Everyone braced.
And nothing.
No explosion.
Because there was no bomb, only a stack of manila envelopes filled with yellowed, dusty papers.
"Well, unless you think I am going to die by paper cut, can I look inside now?"
"My hand is twitching, Rowan," Cade said, giving me his signature look that meant,cut the attitude.
He dumped the contents of the box, sending everything spilling across the table. Everyone grabbed a folder and started rifling through the papers in tense silence. Matching the box, aclassifiedlabel plastered each folder.
I took a deep breath and flipped mine open.
The first thing I saw was the face of a woman, roughly my age. I didn't recognize her, though she looked just like me. Fiery red hair, deep blue eyes, and a sad expression. Her picture sat clipped atop a stack of medical paperwork. Thick black redaction boxes covered most of the identifying information, including her name and age.
But two unredacted words caught my attention.
Patient Zero.
The words hit me like a warning, and an audible gasp escaped before I could stop it.
“Rowan, what is it?” Talon asked, dropping his folder and turning his full attention to me.
“It's me,” I whispered, tracing the outline of the photograph.
Cade snatched the folder from my hands so fast I barely saw him move.
“Hey, what the hell! Give that back,” I snapped, but he ignored me. He stared at the photo, equally shaken for a moment. Then he schooled his expression.
“That's not you, Rowan,” he said dismissively, flipping through the paperwork.
“Well, not me exactly, but she looks just like me,” I argued.
Killian reached over and grabbed the folder from his brother with a low growl.
“Looks like Crane,” he said in agreement. Unclipping the photo, he passed it to Talon, and then Ryker.
Ryker snorted. “Maybe Zolkos has some freaky kink for experimenting on pretty redheads.”
“Zolkos was not the lead on this project,” Cade said, already absorbed in another folder. “Here, look.”
The folder slid across the table.
“Chief Scientist, Dr. Melker,” he said, pointing to the header on the paperwork. “He was overseeing something called Project Flame.”
“Have you ever heard of it?” Talon asked, scanning the document.
“No. But I remember that name. Dr. Melker… where do I know that from? Maybe…”
Killian started signing furiously. I tried to follow, but his fingers moved too fast, and I could only catch pieces.
“That's right. That dinner!” Cade said suddenly, snapping his fingers as the memory hit him. “The one where my mother burned dessert. The entire house stank of charred apple crisp for a week.”
Killian huffed. “Tried to blame the oven.”
Cade nodded, eyes narrowing as he pieced it together. “My father had Dr. Melker and his wife over that night. I'd never seen him so stressed. He kept saying he needed to impress Melker for a promotion. There was an important project happening at the time. Something he was desperate to be part of.”
