Page 51 of Anders
Don’t make a sound,her mother whispered, tears streaming down her face.No matter what you hear.Remember we love you.
The gunshots.Her parents’ deaths.Being dragged from her hiding place, terrified and alone.
The labs.The tests.The endless, endless pain.
Other children—wolf-shifter children—undergoing the same procedures.Some surviving.Some not.
Conditioning.Being unmade and remade.Having her true nature suppressed, her memories stolen.
And finally, being placed with humanparents—agents of the program tasked with maintaining her cover until she was old enough fordeployment.
The truth crashed through Etta—everything she thought she knew about herself was a fabrication.Her childhood memories, her human parents, her career trajectory—all carefully orchestrated to position her for this mission.
She wasn’t just a victim.She was a weapon—one that had been aimed directly at the Sunburst Pack.
I remember everything,she gasped, clutching Anders’s shirt as the pain began to recede, leaving her trembling and drenched in cold sweat.I remember who I am.Who I was.
Tell me,Anders urged, his voice gentle despite the urgency of their situation.
My parents were from the Silverleaf Pack in northern Montana.We were targeted because my father was their alpha.They killed my parents when I was five.Took me to a facility called Chimera.Experimented on me.Changed me.Her voice dropped.Stole everything from me.
Anders helped her to her feet as her legs threatened to give way beneath her.We need to get you out of here,he said urgently.
No,Etta said, suddenly calm despite the terror coursing through her.Not yet.There’s one more thing I need.
She staggered to the archive room door, forcing herself down the stairs despite the pain still radiating from the back of her neck.In the basement, she went directly to a filing cabinet she didn’t remember examining before.
The drawer slid open smoothly, revealing folders labeled with pack names.Stardust.Ironwood.Cross Timbers.Blackthorn.Sunburst.
These are all shifter packs,Anders realized, his voice tight with anger.They’ve been targeting multiple communities.
Etta grabbed the Sunburst file, flipping it open to reveal detailed profiles of every pack member—including Anders.
They have definitely been planning this for years,she said, her voice hollow.Long before I ever came to town.
Something caught her eye—a small notation in the corner of Anders’s file:Potential mate-bond match for Asset E5—98.7 percent compatibility.Monitor for attachment formation.
They knew,she whispered, a new horror dawning.They knew we were potential mates.They counted on it.
What?Anders asked sharply, taking the file from her trembling hands.His eyes widened as he read the notation.
My placement here wasn’t random,she said.They chose Sunburst specifically because you were here.Because we might form a mate bond.They want to use that connection against you—against the pack.
The enormity of the betrayal threatened to crush her.Not only had they stolen her identity, her memories, her very nature—they’d planned to weaponize what she was beginning to realize was the most sacred bond shifters could form.
Another wave of pain shot through her, stronger than before.
She couldn’t suppress the scream that tore from her throat.
We have to go.Now.Anders gathered the files, shoving them into a bag.They’re ramping up whatever they’re doing to you.
Etta nodded, but as they turned to leave, her legs buckled.The pain from the device on her neck was spreading, racing through her nervous system like wildfire.
I think maybe they’re trying to kill me,she gasped.
Not while I’m alive,Anders growled, the sound more wolf than human.He scooped her up in his arms, his face a mask of fury.I won’t let them take you.
As he carried her up the stairs, Etta’s vision began to darken at the edges.The device at the base of her skull throbbed with malevolent energy, sending waves of agony through her with each heartbeat.
