Page 73 of Broken Forced Mate
My mission parameters focus on finding Mordaunt and gathering tactical intelligence. Prisoner rescue isn’t part of the plan, and attempting it would compromise everything I’ve learned.
But leaving pack members behind violates everything I believe about loyalty and honor. The wolf inside me rebels against abandoning someone who risked everything in service to our people.
The detention area has lighter security than the command center, but it’s still dangerous. I could disable the nearby guards using psychic abilities—project confusion or fear to clear the area temporarily. But that would alert the entire complex to my presence and make extraction far more difficult.
The practical choice is to take the intelligence I’ve gathered and leave. One life against information that could save hundreds during their assault.
But abandoning pack members feels like abandoning part of myself, and I’ve already pushed my abilities beyond safe limits. What’s a little more risk to save someone who deserves rescue?
I wait for guards to reach the far end of their patrol route, then drop from the ventilation system into the corridor. My wolf form moves silently on concrete floors, paws making no sound that might alert distant patrols.
The first guard never sees me coming. I project overwhelming confusion into his mind—not violent thoughts that might cause him to call for help, but simple disorientation that leaves him unconscious but breathing.
The second guard turns at the sound of his partner falling. I flood his thoughts with primal terror—not rational fear that he might overcome, but the kind of panic that makes thinking impossible and survival instincts take over.
He flees rather than fights, abandoning his post to escape whatever nightmare I’ve planted in his head.
The lock mechanisms respond to mental manipulation as I replicate authorized access codes. Our intelligence specialist looks up as I open her cell door.
“Raegan?” she whispers.
We’re leaving, I tell her through the bond.Can you move?
“Yes, but I don’t think I can shift. I’m too exhausted.”
Stay close and follow my lead.
We make it halfway to the exit before alarms begin blaring throughout the complex. Someone discovered the unconscious guards, or maybe the guard who fled thought to trigger something.
“Breach in detention level. All units respond immediately. Priority target may be attempting escape.”
My cover is blown. What started as a stealth infiltration becomes a running battle where survival depends on speed and overwhelming force.
I cover the prisoner as she stumbles ahead of me. My psychic abilities feel overcharged, enhanced by desperation and Amanzite energy flowing far beyond safe limits.
Guards pour into corridors from both ends with their weapons raised. I project waves of confusion while using mental force to slam security doors shut behind us.
The effort tears something inside me. Blood runs freely from my nose, and my vision goes spotty as psychic abilities burn through energy faster than the Amanzite can provide.
We fight our way up through the building using emergency stairs and maintenance corridors. The intelligence specialist moves well despite her injuries, driven by determination to reach our own lines with the information she’s protected.
My psychic attacks become more aggressive with each obstacle. Projecting terror into enemy's minds. Overloading electronic systems. Creating false sensory input that sends guards running in the wrong directions.
But each use of power costs more than the last, and my body rebels against the strain.
We reach ground level as Thornridge forces organize a coordinated response. Spotlights sweep approaches to all exits. Radio chatter coordinates blocking positions at every possible escape route.
“Building surrounded,” a voice announces over their communication system. “Priority target must not escape alive.”
Main exits are blocked by armed teams, but I remember the drainage pipe I used to enter. Storm systems run beneath the entire complex, offering escape routes they might not monitor as carefully.
We reach the fence line as search teams close in from multiple directions. I use the last reliable psychic energy to create false images—shadow figures running in opposite directions to divide their attention.
The diversion works long enough for us to reach the drainage pipe, and we emerge outside the compound as Thornridge forces focus their search on the wrong areas. The false images are fading rapidly, but they’ve bought precious time to escape immediate pursuit.
We run across open ground as dawn breaks over the mountains. Behind us, the fortress continues its preparation for war, unaware that its plans are no longer secret and its timeline has been compromised.
I’ve found Mordaunt. Learned about their weapons. Discovered their true timeline and targeting priorities. Rescued valuable intelligence personnel. And witnessed firsthand how Mordaunt treats his own people—disposable resources to be sacrificed for tactical advantage. The disgruntled pack members he recruited, who promised purpose and belonging, are nothing more than cannon fodder to him.
