Chapter 17 Rowan
“I am coming,” I said with absolute determination, leveling my glare at Cade.
“You are not,” he replied dismissively.
“I am.”
“Not.”
“I took down both Ryker and Talon today at the fitness center. I'm not helpless! This whole thing revolves around me, and I deserve to be in control of my life.”
“Yeah, and how many times did they overpower you?”
“That's beside the point.”
“No, that is exactly the point! Every time they overpowered you was a time an alpha, a direworg, or anything else out there could have killed you. Do you understand that? Getting lucky a few times is not the same as being prepared.”
Before I could argue again, Talon stepped forward, surprisingly on my side. “She needs to practice her shift. We'll all be together, and the plan was to train tonight anyway. What difference does it make if she comes with us while we explore the decommissioned base?”
Cade narrowed his eyes at Talon, and something unspoken passed between them. A silent argument I could not hear.
Cade sighed. “You know what difference it makes, Talon. The base is a hell of a lot farther west. Arca built it into the wall. A layer of block and cement is all that will separate us from the Northern Front. Also, there are direworgs crawling through those woods in the dozens. It's not safe.”
Ryker chimed in. “You said it yourself that we might have to bring her north with us for covert missions. It's a hell of a lot safer on this side. She needs actual situations, Cade. The fitness center will not prepare her for combat—”
“Enough,” Cade snapped, rubbing his temples. He turned to Killian, who leaned against the wall with his arms crossed.
Cade signed, What do you think, Brother?
Killian shrugged. “Crane will have us. Not safe. But not helpless. She comes.”
A grin split my face before I could stop it. I ran straight to Killian, jumping into his arms and kissing him all over his cheeks. “Thanks for having my back, big guy,” I whispered, and he grumbled, trying not to smile.
Cade narrowed his eyes. “I see you've all conspired against me. Fine. Fine. Rowan, you can come. But if you do not listen to every order exactly how I say it, when I say it, I will drag your ass back to base myself. And the punishment you will receive… let us just say you won’t sit for a week.”
“Agreed,” I said, giddy, dropping out of Killian’s arms and running to Cade with a big hug.
Cade liked to think his good girls and soft smiles were conditioning me into compliance. He thought every gentle praise, every warm touch, every steadying hand on my neck was training me to listen, to obey and to fall in line under his command.
But what he didn't know was that I was doing the same thing to all of them.
I was learning how to work them, each one differently.
With Killian, it was comfort. A tender kiss to his jaw, a warm thank you against his throat, a gentle hand in his hair. He melted every time, like the giant brute had no defenses left when I offered him affection.
With Talon, it was trust. When I let him teach me, when I leaned into his hands without flinching, when I listened to his direction without arguing, something sharp inside him eased.
With Ryker, it was attention. A smile, a laugh, a playful shove, or flirt. He would do anything to keep my eyes on him. Anything to keep me laughing and happy.
And with Cade… well. Cade thought he was the one shaping me, but he didn't see how easily he bent when I wrapped my arms around him. How his anger slipped the second I hugged him. How fast his strict rules shifted when I touched his chest and looked up at him like he was the only man in the room.
They were big, terrifying alphas. Elite Soldiers. Killers. Predators.
But I was finding every weakness in their armor. The soft points and cracks. And with every kiss, every thank you, every small gesture of affection, those cracks widened.
I rewarded good decisions, praised the choices I actually had a say in, and gave affection to reinforce their behavior.
They soaked it up like starving men. They wanted to protect me, impress me, earn more of what I offered without even realizing they were being guided. I was finding my power over them.
I was shaping them just as much as they thought they were shaping me.
And if Killian, Talon, and Ryker coming to my defense was any sign, my strategy was working beautifully.
“Get ready. We move out at 2200,” Cade said. He leveled a serious, stern look at me before adding, “Do not make me regret this, Rowan.”
I suited up in an all-black ensemble, trying to look stealthy and sleek. The guys were all dressed in dark camo, and for once I looked like I actually fit in. Like I belonged on a mission with them rather than being locked away for safekeeping.
But looking the part did nothing to calm my nerves. Anxiety vibrated through me, so sharp it made my knee bounce uncontrollably. The motion rattled the entire vehicle.
Killian reached over, placing a large palm on my leg to pin my knee in place.
His hands moved. Breathe, Crane. We are with you.
He then took a deep breath in and out, waiting for me to copy him. I leaned against his shoulder and inhaled slowly, trying to steady myself. The old base loomed ahead through the windshield, dark and abandoned, carved into the towering wall.
I could feel each alphas' attention on me. Their awareness. Their concern. I hated the thought that any of them might regret the decision to bring me. I hated the idea that my nerves might make them second-guess me.
So I straightened, forced another deep breath, and steeled myself.
I was here. I was not helpless. And I would prove it.
“Park it off to the side. I don't want anyone showing up unexpectedly and seeing our vehicle,” Cade said, motioning to the far right of the building.
Talon tucked the convoy behind a decaying portable structure, killed the lights, and cut the engine.
“Looks like they boarded up the front in a hurry,” Talon muttered. “It shouldn't take long to break in.”
“Not with Killian the human battering ram it won't,” Ryker laughed as Killian rifled through the tools in the back. He settled on a crowbar the size of my arm.
“They didn't board it up very securely,” I noted, eyeing the large hole in the building's side.
Zolkos' crew had haphazardly patched the entrance with plywood, bent nails, and crooked boards. Anyone with determination could get through it. Or anything.
“That means it’s either temporary and they plan to come back,” Talon said, “or they know the breach is allowing enough direworgs into New Arca that securing the access here no longer matters.”
Cade grunted in agreement. “Science has been working on that prototype fence in response to the breach. It wouldn’t surprise me if Arca ran it along the entire wall, eventually.”
“Wouldn’t that be fucking nice? I would love not getting nearly eaten every day I am on patrol. Things are everywhere now,” Ryker said with a snort.
Killian got to work, wedging the crowbar between the boards and snapping them off the building like they were constructed from cardboard.
Once the hole was wide enough, Cade and Talon went first. They ducked inside, rifles raised, sweeping their scopes across the dark interior.
I heard footsteps echoing down the hall as they moved from room to room.
"Clear."
"Clear."
"Clear."
“Bring her in,” Cade yelled.
Killian and Ryker moved with trained precision, sandwiching me between them as we edged deeper into the pitch-black base. The way they moved with practiced precision reminded me I hadn't ever witnessed what these men were truly capable of.
They were lethal, elite, and impeccably trained. The realization actually helped ease my nerves. I was safe with them. They wouldn't let anything happen to me.
I called to my wolf as we moved deeper into the silent, cold, still structure.
Doing exactly what Talon had taught me, I cracked the door open without letting her out, depending on her senses.
My vision sharpened, and within seconds I could see clearly, even though the only light came from the beams attached to the guys’ rifles.
Talon led the party, able to see vividly in the dark just like me. His fist shot up, balled tight, signaling all of us to stop immediately. Ryker pulled me behind him as Talon crouched beside a bloody mass curled on the floor.
“What is it?” I whispered.
“Direworg,” Talon said, poking at its corpse.
“That thing looks mangled. How the hell did it get in here?” Ryker asked as he scanned the area, head on a swivel.
“Wounds look like a wraith killed it. Whatever it was, it ate most of the meat,” Talon murmured.
Cade stepped closer. “Let’s hope it's not still in here. I don’t know why this direworg is inside, but the base might not be secure.
We need to check the northern exits to see if Zolkos and his team busted through those too.
If they are as unsecured as the front, this place could be crawling with creatures. ”
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a folded schematic.
“Here,” Cade said, unfolding the map of the base and pointing to a location. “The science department is this way. The northern exit is here, inside the vehicle hangar. We'll check it on the way to see if it's secure.”
He tucked the map back into his pocket and nodded once.
“Let’s move.”
We trailed through the halls, passing a decaying cafeteria caked in dust and a fitness center that still had equipment, all of it outdated and rusting. The base felt eerie, like a snapshot in time preserved by a curse so dark it froze everything in place.
Nothing had been removed before Arca entombed the facility.
No furniture, no files, no equipment. Everything sat exactly where it had been left the day the base shut down.
That meant they must have decommissioned it in a rush, sealing the entire facility before anyone could clear it out.
I supposed Command expected nothing inside these walls to see the light of day again.