Page 9 of Strays
Suddenly, I feel a shift in the air: Jay’s pheromones washing over us, slowly pulling me and Shane back from the edge. I take a deep breath, letting it sink in. My heart rate slows and my fists unclench.
This. This is what it means to be a pack.
Shane is fire — the one who pushes us forward, who keeps us ready, eager.
Jay is water — the one who keeps us rational, shows us choices, finds the angles we don’t see.
And I’m earth — the one who keeps us grounded. The balance.
All that’s missing is air. A nyra. The breath of the pack. The one who would bring lightness and joy. The piece that would make us whole.
The commander nods at Jay, approving. “I’m impressed. I’ve seen Tier-Three packs with less control.”
He meets my eyes again. “Now listen to me. You couldn’t have been notified three years ago because there was no match back then. From the beginning, the Military Aegis Board excluded all artificial packs from the Matching Program.”
I’ve been called a stray my whole life. A worthless dog. But hearing the formal term, hearing him call usartificial, it burns even worse.
Jay’s voice is even. “Why were we excluded?”
“The MAB argued that we didn’t have enough data on artificial packs to determine whether you could even bond with a nyra. And even if you could, there was concern that, without being blood-related, you’d become territorial over her. That your instincts would see each other as rivals, not brothers.”
The commander’s voice is neutral. “As you know, that would be extremely unsafe for everyone involved.”
Shane lets out a sharp, bitter laugh. “After all this time, the MAB still doesn’t see us as a real pack.”
“No. They don’t,” the commander replies. “But Steve Bureau crashed the last leadership meeting at the MAB, and he didn’t come alone. He brought all four Under Secretaries of the DoD with him. He made it clear that he believes his Artificial Packs Project is being sabotaged.”
Like every aegis, he practically spits out Steve Bureau’s name, like it burns his tongue.
Dr. Bureau was the one who made stray packs possible. Before he founded the Artificial Packs Program, any unlucky aegis without biological brothers was condemned to a hard, short life. Back then, not a single one ever made it past twenty. Most didn’t even get that far, lost to violence or suicide.
Dr. Bureau gave us a chance to live.
“Bureau was furious when he found out you’d been excluded from the Matching Program,” the commander continues. “He presented records showingthat over a hundred and thirty artificial packs had already mated with nyras. The meeting was heated, but by the end, the Matching Center was ordered to include all artificial packs in the database. Your pack’s match was one of the thirty-six that came up immediately.”
I exchange looks with my brothers. We didn’t know stray packs had successfully bonded with nyras.
And just like that, breathing becomes easier.
Until this moment, I never realized how much I had feared not just never finding our nyra, but the possibility that even if we found her, we might be incapable of bonding at all.
Bile rises in my throat, burning, and I swallow it back down. I have never felt such conflicting emotions in my life.
I’m furious they not only excluded us from the Program, but they didn’t even have the decency to tell us. So many nights hoping, dreaming of a phone call we couldn’t receive. But beneath all that rage, there’s something else: hope.
“Why did you say you stuck your neck out for us?” I ask, my voice sharp. “Seems to me that Dr. Bureau is the one we should be thanking.”
The commander pauses before answering, as if he’s choosing his words carefully. “There’s a complication with your match. Leadership wanted to wait to see if, in time, another compatible pack would turn up for that particular nyra. I had to call in more than a few favors to force them to open the match process for you.”
“Why?” Shane growls. “Why keep her from us? And why are you on our side? What’s in it for you?”
The commander’s face twitches, his annoyance clear. I don’t know if it’s directed at the corrupt leadership or at us for questioning him. “Your match is a Prime nyra. And the pack that bonds her will automatically be recruited into Special Operations under my command.”
Holy. Mother. Of. All. Shit.
A Prime.
No wonder they didn’t want to open a match process with her for us.
