And now we’re trapped together, being forced to cooperate.Conall’s eyes met hers directly.Convenient, isn’t it?
Their mate bond flared with shared understanding.They were being manipulated.Played against each other, then forced into cooperation when that strategy failed.
Your pack,she said suddenly.The asset recovery mission.Tell me everything.
For a moment, Conall thought about refusing.
Pack loyalty warred with the idea of cooperation with someone he barely knew, someone who’d accused him of murder.
But then something shifted in his chest, and he made his decision.
Etta was the first asset we identified,he began.Neural interface implanted by Chimera, memory suppression, the works.Dr.Weiss—he’s from the Moonstone Pack—was able to remove the device, but the recovery process was brutal.That’s when we realized there were others.
How many others?
We’ve identified assets in at least four other packs.Stardust, Ironwood, Blackthorn, Cross Timbers.His voice darkened.The same packs you said have gone dark—or are about to.
The pattern was undeniable.Through the mate bond, he felt her realization:Chimera plants assets in packs, then those packs are targeted for elimination or subordination.It was systematic.Coordinated.
They’re not just gathering intelligence,she said.They’re positioning themselves to rule or destroy entire shifter communities.
And anyone who gets too close to the truth becomes a target.Conall shifted closer.Like your father.Like us.
The air between them crackled with a physical awareness, electric and unwanted.
But the mate bond didn’t care about timing or appropriateness.It pulsed stronger as Conall leaned forward.
We need to work together,he said quietly.Combine our intelligence.Your external surveillance with my pack’s internal knowledge of Chimera operations.
And then what?Hope our captors let us go if we’re cooperative?
No.Then we escape.And we take this fight to whoever’s really behind all of this.
The wordwehung between them, loaded with implications he wasn’t truly ready to examine.Partnership.Alliance.
Something that felt dangerously close to trust.
You realize this changes nothing between us personally,she said.Just because we’re working together doesn’t mean—
I know.
The bond between them thrummed with every shared breath, every glance, every moment of proximity.When he shifted position, he caught her gaze tracking the subtle play of muscle beneath his shirt.
Tell me about the Epsilon Protocol,she said.
Conall blinked, caught off guard by the subject change.How do you know about that?
Dad mentioned it in his final communications.Said Chimera was planning something called the Epsilon Protocol, something that would ‘activate all assets simultaneously.’She wrapped her arms around her knees again, using the position to create distance.
No—the Epsilon Protocol is a kill switch.They can use it to kill their assets from a distance.He paused for a moment, deciding whether to share what he and his pack had discovered.
If we’re going to work together, I need her to know the stakes, he finally decided—even though he knew his pack would disapprove.It sounds like Gregory got it mixed up with the Omicron Protocol.That’s the one that activates them all at once.
Okay.Nadine nodded slowly.What does your pack know about the Omicron Protocol?
Not enough.His frustration echoed through his voice.Anders and Dr.Weiss mentioned it during Etta’s recovery.Some kind of trigger protocol that would activate all the neural interfaces at once.Mass mind control of embedded assets.
The implications were staggering, of course.Chimera agents embedded in packs across the country, all activated simultaneously.Pack leadership compromised.Internal structures destroyed from within.
