Using the assets as catalysts.
Exactly.Create enough chaos, enough mistrust, and the packs will tear each other apart.No need for Chimera to get their hands dirty.
Conall was quiet for a long moment, processing the implications.How long do we have?
Based on the acceleration of attacks over the past month?Maybe two weeks.Less if they decide to move the timeline up.
The mate bond vibrated between them, stronger now than it had been even the night before.Nadine could feel it pulling at her, trying to break down the walls she’d built around her heart.
It would be so easy to let it happen, to stop fighting the connection that her wolf craved.
So easy, and so very stupid.
Conall reached out, his fingers brushing against her hand where it rested on the desk.The contact sent fire racing up her arm, and his pupils dilated in response.
Nadine stared down at their joined hands, at the way his fingers seemed to fit perfectly against hers.Everything about this was wrong—the timing, the circumstances.
But the warmth of his touch felt real in a way nothing had for years.
This is a bad idea,she said.
Probably.His thumb traced across her knuckles, a gentle caress that made her breath catch.
She looked up to find him watching her, his dark eyes intent.The space between them seemed to shrink, the air growing thick with possibility and want and the dangerous pull of the bond they were both trying to resist.
She should pull away.Should remind him that they were supposed to be investigating.Should do anything except lean closer, close enough to feel the heat radiating from his skin.
This doesn’t change anything,she whispered.
Doesn’t it?
His free hand came up to cup her cheek, thumb brushing across her lower lip.The contact made her wolf surge forward, demanding she close the distance between them, demanding she take what the mate bond was offering.
We still don’t trust each other,she managed to say.
No,he agreed, his voice rough with want.But we’re fighting the same fight.
For now.
They hovered there for a long moment, neither leaning in and allowing their lips to meet nor drawing away.
Then Conall’s cell phone rang, and he pulled back from Nadine, glancing down at the screen before he answered.Hey, Malcolm.
From her seat next to Conall, Nadine could hear the alpha as he responded.You and Nadine need to come upstairs.William Chen just arrived, and he’s got some things to tell us.
CHAPTER 14
IN THE NEWSPAPER OFFICE’Sconverted intelligence hub, Conall reviewed the latest asset recovery reports.Three days had passed since Dr.William Chen’s arrival, and the geneticist’s presence had already shifted the entire dynamic of their investigation.
Chen stood at the central display wall, his brow furrowed in concentration as he studied the neural interface schematics.
Despite being in his mid- to late fifties, he moved with the quiet strength that marked him as a shifter, though his scent carried the clinical antiseptic of laboratory work rather than pack belonging.
The technology is more advanced than I initially developed,Chen said, his voice carrying the precision of someone who’d spent years choosing words with scientific accuracy.Whoever refined my original designs had resources I never possessed.
Nadine leaned against a workstation, arms crossed, her gaze tracking Chen’s every movement.
Three days of working together hadn’t softened her wariness—if anything, proximity to another former Chimera scientist seemed to sharpen her defensive instincts.
