I shook my head slowly. “I do what I need to do,” My voice stayed even, but there was something scarred beneath it. “That doesn’t mean I belong to them. I’ve been on their tables. An experiment to dissect. Whatever command thinks it owns, it isn’t me.”
Cade’s jaw tightened. “They own my father. Hell, he chose them,” he said flatly. “Somewhere along the line, he sold his soul to Command. Their interests became his interests, and he’ll make damn sure whatever secrets are in that old base stay buried.”
Killian let out a low, guttural sound. “Don’t care about Arca.” He stared straight ahead. “Only care about Little Bird. Anyone tries to take her, hurt her, cage her…” His hands flexed. “I'll break them.”
Silence settled in the cab.
Then Cade nodded once. “Fine,” he said. “Maybe we wear the name. Maybe we always have.” His tone hardened, clean and decisive. “But our loyalty isn’t to the institution anymore. Maybe it never was.”
He met each of our gazes in turn.
“It’s to this unit. To each other. And to Rowan.”
No one argued.
Cade had always been the one who played by the rules. The one who knew the regulations inside and out, who navigated Arca’s hierarchy with precision and discipline. He had guided the unit in Command's best interests, carried out their directives without question, and believed that order kept us alive.
Cade did not break rules lightly.
So for him to say this, meant he was no longer pretending Arca deserved blind obedience. We were all finished serving an institution that had already proven it would sacrifice anyone, even its own, to protect its secrets.
Cade cut the wheel, steering us off the road and into the trees to hide the convoy deep in the woods. We finished the approach on foot, falling silent the moment we were close enough to hear voices.
Arca had constructed the decommissioned base at the same time as the wall. Engineers built it directly into the structure itself, sandwiched between the Northern Borderlands on one side and New Arca on the other. The facility had access points facing both directions, allowing movement through the wall without ever leaving its reinforced interior.
When Arca decommissioned the base, they ordered it sealed. Every exterior entry on both sides of the wall was filled with thick layers of reinforced concrete, effectively entombing the facility. Rumor held that it was now impenetrable. The cement served as a final safeguard to ensure it could never be accessed again.
We crept along the treeline, surveying the base like shadows. Two alphas stood guard at the main entrance while the others moved in and out, hauling equipment. Piles of heavy construction tools lay scattered across the clearing: jackhammers, portable drills, industrial saws, reinforced chisels, even a compact excavator with its arm still caked in dust.
Clearly, they had been at this for days.
Maybe longer.
They had smashed, drilled, and cut apart a massive section of the poured concrete, leaving a jagged opening largeenough to carry equipment straight through.
Whatever was inside that old base…
Zolkos and the General wanted access again.
An alpha emerged from inside, carrying a box with a hugeCLASSIFIEDsticker plastered across the side. He handed it to a guard at the entrance before disappearing back into the facility to retrieve more. The guard carried it to their convoy and loaded it into the back, then returned to the doorway and lit a cigarette.
Cade turned toward me and gave a sharp nod, the kind we had learned to read without words. I understood immediately what he was after.
The box sat at the rear of the convoy, positioned close enough to the base entrance to remain in clear view of the two guards posted there. Something in my gut told me whatever the box contained connected to Rowan.
If we wanted to steal it though, those guards would have to be pulled away from the entrance.
Cade signaled for me to shift. He needed a distraction loud and alarming enough to draw their attention so he could move in and take the container.
I shifted and slipped through the trees along the perimeter. Once I reached the far side of the facility, I began making noise that was impossible to ignore. I stepped heavily on every branch, crushed every leaf, and stomped through the underbrush with deliberate force.
"What is that? A direworg? Sounds huge!"
"Hopefully, it's not a fucking wraith. Let’s check it out. Eyes peeled."
Both alphas rounded the corner, guns raised, scanning the treeline.
Hidden deeper in the woods, I growled. The sound was feral and unrestrained. It echoed like something monstrous. I hoped they would react.
