Page 21 of Reckless: Chaos

“Some ghosts don’t stay buried.” But I squeeze his hand, grateful for the anchor.

The city blurs past in smears of neon and shadow, each streetlight marking time like a countdown. My fingers drum against my thigh, anxiety building with every mile that takes us further from pack protection. Theo drives with precise grace, but I catch the subtle tension in his jaw, the way his eyes check the rearview mirror more often than necessary. Sanctuary materializes out of the industrial wasteland like a fever dream—all brick and shadow and promised salvation. But promises, I’m learning, often come with prices none of us are ready to pay.

The bouncer nods to Theo, but his eyes linger on me. Assessing. Measuring. Deciding if I’m worthy of the trust being placed in me.

Bass pounds through the main club like a heartbeat, bodies moving in synthetic fog and strobing lights. But Theo leads us past all that, down a corridor where the music begins to fade, replaced by something heavier—expectation, maybe. Or dread. Each step takes us further from the performance of normalcy above, until he’s entering a code into a security panel with fingers that don’t quite shake. The door opens on silence so complete it feels like pressure against my eardrums. Here, in this sanctuary within Sanctuary, there’s no pretense. No performance. Just truth, raw and waiting, in all its terrible glory.

The silence hits like a physical thing as we step through. A woman jumps up from her seat, magazine falling forgotten to the floor.

“Theo, thank the gods.” Relief floods her face before worry creeps back in. “It’s bad. She’s almost inconsolable.”

Something in her tone makes my skin prickle. Makes me think of laboratories and missing data and the growing certainty that whatever’s happening is bigger than any of us realized.

Theo’s hand tightens on mine. “We’re here now. Let us help.”

Us. Not him.Us.

The weight of his trust sits heavy on my shoulders as we follow the woman deeper into Sanctuary’s secrets. Whatever we find, whatever comes next, I won’t let him face it alone.

Even if it means facing some ghosts of my own.

The back room feels too small for the amount of pain it contains. The omega sits huddled in a corner, wrapped in a blanket that can’t hide the bruises on her face or the way she flinches at our approach.

The girl huddles deeper into herself, face still rounded with youth—nineteen at most. Something twists beneath my ribs asTheo approaches her, his movements slow and deliberate, hands displayed palm-forward like approaching a wounded animal. He begins humming—something soft and sweet that seems to fill the air with calm.

“I’m Theo,” he says, voice gentle in a way that reminds me why omegas seek him out specifically. “This is Cayenne. You’re safe here.”

The girl’s eyes dart between us, landing on me with sudden intensity. “You’re her. The beta they’re looking for.”

My spine stiffens vertebra by vertebra, a cold current replacing marrow. Beside me, Theo freezes mid-breath.

“What do you mean?” I keep my voice steady despite the dread building in my gut.

“At the facility. Sterling Labs.” The name turns my blood to ice even before she continues, fingers clutching the blanket so tight her knuckles go white. “They talk about you. All the time. The beta who got too close.” Her eyes take on a glazed look, like she’s seeing past us into memories she can’t escape. “Who found out about the virus. About what they’re doing to all of us.”

Each word falls like a stone into the growing pit in my stomach, because I recognize that look. It’s the same one I see in the mirror when I think about that USB drive, about what I found in their systems.

“All of us?” The question barely makes it past my tight throat.

“Betas, omegas, it doesn’t matter.” Her laugh carries edges sharp enough to cut. “We’re all just test subjects to them. But betas...” She looks at me with something like pity. “Betas are special. Because you can’t be controlled like omegas. Can’t be dominated like alphas. You’re the wild card they need to eliminate.”

“How did you escape?” Theo asks, but I already know. Already see where this is going.

She meets my eyes, and the fear there makes my blood run cold. “They let me. Said to find Sanctuary. To tell you what they can do. What they will do.” Tears spill down her cheeks. “If the beta who knows too much doesn’t come willingly.”

The puzzle assembles itself in my mind, each fragment locking into position with an almost audible click.

The bruises on her skin.

The precision of her message.

The ease of her escape.

Not salvation—bait. And I’ve swallowed it hook, line, and sinker.

Chapter 6

Theo

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