Page 118 of Reckless: Corruption

“What about Cayenne and Mona?” Theo asks, voice strained as he battles his omega biology.

The question cuts deeper than it should. I made the call to let her go with Mona, and now that decision could cost us everything. “We follow protocol. Leave the Ducati as backup transport and proceed to secondary extraction.”

“And if they don’t make it?” Jinx’s voice carries an edge I’ve rarely heard—something almost desperate beneath his usual chaos.

“They will.” I infuse the words with every ounce of alpha certainty I possess. “Cayenne is one of the most resourceful people I’ve ever met, and Mona is... well, Mona.”

A bullet shatters the SUV’s window, showering us with safety glass. Theo flinches but keeps his weapon trained on our perimeter.

“Time’s up,” I announce. “On my mark, we?—”

Finn convulses suddenly, back arching as fever ravages his system. Foam flecks his lips, eyes rolling back, his body fighting something it was never designed to withstand.

“Shit!” Jinx scrambles to hold him down, preventing him from injuring himself. “We need that booster now!”

“We need extraction now,” I correct grimly. “Or none of us will survive to need anything.”

The decision crystallizes with brutal clarity. “New plan. Jinx, create a diversion. Maximum chaos, eastern perimeter.”

His smile turns predatory. “My specialty.”

“And the mansion?” I add, knowing Sterling’s forces will strip our home of everything—research, weapons, every trace of us.

Jinx’s eyes flash with understanding. “Protocol Zero?”

I nod once. “Everything burns. Leave nothing for Sterling.”

“What about Cayenne?” Theo asks. “She doesn’t know all the extraction protocols yet.”

“She’s with Mona,” I remind him grimly. “And Mona knows every contingency plan we have—probably mapped them all her first day here. If anyone can navigate Cayenne to the secondary location, it’s her.’”

Jinx’s laughter carries that edge of mania that makes him so lethal. “Chaos in three minutes? I can give you apocalypse in two. With a side of cleansing fire.”

“Theo, you and I move Finn to the secondary vehicle.”

“What secondary vehicle?” Theo asks, confusion momentarily overriding heat symptoms.

I nod toward the maintenance shed barely visible through the trees. “Emergency protocol seventeen.”

Understanding flickers across his face. Despite everything, I feel a surge of pride—my pack learns fast.

“Three minutes,” I tell Jinx. “Then get your ass to the rendezvous point.”

He disappears into the underbrush without another sound, a predator in his natural element.

“Can Finn even survive transport?” Theo whispers, heat and fear making his voice raw as he looks down at our beta’s increasingly alarming condition.

I meet his gaze steadily. “We don’t have a choice.”

Exactly ninety seconds later, the night erupts to our east. The first explosion rocks the forest floor, followed by a series of smaller detonations. Shouts of confusion mix with automatic weapons fire.

“Jinx’s idea of subtlety,” I mutter. “Move.”

We half-drag, half-carry Finn toward the maintenance shed, every sense hyperaware of our surroundings. Theo’s pheromones thicken the air around us, leaving an omega scent trail behind us, but the more immediate danger keeps my alpha instincts in check—barely.

Inside the shed, beneath tarps and equipment, sits our insurance policy—an all-terrain vehicle with reinforced plating and enough horsepower to outrun anything Sterling could deploy in these woods.

“Get him secured in the back,” I order, throwing off the remaining camouflage. “Medical kit under the rear seat.”

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