Chapter 18 Chapter 18
We hit them strategically. We rescue who we can, gather evidence, and build a case that exposes the entire network. Make it impossible for them to operate in the shadows."
"That could take months," Dave warned. "Maybe years.”
"Then we take months or years," I said. "Because quick fixes didn't work. Xiang’s facility is gone,
but Dr. Mitchell just moved to another one. We need to dismantle the entire system, not just
individual pieces."
Alex studied me. "You're talking about a long-term campaign. Sustained operations. That
means putting yourself in danger repeatedly."
"I'm already in danger," I pointed out. "The Alpha King network knows I exist. They know what I
am. Running won't make me safer—it'll just make me an easier target when they eventually find
me."
He didn't like it—I could see the war happening behind his eyes, the protective instinct fighting
with logic. But finally, he nodded.
"Okay," he said. "We plan for long-term. But we do it smart. No rushing in. No unnecessary
risks."
"Agreed," I said.
Dave cleared his throat. "There's something else. We've been monitoring supernatural
community chatter about you, Mia. Word's getting out about what happened at Xiang’s facility.
About you being a Primal. Some communities are curious. Others are... concerned."
"Concerned how?" I asked.
"Concerned that you're too powerful," Dave said carefully. "Concerned that you're disrupting
traditional pack structures by existing outside them. Some conservative pack leaders are calling
for you to be brought before a supernatural council for evaluation."
"Evaluation?" Alex's voice went dangerously cold. "What kind of evaluation?"
"The kind where they determine if she's a threat to supernatural secrecy," Dave admitted. "If they
decide she is, they could order her confined or..."
He didn't finish, but he didn't need to.
"Or killed," I finished it for him. "They could order me killed to protect their secrets."
"Over my dead body," Alex said flatly.
"That's what they're counting on," Dave warned. "If you fight them, you confirm their fears that
you're dangerous and uncontrollable. If you submit to evaluation, you're putting yourself in their
power. It's a no-win situation."
I thought about my parents, about how they'd tried to work within the system and been
murdered for it. I thought about Xiang, about Dr. Mitchell, about all the people who'd hurt
supernaturals while hiding behind bureaucracy and tradition.
"Then we change the game," I said. "Instead of reacting to their demands, we go public within
the supernatural community. We tell my story—all of it. My parents' research, Xiang’s facility, the
Alpha King network. We make it impossible for them to paint me as the threat when there's a
much bigger threat they're ignoring."
"That's risky," Dave said.
"Everything's risky," I countered. "At least this way, we control the narrative."
Dave was quiet for a long moment. Then he smiled—that dangerous smile that meant he
was already three steps ahead, already planning.
"We'll need help," he said. "Allies in different pack territories. Supernatural media contacts.
Legal experts who can navigate council politics."
"I know someone," Dave offered. "A journalist who covers supernatural issues for an
underground publication. She's been trying to expose the Alpha King network for years but
couldn't get concrete proof. If we give her the evidence from Xiang's facility..."
"She'll publish it," I finished. "And once it's public, the council can't ignore it."
"They can still come after you," Alex warned.
"Let them," I said. "I'm done hiding. I'm done letting fear dictate my choices. If they want to
evaluate me, fine. But they'll do it knowing the truth about what's really threatening our
community."
Dave looked between us. "You two are either brilliant or insane."
"Why not both?" Alex said.
We spent the rest of the day planning. Dave would contact the journalist. Alex would reach
out to allied pack members who might support us. I would prepare my testimony—everything I
remembered from Xiang's facility, everything my parents' research revealed, everything I knew
about the Alpha King network.
As the sun set, Alex found me on the small balcony, staring at the city lights in the distance.
"Second thoughts?" he asked, sliding his arms around me from behind.
"About going public? No." I leaned back against his chest. "About us? Also no. About whether
we'll survive what's coming? Maybe."
"We'll survive," he said with certainty. "We survived everything so far. We'll survive this too."
"How can you be so sure?"
"Because we're not alone anymore," he said simply. "You have me. I have you. We have Dave,
Elena, the people we rescued from Xiang's facility. We're building something bigger than just
the two of us. That's what makes us strong."
I turned in his arms, looking up at his face. "When did you become an optimist?"
"When I fell in love with someone who makes me want to be better than I am," he said.
I kissed him, soft and sweet, a promise of all the tomorrows we'd fight for together.
"I love you too," I said against his lips. "Even though you're dramatic and overprotective and
sometimes insufferable."
"Especially because I'm dramatic and overprotective and sometimes insufferable," he corrected
with a grin.
"That too," I agreed.
We went back inside, back to planning and preparation, back to building the future we wanted
instead of accepting the one others tried to force on us.
The war was just beginning.
But for the first time since my parents died, I felt ready to fight.
Not just to survive.
But to win.
The journalist's name was Lucy Xiang—no relation to our torturer, she'd assured us
immediately. She arrived at the safe house three days after Dave's initial contact, a sharp-eyed
woman in her forties with silver streaks in her black hair and the kind of presence that
commanded attention without demanding it.
"I've been investigating the Alpha King network for six years," she said, spreading documents
across our dining table. "Ever since my brother disappeared from a facility in Prague. They told
me he died in a hiking accident. I knew better."
"Did you ever find him?" I asked quietly.
Her expression hardened. "I found what was left of him. In an unmarked grave outside the
facility. Along with seventeen other bodies. All supernatural. All young. All experimented on until
their bodies gave out."
The silence that followed was heavy with shared grief.
"I'm sorry," I said finally.
"Don't be sorry," Lucy replied. "Be angry. Be willing to fight. That's what I need from you—the
willingness to expose everything, no matter the cost."
"What kind of cost are we talking about?" Alex asked, his protective instincts already on
alert.
Lucy pulled out a laptop, opening files that made my stomach turn. Photos of supernaturals
who'd spoken out against the network. Some were still alive, living in hiding under assumed
names. Others...weren't.
"They don't like witnesses," Lucy said bluntly. "They especially don't like witnesses who can
prove their experiments. Mia, if we publish your story with the evidence from Xiang's facility,
you become the biggest threat they've ever faced. They will come for you with everything they
have."
"They're already coming for me," I pointed out. "At least this way, I'm fighting back on my terms."
Lucy studied me with something...