EL'S

let the thick smoke fill the corners of the room. My heart rate was finally beginning to slow down to a normal rhythm after the shock of her appearance, though my dress shirt was sticking to my back with nervous sweat. I grabbed my discarded suit jacket from the floor and tossed it over the

r to the kitchen island, grabbed a clean glass from the cabinet, and poured himself a large measure of water from the refrigerator dispenser before drinking it down i

setting the water glass down on the granite counter with a loud clinking sound. "I already alerted the night cleaning crew to s

my mug. "Get on my computer and pull up her employment records from the human resources database. She sa

e kept on everyone who worked in the building. While he searched, I walked into my attached private bathroom, turned on the faucet, and splashed cold water over my face to wash away the sweat. I grabbed a fresh white towel from the metal ra

ng my coffee down on the desk and walking over

d, pointing to the digital photograph of Emma on the screen. "Her background looks incredibly boring and completely normal at first glance, but I ran h

ris Carter was the head geneticist at the clandestine laboratory facility that my father ordered the Council to burn to the ground twenty years a

the purge. She is the daughter of the head scientist, which means she is the original lost subject the underworld has been searching for since the labs f

ing across the thick carpet. "We need to make sure she made it back to her apartment safely. Access the city street c

laying a grid of black and white surveillance feeds from the downtown area. We watched the screens intently as Marcus pulled up the footage

Fourth and Elm Street. "She is walking alone, and she looks completely terr

d him, watching her small figure huddle against the cold rain on the screen. "Wait, p

ng Emma from walking down the shortcut. The man was leaning forward and aggressively sniffing

ng to a harsh whisper. "He knows what she is, Daniel

helplessly as the man lunged forward and grabbed Emma by the shoulders. I fully expected him to drag her into the dark alley,

vision screen in shock. "She just threw a full-grown supernatural enforcer fifteen fee

at a speed that no human could ever achieve. She disappeared from the camera frame within seconds, but the man in t

ling the predatory instinct of my wolf rising to t

eillance transcripts from the street microphones. A few seconds lat

ading north toward the residential district. Send the extraction team right

ival pack from the northern territory. They have been watching our borders

o my desk, grabbed my car keys from the top dra

"You cannot go after her. If you engage the rival pack's extraction squad in the middle of the city, you

eyes and let the silver light

I warned him, my voice vibrating with absolute authority. "They are not t