Chapter 170 Give Justin a surprise
Chapter 170 Give Justin a surprise
The morning sun had barely cleared the eastern peaks when the sharp, rhythmic clack-clack-clack of a mechanical keyboard woke me.
I rolled over in the massive king-sized bed, the silk sheets gliding smoothly against my bare legs. The space beside me was already cold, but the scent of cedar and rain still lingered on the pillows. I pushed my dark hair out of my eyes and sat up, leaning against the headboard to find Rayder sitting at the small mahogany desk near the balcony doors.
He was wearing nothing but a pair of dark gray lounge pants, his massive, scarred back a landscape of hard muscle in the dawn light. He looked utterly ridiculous—a nine-foot Lycan-blooded Alpha fiercely stabbing his oversized fingers at a sleek, human-grade tablet.
"If you press those keys any harder, Rayder, Justin is going to receive an incident report for property damage," I murmured, my voice still thick with sleep.
Rayder didn't look up, but a dark, rumbling chuckle vibrated through his chest. "I am currently approving an automated requisition order for a high-end, human-manufactured agricultural vehicle with a fully functional hydraulic crane. It has rubber treads, Selene.
Rubber. Do you know how much international shipping costs on four tons of blue toy steel?"
"A deal's a deal," I said, a smile pulling at my lips as the memory of our midnight intruder flashed behind my eyes. "The little spark held all the leverage at two in the morning. Be glad he didn't demand a real helicopter."
"He'll ask for that next year," Rayder muttered, finally hitting the send key with a definitive thud before turning his chair to face me. His golden eyes instantly lost their bureaucratic irritation, turning heavy and warm as his gaze drifted over the bare skin of my shoulders.
"Justin’s automated routing network is going to flag the invoice within an hour. He’ll probably think it’s a regional infrastructure expense."
The mention of Justin’s name sparked something in my mind—a sudden, sharp memory from the long, dark years when I lived as a phantom. Before I became the Luna of the Alliance, before I reclaimed my name, I had been Cyrus. I had memorized the faces, the locations, and the vulnerabilities of every asset across three sectors.
"Rayder," I said, sliding out of the bed and wrapping a dark green silk robe around my frame. I walked over to the desk, resting my hands on his broad shoulders.
"Justin said yesterday that he was going back to the South to handle the welfare grids, right?"
"Yes. He and Elias should be landing at the primary Southern terminal by noon."
"And he told us he was waiting for the world to be safe before he brought his parents up to the capital." I leaned down, my lips brushing against the hard line of his jaw.
"I know exactly what the Wrens look like, they are my friends' parents afterall,Rayder. I know their names, their faces,we only need to ask around where the Wrens reside in the West.”
Rayder tilted his head up, his golden eyes narrowing with a sharp, intrigued intelligence. "What are you thinking, my beautiful assassin?"
"I'm thinking we don't wait for Justin to schedule a trip," I whispered, a spark of pure excitement dancing in my veins. "The West is peaceful now. The garrison at the border is running modern security checks. Let’s take the grand-tourer, drive across the western ridge, and bring the Wrens back to the capital ourselves. Imagine the look on Justin's face when he logs into the penthouse security feed from the South and sees his parents sitting in our kitchen."
Rayder’s hands instantly found my waist, pulling me down into his lap with a low, triumphant rumble that rattled my ribs. "A sensible family ambush. I love it. It’s entirely unofficial, completely un-bureaucratic, and it will give Justin a minor cardiac event. We leave within the hour."
"Are you absolutely certain you do not require my presence, Luna?"
Miss Eleanor stood in the foyer of the penthouse, her arms folded neatly over her crisp linen apron. Despite having been woken up by a toddler demanding heavy machinery at two in the morning, the Southern pack nurse looked impeccably composed.
Her grey eyes, however, kept darting toward the living room rug, where Winter was currently trying to fit his stuffed grey wolf into the exhaust pipe of a plastic toy car.
"You have earned a full twenty-four hours of absolute silence, Eleanor," I said, handing her a small, encrypted credit token with a warm smile. "Take the premium credits. Go to the high-tier spa in the upper glass district. If my son logs into the pack link and tries to project a mental image of a tractor into your head, just turn your receiver off."
Eleanor accepted the token, a rare, deeply relieved smile breaking through her professional mask. "May the moon bless your journey, Luna. And may the Southern Alpha’s wallet survive the toy market."
"Hey, I represent that remark," Rayder shouted from the hallway, hoisting a heavy leather duffel bag onto his shoulder with one hand while his other held a small, insulated cooler filled with toddler-safe snacks.
Winter, seeing the duffel bag, instantly dropped his stuffed wolf and scrambled to his feet. His small fleece pajamas made a frantic patter-patter-patter against the hardwood as he charged toward us, his tiny golden eyes wide with the sudden realization that an adventure was happening without his permission.
"Car!" Winter yelled, slamming his hands against Rayder’s knee. "Go car! See trucks!"
"Yes, little spark, we are going in the big car," Rayder said, reaching down to scoop the boy up by the waistband of his pajamas, tossing him into the air until Winter let out a sharp, ecstatic squeak. "But if you try to open the passenger door with your teeth while I'm driving on the highway, I am turning this vehicle around and leaving you with Elias's accountant."
"Tractor!" Winter countered, completely ignoring the threat.