”“What? Because right now it feels like she has everything. Resources. Intelligence. An army waiting to activate. We have
“Mom, stop. Please. It’s me. It’s Elowen.” I backed away as she advanced. Her eyes flat. Empty. Nothing of the woman who’d birthed me was visible in that mechanical stare.“Target identified. Moonsilver threat. Eliminate.” Her hand reached for my throat. Fast. Trained. Deadly.Lycian caught her wrist. Held her back. “We need to restrain them. Before they hurt someone. Before they hurt you.”“No. I can fix this. I can purify the programming. Like I did with Elena. Like I did with the enhanced wolves.” I reached for my power. For the silver light. Found nothing. The suppression drug was still blocking everything that made me Moonsilver.My father moved. Silent. Efficient. Grabbed a scalpel and lunged at me.Elena intercepted. Her elbow struck his temple. He dropped unconscious. The scalpel clattered to the floor.“They’re too far gone,” Elena said. Breathing hard. “Twenty-two years of conditioning. You can’t undo that.”“I have to try. They’re my parents.” I knelt beside him. Touched hi
My parents looked exactly as I remembered. Frozen in time. Mom’s dark hair streaked with silver. Dad’s strong jaw. Both are peaceful. Like they were sleeping instead of trapped.“They’re really alive.” My voice came out strangled. Wrong. “You weren’t lying.”“I never lie. I manipulate. I misdirect. I strategize. But I don’t lie.” Tessa circled the chambers. Fingers trailing along the glass. “Your parents have been here for twenty-two years. Suspended. Waiting. Perfect subjects for our experiments.”“Subjects.” The word tasted like ash. “They’re people. My parents. Not your lab rats.”“They’re both. That’s what makes them so valuable.” She stopped at my mother’s chamber. Studied her face. “Your mother was brilliant. Created half the formulas we still use. Your father perfected the suspended animation process. They gave us everything. Willingly. Before they got cold feet and tried to run.”“You’re lying. They would never help you. Never willingly hurt people.”“Wouldn’t they? Everyone h
Three days weren’t enough time to prepare anyone for what was coming. But it was all we had.The adolescent wolves stood in the training yard. Nervous. Excited. Too young to fully understand what they were volunteering for.Maya. Fourteen. Fast. Clever. Daughter of a pack warrior who’d died fighting the Collective.Jason. Thirteen. Small even for his age. But it could fit through spaces others couldn’t. His mother watched from the sidelines, face pale.Kira. Fifteen. The oldest. The leader. She’d already shifted three times. Already proven herself capable. Her father stood beside her, pride and terror warring on his face.“You don’t have to do this,” I told them. Voice soft. Serious. “This is dangerous. Possibly deadly. No one will think less of you if you walk away.”“My dad died fighting them,” Maya said. Chin up. Defiant. “I want to help finish what he started.”“My mom says the Collective took my older brother years ago. Experimented on him. Killed him.” Jason’s voice shook but he
“She knew.” I stared at the photo. At Tessa’s smug smile. At the proof, she was still watching. Still listening. Still ten steps ahead. “She knew we’d find the laptop. Knew we’d think we’d outsmarted her. This was all part of her plan.”Lycian took the phone. Studied the image. His jaw clenched. “Then we abandon the estate. Move somewhere she can’t monitor. Start fresh.”“She’ll expect that too. Probably has surveillance at every safe house. Every pack location.” I grabbed the phone back. Threw it off the balcony. Watched it shatter below. “We can’t win by running. She’s always watching.”“Then we give her something to watch.” He pulled me away from the railing. Back inside. “Something that makes her think she’s winning while we actually prepare.”“Like what? We already tried feeding her false information. She saw through it.”“Then we don’t feed false information. We feed real information. But incomplete.” His eyes gleamed. “We let her think she knows our plan. Then we do something d
I woke to voices. Low. Tense. Coming from the living room.My hands throbbed. My ankle ached. Everything hurt worse than when I’d fallen asleep. The medication had worn off.Through the bond, I felt Lycian’s stress. Sharp and jagged. He was trying to keep it from me but failing.I sat up slowly. Wi
Sunday morning felt different.The air was colder. The sky is darker. Or maybe that was just my anxiety talking.Lycian made breakfast. Pancakes shaped like hearts. Trying to be cute. Trying to distract me.“You’re stress-eating,” he said. Watching me demolish my third pancake.“I’m comfort-eating.
I looked up at Thaddeus. Mud crusted in my hair. Blood dripped from my palms onto Lycian’s shirt. Everything hurt.“What one more thing?” My voice came out hoarse. Raw from smoke and screaming.Thaddeus walked closer. His shoes were polished. Clean. Everything I wasn’t. He looked down at me with an
Aunt Clara moved in on Saturday.We spent the whole day transforming the guest room into her space. Lycian hired movers for the furniture. I hung her favorite photos. Made sure her medications were organized. Set up the TV the way she liked.By evening, she was settled in the armchair by the window







