Alannah came in and smiled. “The alert went away, so I’m assuming that you fixed it.”
I nodded. “It took me a minute because I hadn’t been in the firewalls for a few months. But I got it done.”
Alannah smiled and shot me a thumbs up. “Rick told me to tell you to finish the list and then focus on the last task. He really drilled it into my head. He said it was the most important.”
I smiled at her and winked. “Will do.” I turned back to my desk and saw the cold coffee. “Alannah?”
“Yeah?” She looked up from her own screen.
“With the conversation and the breech…my coffee went cold. Do you mind ordering me another? Have a kitchen Omega bring it to me. Tell them I need you here to watch for alerts, and the order came from me.” I wanted a fresh coffee, but there was no way I would ask Alannah to watch around. I needed to keep her in my line of sight the entire time. No one was going to find out she was pregnant. At least not for another week.
She nodded as she picked up the phone. “Will do.” I turned back to my desk and got to work.
I finished the task sheet in an hour. Then I went to work on the trojan. “Hey Alannah?” I called out.
She showed up at my door. “Yeah?”
“I’m getting to work on the last task. Can you tell me if there are any alerts for a breach while I work?”
Alannah nodded, and I saw understanding on her face. “Of course.”
I started in on the first firewall, which I breached with no issue. But the second firewall blared the alarm.
“Amy!”
I sighed. “Got it.” I fixed my breech and tried again. And again. And again. I wanted to bang my head off the screen by mid day.
I groaned in frustration when I heard Alannah call out again. “Amy.”
“Seriously?” I slammed my keyboard in anger. I had made it halfway to the mainframe undetected, but I was stuck around the ninth firewall. I stood up and started to pace.
Alannah came to the door. “Why don’t you take lunch? Take thirty minutes to regroup and then come back and attack. You will still have three hours to get rid of the virus once you settle.” She smiled and handed me the menu. “Maybe you’re hangry.”
I huffed out a breath and then nodded. “You are probably right.” I sighed and dropped back into my chair. I looked over the menu and decided I needed meat. A lot of meat.
Is everything okay?I called back to my wolves.
Nix looked at me with wide eyes.I think we are going to have a problem soon.
What do you mean?I turned to focus on them, my eyes glazing over.
Megan stepped out of the forest, and even she looked a little shook.Erubus was just here.
Okay…I looked around.He’s gone, obviously…so what’s the issue? I might not like that he comes to see you two, but I’ll get over it.
They both shook their heads.You don’t understand. Nix huddled next to Megan.
Just tell me.I threw my hands up in frustration.
Megan looked at Nix and sighed.We are going into heat.
I froze.What do you mean we?I looked between the two of them.When? How?
He said we have maybe a week or two if we can delay it.Nix jumped in.But…
But what?I looked at my wolves, and I could feel the fear building. I couldn’t go through that again alone.
Megan pressed against Nix, drawing strength from her.We are both going into heat…at the same time. The words hit me in my chest. Panic was in full force, and I had no way to stop it.
