LOGINThe initial blast had ripped the North Quadrant open, but it was the secondary incendiaries that turned our sanctuary into a vision of hell.I was thrown against the central assembly table, the wind knocked out of me. My ears were a high-pitched whine of static, but as I scrambled to my feet, I felt the Suit tightening around my ribs. The weave had hardened during the impact, absorbing a blow that should have shattered my spine.I looked up through the swirling black smoke. The emergency red lights were strobing, casting shadows against the flaring orange of the fires."Cane!" I screamed, but my voice was swallowed by the roar of a ruptured gas line.I saw him. He wasn't running for the exit. He wasn't helping Jax or Viper.Cane was standing in the center of the kill zone, his back arc
As I stepped through the small service door, I was met with the pack at rest.It was a rare sight. Mako and Rat were sitting on inverted crates near the back, passing some top-shelf bourbon Harrison had slipped into the supply drop. Viper was leaning against the workbench, his goggles around his neck, leisurely puffing on a thick cigar. He took a slow pull from his silver flask, the scent of his favorite whiskey cutting through the warehouse. He was actually laughing as he recounted a story to Jax, the glowing cherry of his cigar dancing in the dim light. The tension that usually vibrated through the warehouse had been dialed down."She’s back!" Viper called out, his grin widening around the cigar clenched in his teeth.Cane was across the room, checking the tension on a Ghost-Bike’s drive belt, but he moved the second he heard my voice. He didn't run; he walked with that steady grace that usually made people
Cane broke the surface first. He reached back, his massive hand locking around my waist to hoist me onto a ridge. For a moment, he didn't pull away. His palm was hot against my damp skin."The Interceptor’s signal is gone," Cane whispered."But we aren't alone."He dropped to one knee, his posture shifting from protective mate to lethal Alpha in a heartbeat. I followed his gaze to the soft mud near a lightning-struck pine. My breath hitched.There, pressed deep into the silt, were tracks. They were wolf prints. They didn't lead toward our sanctuary; they moved around where we were hiding. They had been watching us."Silas?" I asked, my hand moving instinctively to the grip of my sidearm."No," Cane growled, the fur on the back of his neck bristling."The scent... It’s a pack formation, El. A scout. We aren't the only ones in t
The Interceptor-6’s swept the surface of the mangrove roots, looking for movement.Beside me, Cane was a submerged mountain. His hand was clamped over my forearm, his grip firm and steadying, grounding me in the freezing muck.The hum of the drone’s thrusters finally began to fade, a throb that retreated toward the eastern horizon. It hadn’t found us, but it was circling.Cane broke the surface first, his head emerging silently like a predator. He scanned the canopy, then reached down, hoisting me up by my waist."The perimeter isn't clear," Cane whispered, his voice a vibration against my skin."There’s a cavern half a mile south. An old 'Gladesman's hole. It’s deep enough to mask our thermal and thick enough to block the drone’s scanner. We move. Now."We moved as shadows through the sawgrass. By the time we reached the o
We entered the city as ghosts on steel.In my helmet’s HUD, the thermal signatures of the city were a chaotic blur of orange and red, but I was looking for something specific. I was looking for the "Cold-Pulse", the signature of a Slider."El, I’ve got a localized spike," Viper’s voice crackled in my ear."Three blocks east. An old meat-packing plant. It’s leaking Nitrogen... wait, no. That’s not Nitrogen. That’s the Slider’s endothermic vent.""Copy that," I whispered, leaning my Bobber into a sharp turn."Cane, Vane, converge on the loading docks. We don't go loud unless we have to."We found it in the shadows of a refrigerated warehouse. But we were too late.The Slider was hunched over the hood of a security sedan, its body a sickening, twitching mass of translucent skin and hyper-extended bon
Two months have passed since the Arena was destroyed.I was sliding out from under the chassis of a custom-built Scout Bobber. My once-manicured hands were permanently stained with black oil, and my white-blonde hair was pulled back into a messy knot. I didn't care.We were deep in the "Black Zone", an abandoned Vance-Thorne logistics warehouse that had been wiped from the official maps. It was a massive, rusted skeleton of steel and reinforced concrete."The fuel injector is still cycling too hot, Viper," I called out, wiping a streak of grease across my forehead.Viper leaned over the workbench nearby, his fingers flying across a holographic display that Harrison had smuggled into our last supply drop."It’s the stabilizing tech, El. These bikes aren't just engines anymore. If the thermal dampeners aren't perfect, Silas’s satellites will pick up the heat signature before you even clear the treeline."These weren't just motorcycles. They were "Ghost-Bikes." After the arena, we realiz
The iron gates of the estate swung open as I entered the Estate. I didn’t want to be here; I wanted to go back to the garage, to Cane.I left the car in the driveway and entered the mansion. The house was silent, but as I stepped into the foyer, a light from the cracked door of my father’s study ca
Behind us lay the construction site, but ahead, the Southern District’s main drainage stretched out like the throat of a beast, wet and echoing.Cane didn't move immediately. He stood by the Wraith, his hand resting on the handlebars, his amber eyes cutting through the gloom. The scars on his chest
The sun hadn't even thought about rising when the roar of an engine shattered the silence of the shipyard. I was already awake, sitting by Cane’s side, watching the slow, rhythmic pulse of the blue toxin beneath his skin. It was fading, but the cost was visible; he looked thinner, his power dormant
I sat on the edge of my bed, the clock on the nightstand ticking toward eight o’clock. Just a few more hours before the grid would go dark in the Rust Belt."You’re a freak, Eloise! You hear me? A delusional, violent freak!"The voice came through the thick door, muffled but sharp with hate. Isabel







