Page 41 of Hunted By the Wolves
Chapter Nine
The call came beforethe sun had properly broken over the city.
Dorian was awake the moment the secure line chimed, years of conditioning snapping him out of sleep before thought caught up.Riley stirred beside him, a soft sound in her throat as Rafe shifted onto her other side, instinctively pulling her closer even as Dorian reached for the comm.
“Malik,” he answered quietly.
“Command.Now,” Malik said.No preamble.No reassurance.“And bring your mate.”
Dorian was already sitting up.“On our way.”
Rafe met his eyes in the low light, understanding there without words.Riley pushed up on one elbow, blinking sleep from her eyes.“Something’s happened?”
“Something, yes.What it is we won’t know until we get upstairs,” Dorian said, brushing his knuckles over her cheek.“We’ll eat after.”
Command was already humming when they arrived, screens lit, the team moving with quiet urgency.Victor stood near the head of the table, Ivan at his side, both of them alert in that way that meant something had shifted beneath their feet.
“We need to brief the rest of the teams,” Victor said when they approached.“And our people in New York.Whatever Malik’s found, it’s something all of us need to hear.”
Within minutes, the room filled.Lions.Leopards.Razorbacks.Gorillas.Wolves.Then the main screen split and two new feeds came online.
Kamon.
Rune.
And between them, Klarissa.
Klarissa gave them a sharp, assessing look, then a grin that was all mischief and steel.“You all look like someone kicked your nest,” she said.“This better be worth me missing breakfast.”
Malik stepped forward, fingers steepled in front of him.“We cracked the encrypted layer.”
The room stilled.
“It wasn’t Chimera,” Malik continued.“Not fully.The architecture is built on their framework, but the logic is different.Tighter.More ...personal.”He tapped the screen, bringing up a single file header.“The name that keeps repeating in the deepest layers is Christian Bidois.”
Dorian felt something cold slide through his gut.
