Page 19 of Rivers and Roads

Her mouth softened into a smile, and she gestured to the little breakfast bar. “It takes some getting used to, but Kor wouldn’t have sent you if he wasn’t confident you could pull this off.”

I wanted to argue that Kor’s confidence in me was misplaced. That he felt that way because we were pack. But maybe she was right. I wanted to believe that I wouldn’t have accepted the job if I didn’t feel capable.

“I have leftover Chinese,” she said, pulling containers onto the counter, “but it’s all vegetarian. I haven’t really bothered to stock this place up.”

I waved her off. “Anything is fine.” I settled on the stool, then gave the kitchen a once-over. It looked used, but not entirely lived in. “Is this where you stay?”

She shook her head as she dumped rice into a pan and turned on the burner. “I have an apartment in the city. It’s…I guess you could call it government issued. It’s their way of keeping tabs on me. I have a system set up there so it looks like I’m home when I’m not. It gives me a few hours a week to work out here undetected.”

“You’re sure they don’t have eyes on this place?” I asked her.

She shot me a small grin and shrugged as she began to heat up the tofu and vegetables. “I’m not sure of anything, Major. Only that we’re going to take them down, or I’m going to die trying.”

I closed my eyes in a long blink, and then nodded. “Who did you lose?”

She was quiet so long, I wasn’t sure she was going to answer. “My husband. My mate,” she clarified. “It was about two months before the Equinox Treaty was announced. I got,” her voice broke, and she shook her head. “I got the call that he was missing in action. I was expecting it. I think all of us whose mates went to the front expected the call.”

“He was an Alpha?” I asked.

Her brows lifted, almost in a challenge. “A Beta. He was up near the Canadian border in Montana. I could feel him still,” she said, reaching into the cupboard for plates. “It took about two weeks. Then, in the middle of the night it was just…”

“Gone,” I whispered.

She nodded, biting her lip as she dished out the food. When she turned back to me, her eyes were glassy but dry, and her hands were steady as she pushed my plate toward me. “I knew he was dead. They asked me to report it if I felt him go, but there was something wrong about the Wolf who called me. There was something in his voice,” she stopped and shook her head. “I didn’t tell him. Since he was a Beta, the bond between us wasn’t as strong as it would have been if he was an Alpha. I think he was one of their first tests.”

“I’m sorry,” I told her quietly.

Her cheek caved in a little when she bit it, and then she straightened her shoulders. “I knew I had to do something after that. My entire life I had been working with computers. I had done a lot of coding—mostly for hospital software, but I had dabbled in hacking when I was younger.” Her mouth twisted up at the corner. “General Ayala found me the day after the Treaty was signed. I’m not sure how, but he offered me a job as a spy, and I had no reason to say no.”

“Apart from the fact that they probably wouldn’t kill you quickly if they found you,” I pointed out.

She shrugged. “I don’t really care. They don’t scare me, and if doing this means that I can bring the people who killed my husband down, I’m willing to sacrifice anything.”

I had no idea what the felt like—to love someone that much. I would lay my life down for Kor—and had nearly done that more than once during our time on the front. But it was part instinct and part being at war.

And yet…strangely, I could imagine myself loving that powerfully. I could imagine Alpha eyes holding my own, and feeling the twisting, pulsing bond of a mate. I wasn’t sure if it was the Omega instincts in me now, or if I was being forced to acknowledge that this thing with Zane was deeper than I wanted it to be, but it was impossible to ignore.

“I’m sorry we didn’t start this in time to save him,” I told her as I dug into my food.

She said nothing as she ate. The silence between us was comfortable though, but I hated that I had nothing to offer to other than words. Actions wouldn’t bring him back. Nothing could. All I could do at this point was learn everything she had to teach me and use it to start the avalanche that would hopefully take them all down.

Chapter

Nine

ORION

My head was buzzing as I stepped under the stream of tepid water, a little too full from all the shit Nadya forced me to learn the night before. It was all necessary, but I was starting to feel a little terrified that the moment I got into the office, I was going to forget everything.

She’d written me a couple of handy cheat sheets to navigate through the database, but she could only fit so much onto it. I’d have exactly three hours to download what I needed, to print out the hard copy of Zane’s location, and then to get the hell out and on the road.

“And what happens if someone realizes I’m digging around in the Wolf files?” I asked her before heading off to bed the night before.

She shrugged. “I have a contingency plan. It blows my cover, but I’m prepared for that. I don’t think I’m going to be here much longer anyway.”

It sounded a little too ominous for my tastes. I liked her, and I wanted her to survive, but I couldn’t protect her and save Zane at the same time. Still, she didn’t seem like she needed a rescue. She just needed to be trusted, and I could do that.

I went to bed and slept like absolute shit, but the morning shower helped, and so did the smell of coffee brewing when I wandered into the kitchen.

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