Page 44 of Alpha Reid

“What kind of bug?” I ask, gripping the steering wheel as I drive down the forest road that connects the six-pack territories, on my way to the complex to pick up Serena.

“It’s a fucking virus or something, I don’t know. IT has been on it since they found it this morning,” Gray replies, and I can hear the irritation in his voice as it comes through the speakers of my car. “They’re still working on it, but what they have figured out is that it was specifically designed to corrupt certain types of programs. They say it was aimed to take down our border security.”

“And?” I bark, flexing my fingers around the steering wheel, my knuckles turning white.

“And it’s a good thing that we’ve got some smart fuckers on our IT unit, because whatever server the virus was planted on is separate from the one that houses our security system. I guess after the cyber attack on Denver, our IT shored up our own tech and split things across multiple servers so that any attack wouldn’t be global and spread to everything here like it did there.”

“Thank fuck,” I mutter, turning on the road that leads to the squad complex. “So how much damage did we take?”

Gray blows out a breath. “Not much. This thing was designed to corrupt, not open a door for them to get in. The little that it did corrupt was backed up a day or two ago, so we’ll get it all back. Honestly, we dodged a bullet. And now that we know what they’re after, we can protect it.”

I nod to myself, swallowing hard. We’ve been preparing for this war with the shadow pack for over a month now, but this is the first time since the battle in Denver that they’ve made an attempt to advance on us. It’s a sinister reminder of what’s still to come.

“Reid, there’s something else,” Gray says, and from the tone of his voice I can tell I’m not going to like it.

“What’s that?” I murmur as the complex comes into view through my windshield.

“IT has been looking into how the virus got in. They’re pretty sure it was planted somehow from the inside.”

I grit my teeth. “What are you saying, Gray?”

My heart drops as the reality of the situation sinks in.He thinks it was Serena. And if Gray, the most level-headed of the bunch thinks it was her, then…

I hear him draw a slow breath, then release it. “Are you almost here?”

“Pulling in now,” I grind out, cranking the wheel and swinging the Mustang into my usual parking spot.

“I’ll meet you on the field.” I hear a click as Gray hangs up the phone.

I turn the engine off and just sit there for a few seconds, a million different scenarios ricocheting around in my mind. What if it was Serena? What would happen to us, to the bond? Why would she do something like this? Could I ever forgive her? Or- what if it wasn’t her? If I falsely accuse her, will she ever forgive me?

“Fuck!” I growl, punching the dash. I feel the skin of my knuckles split on impact and I suck in a breath through clenched teeth, flattening my hand and watching as two small droplets of blood rise from the broken skin.

What the fuck am I going to do?

I climb out of the Mustang, sliding the keys into my pocket and heading toward the gate. As soon as I hit the practice field, I can feel the tension hanging thick in the air. News travels fast around the complex, and from the nervous chatter rising from the scattered groups around the field, it’s obvious that everyone’s already aware of the developing situation with IT.

Then I feel it- the pull of the bond. My wolf pushes forward, sensing Serena’s distress as my eyes seek her out, immediately finding that flame red hair. I start in her direction, quickly ascertaining why my wolf picked up on her distress- Fallon is positioned across from Serena in a confrontational stance, pointing a finger at her as she says something that I can’t quite make out from this distance. I pick up my pace, approaching just as Chase starts to intervene.

“Lay off, Fallon,” he grumbles, edging a shoulder in front of Serena to position himself between the girls.

“This doesn’t concern you, baby Alpha,” she scowls at him, looking again to Serena over his shoulder and pointing a finger in accusation. “If you did this, you need to come clean and tell them how so they can un-do it,” she spits, venom in her tone.

Serena just stands there like a deer in the headlights. Despite my warring emotions, my wolf goes straight into protector mode, placing our need to defend our mate above all else.

“Serena,” I call, and her head snaps in my direction, eyes wide. “Go to the car and wait for me.”

“Reid…” she chokes out.

“Go to the car,” I repeat sternly, raising my voice more than I intend to.

My heart squeezes as her blue eyes shine with the hint of fresh tears, but she nods, adjusting her overnight bag on her shoulder and turning on a heel, jogging toward the gate.

“So what, you’re going to protect her now?” Fallon demands, taking a step closer to me.

I turn back to Fallon, narrowing my eyes, my blood boiling. “It’s none of your fucking business what I do.”

“The hell it isn’t! I don’t trust her, and neither does Gray,” she spouts angrily. “He just hasn’t said anything because he trustsyou. But if you bury your head in the sand, you’re puttingallof us at risk!” She takes another step toward me, getting in my space.

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