My eyes narrow. “I’m fully aware. I won’t make that mistake…I assure you.”
“Be extra careful,” Shadow says, her voice soft with concern. “Please, Grim. I know you don’t care much about your own safety right now, but we need you. This mission needs you.”
“I’ll be careful,” I tell her, which is probably the best promise I can give.
We spend the next hour going over details. How to extract samples without raising suspicion. How to document procedures. Who to watch out for in the Vaccination Center. By the time we’re done, my head is spinning with information.
“We should head back,” Drake says. “Harlow will start worrying about me if I don’t get home soon.” His whole demeanor softens when talking about his female. For just a second, I feel jealous of the male, and then I catch myself. What the hell!? I’m happy on my own.
Shadow hugs me again before we leave. “Thank you for listening. And for agreeing to help out. I know this isn’t easy.”
“Nothing important ever is,” I mutter.
Fury extends his hand again. This time, after a moment’s hesitation, I shake it. His grip is firm, his palm calloused like mine.
“Welcome to the resistance,” he says with a smile.
Resistance. Is that what this is?
“How did you guys get here undetected?” I ask Shadow.
“It’s best you don’t know.”
I nod. “Fair enough.”
We say a quick goodbye.
Drake and I make our way back through the jungle in silence. The trip back feels shorter somehow, maybe because my mind is racing with everything I’ve just learned.
As Drake drives me back to my cabin, I stare out the window at the passing darkness and think about the vaccination vials lined up in neat rows in the clinic’s refrigerator. About all the shifters I’ve dragged in over the past months, forcing them to take something that is making our dragons feral.
When we reach my cabin, Drake parks but doesn’t kill the engine.
“You don’t have to do this, you know. I can find someone else. It’ll delay our plans, but I’ll do it.”
“No,” I say, opening the door. “You can’t. I’m the only one in the right position, with the right access. And besides…” I trail off, looking ahead of me.
“You have nothing to lose,” Drake finishes quietly.
I want to deny it, but we both know it’s true.
I look him in the eye.
“Get some rest,” Drake says. “We’ll be in touch soon.”
I nod and climb out of the truck, watching as he drives away into the night. Then I head inside my cabin, the weight of everything I’ve just learned on my shoulders.
I also feel alive. I have a purpose.
4
Wren
I glance at the clock on my computer screen. Five minutes until my weekly check-in with Dr. Greenberg.
My weekly reports to the Mainland have become routine over the past year and a half, but I still get a little flutter of nerves before each call. Dr. Greenberg is the Director of Vaccine Distribution. One of the arms he oversees is the highly confidential Shifter Health Initiative, and he takes his job veryseriously. Which means he expects me to take mine just as seriously.
I pull up the video conferencing software. We use Teams, since it’s the most secure platform the Mainland has approved. I arrange the files on my desk while I wait. My weekly vaccination report sits front and center, all the data neatly compiled and ready to reference if needed.
