Chapter Four
Klarissa leaned back in the chair, stretching her arms above her head and smiling at the freedom of the movement.
No more stitches pulling at her side, but the tightness of healing skin was still there.
No more aching with every step, but if she missed a step or extended herself too far, there was definite twinges of pain, especially around her ribs.
But she felt better—so much better—and it showed in the energy buzzing through her veins.
She was in what Violet called the Bat Cave, and Klarissa couldn’t help but think back to the first time she had seen it just over a week ago.
She had wanted to come here sooner, dive into the hum of machines and the glow of monitors, but Kamon and Rune had refused.
At first it stung, their denial hitting her pride like a slap.
But now, with distance, she understood. It hadn’t been control—it had been care.
They hadn’t wanted her to tear herself apart before she had healed.
And she couldn’t even resent them for that.
Still, walking into the Bat Cave had been like a child stepping into a candy store.
Walls of monitors displayed cascading code, camera feeds, and encrypted pathways.
High-powered servers hummed like a symphony.
Workstations gleamed with cutting-edge processors and specialized rigs, all locked behind layers of biometric security.
Klarissa had practically salivated at the sight.
“Holy hell,” she had whispered that first day, unable to stop herself. “This is ... gorgeous.”
Violet had snorted. “Only a science geek would call a room full of machines gorgeous.”
Klarissa had grinned without shame. “Then I’m guilty as charged.”
What she loved most, though, was the genius of the setup.
Everything interconnected, shielded, impossible to penetrate without the right keys.
And at the heart of it were Violet and her assistant, Dot—two forces of nature who made digital architecture look like fine art.
Klarissa remembered the moment the three of them had sat down together, shoulder to shoulder, hands flying across keyboards as they cracked into Caruso’s data.
She had expected chaos. Instead, she found rhythm.
Violet’s sarcastic quips, Dot’s voice chiming in over the call from New Zealand, and her own precision had meshed seamlessly.
Dot had been working with the Ministry of Education there, but still managed to keep Violet from getting distracted, her dry comments pulling them back on target whenever the hacker’s enthusiasm threatened to spill over.
“Focus, Vi,” Dot had said more than once, her dry voice coming from the speakers in the room. “Less fireworks, more results. We don’t have time for you to waste on shiny code.”
“Bossy much?” Violet had shot back, fingers still flying across the keys.
“Efficient,” Dot corrected. “You’ll thank me when we’re not caught. You’re welcome.”
Klarissa had smiled at the exchange, feeling oddly at home between them.
They worked well together, pulling firewalls down layer by layer until the files opened, revealing horrors and relief all at once.
Caruso’s people had not made as much progress on the virus as she had feared.
It was still unstable, still a weapon that killed humans as easily as it did shifters. Almost as though they didn’t care.
But buried deeper in the files, almost hidden in routine logs, they had found something else—shipment records, coded and incomplete. At first glance they looked meaningless, just numbers and initials attached to locations.
Violet frowned at the screen. “Looks like garbage data to me. Half-finished manifests, nothing special.”
“Could be a red herring,” Dot’s voice chimed in. “Or just admin notes. I wouldn’t waste time on it.”
Klarissa leaned closer, her instincts prickling. “No. This isn’t random. He’s moving something, preparing for something. It might look meaningless now, but it matters. Trust me on this.”
The two women had exchanged a look, Violet rolling her eyes while Dot muttered something about gut instincts, but they’d let Klarissa flag the files. And deep down, Klarissa knew this detail would matter in the end. It chilled her to think it might be the breadcrumb that led them to his next move.
That knowledge had chilled her, but what made her stomach twist was how close they were to perfecting it anyway. She could see the path, the narrowing gap between what they had and what would end them all. Too close.
Violet had hovered over the delete key, eyes flashing. “One click and it’s gone. Poof. Wipe the bastards clean.”
But Klarissa had stopped her. “No. That’s too overt. They’d know someone had breached them. We need something else.”
She had taken control, altering the sequence of compounds. Just a few lines of code changed, subtle enough not to trip alarms. Instead of triggering a fatal collapse, the virus would weaken a shifter for only a minute or two, then pass without lasting harm.
Violet had stared at her. “Why? Why not just kill the damn thing outright?”
Klarissa’s voice had been steady. “Because if they don’t see a reaction in the shifter, they’ll kill him anyway. A bullet to the head or the heart will do what their virus can’t. But if I can buy them time—even seconds—then maybe someone lives who wouldn’t have.”
The memory made her throat tight. In that moment, she had felt both the weight of her work and the glimmer of control. Maybe she couldn’t stop her father, not yet. But she could stall him.
A voice behind her had cut through her thoughts. “That’s our mate, suuway. Fucking brilliant.” Rune’s tone had been smug with pride.
Kamon’s chuckle had followed. “Lucky bastards, aren’t we?”
Violet had snorted, spinning her chair around. “Damn right you are. Do you even realize how rare it is to get beauty, brains, and badass all rolled into one? You two hit the jackpot.”
Klarissa had turned then—and nearly lost her composure.
Rune and Kamon stood in the doorway, dressed to kill in tailored black trousers and crisp shirts, sleeves rolled back to reveal strong forearms. Polished shoes, perfectly fitted jackets.
The kind of sight that made her stomach swoop and her mouth go dry.
She fought the urge to gape. “What—what are you two doing dressed like that?”
Rune grinned, slow and wolfish. “Taking you to dinner.”
Klarissa blinked. “Dinner? Now? Are you insane? There’s too much to do. Time is running out—”
“Life’s too short to chain yourself to a keyboard twenty-four-seven,” Violet cut in, eyes dancing with amusement. “Trust me, I’ve tried. You’ll fry your brain if you don’t take a break. Go. Eat. Pretend the world isn’t ending for a couple of hours.”
Before Klarissa could marshal another argument, Violet was hauling her up, muttering something about how no bestie of hers was going to show up to a date in lab clothes.
Klarissa found herself hustled upstairs, deposited in Violet’s rooms and then there was the raiding of closets for something suitable.
Rune and Kamon waited in the lounge, settling in with Jacob and Mason, their easy banter filling the space while Klarissa was transformed.
And for the first time in far too long, Klarissa let herself imagine what it might feel like to be just a woman going to dinner with two men who looked at her like she was their whole world.
****
Klarissa stepped out of Violet’s room and into the open-plan lounge, the soft click of her heels announcing her before Rune even looked up.
And when he did, the air left his lungs in a rush.
Her red hair had been swept up artfully, leaving the graceful line of her neck exposed.
The cream dress clung to her curves, off the shoulder, fitted through the waist before sweeping out gently at the hips to end just above her knees.
Makeup highlighted the glow in her eyes without hiding a single freckle, and her scent was subtle, delicate—but it wrapped around him like silk.
She was stunning, and for a moment Rune could only stare.
Beside him, Kamon muttered a low curse, awe bleeding through his voice. Rune caught the dazed look on his twin’s face and felt the same thunder of recognition. Their mate. Absolutely radiant.
Rune forced himself to his feet, a grin tugging at his lips even as his chest pounded. “Suuway,” he said reverently. “If you wanted to kill us with one look, mission accomplished.”
Klarissa flushed, ducking her head slightly as she crossed the room toward them both. “I’m dressed okay?” She asked, her voice a little uncertain. “You didn’t tell me where we were going to eat.”
Kamon stepped forward and took her right hand in his left. “Rune and I wanted to make sure we could spend time together, so we’ve cooked for you.”
Rune loved the delighted look of surprise that swept across her beautiful face. “You did?”
Not to be outdone by his brother, he stepped forward and took her left hand in his right. “We sure did, and it is all set up downstairs.” He and Kamon swept the hands they held into their elbows and began to lead her toward the elevator when a burst of laughter cut through the room.
Violet smacked both Jacob and Mason on the arms. “When exactly are you two going to cook me a full spread and treat me like a damn princess?”
Jacob arched a brow. “Didn’t we just do that last week with the candlelit takeout from the Thai place you love?”
Mason grinned. “Yeah, except she demanded extra spring rolls and stole all of mine.”
Violet gasped theatrically, then broke into giggles before Jacob swept her up over his shoulder. “You’re in trouble now,” he muttered as she laughed and kicked, and Mason followed them toward their bedroom shaking his head.
Kamon chuckled. “Pretty sure we know what they’ll be doing later.”
Klarissa mumbled under her breath, “Lucky Violet.”