Chapter 14 Talon
When Cade told us what happened at Rowan’s science visitation, I nearly killed Zolkos. I was ready to tear the creep in half if not for Rowan. Somehow, despite being subjected to that uncomfortable experience, she was holding herself together better than the rest of us.
"It’s okay, Talon. I’m okay. Cade and Killian were there with me. They took care of it… took care of me," she said, her voice steady enough to cut through my seething anger.
"Cade, this is bigger than we thought," I said. "Whatever Zolkos and your father want from Rowan, they aren't going to stop."
"I realize that now," Cade answered, pinching the bridge of his nose.
“Slick?! Why the fuck does Dr. Creepy need slick? What’s he gonna do with it?” Ryker asked with a mouthful of some sugary, half-chewed treat.
“I don’t know, Ryker,” Cade said.
"Why the fuck isn't she like you, Tally?" Ryker asked.
I frowned. "What are you talking about, Ryker?"
"He means, why don’t my eyes glow?" Rowan clarified. "Why do I look exactly the same as before? And why is my wolf’s coat red?"
"I don’t know," I admitted. "Just because I’m a shifter doesn’t mean I know everything there is to know. I’ve only met a handful of other shifters, and none of them were like Rowan. But that doesn’t mean others like her don’t exist."
"Zolkos knows," Killian growled.
Cade shook his head. "He doesn’t know she can shift. Only that she has certain genetic markers. That’s why he’s curious. But I don’t know what my father gets out of this. We need to find out. We need to follow him and keep tabs. Let him lead us to the answers."
"You want to track Zolkos?"
"Yes."
"How are we supposed to keep an eye on him?" I asked.
"I have access to the base feed," Cade said. "Not inside the departments or dorms, but the common areas and exits. I wanted to review the footage and make sure no one showed too much interest in Rowan… and that we didn’t have a repeat of Falcon City."
Killian growled, a sound that was low and dangerous. Rowan shuddered, clearly not wanting to recall the incident.
"Where is he now?" she asked.
Cade grabbed his laptop, fingers flying as he flipped through feed after feed until he finally isolated Zolkos in the herd of other Arca personnel. It helped that he stood out so much amongst the sea of camouflage uniforms, wearing a stark white lab coat.
"There," Cade said, pointing to the screen.
Zolkos was walking through the base, surrounded by six alphas, all in full tactical gear. They headed into the vehicle hangar and began loading a convoy with storage containers and other equipment.
"What the hell are they doing?" Ryker asked, squinting at the screen. "Where are they going with all that shit?"
"I don’t know," Cade said, eyes narrowing, "but we need to. Talon, Killian, and I will follow them and figure out what’s going on. Ryker, stay with Rowan and keep your comms open. We may need backup."
"We should all go," Rowan said quickly. "I don’t like separating."
"No," Cade said, his voice hardening with command. "Tactical decisions are mine to make. Do not interfere. If you plan on being a problem for Ryker, I can tie you up until we get back."
Rowan scowled at him.
"No need. I’ll be good, sir," she snapped in a bratty tone.
"I can think of plenty of ways to keep Kitten busy," Ryker said, eyes glinting with mischievous promise.
"Thanks, but no thanks," she said, rolling her eyes.
"Behave, you two," Cade cut in. "The rest of us move out in ten minutes. Get ready."
Zolkos and his crew of alphas left base shortly after, and we followed behind them in another convoy. It was pitch black outside, so we killed the headlights and stayed far enough behind their vehicle that our tail went unnoticed.
The old, paved access road we traveled on criss-crossed through the woods. I didn't need to guess where it led, because there was only one thing for miles in this direction.
The decommissioned Border Front Base.
Killian shot me a look as we passed sign after sign, warning us to turn back.
ARCA Private Property. Secure Area.
Restricted Grounds.
Unauthorized Entry Will Result in Immediate Detainment.
Force Protocols Authorized.
“Why the decommissioned base?” Killian grumbled.
“I don’t know,” Cade said, “but whatever the reason, it’s not good.”
“How long ago did Arca decommission it?” I asked. “Do you remember?”
“Over twenty years ago,” Cade replied. “Our father was stationed there when he was only a captain. Command shut it down right after the Whistleblower Files got released to the public. I always figured they closed it as a PR stunt before building the new facility.”
“People are so na?ve,” I muttered. “I don’t need a whistleblower to know the corrupt things Arca does right under the public’s nose.”
Cade said, “From what I remember, the files were bad. Human experimentation. Kidnapping. Animal abuse. Even redacted, the public understood what ARCA was truly capable of.”
“Yet they turned a blind eye and still serve them without resistance."
Cade glanced back at me. “Them? Seems like sometimes you forget we are Arca. And we have been for a long time.”
I shook my head slowly. “I do what I need to do,” My voice stayed even, but there was something scarred beneath it. “That doesn’t mean I belong to them. I’ve been on their tables. An experiment to dissect. Whatever command thinks it owns, it isn’t me.”
Cade’s jaw tightened. “They own my father. Hell, he chose them,” he said flatly. “Somewhere along the line, he sold his soul to Command. Their interests became his interests, and he’ll make damn sure whatever secrets are in that old base stay buried.”
Killian let out a low, guttural sound. “Don’t care about Arca.” He stared straight ahead. “Only care about Little Bird. Anyone tries to take her, hurt her, cage her…” His hands flexed. “I'll break them.”
Silence settled in the cab.
Then Cade nodded once. “Fine,” he said. “Maybe we wear the name. Maybe we always have.” His tone hardened, clean and decisive. “But our loyalty isn’t to the institution anymore. Maybe it never was.”
He met each of our gazes in turn.
“It’s to this unit. To each other. And to Rowan.”
No one argued.
Cade had always been the one who played by the rules.
The one who knew the regulations inside and out, who navigated Arca’s hierarchy with precision and discipline.
He had guided the unit in Command's best interests, carried out their directives without question, and believed that order kept us alive.
Cade did not break rules lightly.
So for him to say this, meant he was no longer pretending Arca deserved blind obedience. We were all finished serving an institution that had already proven it would sacrifice anyone, even its own, to protect its secrets.
Cade cut the wheel, steering us off the road and into the trees to hide the convoy deep in the woods. We finished the approach on foot, falling silent the moment we were close enough to hear voices.
Arca had constructed the decommissioned base at the same time as the wall.
Engineers built it directly into the structure itself, sandwiched between the Northern Borderlands on one side and New Arca on the other.
The facility had access points facing both directions, allowing movement through the wall without ever leaving its reinforced interior.
When Arca decommissioned the base, they ordered it sealed.
Every exterior entry on both sides of the wall was filled with thick layers of reinforced concrete, effectively entombing the facility.
Rumor held that it was now impenetrable.
The cement served as a final safeguard to ensure it could never be accessed again.
We crept along the treeline, surveying the base like shadows.
Two alphas stood guard at the main entrance while the others moved in and out, hauling equipment.
Piles of heavy construction tools lay scattered across the clearing: jackhammers, portable drills, industrial saws, reinforced chisels, even a compact excavator with its arm still caked in dust.
Clearly, they had been at this for days.
Maybe longer.
They had smashed, drilled, and cut apart a massive section of the poured concrete, leaving a jagged opening large enough to carry equipment straight through.
Whatever was inside that old base…
Zolkos and the General wanted access again.
An alpha emerged from inside, carrying a box with a huge CLASSIFIED sticker plastered across the side.
He handed it to a guard at the entrance before disappearing back into the facility to retrieve more.
The guard carried it to their convoy and loaded it into the back, then returned to the doorway and lit a cigarette.
Cade turned toward me and gave a sharp nod, the kind we had learned to read without words. I understood immediately what he was after.
The box sat at the rear of the convoy, positioned close enough to the base entrance to remain in clear view of the two guards posted there. Something in my gut told me whatever the box contained connected to Rowan.
If we wanted to steal it though, those guards would have to be pulled away from the entrance.
Cade signaled for me to shift. He needed a distraction loud and alarming enough to draw their attention so he could move in and take the container.
I shifted and slipped through the trees along the perimeter. Once I reached the far side of the facility, I began making noise that was impossible to ignore. I stepped heavily on every branch, crushed every leaf, and stomped through the underbrush with deliberate force.
"What is that? A direworg? Sounds huge!"
"Hopefully, it's not a fucking wraith. Let’s check it out. Eyes peeled."
Both alphas rounded the corner, guns raised, scanning the treeline.
Hidden deeper in the woods, I growled. The sound was feral and unrestrained. It echoed like something monstrous. I hoped they would react.
It worked. Both soldiers flinched and immediately opened fire into the trees, bullets ripping blindly through the brush as they tried to hit whatever creature they believed was stalking them.
When they finally stopped firing, I whimpered sharply and retreated deeper into the woods, dragging my paw over the ground to mimic a wounded stagger. The illusion worked perfectly.
"We hit it!"
"Fucker’s not coming back. It will bleed out soon enough. Come on, let’s get back. Zolkos said not to leave the truck."
I circled back to Cade and Killian, who were right where I left them, with the addition of the stolen classified container. The moment I joined them, Zolkos emerged from inside the base.
"We heard gunfire. What happened? What were you shooting at?" he asked, eyes scanning the area with cold precision.
"Direworg, sir. It was lurking in the woods, but we hit it. Thing ran off," one guard said.
Zolkos scanned the treeline once more, peering into the darkness. His stare was so focused and so unblinking that even though I knew we were out of his sight range, it felt as if he was looking right at us.
"We have a lot more files to bring out. Do not leave the truck," he said coldly before disappearing inside again.
As I shifted back, Cade jerked his head toward the truck, signaling it was time to move. Killian and I followed behind him, trekking in silence until we reached the convoy.
"Their vehicle contained stacks of boxes just like that one," Cade said, motioning to the classified container sitting next to me in the back seat. "I took what I could without them noticing anything was missing. Hopefully, whatever is inside will tell us what they’re doing out there."
Killian signed something sharp.
Cade let out a tight breath. "Yeah. We'll figure out what he wants."
Killian signed again, more forcefully this time.
Cade’s jaw tensed. "Rowan is ours."
Killian huffed in agreement, leaning back.
"Good. Then let's open the damn thing when we get home and see what they think is so important it's worth digging up," I said as I pulled my clothes back on, eager to see what was inside the mysterious box.