Chapter 38 The master mind
Tasha:
“They got the warning.”
Neel did not say it with fear. He said it like a man stating a fact, like a doctor reading a diagnosis he already knew was terminal.
I did not smile in front of him.
I stood at the kitchen counter, rinsing a mug that no longer needed rinsing, nodding as if this was simply another step in a process I did not fully understand. The sound of water filled the silence, steady and ordinary, grounding me while my mind burned with quiet triumph.
“That was fast,” I said calmly.
Neel leaned against the doorway, arms crossed, his face tight with concern. “Faster than I expected. Harris says the government is taking it seriously. Too seriously.”
I turned off the tap and set the mug down carefully before facing him. “Is that bad?”
He exhaled slowly. “For Snow Pack? Yes. For everyone else? I don’t know yet.”
I tilted my head, letting my eyes soften. “You sound worried.”
“I am,” he admitted. “This isn’t just about werewolves anymore. It’s about classified investigations. Military oversight. They don’t step in unless they plan to take control.”
I stepped closer, resting my hands lightly against his chest. I felt his heartbeat, fast and steady, and I forced myself to stay slow.
“They deserve it,” I said quietly. “If even half of what they’ve done is true.”
Neel covered my hands with his. “I know. But still. This is big.”
I nodded, letting him think that was all I had to say.
That night, after he fell asleep, I stood alone in the living room and finally allowed myself to breathe.
Then I laughed.
It started softly, a low sound in my throat, but it grew until it filled the room. I pressed my hand to my mouth, not out of shame, but out of habit. There was no one here to hear me now.
“They took it,” I whispered to the empty space. “Every single word.”
My demon stirred, pleased, amused, satisfied.
Not yet, it murmured inside me. More.
I walked to the window and looked out at the sleeping city. Humans moved through their lives unaware that a war had already begun above their heads, beneath their feet, inside their own systems.
Snow Pack thought power meant claws and alphas and territory.
They had forgotten something far more dangerous.
Humans loved paperwork.
I turned away from the window and began retracing every step that led here, every lie placed with care, every truth twisted just enough to become lethal.
They believed Snow Pack was feeding on humans because I made the data exist.
It had taken weeks.
I never touched Snow Pack territory myself. I did not need to. I borrowed faces, voices, access codes. I used the small cracks humans never noticed.
Blood banks were easy. Corruption always was. One frightened nurse here, one desperate technician there, one forged transfer order stamped with the right authority. Human blood disappeared all the time. No one questioned small losses.
I rerouted shipments and labeled them wrong. I let them pile up in places Snow Pack already had black-market connections. I made sure the paper trail curved gently toward them without ever pointing directly at me.
The vampire angle had been almost too easy.
Old rumors. Old trades. I revived them quietly, feeding scientists half-verified reports and letting them connect the rest themselves. Humans always trusted conclusions they believed they reached on their own.
Dr. Harris had been the hardest part.
He was careful. Suspicious. Ethical in a way that made him dangerous.
So I gave him just enough truth to make him feel brave.
A missing patient here. An abnormal blood analysis there. I never told him Snow Pack was responsible. I only asked questions.
“Have you ever noticed patterns?”
“Is it possible some groups don’t show up in standard records?”
“What would happen if a non-human population treated humans as renewable?”
He did the rest for me.
And Neel, sweet, loyal Neel, had been my final key.
I never forced him. I never had to. I let fear do the work. Fear for me. Fear for his world. Fear for what Snow Pack could do if exposed.
When he spoke to the scientists, his concern made everything sound real. His hesitation made it credible. His hybrid blood made him believable.
They trusted him.
That was the most satisfying part.
I walked back to the couch and sat slowly, folding my hands in my lap as my demon stretched inside me, alert now, eager.
They are watching Snow Pack now, it said. Good.
“Yes,” I whispered. “And they will panic.”
Snow Pack would not stay quiet under government eyes. Alexandra would never accept being caged. Neither would Rhett, no matter how composed he pretended to be.
Fear made wolves careless.
My next step was simple.
I would give them a reason to act.
Snow Pack prided itself on control. On secrecy. On appearing cooperative while hiding rot beneath the surface. I planned to strip that mask away piece by piece.
A staged incident. A missing human tied too closely to their borders. A leaked recording. A witness who vanished too cleanly.
Not enough to prove guilt.
Just enough to make the government press harder.
I rose from the couch, already mapping it out in my head, already choosing which weakness to touch first.
“Push them,” I murmured. “Let them show their teeth.”
My demon smiled with me.
Once Snow Pack reacted, the humans would tighten their grip. More surveillance. More pressure. More restrictions.
And eventually, Snow Pack would strike back.
That would be their mistake.
I glanced down the hallway toward the bedroom where Neel slept, unaware of how deeply he was already part of this war.
“I’ll keep you safe,” I whispered, meaning it in my own way. “I always do.”
The demon laughed softly inside me, already tasting what came next.
Snow Pack thought the warning was the danger.
They had no idea it was only the beginning.