“No,” Wolf said darkly. “He went underground.”
Havoc crossed his arms. “And took his test subjects with him.”
I hugged myself tighter. “They called usassets.”
Wolf crossed the room in two strides and knelt in front of me, gripping my hands firmly.
“You were a child,” he said. “You survived somethingmonstrous. That doesn’t make you theirs.”
Tears slid free. “They still think it does.”
Wolf looked over his shoulder at the team.
“They’re not after Nora now,” he said. “They’re after what theythinkthey lost control of.”
Saint nodded slowly. “A variable who didn’t break.”
Trigger’s voice hardened. “They want her back to prove the program worked.”
I felt sick. “They want to finish me.”
Wolf’s eyes went lethal.
“No,” he said.
“They want me to fail.”
He stood and turned to the team.
“Which means,” he continued, calm and violent all at once, “we stop reacting.”
Havoc cracked a grim smile. “We hunt.”
Trigger nodded. “On our terms.”
Saint added, “We bait.”
Sheriff Tate stiffened. “You’re proposing what I think you are—”
“I am,” Wolf said. “They believe Nora is isolated. That she’s afraid. They don’t realize she’s fucking angry.”
He turned to me, voice dropping, intense but gentle.
“They don’t know you,” he said. “They don’t know what you became.”
My heart pounded.
“They don’t know,” he continued, “that I’m done playing defense.”
I lifted my chin. “What do you need from me?”
The room went still.
Wolf didn’t hesitate.
“Trust,” he said. “And permission.”
“For what?”
