Page 40 of Bite for Sore Eyes

Stop thinking about your illness. Focus on this.

Hours dissolved as she dove deeper into the network architecture. Diagnostic after diagnostic revealed nothing obviously wrong, but gradually a pattern began to emerge from the chaos.

"That's strange," she murmured.

"What?" Jace leaned forward eagerly.

"Every night at 7:17, there's a failure. Not the same kind of failure, but still a failure that causes a slew of problems." She pointed to the timestamps that had been embedded in the code to shield them from detection.

Jace's eyes widened as he studied the data. "Wow, how did I miss that?"

"Because someone wanted you to. These failures aren't random. Someone is deliberately doing this."

Jace's face went through several expressions—surprise, concern, and finally grim understanding. "Can you tell who? Or where it's coming from? Internal or external?"

"That's the thing." Lana gestured toward the screens full of data. "We'll have to spend hours tracing the source because whoever is doing this is smart and covered their tracks very well."

"We need to tell Rath and Torren about this."

"Not yet." The words came out sharp. "Not until we prove where this is coming from. I don't want them to get alarmed until we have all the answers."

Jace nodded slowly. "That's probably a good idea. No need setting alarms off when we don't know the full story."

A familiar sensation crept up Lana's spine—the telltale warning that preceded one of her episodes. Her vision flickered, and a tingling began in her fingertips. After promising Rath and Torren she wouldn't hide these anymore, she couldn't break that trust now.

"Jace, I really need to get back to the castle. I'm not feeling well."

Before he could respond, footsteps approached their workstation. Vaughn appeared, his neat appearance and measured movements a stark contrast to Jace's more casual energy.

"Hey Vaughn," Jace said, already rising from his chair. "I need to leave for a bit. Can you man my station?"

Vaughn's brown eyes swept over Lana. "Sure thing."

Lana stood carefully, fighting the dizziness that threatened to overwhelm her. Her hands tingled more insistently now, and she just wanted to get back to the safety of the castle before anything else misfired in her brain.

As they made their way out of the security center and down the stone pathways toward the castle, Jace's concerned presence beside her was a steadying force.

"Are you doing okay?" Jace finally asked.

"Yeah, just a bit dizzy."

Before he could respond, the sound of heavy paws against earth made them both freeze. Two massive bears emerged from the treeline ahead, their dark forms blocking the pathway back to the castle. These weren't Rath and Torren—Lana would have recognized their bears anywhere. These creatures moved with predatory intent, their attention fixed entirely on her.

Panic clawed at Lana's throat as her episode symptoms intensified.

No, this can't be happening. Not now.

SIXTEEN

TORREN

The third floor of Varkesh Castle stretched before them like a command center designed for war—banks of communication equipment lined the walls, strategic maps covered every available surface, and the scent of strong coffee lingered in the air. Torren pushed back from his desk, the virtual meeting with Elder Garrick and the council still echoing in his mind like a persistent headache.

"Well, that was both productive and infuriating," Torren muttered, running his hand through his hair.

Rath's jaw worked silently as he stared at the now-dark communication screen. "Productive because Garrick seemed genuinely pleased about Lana," Rath said finally, his voice carrying that controlled edge that meant his bear was prowling restlessly. "Infuriating because suddenly everyone's questioning whether dual Alphas are as effective as they once believed."

The words hit Torren like blows. After fifteen years of sacrifice—of putting their personal lives on hold, of making every decision with the sleuth's welfare first, of proving again and again that their partnership worked—some council members were now suggesting their leadership model was flawed.