Chapter 16 #3
Dimitri grabbed my face and forced me to look at him. “Be careful.”
I swallowed, breath shaking. “I am.”
His mouth crashed onto mine in a quick kiss that tasted like cinnamon and nutmeg.
When he pulled back, his voice was a low growl. “Don’t take a hit for me again.”
“But I always will,” I argued.
Slater’s voice cut through the comms, sharp. “More security inbound from the west corridor. Rune, Dimitri, help the enforcers and Koa move the captives now.”
“Copy,” I snapped, but Dimitri’s hand stayed on my wrist as we turned back into motion.
“We have names, too,” Solon grumbled.
We guided captives toward the service exit, where Ivy and Solon kept the humans away. Their numbers had already dwindled significantly.
Koa moved among them, hands flaring blue, healing people from lethargy into shaky movement.
A captive witch grabbed my sleeve as she stumbled past. “Thank you,” she rasped.
I squeezed her hand briefly. “Run.”
Another wave of human guards crashed into the corridor.
One of them went for me with the end of his rifle swinging at my head.
“Rune!” Zuko was in front of me, taking the hit from the rifle before I could react.
His body jolted from the impact, and he grunted.
Rage detonated inside me at the sight of my mate taking a hit for me.
“Zuko!” I growled, grabbing his shoulder as he straightened slowly, wiping blood from the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand.
“Relax,” he said, his voice rough. “I’m fine.”
“What the Fates is wrong with you?” I hissed. “You don’t take hits for me.”
His smile was sharp. “Yes I do.”
“Now you know how I feel!” Dimitri shouted as he broke a human’s neck.
I glared at Zuko. “Why?”
He leaned close enough that his breath fanned over my lips. “Because you’re mine.”
Heat burned through the bond along with his affection.
The human who’d hit him lifted his rifle again, but Zuko didn’t even look. He just grabbed the rifle barrel and snapped it in half.
I surged forward and slammed the human’s head into the wall.
The man dropped limp.
I grabbed Zuko’s collar and yanked him closer, fury and relief tangling into something that felt too much like need. “You’re an idiot.”
He laughed. “If saving you from even a second of pain makes me an idiot, then fine. I’m an idiot.”
Fates, I wanted to kiss him.
Koa’s voice cut in, strained. “I can’t stabilize everyone if you two make out in the hallway.”
I released Zuko with a curse, shoving him toward the exit. “Don’t you have a scientist to torture?”
He blanched. “Shit. Yes!”
I bit my lip to contain an amused giggle as he ran toward the bloodied scientist slumped against the wall.
We managed to get the last group of supernaturals into the front lobby with ten minutes to spare. Ivy and Solon shoved the door wide open, letting cold air spill in.
“Go!” Ivy shouted. “Move, move, move!”
Solon grabbed a stumbling kelpie and hauled them forward. “Keep your head down.”
Outside, I could hear distant alarms wailing.
Slater’s voice came in again. “Facility’s security grid is collapsing. I’ve hacked into most of the doors, but the central server room is trying to lock down.”
Dimitri’s gaze snapped toward a side corridor. “That’s where their data is.”
“If they lock down, they’ll preserve supernatural records and experimental notes. We can’t let them have that data,” Katie murmured.
Zuko laughed darkly. “I like the way you think.”
“Ivy, Solon, keep the evacuation of supernaturals moving,” Katie ordered. “Rune and Dimitri, go with Zuko. Wipe all of their data.”
Dimitri squeezed my hand once. “Stay behind me.”
I snorted. “As if.”
We ran, and Zuko dragged the half-conscious human scientist along by the collar as we listened to Katie’s directions.
The side corridor narrowed into a tech-heavy section with server panels embedded in the walls, keypads blinking, and red emergency lights beginning to strobe.
Everything was hacked into and opened by Slater until we reached the server room door.
That was locked with a biometric panel.
Zuko dragged his captured scientist forward. “Open it.”
The scientist shook his head violently. “I—I can’t—”
“I’m going to make you then,” he said cheerfully.
He lifted a blade from his kit, and I recognized it as the same blade I’d embedded into his thigh year one.
The same one Jesper had confiscated but never gave me back.
I shot him a look. “How did you get that?”
“I have my ways, pretty little poison.” He winked at me.
The scientist started sobbing.
“Non-lethal,” Eleanor reminded faintly.
Zuko sighed dramatically. “Fine.”
“At least until the data is destroyed,” Eleanor added.
He pressed the blade flat against the man’s throat with a feral smile. “Open the door.”
The scientist’s shaking hand slapped the panel.
It lit up green.
Then, Zuko pushed his head toward the scanner, and it scanned his eye before turning green again.
The door hissed open.
Inside, the server room was colder than the corridors, packed with humming towers and blinking lights. A central console glowed with data streams of files, logs, charts, and readings.
“Slater,” I snapped into comms. “We’re in the server room.”
“I see you,” Slater replied instantly. “I’m patching in. Dimitri, there’s an admin terminal on the right. If you can compel the scientist, make him destroy all the data.”
Dimitri’s eyes glowed brighter. “Gladly.”
Zuko shoved the scientist into a chair before Dimitri leaned down, gaze locking onto the human’s eyes.
“Look at me,” Dimitri ordered. “Don’t look away.”
The man’s breath hitched before his eyes glazed.
“You are going to access every file you have. You are going to delete all supernatural data, all experimental logs, all backups, and you will wipe every trace of information you’ve taken from supernatural bodies and minds.” Dimitri’s voice was coated with compulsion magic.
The scientist’s lips parted and closed before opening again. “Yes.”
He started typing.
I watched the screen as files vanished one by one.
Zuko leaned against a server tower, looking at the blood on his knuckles. “I found out more than this, by the way.”
I glanced at him. “What else?”
He nodded toward the scientist. “He told me where the other human facilities are.”
If only that were true in real life.
My pulse spiked anyway. “He did?”
Zuko’s grin widened. “Names and locations.”
Slater let out a loud whoop. “You got facility locations? That’s great!”
Katie’s voice shook with adrenaline. “Send them to me as soon as you can. I’ll map them.”
Eleanor exhaled slowly. “If we have multiple facilities, the Human Council can’t deny a rogue faction anymore. This becomes political leverage.”
“And revenge,” I whispered.
Dimitri’s hand tightened on my waist for half a second. “Revenge you will get.”
The scientist finished wiping the last file. His fingers hovered blankly over the keyboard.
Dimitri leaned in again. “Now, you will forget what you did. You will forget what you saw. You will forget every single thing pertaining to supernaturals.”
The scientist nodded. “Forget…”
Dimitri straightened, eyes still burning.
“Solon, Ivy, and Koa have the supernaturals moving, but you three need to get out now. The facility is trying to isolate sectors. I can hold it for maybe…”
“Don’t give time estimates,” Dimitri hissed.
Slater huffed. “The timer is already counting down on your watches. Go now.”
Dimitri grabbed me and Zuko off our feet before everything blurred.
The alarms were loud and red lights flashed, but when Dimitri stopped and let us go, we were at the exit of the facility.
He pushed the door open, and snow swirled in the floodlight beams.
Ivy stood with phoenix flames licking over her fists as she led the supernaturals to our extraction point. Solon had blood streaking his lower face from a broken nose that had already healed while he worked with Ivy.
Koa knelt in melted snow from his phoenix fire with supernaturals gathered around him, hands glowing blue as he stabilized them one by one. Some were sobbing, some were detached, but they were all alive.
Zuko stepped out from behind me, bloodied and calm, as he dragged his scientist behind him.
Dimitri’s arm hooked around my waist, and protectiveness spiked through his bond. “Are you okay?”
I smirked. “I’m okay. Are you okay?”
He kissed the top of my head. “Fine.”
“Liar,” I teased.
Slater’s voice came through the comms. “All right. Time to burn the place.”
“Does it have a self-destruct function?” Ivy asked.
“The facility’s system has one. Slater, can you trigger it?” Katie asked.
Slater purred, “Already did.”
Sylver used a device that aided her in creating a protection ward around our group just as the ground beneath the facility trembled and internal systems blared on cue.
A low rumble rolled through, and we kept moving further away from it. Our squad formed a protective ring as we backed away from the building. The supernaturals we were saving were supported between us.
A deep, concussive boom rolled through the night.
The facility collapsed inward, swallowing its own structure in a controlled implosion of fire, steam, and shattered steel. The shockwave punched through the air, sending powder spraying up in a white cloud that glittered under the moonlight.
The heat hit our backs, then silence followed.
Koa exhaled shakily as he looked back. “Good.”
Zuko wiped blood from his cheek. “If only this wasn’t simulated.”
Dimitri’s voice was low. “We’ll take the facility down in real life, too.”
I leaned into him for half a second, my breath fogging the air.
“Venom baby, you looked incredible in there,” Slater murmured through the comms. “I love watching you move when you kill.”
“This was a rescue mission,” Eleanor reminded us.
“Yes,” Slater hummed. “And she still looked incredible.”
Zuko chuckled. “My pretty little poison always does.”
I rolled my eyes, but warmth threaded through the bond. Even in simulations, my mates had a way of making sure I remembered I wasn’t alone.
It was a dangerous feeling that I was sure I’d get addicted to, if I wasn’t already.
The timer on my wrist beeped, signaling that the one-hour time limit was over. The cold, smoke, survivors, and the destroyed facility vanished as Apex Simulator 2.0 snapped back into place.
Jarvins stood at the holographic console, twig still in his mouth, his gaze assessing our expressions.
We stood in a loose line, me between Dimitri and Zuko.
“Rune Bloodwyne and Dimitri Nocturnus, every deception was clean. You maintained cover despite the proximity to trauma triggers for Rune. You located the captives quickly and initiated the release protocol without alerting upper-level security until extraction was already in motion.” His gaze cut to me. “You took a hit for Dimitri.”
Dimitri’s posture stiffened beside me.
Jarvins's eyes were calculating. “It worked because you’re immune, but don’t make a habit of treating yourself like armor.”
“I understand,” I told him, knowing full well I’d be armor for any of my mates.
Jarvins's gaze slid to Dimitri. “The compulsion to open the cells was efficient as well as making the human stay put after to avoid them getting in the way.”
Dimitri nodded once.
Jarvins continued, “Ivy Benson and Solon Ryk, your external containment and security control was effective. You held an extraction line without collapsing under pressure when escorting the captives out of the facility.”
Ivy’s grin spread over her face.
Solon shrugged, but I saw the corners of his lips curve upward.
“Koa Ashbourne,” Jarvins said. “Your triage work prevented multiple simulated and real fatalities. You stabilized captives and kept the agents operational.”
Koa’s shoulders loosened slightly.
Jarvins's gaze shifted to Zuko. “Zuko Vyre, your interrogation on the lead scientist yielded actionable intel. You also took a hit for Rune.”
Zuko’s mouth curved in a wicked smile. “Worth it.”
Jarvins's eyes narrowed. “Do not romanticize dying for your mate.”
Zuko’s grin didn’t fade. “I didn’t die, and even if I had, it would be romantic.”
I glared at him from the side. “You aren’t allowed to die for me.”
Zuko glanced at me. “I don’t want you to die for me either, but would you listen to me if it came down to it?”
I huffed, scowling at him. “No.”
Jarvins ignored us. “Slater Havoc, your surveillance control was flawless. Timed self-destruction was executed cleanly. You maintained comms communication, but you could flirt less with your mate.”
Slater beamed. “Thank you.”
Jarvins's gaze flicked to Katie. “Katie Mornwick, blueprint management and updates were accurate. You maintained operational momentum.”
Katie’s shoulders squared, pride flickering behind her glasses.
“And, Eleanor Fawnmere,” Jarvins spoke. “Diplomatic containment was stable. You maintained plausible deniability.”
Eleanor inclined her head.
Jarvins's gaze swept all of us one last time. “This is the kind of mission that kills agents. It kills captives even when you do everything right.”
A chill slid down my spine.
Jarvins's voice didn’t change. “But today, you extracted every captive. You prevented data preservation. You obtained intel on additional facilities. You executed controlled sabotage, and you kept all agents alive.” He pulled the twig from his mouth and pointed it at us. “Which means each of you passed.”
The tension coiling in my muscles loosened.
Dimitri’s hand found mine again, fingers lacing through mine in a quiet, possessive claim.
Zuko’s hand rested on my lower back.
Slater’s voice purred through comms, even though we were standing only a few feet apart. “Venom baby, I’m proud of you.”
Zuko whispered in my ear, “My pretty little poison did good.”
Koa’s voice was soft through the comms. “You did perfect, little vixen.”
“And you lived up to your nickname, lethal darling.” Dimitri squeezed my hand.
My gaze scanned the simulator’s chamber, landing on all of my mates, my temporary squad members, and my professor.
We hadn’t lost anyone this mission, and that felt great.
“Yeah,” I murmured, letting a slow smile curve my lips. “We did excellent.”