Page 58 of Specter Bred

Silence stretched between us.

"They decide what they believe on day one and spend the rest of their lives ignoring anything that proves otherwise."

That one landed, hard.

Because suddenly she wasn't talking about Redwood anymore.

"Are those the qualities you're looking for in a Specter?" she asked when I didn't respond.

I said nothing.

She tilted her head slightly.

"Is that what kind of man you are, sir?"

A growl rumbled from my chest as her accusation hung there between us.

Is that what kind of man you are, sir?

My fist tightened. Some part of me cared far too much about how she saw me. Who the fuck was Archer to question what kind of man I was? She didn’t know me. Archer certainly didn't have a clue what I'd done, or what I carried.

Her question got under my skin, because despite everything, I didn’t want her looking at me and seeing a man like Redwood. And I especially didn't want Archer thinking I was just another arrogant bastard throwing my weight around because I could.

My eyes dropped, landing on the framed photo sitting on my desk. Staring back at me was the bright-eyed girl frozen in time, smiling as if the world hadn’t touched her yet. Once, I’d believed women could survive ASOG just like men.

Hell, I’d been the first to champion it. The first to stake my name on a female alpha and swear she was strong enough for Specter training. Back then, I thought strength was enough, but then the world proved me wrong and showed me what ASOG could take.

What it could break.

No. Not what.

Who.

Who it could fucking break.

It had become impossible to look at a woman walking into this program and see her potential before I saw the risk. That was why I’d done everything within my power to keep female alpha candidates out of Specter Training.

And for years, Command had let me.

My earned rank and respect ensured Command listened when I deemed a candidate unsuitable for the program. My recommendations carried weight, and I had enough influence to make sure most female applications never got much farther than my desk.

It probably helped that Command had no interest in another scandal either. What happened with Stephanie had left a stain on the program none of them were eager to revisit, so allowing me to shut the door quietly had been easier for everyone.

But years had passed, and Arca was changing.

The female alpha population was growing while omega numbers continued to dwindle, and Command had started asking questions I’d avoided for a long fucking time. They wanted to know what female alphas could contribute to specialized units. Betas, too. Especially, whether either could be trained and utilized in roles that had traditionally belonged almost exclusively to male alphas.

Arca didn’t waste resources.

People included.

When Maeve Archer’s application reached me, higher-ups showed considerably more interest than I usually encountered. I still had enough pull to set conditions, which was how I’d gotten her assigned separate housing from the rest of the recruits, but outright rejecting her without cause wasn't an option anymore.

So I’d let her in.

I’d convinced myself it wouldn’t matter, telling myself itt would be easy to run her out of the program. Archer would wash out like countless recruits before her, and I’d have a clean, defensible reason to send her home. Plus her failure would deter Command from tapping more female canidates.

Except she hadn’t washed out.