Chapter 310 Get to Work
"I didn't use hospital software, Jax. And I didn't use anything the Council gave me," Chatmory explained. He leaned back against the counter, a ghost of a smile touching his weary face. "A few months ago, I had to stitch up a human. A real piece of work who calls himself 'The Weaver.' He used to spend his nights in the neutral territory pawning himself off as some mysterious werewolf, but he’s really just a tech-savant who got in way over his head."
Chatmory took a breath, his eyes clouding with the memory. "He paid me for the stitches by building me a ghost-protocol drive. He told me he’d been out in the forest, acting as the 'key' for three monsters who needed to break into a high-security bunker to save a girl. He was shaking so hard I could barely get the needle in him."
Elias paused, the realization finally clicking as he looked from Jax to Fennigan, and then finally to Leela. He saw the way Fennigan’s golden eyes flared.
"Wait," Elias whispered, his voice trailing off. "The bunker. The night you were taken. That human... he was with you? He said he saw the Alphas' feral side. He said he’d never seen anything so terrifying in his life—that the air itself felt like it was screaming. He told me he’d rather live in a hole for the rest of his life than ever see a 'Blackwood' go for the throat again."
Fennigan’s jaw tightened, a dark flash of memory crossing his face. "The Weaver. He did his job, but the second the doors were open and the blood started spilling, he vanished into the trees. I didn't think he’d stopped running until he hit the coast."
"He didn't," Chatmory said. "He came to me. He was so terrified of what he’d seen that he gave me that drive as a 'get out of hell free' card. He told me that if I ever needed to disappear from the Council’s reach, this was the only way. It doesn't just encrypt the data; it mimics a hardware failure on the host server. As far as the Council's IT is concerned, that sector of the drive simply burned out. There’s no trail to follow."
Jax looked down at the small piece of metal in his hand with newfound respect. "So, the little coward actually did something right. He was terrified of us, but he gave you the tools to help us."
"He wasn't just terrified, Jax," Elias admitted, looking at the marks on his own neck. "He was humbled. He said he finally understood that humans are just guests in your world. I’m starting to think he was right."
Leela stepped closer to the doctor, her expression solemn. "It seems the Goddess has a strange way of weaving people together, Elias. You helped a man who was there when my mate came to save me, and now you’re here to help Ginny. The circle is closing."
Fennigan turned toward the door, his mind already moving to the next phase of the war. "If the code is clean, then we start tonight. Jax, get the doctor whatever he needs. I want a full breakdown of that synthetic DNA by morning. If the Council is building monsters, I want to know exactly how to kill them."
Jax shook his head, "That little wanna be werewolf stood his ground that night at least until the job was done, but the second the iron doors hit the floor, I thought he was going to pitch over and faint right there in the dirt. He was staring at Fenn like he’d just seen the devil himself come out of the woods."
Fennigan didn't smile. His remained fixed on the doctor, the memory of that night still a raw, dark thing in his mind. He remembered the feeling of his wolf's teeth against his father's throat and the way the air had felt thick with the scent of vengeance.
"I didn't exactly give him a reason to feel safe," Fennigan rumbled. He glanced at Leela, his expression softening only for her. "I was still deep in that feral state when I carried her out. I didn't see the human. I didn't see anything but the path back to the pack house."
"I was the one who had to deal with him," Jax added, looking at Elias. "Fenn was gone—gone in the head and gone through the trees with Leela in his arms. The Weaver was just... standing there, vibrating. He looked like his brain had short-circuited. I had to tell Marcus to grab the guy and guide him back to his vehicle because he couldn't even remember how to use his own legs."
Elias nodded, the pieces of the story finally settling into a terrifying, cohesive whole. "That matches what he told me while I was stitching him up. He said he’d never seen a man turn into a force of nature before. He said the 'Alpha King' didn't just fight; he leveled the world. It was that fear—that absolute, soul-crushing realization of what you are—that made him give me this drive. He wanted a fail-safe. He told me that if the 'monsters' ever came for me, I needed a way to go invisible."
He looked at the small, metallic thumb drive in Jax’s hand.
"It’s clean, Jax. He was too terrified of Fennigan to ever give me something that would lead you back to his door. He just wanted the debt settled so he could crawl back into whatever hole he hides in."
Jax looked at the drive again, then at the doctor. "Then we’re invisible. For now."
Leela stepped closer to Ginny’s bedside, her hand hovering over her friend’s sleeping form. The realization that the Weaver—the man who had quite literally unlocked her prison—had also provided the key to saving Ginny felt like a sign. The Goddess wasn't silent; she was just working through the most unlikely, terrified messengers.
"Elias," Leela said, her voice quiet but firm. "You’ve done enough running. You and Sloane are part of this now. Jax will show you to the lab. We have the equipment, we have the data, and now, we have the one man who knows how the Council thinks."
Fennigan turned to follow them, his hand lingering on the doorframe. "Get to work, Doctor. The Council thinks they’ve buried their secrets in a ravine. Let’s make sure they stay buried while we find a way to fix this."