CHAPTER 119:The Hybrid Threat
ADAM
“Keep him there,” I said coldly, not bothering to look up. “And tell him to start sending everything floor plans, personnel files, experiment logs. I want names. I want doors. I want blueprints drawn in blood.”
James flinched, his fingers twitching against the tablet he was holding.
I finally turned, catching the flicker of unease in his eyes. My lips curled not quite a smile, but a sharp promise edged with something darker. A warning.
“Marcus thinks he’s playing god,” I said, voice low, each word deliberate. “He’s about to learn what it means to provoke a wolf.”
The silence stretched between us like a held breath before I pivoted on my heel.
“To catch a lion, you have to act like his friend.” I didn’t meet James’s eyes directly, but I felt the weight of his gaze. “Vallaire & Co. they’re selling some shares.”
His throat bobbed as he swallowed, caught off guard. “Yeah… they are.”
“Good.” I took a step toward the window, fingers brushing aside the heavy velvet curtains. Below, the city throbbed with life neon pulses flickering like distant heartbeats, streams of cars weaving through tangled streets, faces moving like ghosts chasing something they’d never catch.
“I want you to secure ten percent.”
He didn’t speak for a moment, just stared at me his disbelief sharp enough to cut. “Why? You never get this tangled in the human world. You hate it here.”
The faintest edge of a smirk tugged at my mouth as I traced a slow circle on the glass, watching the city’s reflection ripple beneath my touch.
“Let’s just say I’m killing two birds with one stone.”
A breath. Then, footsteps soft, hesitant hovered behind me.
“I still don’t get it.”
I leaned in, voice dropping low like a secret whispered into a storm.
“I met Emmanuelle.” The words felt heavy, deliberate. “Vallaire’s daughter. I want to help her reclaim her mother’s company. And Marcus...” I let the silence thicken. “Marcus is finished.”
James’s chest rose sharply an intake of breath caught like a warning. His eyes locked on mine, burning with urgency.
“What’s the plan?”
I shifted, just enough for the dim light to catch the sharp gleam in my eyes. A shadow passed over my face.
“I don’t share plans.” The words came out cold, clipped. “Trust gets you killed. I learned that the hard way.”
The door clicked. His assistant slipped in like a ghost, eyes flickering between us. A whispered word to James, a nod, and his gaze snapped back to me.
“Daniel’s here. I asked him to come.”
“Good.” I took a step back, fingers tapping a steady rhythm on the cold steel of the desk, waiting.
The door opened again. Daniel stepped in barely more than a boy, pale and tense, like a rabbit caught in a trap. He dipped a quick bow to James, then froze when his gaze landed on me, eyes wide, breath hitching like he’d just walked into a lion’s den.
I raised an eyebrow, voice teasing but edged with steel.
“Relax. I don’t bite… unless you give me a reason.”
James let out a short chuckle. “This is Daniel my prince, loyal beyond measure. And Daniel, you’re safe here. Speak freely.”
Daniel swallowed hard, voice trembling as he forced the words out.
“The experiments… they’ve worked. Marcus’s human-werewolf hybrid it’s scheduled to be released at the next full moon. Two days from now. The plan: infect humans. Turn them.”
The room chilled. Air thickened, every breath caught on a knife’s edge.
“For centuries,” I said, voice steady, cold as steel, “we’ve blended in. Hidden in plain sight. Marcus wants to tear that veil down. He wants war.”
I fixed Daniel with a hard stare, the kind that drills through lies.
“I need access. To the lab. Everything. Now.”
Daniel’s hands trembled as he dug into a worn leather satchel, pulling out a thick folder with blueprints. He unfolded it carefully, fingers tracing corridors like a reluctant map.
“This leads to the underground lab beneath Vallaire Industries,” he said quietly. “The werewolves for testing they’re here.” His finger stopped on a sealed chamber. “This is where the fully transformed one waits.”
I leaned in, studying the sharp lines and grids. “Humans may have tech. But strategy? That’s ours.”
I folded the blueprint, standing with resolve. James shot up, eyes wide, panic simmering beneath his calm veneer.
“You’re not going alone?”
“If I can’t protect my own,” I said, voice steady as iron, “then what use am I as their leader?”
James’s face tightened. “Just… be careful.”
I didn’t look back as I headed out. “And make sure those shares are secure.” I paused, voice dropping low. “Emmanuelle might have the missing pieces. It was her mother’s company.”
Night swallowed me whole. Shadows curled like smoke around my body, the city lights blurring past as I moved with wolf-speed—dodging cars, vaulting rooftops in a silent blur.
Outside her restaurant, I crouched behind the tinted glass, watching.
Inside, she balanced three plates with effortless grace, laughter lighting her eyes as she chatted with a customer. The soft navy apron was a mask; beneath it, a born leader moved like she owned the world.
When her eyes found mine, her smile flickered—sharp, knowing. She excused herself, slipping outside, arms crossed but the corner of her mouth twitching upward.
“Missing me already?” she teased.
“No time for games,” I said, voice tight. “I need your help.”
Her eyes glimmered with mischief and challenge. “You? Asking me for help? That’s rich.” She leaned in, lowering her voice. “You remember you’re a werewolf, right?”
Before she could pull away, I seized her hand fingers tightening like a steel trap and yanked her forward. In one smooth motion, I vaulted across the gap, muscles coiling and releasing as we landed on the rooftop opposite.
Her feet hit the rough concrete with a soft thud, and she sucked in a sharp breath, eyes wide and sparkling with adrenaline. “Can we do that again?”
I shot her a sideways glare, shaking my head. “Focus.”
From my back pocket, I drew out the blueprint, its edges worn but the lines crisp. I unfolded it like a weapon, spreading it between us, the paper crackling faintly in the still night air.
“What do you know about this?” I demanded, eyes locked on the intricate maze of corridors and chambers beneath her family’s company.
She leaned closer, dark hair falling in soft waves over one cheek, her voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper. “I’ve never seen this exact map before. But my mother… she kept a diary. Said she shut down a multi-million-dollar project called it her biggest regret.”
A cold knot tightened in my chest. My breath hitched.
“Where is the diary?”
“In my house,” she said, voice steady but guarded.
I met her gaze, unflinching. “I need it.”
Her eyes sharpened curiosity mixed with suspicion. “Why?”
Because your father is about to unleash chaos,” I said, letting the weight of my words hang between us. “When the full moon rises, our kind grows stronger. But what Marcus has created… I don’t want to be the one who discovers its power by surviving