Page 50 of Anders
Inside, the office smelled of dust and ink and something else—something that made Etta’s skin crawl.Something clinical, antiseptic.
Someone’s been here,she whispered, her nostrils flaring.Recently.
Anders nodded darkly.I smell it too.Moving quickly may be more important than moving quietly.Where are your notes?
Etta led him to her desk, pulling open the bottom drawer.Her notebooks were stacked neatly inside—far more neatly than she remembered leaving them.Someone had been through them.
Her hands trembled as she pulled out the top notebook, flipping it open under the dim light of Anders’s penlight.The pages were filled with her handwriting, but the content made her blood run cold.
Subject continues to exhibit increased sensory awareness despite level 4 suppression.Recommend adjustment to formula.
Pack hierarchy clearly established—M.Crawford and L.Ortega as dominant pair, A.Hamilton as enforcer.
Security protocols extensive but penetrable.Surveillance equipment placement optimal for mapping patrol patterns.
Oh my god,Etta whispered, horror washing over her.I did this.I mapped out your security, identified your leaders…Her voice broke.I was helping them plan an attack.
Not you,Anders corrected firmly.Them.Using you.
But Etta barely heard him as she flipped to the next page, where a detailed map of pack territory had been meticulously drawn—including notes on guard rotations, blind spots, the Old Packhouse’s layout.
Another page contained personal observations about pack members—their strengths, weaknesses, relationships.Strategic information that could be used to exploit them.
I was good at this,she said numbly.Thorough.Detailed.
That’s why they chose you,Anders said, his voice tight with controlled anger—not at her, she realized, but at the people who had used her.Your skills as a journalist would transfer well to intelligence gathering.
Etta turned the page and froze.There, in her precise handwriting, was a detailed report on Anders himself.
A.Hamilton demonstrates exceptional tactical awareness.Former military background provides advanced training beyond typical pack enforcer.Attachment to territory substantial—unlikely to retreat if threatened.
Weakness: overextension of protective instincts.Will place pack safety above personal survival, creating exploitable vulnerability.
They were planning to kill you,she whispered, horror turning her voice thin and strained.All of you.And I gave them the blueprint for how to do it.
Anders took the notebook, scanning the pages with a grim expression.This confirms what we suspected.They’re using you to gather intelligence for an attack.
But why?Etta demanded, grabbing another notebook.What do they want with wolf shifters?
The second notebook contained fewer observations and more technical notes—chemical formulas, dosage recommendations, neural pathway diagrams.Most of it was beyond her understanding, but certain phrases jumped out:Subject integration stable at 97 percent.Asset deployment successful.Group C operating at optimal parameters.Trigger phrase responsiveness meeting expectations.
Group C,she murmured.There must be other groups.Other…people like me.
She flipped to the last page with writing, dated just a few days ago—the day before her breakdown in the basement.What she read made her blood freeze.
Chemical suppression failing at accelerated rate.Asset showing signs of self-awareness.Epsilon Protocol may be necessary if degradation continues at current rate.
Epsilon Protocol?Anders read over her shoulder.
As if triggered by those words, a searing pain shot through the back of her neck, radiating outward through her skull.Etta screamed, dropping to her knees as agony consumed her.
Anders was beside her in an instant, his arms supporting her as her body convulsed.
Another wave of agony hit, and with it came a flood of memories—not fragments this time, but a torrential deluge that threatened to drown her.
Her real parents, their faces clear now.Her mother’s white-blonde hair, her father’s kind eyes.Running through forests as a family, shifting together under the moon.
The attack.Men in tactical gear surrounding their small house.Her father shifting to defend them, her mother hiding her.
