Chapter 31
Nadia
I watch as Jericho walks toward the facility gate. My wolf surges against my control, demanding I follow. Stay close. Guard his back.
But that’s not the plan. My role is here, waiting for the signal, then creating the diversion that gives him extraction time.
The gate opens. He walks through. Disappears inside the compound.
My wolf strains toward the facility, every instinct pulling me after him.
Mate walking into danger. Alone.
I hold myself still. Focus on breathing. On the plan. On trust. He knows what he’s doing. He’s had years inside Syndicate facilities. This is his expertise.
But he’s alone.
I check my watch. Fifteen hundred hours. My pack should be here. Should have arrived fifteen minutes ago.
Where are they?
I scan the approach roads. Nothing. No vehicles. No wolf energy signatures.
Fifteen-oh-five.
Merric is never late. If he said he’d be here, he’ll be here. Unless something stopped him.
Syndicate patrol? Aurora forces? Accident?
I look back down at the building. Jericho is inside. Alone. Moving through that facility without backup.
I should go after him.
No. That compromises the mission. The diversion has to come from outside at the right moment. Has to draw attention away from his position. I have to trust he’s executing the plan. Trust he’s reaching the test subjects. Trust he’ll get them out.
My wolf whines, something pulling at her. Reaching toward the facility. Toward him.
I’ve felt this pull since the mountains. Since the training facility. But now it’s stronger. Insistent. Like an invisible thread stretching between us.
Fifteen-fifteen.
The facility looks quiet. No alarms. No obvious chaos. Either he’s still moving undetected or—
I won’t think about alternatives. I glance at my watch. It’s time for me to get into position. I move through the trees toward the perimeter. Closer to where I spotted a maintenance truck earlier. It’s an older model. The keys might be in it. Perfect for what I need.
The pull in my chest tightens. Not painful. Just present. Awareness that wasn’t there before.
He’s inside. Moving. I can feel him somehow. Not his exact location. Not his thoughts. Just presence. Certainty that he’s alive and active.
My wolf goes still. Recognition flooding through her. Mate bond beginning. The first true thread forming between us. I’ve been fighting this since I felt the first pull. Since my wolf started insisting with absolute certainty.
But it’s undeniable now. Physical. Real.
I can feel him inside that facility. Feel his focus. His determination. The edge of his fear—not for himself but for the people he’s rescuing.
If we survive this, we’re bonded. The thread forming now will solidify into something unbreakable. Terror and wonder twist together in my chest. This is what I’ve been avoiding. What I wasn’t ready to accept. My wolf choosing him. My body recognizing our mate.
Chance is gone. Has been gone for five years. And my wolf found someone new. Someone who killed him. Someone who’s risking everything to save people he doesn’t know.
Someone who makes me feel things I swore I’d never feel again.
The pull intensifies. Something’s changed. Alarms. I hear them faintly from here. He’s been discovered.
Time for the diversion.
I break from cover and run low toward the maintenance truck parked near the east fence. The guard post is fifty meters away. The shift change has their attention divided.
I reach the truck and try the door. It’s unlocked, the keys in the ignition. Syndicate arrogance or luck. Saves me the time of having to hotwire it. I slide in and start the engine. It roars to life.
The guard at the post turns and sees me. Raises his weapon.
I floor the accelerator. The truck lurches forward and crashes through the fence. Metal screeches. Guards shout.
I aim for the outer wall. The structural wall that surrounds the main compound. Old concrete. Vulnerable.
Sixty kilometers per hour. Seventy. Eighty.
Suddenly, there’s gunfire, bullets hitting the truck bed. One shatters the rear window. Glass explodes. I duck low, keeping the accelerator down.
Twenty meters to impact.
Ten.
Five.
Impact.
The truck smashes into the concrete wall. The airbag deploys, slamming into me. There’s pain. But the wall cracks. Significant damage. Alarms intensifying.
I force the door open and stumble out. Guards are converging from three directions. I shift partially using wolf speed to run for the tree line. Bullets track behind me, but they’re slow. I’m faster.
Into the forest. Cover. Safety.
Behind me: chaos. Alarms blaring. Guards mobilizing. All attention is completely diverted from whatever Jericho is doing inside.
The bond pulses once more. He’s moving fast. Getting them out. I can feel his urgency as if it’s my own.
I circle back through the trees, toward where the service exit should be. Where the victims will emerge if everything goes according to plan.
Minutes pass, each one stretched thin with anxiety and the constant awareness of him through the forming bond.
Then I see them.
The first victim stumbles out of the service exit. Male. Young. He can barely walk. Another follows. Female. Supported by a teenager who’s somehow mobile despite obvious injury.
More emerge. Trickling out. Fifteen in total, each displaying various states of injury and consciousness.
My role shifts. I have to get them to safety. Get them away before security reorganizes. I break from cover, running to the nearest victim. The male who came out first.
“I’m here to help,” I say quickly. “Follow me. We need to move.”
He stares at me. Doesn’t understand. Traumatized beyond coherent response.
I take his arm gently, guiding him toward the trees as quickly as I can without harming him further. The others follow, their instinct to flee overriding confusion. They move slowly. Some need support. All of them are broken by what they’ve endured.
I help them one by one, getting them into the cover of the trees. I keep them moving, putting distance between them and the facility.
But all the while, the bond pulls. Jericho is still inside. Still fighting. I can feel combat through the connection. Heat. Dragonfire. His presence burning bright and fierce.
My wolf strains toward him. The urge to go to him is almost overwhelming. But these people need me here.
Where is my pack?
As if summoned by the thought, I hear engines. Two vehicles crash through the undergrowth from the south. Not the approach road. Coming overland through rough terrain.
They screech to a stop. Doors opening. Wolves pouring out. Merric first. Then Rook, Sienna, Dane, Briar. All of them poised and ready. Relief floods through me so intensely that I nearly stumble.
Merric crosses to me in three strides. “Nadia.”
“Where were you?” The sharpness in my voice is unavoidable.
“Hit a Syndicate checkpoint on the main road. They’re running increased patrols in this sector. Had to detour fifty miles around their position.” His voice is grim. “Then the lead vehicle blew a fucking tire on some back road in the middle of nowhere. Took twenty minutes to change the thing.”
Syndicate. Hunting for something. Maybe for Jericho. Maybe general security. Either way, it cost us critical time.
“I’m sorry,” Merric continues. “We got here fast as we could.”
“He’s inside. Alone. Extracting victims.” I gesture toward the facility. “Dragon guards. Heavy security. The original plan called for full team support, but—”
“I understand.” Merric is already assessing. Looking at the facility. The victims I’ve extracted. The situation. “These are the test subjects?”
“Some of them. Maybe more inside. He went back for one who wasn’t with the others.”
Merric nods and turns to his pack. “Dane, Briar, with me. We’re going in. Rook, Sienna—get these people to safety, then get your asses in there with us.”
They move immediately, coordinating without the need for communication.
I start forward. To follow.
Merric stops me with a hand on my arm. “Stay with the victims.”
“No—”
“Nadia.” His alpha voice. Not harsh. Just firm. “They need you here. And if I go in there with you, I’ll be watching you instead of watching the mission.”
He’s right. I hate it, but he’s right.
“He’s… important to me. I—” I stop. Can’t explain how complicated this is. Not to Merric. Not yet.
“I know,” Merric says quietly. Understanding in his eyes. “That’s why I’m gonna get him out.”
He shifts. Wolf form exploding outward. The others follow, charging toward the facility.
I’m left with the rescued hybrids, with Rook and Sienna helping the injured. With the impossible task of staying here when my wolf is fighting with me to go to him.
The bond pulses stronger. He’s fighting. I can feel it. Dragonfire and combat and desperation.
Sounds of battle build from the facility. Not gunfire. Something bigger. Loud roars. The distinctive sound of fire meeting fire. Walls collapsing.
He’s in full dragon form, going up against other dragons.
Have to get there, have to—
“Nadia.” Rook’s voice. “We need help with this one.”
A female hybrid. Unconscious, her breathing shallow and labored. I force myself to focus, to help Rook and Sienna move her carefully. I check her vitals. She’s clinging to life.
Then I hear it. Helicopters. Two of them. Circling the facility from the north. Heavy military transports. Armed.
Syndicate reinforcements? Aurora?
One helicopter descends, touching down in the clearing east of the facility. The other hovers, providing cover.
The door opens. Viktor emerges.
Viktor. Here. With a full tactical team behind him. Armed. Ready.
He sees me immediately and crosses the distance with long strides. His expression is controlled, but I can see anger underneath. And concern.
“Commander Frost,” he says. Formal. Using my rank even though I’m a fugitive.
“Sir.” What else can I say?