by Juniper Hart
Or is Dex the one who chose the right side?
Again, Anatoli forced herself to deal with the matter at hand.
“Is that a fact?” she barked with her characteristic coldness. “You think you can handle the job?”
Callie balked and hung her head, a flush tinging her cheeks.
“I-I mean…yeah…I think so…” she mumbled.
“You think so?” Anatoli echoed. “You think you might? That’s the ringing endorsement I need.”
Callie seemed to shrink more with each word the Director spoke, the sarcasm in Anatoli’s voice not lost on her.
“I…uh…” Callie mumbled, unable to meet her eyes now.
“Your answer should tell you everything you need to know about why you could never do it,” Anatoli shot back. “Close the door on your way out.”
Callie spun around but not before Anatoli caught the look of indignation on her face.
Foolish girl, she thought angrily, retrieving the page from the desk. How could she possibly think she could take Dex’s place?
But if Anatoli were being honest with herself, she knew that there was no one who could take Dex’s place, that the void he’d left was proving harder to fill than she had ever imagined.
It’s my own fault for putting so much trust into him. I should have known better, but I won’t make the same mistake again.
In the meantime, she needed to find someone comparable, if not in skill, at least in brute strength. She had already gone too long without a security counterpart, and while Anatoli knew she could take care of herself, knowing that there was backup for when she finally threw in the towel was comfort in itself.
Yet another thing I did to myself, she thought bitterly. How did I get here?
With another exhale of breath, Anatoli sat back, her thoughts overtaking her once more.
It had been a whirlwind from the start, her path in life chosen since before she was born.
“You’re going to take over the world one day, Ana,” her mother had promised her from the time she could remember. “The world is yours if you do what’s expected of you.”
The problem was, Anatoli had never been very good at following the rules, not as the spoiled daughter of a South African diplomat, nor as the academic sorority girl who graduated Harvard cuma sum laude. To her credit, her general disdain for authority was veiled well enough that by the time she joined Interpol, no one saw her coming, least of all the very group she had set to conquer.
The Cabal.
At first, it had been child’s play, gathering information and learning about the shadow forum that controlled every aspect of the shifters from behind the scenes. After all, her family had been in the Cabal for generations.
They were brilliantly formed, hiding in plain sight as ambassadors, judges, senators, each with their own independent tasks to ensure a totalitarian government of shifters.
On the surface, the Cabal was a myth, a fable for conspiracy theorists. The shifters all existed within their own worlds, each vying for some form of supremacy. But the Cabal was truly a mishmash of all beings enchanted, pulling the strings of every political and social move in the world. The average bear or vampire could not fathom the damage they had done, the divide they had created.
But Anatoli had never been average and from the moment she had been old enough to fully understand the grasp that the Cabal had over the entire world, she had worked to destroy it.
Anatoli had skipped from country to country, learning, blackmailing, and eventually shaking the foundation of the corruption from within. No one had suspected that the witch hybrid, generations into the shadow government, had really been working against them.
I got too confident. I could have gone undetected for years longer if I’d only played my cards closer to the vest.
It was years too late for such regrets, Anatoli knew, but it didn’t mean that she didn’t think about how much further ahead she might be if only she’d planned better.
Maybe I wouldn’t have lost so many operatives. Maybe I’d be further ahead. Maybe I wouldn’t have been regarded as such a monster to my own people.
She knew now that she was regarded as a traitor to her own recruits, her cold nature and secretive ways casting suspicion on all who got close. It was how she had lost Dex.
And maybe my methods weren’t the soundest, but I always meant well, to make our world a better place.
She knew that others would beg to differ.
Anatoli stopped herself and snatched up the paper again, unwilling to let herself fall into the dangerous game of “what if.” The damage had been done and the Sleepers had turned against her, but it wasn’t too late to set things right…was it?
Pressing her lips together, Anatoli again scanned the list, dismissing one candidate after another, her eyes resting on the final name.
All right, Jair, she thought. It’s been a while but let’s see what you’ve been up to.
This would be her final hire, the recruits in the compound her final round. It was time to get out. She needed to burn it all down. The Cabal had won and her legacy was tarnished.
2
The shuffle of legs was only fueling Jair’s impatience. It felt like they were purposely moving at a snail’s pace, the line of recruits in front of him. The fact that he was in the queue was both insulting and aggravating. He glanced at his smart watch for the fourth time in as many minutes.
“How much longer is this going to take?” he barked at Callie. “I don’t understand why I’ve been called away from my posting.”
Callie’s blonde head whipped around, the look in her shockingly innocent face venomous and stopping him mid-sentence. The recruits cast him wary looks over their shoulders but kept moving as though they feared the wrath of the fairy.
“Would you like me to rush the Director?” she snapped sarcastically. “Tell her that she’s infringing on your busy schedule?”
Jair clamped his mouth closed, but inside, he was fuming. It wasn’t just that he had been called away from his posting. It was that he had been on his way out of the Sleeper program for the past six months, one foot out the door. All he needed was a final push and he was beginning to think he had found it.
This is just like Anatoli, expecting everyone to jump at her whims, Jair thought angrily. I should yell from the rooftops for these poor idiots to pack up and run while they still have a fighting chance. Gods know, half the other Sleepers have already done it.
He had heard rumors over the past few years about Sleepers in other parts of the world, abandoning their posts or going rogue. There had been talks of recruits working from the inside to destroy the pretty picture that Anatoli had created in their minds as they stepped into the reality.
And Jair was undoubtedly among them although he couldn’t be sure where his suspicions had started.
It wasn’t just talk that worried him. It was what he had seen firsthand. Jair was not stationed to one post but used as a floater, drifting from location to location as a fixer. He had been among the first recruits, all those years ago who had fallen in love with the idea of a united world, but Anatoli’s tactics had left him with a sour taste in his mouth.
She’s turning the Sleepers into hybrids, he had realized early on but even then, Jair had known better than to question the powerful Director. He had also heard about how those who questioned Anatoli too much tended to disappear, never to be seen or heard from again. He had convinced himself that whatever Anatoli was doing was for the greater good but over the past months, he had grown disenchanted with the notion, his desire to pursue the cause, whatever it was, diminishing.
He continued forward with the group. One by one, the enlistees disappeared behind one closed door or another through the compound, preparing for their various aspects of training until there was no one but him and Callie left behind.
It was only then that he tried again, trying to mask his mounting displeasure.
“Seriously, what is this about?” he demanded of the
fairy, feeling the tug of his fangs beneath his gumline. His nerves were so raw, he feared that he might shift on a whim. Callie didn’t respond but marched onward until they stood before Anatoli’s office door. Jair relaxed slightly, realizing they were at the end of their journey.
Suddenly, he was uneasy again, realizing he had not laid eyes on the Director in years when he had been a recruit himself. Being before the closed office brought back a flood of memories he had long forgotten, and he hesitated when Callie knocked on the door.
Do I really want to see her?
His memory of her was suddenly overwhelming. He knew what Anatoli could do, of what she was capable. But he wasn’t afraid. He was intrigued, her power almost radiating through the door.
“Come in.”
Her husky voice wafted toward him and he instantly recalled every detail of her face as though it had been covered in sand in his psyche, only to be brushed away with the wisp of her words.
The door opened under Callie’s hand and he found himself staring at the beautiful Director, his heart skipping slightly at the sight.
I’d forgotten the power she has over me, he thought, suddenly remembering why he had been apprehensive to see her.
Not surprising, she had not changed a bit, her dark hair shining under the eerie fluorescent lighting of the office. She was as ageless as the others and yet seeing her in the very same form he had before was somehow unnerving. Even from the distance between them, he locked his dark eyes with her vivid jade irises. A shiver passed through him and for a moment, he found it very difficult to breathe.
Has she always been this breathtaking?
The way he remembered Anatoli, she had been fearsome, larger than life.
Certainly not a five-foot five goddess. How could I have forgotten that she’s so lovely?
Embarrassed, he pushed the thought and attraction from his mind and tried to focus his eyes nonchalantly.
“Thank you for coming, Jair,” she said, dispelling the last of his annoyance as she rose from her spot, gliding seamlessly across the floor to extend a hand toward him. A wavering smile touched his full lips and he nodded, accepting her proffered hand.
“It’s been a while,” he conceded. “Good to see you, Ana.”
Her smile met her eyes and despite her somewhat stoic expression, he didn’t miss the way her eyes trailed over his muscular frame, retreating back up the barrel of his chest before once more resting on his face. He would’ve had to been blind to miss the flicker of interest in Anatoli’s eyes as they again met.
“Come and sit down,” she urged, ushering him further into the office. “Callie, you can go.”
Through his peripheral vision, he caught the look of unabashed indignation on the fairy’s face as she began to shake her head.
“I thought I would be here for the interviews,” Callie protested.
“You thought wrong,” Anatoli replied flatly. “Close the door.”
Her tone left no room for argument, but Callie gawked at them both, the anger in her eyes only enhancing as she glowered.
Now there’s the hard, unflinching Anatoli I remember, Jair thought, yet the realization didn’t diminish the attraction he felt toward her. If anything, he felt as though the connection between them was growing.
She never was that fearsome, he realized inwardly. She simply refused to take shit from anyone.
It was an admirable quality, not one to shy from. Perhaps it was all his years in the world that had taught him that.
We’re both different now.
He shoved the thought aside again, unwilling to be hypnotized. The tales he had heard from others were not forgotten. The memory wipes and invasion of privacy that Anatoli had rumored to have performed could not be easily forsaken and he couldn’t permit her good looks to alter his perception of her.
But it’s not just her good looks. There’s something else. Something—
“Callie, now!”
Anatoli’s voice was like whiplash and only then did the fairy obey, spinning on her heel to storm from the office, slamming the door in her wake. A slight smirk formed on Jair’s lips.
“She didn’t seem to like that,” he muttered, turning his full attention back toward her.
“She’ll get over it,” Anatoli sighed, falling back into her leather swivel chair. She made a steeple of her fingers to stare at him intently. “How are things with you?”
A combination of bitterness and amusement shot through Jair.
“I suppose if you ever looked in on me, you’d know,” he retorted before he could stop himself. A mild expression of surprise crossed over her face as she regarded him.
“I didn’t know you were expecting a visit,” she replied quietly. “You should have taken it as a compliment. I thought I made it clear when I sent you into the field that you wouldn’t be contacted unless you were needed.”
Instantly embarrassed, Jair turned his head away and pretended to study the office, but his pulse had quickened inside his veins.
“I suppose I’m needed now?” he replied lightly.
“Perhaps,” Anatoli agreed but there was a note of sadness in her tone. He glanced at her questioningly.
“Well?” he asked, his impatience returning. “What is it?”
Anatoli opened her mouth to respond, but before a word escaped, the door to the office flew open and a recruit scrambled inside, locking himself in as the pair gaped at him.
“Sawyer, what on earth…?” Anatoli started to say, but the blond dragon whirled around, his eyes wide and terrified.
“We’re under attack!” he shrieked. “Vampires are flooding the compound!”
3
The duo stared at him in shocked silence at the dragon for a moment before a short laugh escaped Anatoli’s mouth.
“That’s impossible,” she said flatly. “The compound is impregnable. There’s no way—"
An explosion erupted just beyond the walls, the impact so great, it sent everyone back, despite the walls between. Sawyer yelped out, his body half-shifting in his fear but Anatoli and Jair immediately caught their bearings and jumped forward. Anatoli’s mind raced as she tried to make sense of what was going on.
How is this happening? Anatoli wondered in a panic. This compound is impenetrable!
She had taken great pains to ensure that their whereabouts was hidden, deep in the Virginia mountains, nestled away from any prying eyes. The recruits that had not worked out had had their memories scrubbed to protect all she had built there.
Had one of the Sleepers betrayed her?
Would I fault them if they did? After everything I’ve done to them? The trackers and experiments? How would I have reacted if it were me?
She didn’t need to think hard about the answer to that. What she had done in the name of the greater good was unforgivable and whatever this attack was about, Anatoli was sure she deserved it. A deep sorrow pierced through the Director’s heart at the thought, but she knew she did not have time to wonder about that now. Her hand reached for the door. Before she could turn the handle, Jair stopped her.
“Don’t,” he growled, his ears pressed to the metal frame.
“What? My compound is under attack!”
“Exactly,” Jair replied curtly. “They’ve obviously come for you and are trying to smoke you out.”
Anatoli hesitated but tried to reclaim the handle.
“I’m not hiding out in here while they terrorize my recruits,” Anatoli insisted. Again, Jair blocked her way.
“What’s the point of having recruits if there’s no one to lead them,” he growled, putting his burly body between them. “Let me go and see what’s what.”
Before she could argue, Jair opened the door and morphed into his wolf frame, disappearing into the smoking hallway. Uncertainly, Anatoli turned back toward the trembling recruit, his eyes bugging as he stared at her.
“W-what should I do?” Sawyer blubbered.
He’s waiting for instructions, she realized but without und
erstanding what was occurring, Anatoli knew she couldn’t give him any orders.
“How do you know they’re vampires?” she demanded, her mind racing for who it was that might have come for her.
“I saw them!” Sawyer choked. “A dozen or more. They just swarmed the building!”
Pascal? She wondered, her heart freezing. But Kyla had him under control…didn’t she?
The answer almost slapped her fully in the face. Anatoli charged out into the corridor, her eyes tearing instantly as she exited.
“NO!” she heard Sawyer call out after her, but the Director ignored him and surged forward. Her vision barely had time to adjust when her arm was seized. Hissing, she spun around, her fangs elongating as she came face to face with the enraged face of a stranger. As she lunged toward him, wrestling her arm free, the immortal was knocked back, his body flying through the air. A blur of black fur zipped by Anatoli as the smoke bombs cleared around her. Only then did she realize that it was Jair who had come to her rescue.
A horrific snarling and tearing sound ensued but before Anatoli could regain her composure, Jair spun back toward her. In half a second, she was on his back, racing through the complicated halls of the compound. As if by rote, the wolf shifter dashed, Anatoli clinging to him for dear life.
Chaos had exploded as instructors and recruits scoured for safety in various stages of shifting. Singularly focused, Jair continued to run until the pair found themselves at the far end of the unit where the dorms sat. Anatoli looked back helplessly, her instinct to jump from Jair’s back and save her recruits but as she watched the scene unfold, she realized that they were not being attacked.
They really are only looking for me. But they could turn on the others just as easily.
It was only then that Jair let her off his back and Anatoli jumped to her feet, scowling.
“What the hell was that?” she demanded. “I need to get back out there and deal with this mess.”
“I told you to stay put!” Jair hissed back, shifting into his human form. “It’s madness out there. You could have gotten yourself in trouble.”
