THE CONFESSION

Anya stood frozen in her room, staring at the words on her diagnostic screen.

Sibling: Subject I-11 (Irina).

She had a sister. A sister she didn't remember. A sister Project Seventh was using as leverage to force her compliance.

Thirty-six hours to kill three men or her sister died.

The choice should have been simple. One life she didn't remember versus three lives actively trying to save her. The math was cold, logical, exactly the kind of calculation she'd been trained to make.

Except nothing about this situation was logical anymore.

Her immunity was at sixty-one percent and dropping. Her body was preparing to shift into a wolf she didn't know existed. And three dangerous, powerful men were treating her like she was precious instead of a threat.

The door burst open without warning.

Alexei stood there, his expression darker than she'd ever seen it. Behind him, Dimitri and Nikolai looked equally grim.

"We need to talk." Alexei's voice was flat. Dead.

"Now."

Anya's stomach dropped. They knew. Somehow, they'd found out about the sister, about the deadline, about everything.

"About what?" She tried to keep her voice steady.

"About the fact that you've been lying to us."

Dimitri pushed past Alexei, holding up his tablet. On the screen was surveillance footage. Anya, alone in her room, talking to no one. But if they'd enhanced the audio, if they'd isolated the subvocal frequencies...

"I can explain."

"Can you?" Alexei moved closer, crowding into her space. Not threatening, but not gentle either. "Because from where I'm standing, it looks like you've been maintaining contact with your handlers despite claiming you were cut off."

"I had to check in. They have protocols. If I don't respond, they assume I'm dead and activate contingencies."

"What kind of contingencies?" Dimitri demanded.

"I don't know. They don't tell operatives the details. But it's never good."

"Try again." Alexei's hand shot out, gripped her chin, forced her to meet his eyes. "And this time, tell us the truth. All of it. Because I can smell the lies on you, and my patience is running very thin."

The touch sent heat through her despite the tension. Her diagnostic updated: IMMUNITY: 59%.

Two percent from one angry touch.

"They have my sister," she blurted out.

All three brothers went still.

"What sister?" Nikolai asked carefully.

"I didn't know about her until today. But she's in their files. Irina. Subject I-11. They took her the same time they took me. She's six years younger. And if I don't complete my mission in thirty-six hours, they're putting her in the hybrid program."

Silence. Heavy and suffocating.

"The hybrid program," Dimitri said slowly, "that turned humans into the things that attacked us?"

"Yes. Most subjects don't survive. The ones that do are..." She couldn't finish. Couldn't say what they became. "I can't let that happen to her."

"So you were planning to kill us." Not a question from Alexei. A statement.

"I don't know what I was planning. I found out about her twenty minutes ago. I'm still processing."

"Process faster." He released her chin, stepped back. "Because we need to know where your loyalty lies. With us, or with them."

"It's not that simple!"

"Yes, it is." His voice went cold. "You choose us, we help you save your sister. You choose them, we kill you before you can complete your mission. It's very simple."

"You'd really kill me?" She searched his face for any hint of deception. Found none.

"If you're a threat to my brothers? Without hesitation." He didn't sound happy about it. Just certain. "But I'd rather not. So tell me what you need. Tell me how to save her. And we'll figure it out together."

"You don't understand. They have her in a facility I've never seen. I don't know where she is. I don't know how many guards. I don't know anything except that she exists and she's in danger."

"Then we find out." Dimitri was already on his tablet, typing rapidly. "Give me everything you know. Name, designation number, approximate age. I'll find her."

"How? You can't just hack into Project Seventh's systems."

"Watch me." His smile was sharp as broken glass. "I've been mapping their network architecture for three days. I can't access their mainframe yet, but I can get into their satellite facilities. If your sister's in one of them, I'll find her."

"And if she's not?"

"Then we escalate." Alexei moved to the window, stared out at the grounds. "But first, you need to tell us everything. No more lies. No more omissions. Everything you know about Project Seventh, their operations, their capabilities. All of it."

"If I tell you everything, I'm betraying them."

"You already betrayed them the moment you chose not to kill us." He looked back at her. "The question is whether you're brave enough to commit to it."

Anya looked at the three of them. Three men who'd shown her more genuine care in four days than her organization had in twenty-three years.

Three men who were offering to help save a sister she didn't even remember.

Three men who would kill her if she proved to be a liability.

The choice wasn't as hard as it should have been.

"Okay." She took a breath. "I'll tell you everything."

She spent the next hour downloading twenty-three years of training, missions, and organizational structure. Every detail she could remember went into Dimitri's files. Locations of facilities she'd visited. Names of handlers she'd met. Protocols for communication, extraction, and termination.

All of it. Every secret. Every lie. Every truth.

When she finished, she felt hollowed out. Empty.

"That's everything?" Alexei asked.

"Everything I know. Which isn't as much as you'd think. They compartmentalize. Keep operatives in the dark about the bigger picture."

"It's enough to start." Dimitri was already cross-referencing data, building a network map. "I can use this to..."

Alarms blared through the mansion. Red lights flashing, the sound piercing and urgent.

All three brothers went instantly alert, heads snapping toward the door.

"What is that?" Anya asked.

"Perimeter breach." Alexei was already moving.

"Multiple hostiles. Coming in fast."

"How many?"

"Unclear. But enough to trigger the main alarm."

He grabbed weapons from a hidden panel in the wall. Guns, knives, equipment Anya didn't recognize. "Dimitri, secure her. Nikolai, with me."

"No." Anya stood. "If someone's attacking, I can help."

"You stay here. You're the reason they're attacking." Alexei's voice was pure Alpha command. "And I'm not risking you."

"You don't know that I'm why they're..."

The window exploded.

Glass showered inward. Anya dove behind the bed on instinct, Alexei's body covering hers a second later, protecting her from the worst of it.

Through the broken window, she could hear them. Howls. Dozens of wolves, their voices raised in challenge.

"Sokolov," Dimitri spat. "They're here for her."

"How many?" Alexei hadn't moved from covering Anya.

"Scanning..." Pause. "Forty wolves. Maybe more. This is a full assault."

"Fuck." Alexei finally moved, pulling Anya up with him. "They must have sensed the mate bond strengthening. Came to take her before we could complete it."

"I'm not going with them.

"No, you're not." He shoved a gun into her hands. "But you're also not fighting them. Dimitri, safe room. Now."

"The east wing bunker or the..."

"The one under my office. It's closer and better fortified." Alexei was barking orders into a comm unit, coordinating pack members. "Viktor, secure the north perimeter. Yuri, take your squad to the main gate. No one gets through. Anyone in wolf form who's not pack dies on sight."

More howls. Closer now. They were coming fast.

"Move!" Alexei grabbed Anya's arm, pulled her toward the door. Dimitri led, Nikolai brought up the rear, all of them moving with military precision through hallways that were rapidly filling with armed pack members.

They made it to Alexei's office. He went straight to a bookshelf, pulled a specific book, and the entire thing swung open to reveal a steel door.

"Inside. Both of you." He pushed Anya and Dmitri through. "I'm sealing this behind you. Don't open it for anyone except us. Understood?"

"Alexei..." Anya started.

He kissed her. Hard and desperate and claiming. When he pulled back, his eyes were blazing gold.

"Stay alive. That's an order." He slammed the door.

The locks engaged with heavy thuds. Multiple layers. She was trapped.

The bunker was well-equipped at least. Monitors showing feeds from throughout the mansion. Weapons lockers. Emergency supplies. Everything needed to survive a siege.

On the screens, she watched the Sokolov pack pour over the walls. Forty wolves in shifted form, massive and deadly, all of them heading toward the mansion with single-minded purpose.

And standing at the front gates, directing them, was a man in human form she didn't recognize. Tall, broad, with the kind of presence that screamed Alpha.

"That's Sergei Sokolov," Dimitri said, watching the same screen. "Their Pakhan. If he's here personally, they're not planning to negotiate."

"They want me."

"They want a political bargaining chip. You're just convenient." He pulled up more screens, tracking the wolves' movements. "They're splitting up. Half going for the main house. The others..." He frowned. "They're heading here. To this office."

"How would they know where the bunker is?"

"They shouldn't. Unless..." His expression went dark. "Unless someone told them."

"A traitor?"

"Has to be. No one outside the inner circle knows about these safe rooms." He was already typing, pulling up security logs. "But that's a problem for later. Right now, we need to hold this position until Alexei and Nikolai can push them back."

On the screens, the battle was brutal. The Volkov pack was outnumbered but holding their ground, using defensive positions and superior tactics. But the Sokolov wolves were relentless, pushing forward despite casualties.

And Alexei was in the thick of it. His black wolf was magnificent and terrifying, taking down wolves twice his size with brutal efficiency. Nikolai fought beside him, his golden-brown wolf moving like liquid violence.

They were going to get themselves killed protecting her.

"I should be out there."

"You should be exactly where you are." Dimitri didn't look away from the screens. "Letting them fight for you. That's what mates do."

"That's what possessions do. I'm not a thing to be fought over."

"No, you're a person who three men have decided is worth dying for. There's a difference." He finally looked at her. "And for what it's worth, I agree with them."

Before she could respond, alarms blared again. Different tone. More urgent.

"What's that?"

"Bunker breach warning. Something's trying to get through the outer door." He pulled up a new screen. Five wolves, working at the reinforced entrance with what looked like industrial cutting equipment. "How did they..."

The screen went dark. All of them. Every camera, every feed, everything went black at once.

"Someone cut the power." Dmitri pulled out a flashlight, activated backup lighting. "We're blind."

"How long until they breach?"

"Five minutes. Maybe less." He moved to the weapons locker, started pulling out firearms. "You said you can fight. Prove it."

He handed her a gun. Larger than the one Alexei had given her, heavier, military-grade.

"Silver rounds. Center mass or headshots. They'll hurt even wolves, but head is better." He took position by the inner door. "When they come through, we don't have to kill them all. Just hold them until reinforcements arrive."

"And if reinforcements don't come?"

"Then we improvise." His smile was grim. "But I'm very good at improvising."

The sound of metal screaming filled the bunker. They were cutting through faster than expected.

Anya checked her weapon. Fifteen rounds. Two extra magazines. Not nearly enough if five wolves made it through.

But it would have to be.

The outer door crashed inward. Smoke and debris filled the corridor beyond. Through it, she could see shapes moving. Large. Predatory. Coming fast.

"Here they come," Dimitri said calmly. "Remember, center mass or head. Don't hesitate."

The first wolf through the smoke lunged directly at Dimitri.

He fired three times, fast and controlled. The wolf dropped mid-leap.

The second and third came together, trying to flank.

Anya didn't hesitate. Training took over. She aimed, breathed, squeezed.

The third wolf dropped, perfect headshot.

The fourth wolf saw her, diverted toward her, jaws open wide.

She fired again. Again. Three rounds center mass that barely slowed it.

It was five feet away when Dimitri intercepted it, shifting mid-motion, his grey wolf catching it in mid-leap.

The fifth wolf hesitated, seeing four of its packmates down.

Then it turned and ran.

The entire fight lasted maybe thirty seconds.

Anya stood there, gun still raised, trying to process what had just happened.

"Clear," Dimitri announced, shifting back. He was naked and covered in blood and completely unbothered. "You okay?"

"I killed someone." She stared at the wolf she'd shot. It had shifted back in death, revealing a man in his thirties. Human-looking despite what he was. "I just killed someone."

"You defended yourself. There's a difference."

"Is there?"

"Yes." He moved toward her, gently took the gun from her shaking hands. "They chose to attack. You chose to survive. That's not murder. That's self-defense."

"They attacked because of me."

"They attacked because they're ambitious and saw an opportunity. Not your fault." He squeezed her shoulder. "Come on. We need to secure this position and wait for..."

The inner door opened. Alexei stood there, covered in blood, still in human form but barely. His eyes were pure gold, wolf riding close to the surface.

"You're alive." He crossed the space in three strides, pulled Anya into his arms, checked her for injuries with hands that shook slightly. "You're not hurt?"

"I'm fine. We're both fine."

"Good." He kissed her forehead, her cheeks, her mouth. Claiming and desperate and relieved. "Good. Because I'm going to need you to do something for me."

"What?"

"Not panic when I tell you that we lost three pack members. Five more are wounded. And the Sokolov Pakhan is demanding your immediate surrender or he'll level the entire mansion."

The world tilted. "He's demanding I give myself up?"

"He's demanding I hand you over. Which isn't happening." Alexei's arms tightened around her. "But we need a plan. Because we can't hold off another assault like that. Not with our numbers."

"Then give me to them." The words came out before she could stop them. "Trade me for peace."

"Absolutely not."

"Alexei..."

"I said no." His voice went hard. Final. "You're ours. That's not negotiable. We'll find another way."

"What other way? More people dying? More pack members sacrificing themselves?"

"If necessary." He cupped her face, made her meet his blazing eyes. "I will burn this entire city before I let him take you. Do you understand?"

She did. And it terrified her. Because that level of possessiveness should horrify her, should make her want to run.

Instead, it made her feel safer than she ever had in her life.