Chapter 34: Alpha-9-Charlie-Delta-7

The world was hazy—a golden light filtering through sheer white curtains, casting soft patterns on the wooden floor. Sera could smell something faintly sweet in the air, like lavender mixed with the crisp scent of freshly washed linens.

A woman’s voice, warm and melodic, broke through the gentle stillness.

"Seraphina, sweetheart, pay attention. This is very important."

Sera blinked, her tiny hands clutching a small stuffed rabbit as she sat cross-legged on a plush rug. In front of her knelt a woman—her mother. Not the woman she remembered from fragmented memories growing up, but someone else. Someone with soft emerald eyes that mirrored her own and a gentle smile etched with faint lines of worry. Her hair was tied in a loose bun, strands of dark brown falling around her face.

"If anything happens to me, you must remember this: ***Alpha-9-Charlie-Delta-7***."

The numbers and letters felt sharp and vivid, burning into Sera’s mind.

"Say it back to me, sweetheart."

Sera’s small voice repeated obediently, "Alpha-9-Charlie-Delta-7."

Her mother smiled faintly, tears brimming in her eyes as she cupped Sera’s face in her hands.

"You’re going to do extraordinary things, my love. Never doubt that."

The world around them rippled, like ink bleeding into water. Her mother’s face began to fade, her words distorting until they were nothing but echoes in an empty void.

Sera bolted upright in bed, her chest heaving and her forehead damp with sweat. The room was dim, early morning light barely breaking through the curtains of the villa’s large window. Her heart was racing, her mother’s voice still echoing in her ears.

"**Alpha-9-Charlie-Delta-7**."

Her fingers trembled as she reached for her laptop sitting on the nightstand. She typed the sequence into the encrypted database she and Zayn had been working on, her breath held as the screen blinked for a moment before—

**ACCESS GRANTED**.

Lines of data scrolled down the screen, fragmenting and reorganizing into coherent files. It wasn’t complete, but it was something—a key to a vault her mother had hidden away, protected by a single code.

“*Mom*,” Sera whispered, her voice breaking slightly as tears welled in her eyes. “You left this for me…”

She barely noticed the faint knock at the door before Liam peeked his head inside, holding his medical bag.

“Morning, genius girl,” Liam said, his usual playful tone softer this time as he noticed her expression. “Everything okay?”

Sera nodded faintly, closing her laptop. “I… I think I found something. But it’s not finished yet.”

Liam’s brows furrowed slightly, but he nodded. “We’ll figure it out, Sera. But first… let’s see about getting that cast off, yeah?”

The sterile scent of antiseptic filled the air as Liam worked carefully with his tools, removing the cast from Sera’s leg. Damon stood nearby, arms crossed over his chest, his sharp gray eyes locked on the procedure. Zayn lounged on the couch across the room, scrolling on his phone but occasionally glancing over.

As the final piece of the cast fell away, Liam examined her leg carefully. Bruises had faded into faint yellowish marks, and the skin looked pale and sensitive.

“Alright,” Liam said, his tone warm. “You’ll still need to take it slow, and I don’t want to see you running marathons anytime soon. But with some stretching and light walking, you’ll be back on your feet.”

Sera flexed her foot slowly, wincing slightly but smiling faintly. “Thank you, Liam.”

Liam gave her a two-finger salute. “All part of the job, sweetheart.”

Damon stepped forward, crouching slightly in front of her. “If it hurts, you tell me. Understood?”

Sera smiled faintly. “Understood.”

Later that afternoon, Zayn burst into the villa's living room, his emerald eyes wide and his expression intense.

“I’ve got something!” he exclaimed, waving his tablet in the air.

Damon, Sera, and Liam turned toward him instantly, the air crackling with anticipation.

“Kaito Yamada,” Zayn began, his voice sharp. “He’s not just a tech mogul or some billionaire playboy. He’s been linked—quietly—to government-level operations. Black market tech deals, encrypted satellite networks, and…” He hesitated, his voice dropping. “He has ties to Project Aegis. *Deep ones*.”

Damon’s expression darkened, his storm-gray eyes narrowing. “How deep?”

Zayn set the tablet down, pulling up a file. “One of the original investors. Before everything went dark. He was one of the few people who knew about the biological encryption component—about you, Sera.”

Sera swallowed hard, her chest tightening. “So he’s known about me all along?”

Zayn nodded grimly. “And he’s been watching. Waiting. Planning.”

Damon let out a slow breath, his jaw clenched as he turned to face the window, his back rigid. “This changes everything.”