Page 30 of Hunted By the Wolves
He glanced sideways and saw the Lions frozen in place, eyes locked on the screen, bodies gone very still.
“And if you think monsters aren’t real,” the report continued smoothly, “you might want to take a second look at the world.”Her smile sharpened.“Because they may be closer than you think.”
Dorian didn’t look at the screen again.He didn’t need to.The world knew shifters existed, had for years, but it didn’t know this.It didn’t know the difference between something born and something built, between instinct and programming, between a wolf and a weapon wearing one’s skin.When this story broke, no one would stop to parse biology or culpability.They never did.Fear didn’t ask better questions—it picked the closest monster and demanded blood.And Riley...Riley would be the one they dissected first.Not because she was wrong, but because she’d seen too much, too early, and in a world that survived on controlled truths, that made her dangerous.
****
“All right,” Victorsaid into the sudden quiet, voice carrying across Command without being raised.“What did that sound like to everyone?”
Riley was still standing between Rafe and Dorian, the warmth of them bracketing her like something physical.The wall screens had dimmed after the news segment ended, but the residue of it seemed to hang in the air—an afterimage of danger that didn’t fade when the sound cut.
No one answered at first.The room was too aware of itself, too full of thought.The Bears had gone still, broad shoulders squared, their attention already sliding into threat-assessment.The Lions remained where they were, clustered near the far console, jaws tight, eyes still sharp with whatever recognition had seized them when the reporter’s face filled the screen.
Jamal broke the silence.
“It sounded,” he said carefully, “very much like she’s about to rip the top off the hybrid story and show the world what’s underneath.”
Riley’s stomach dipped.
Malik exhaled through his nose.“That would cause widespread panic.Hate against shifters just living their lives.”
“Not the kind of panic you can manage with press statements,” Ivan added.
Rafe shifted just enough that his arm brushed Riley’s back.She was fairly certain that it had not been an accident.A reminder that she was there, that they knew exactly how close she was to the center of this.
“What happens if she does?”Riley asked quietly.
The question felt enormous in her chest as it left her mouth.She hadn’t meant to be the one to ask it, but the silence had made it unavoidable.
Victor looked at her for a long moment before answering.“If the public hears ‘hybrid’ without context, without control, without anyone explaining the difference between what you saw and what we are—” He stopped, jaw working.“They won’t look for Chimera.They’ll look for shifters, or worse, children born of both shifter and human parents.They will be the monsters that they seek.It will effectively be the start of a civil war.”
Her breath caught.
Dorian’s hand came to rest at her back then, warm and steady, as if he’d felt the moment she wavered.Rafe’s presence on her other side didn’t shift, but she could feel the tension in him, the quiet vigilance that was always there when something threatened the people under his protection.
“She could collapse the distinction,” Malik said.“Deliberately or not.”
“And once that line is gone,” Jamal added, “you don’t get it back.”
Riley swallowed.She could feel their bodies on either side of her, solid, unyielding.She wasn’t being held, not exactly, but they weren’t letting the space open, either.The realization was oddly comforting.
I don’t want you to, she thought, and was surprised by how true it was.
“Who is she?”Riley asked.
Malik straightened slightly, pulling away from the laptop he had been tapping on.“Sienna Maddox.Investigative journalist based out of Seattle.Mid-thirties.Brown hair, usually worn straight, sharp-cut.Dark brown eyes.She favors tailored coats and cameras that cost more than most people’s cars.”His mouth twitched, humorless.“She doesn’t miss much.”
“She made her name exposing corporate black sites in South America,” Jamal said.“Followed that with a trafficking network that everyone else thought was untouchable.”
“Two years ago,” Malik continued, “she broke a story on a pharmaceutical conglomerate that had been suppressing trial deaths.The company folded.Executives went to prison.She doesn’t chase rumors.She builds cases.”
Riley felt something tighten in her chest.“So, if she says she has something...”
“Then she does,” Malik finished.
Ivan closed the tablet in his hands with a soft click.“Victor and I will look into her.Background, sources, anything she’s touched recently.”
“We’ll start tonight,” Victor said.
