It’s for the best, I’m sure.
I’d only bring them down. Shackle them to my worry and stress. To my stupidity.
When I look at Nyx, my heart aches. I want nothing more than to know what it is to hold her, comfort her, to love her. But I’m useless when it comes to these things.
I may know what others feel better than they do, but there’s always been a block when it comes to my own feelings.
The knowledge that I’m bound to her is foremost in my mind, but that ache in my heart, I can’t decipher why it’s there. Not exactly.
My desire to do things for her, to be there for her, is strong and obvious, but feeling the bond… the love… it doesn’t come. Not in the same recognizable way I feel it from Nyx for both Erich and Zephyr, and them for her. Not even the budding admiration between Zephyr and Erich.
I don’t know why, and it’s destroying me.
“Why do they have to go? They’re only children!”
Isaac Amato, Mira’s father, nearly roars inside the War Room, his fist slamming down on the edge of the display table. His fury bubbles and rages, filling the room and invading my psyche.
“They are not children, and they volunteered.” Willow is barely able to contain her own anger, fists clenched, teeth bared at Isaac.
“She ismychild,” he counters. “There’s no reason for her or her pack to go on this dangerous mission.”
“Dad.”
Mira steps up to the table, eyes on her father. “We chose to do this. It isn’t your decision.”
His anger spikes, but it’s veiling his worry. The ground begins to rumble beneath our feet.
“Keep it together, Amato,” Rodrigo tells him, tone warning.
With a growl, Isaac steps away from the table and storms out of the room.
The energy gets lighter, but not entirely. There’s a battle being fought inside Willow, and she’s doing little to hide her frustrations.
“As we were saying,” Rodrigo’s voice is smoother now, calmer. “Miranda’s pack will take the broadcast facility in the city. It controls the largest satellite network in orbit. Raito will use his power to push out the videos and audio we preparedto every television and radio station on the globe, and all the information we’ve compiled across the internet for anyone and everyone to find at will.”
Rai steps into the blue light of the projected three-dimensional map on the table at the center of our gathering. He nods, waves his hand over the surface and changes the display by sheer will. “I will take control from the GBE first. Shut them out of their own systems. Once I’ve pushed the information out into the world, we will need to stay on site long enough to ensure they don’t regain control before the data packets get to where they need to be.” The projection changes to a building interior with screens and controls all over the walls. “I can easily keep them out of the systems if they try to break back in remotely, but if they try and can’t regain control, they’ll know immediately where we are. They’ll come for us. That building is the only location they can take back control of the airwaves and internet.”
“That’s where we come in.” Aubrey Modumo’s deep voice nearly booms. Not being able to speak more than half his life without sending out sonic shockwaves that would destroy everything around him, he hasn’t taken to expressing himself much vocally now that he can. When he speaks, there’s purpose. “Me, Colt, and Mira will guard the inner control room.” He points out three entry points leading to a corridor that in turn leads to one doorway that opens to the central room.
“I’ll do everything I can to slow any infiltration,” Colt chimes, sounding more self-assured than I’ve ever heard him.
I admit, a tinge of jealousy flares up in me.
“Aubrey and I will take care of anyone who gets past Colt’s first line of defense,” Mira finishes, giving a single nod of her head at the map her eyes scan.
“You four won’t be alone,” Rodrigo tells us all. The way their heads snap in his direction and the spike of surprise in the air tell me this is news to them.
Rodrigo’s head tilts to the side, a single brow rising. “I am working on your backup as we speak. You’ll hear from me as soon as the details are ironed.” He raises his hand with the small remote control for the table, and the building interior falls away, that island facility he’d shown us last time taking its place. “We received word that the last team to infiltrate the broadcast tower was taken here,” he gestures to the projection. “They were able to destroy all of the data they were going to upload before they were captured, but our insider at the facility says Teams Enki and Marduk are both captives now.” He places the remote on the edge of the table with a sigh, his shoulders falling with his breath, making him look a bit smaller. His head shakes when he continues. “I want you all to know that this never should have happened. We’d planned for every foreseeable counterattack.”
“Which is why we think we’ve been betrayed.”
My body jolts at Willow’s angry words before I ask, “By whom?”
“We don’t know,” Rodrigo replies, now standing tall with his arms crossed over his broad chest. “We have a few guesses, but that’s all they are right now. Colt is aiding our investigation.”
I look at the young blond Alpha, his face serious, mismatched eyes narrowed in determination. He looks so much older now. When had that happened?
“This facility is where you’re going to come in, Laurant.”
