Page 102 of Conall
The syringe in his hand gleamed silver, filled with something that made her wolf cower instinctively.Not a simple tranquilizer—something far more permanent.
Neural interface implantation, followed by chemicals designed to heighten your susceptibility to suggestions,he explained with clinical detachment.When you wake up, you’ll remember why duty matters more than personal desires.Why our cause justifies any sacrifice.
You mean I’ll be your puppet.
You’ll be my daughter again.Properly motivated.Correctly focused.The syringe moved closer.The woman who understands that sometimes we must sacrifice what we want for what our people need.
But as Gregory reached for her arm, Nadine smiled.
The zip-tie restraints had been weakening since she’d regained consciousness.Enhanced healing from the mate bond—even closed—had allowed her to work on them, stretching the ties more than even standard shifter strength would allow for, creating stress fractures in the plastic that Gregory didn’t expect.
With desperate strength, she broke free and moved with liquid precision.
The syringe clattered across concrete as Gregory stumbled backward in genuine surprise.
Impossible,he breathed.The restraints were—
Inadequate,Nadine finished, flowing to her feet.Just like your understanding of what you really created.
But Gregory was faster than she’d anticipated.
Decades of field experience kicked in as he rolled with the fall, his hand shooting out to snag the syringe before it could slide beyond reach.Even as Nadine lunged forward, he was already moving—a smooth combat roll that brought him back to his feet with the weapon secured.
Enhanced healing from the mate bond,he said, breathing only slightly elevated despite the struggle.I should have accounted for that variable.
Nadine feinted left, then dove right, but Gregory had trained her every move.He knew her patterns, her tells, the precise way she shifted her weight before attacking.The tranquilizer dart caught her in the thigh before she’d completed her evasion.
This time, the drug was different.Stronger.Designed specifically to counter shifter metabolism and whatever enhanced healing the mate bond might provide.
Her legs buckled as the chemical raced through her system, vision blurring at the edges.She fought to stay conscious, clawing at the concrete floor as Gregory approached with methodical calm.
You were always my finest creation,he said, kneeling beside her as her body betrayed her.Even now, pushing past limits that should be impossible.But every weapon has specifications, Nadine.And I wrote yours.
The syringe appeared in her wavering vision, silver gleaming under the harsh facility lights.Her wolf whimpered as something deeper than fear flooded her senses—the recognition of a predator specifically designed to hunt her kind.
The neural interface will integrate with your existing neural pathways within moments,Gregory continued, his voice growing distant as the tranquilizer pulled her under.When you wake up, you’ll understand that this was always necessary.That protecting our people requires sacrifices.
She tried to speak, to fight, to reach for the mate bond she’d closed to protect Conall.But the connection remained silent, and her body refused to obey as Gregory positioned the injection device against her neck.
The sharp sting barely registered through the drug haze.
Sleep now, daughter,Gregory murmured, his voice carrying the same gentle tone he’d used to comfort her after nightmares as a child.When you wake up, everything will finally make sense.
Darkness claimed her completely, and her last conscious thought was a desperate prayer that Conall would stay away—that he wouldn’t try to rescue someone who might no longer be worth saving.
The neural interface began its work in the silence, rewriting the pathways that made her who she was.
CHAPTER 23
QUINTON STOOD IN THEdoorway of their empty apartment, staring at the coffee mugs still sitting side by side on the kitchen counter—evidence of the morning routine they’d maintained for years.
When was the last time we had that morning?
He couldn’t remember.
Sometime in the past week, their shared routines had been disrupted by Nadine’s presence, by the mate bond that was pulling Conall toward loyalties that had nothing to do with the brothers’ partnership.
The silence felt wrong without Conall’s presence.
