ng sweetness of formaldehyde. It was a sterile tomb, a place where biology was stripped down to its base components and rebuilt into something profita

ween a god and a specimen was the strength of the cage holding it. He wore a pristine white lab coat that seemed to repel the shadow

and reedy, belonging to one of the many faceless technicians who lived in the cr

separation of layers in the vial. "Define 'partially,' Julian. In my line

the resonance burst was initiated. However, Alpha Vane intervened. He... he too

footage from the drone played back in a loop. He watched Caelum Vane's silhouette-a massive, terrifying blur of heat-throwing himself in fron

of Caelum's hands with a gloved finger. "A Primal Alpha of the Obsidian line, known for a ruthlessness that borders on sociopathy, willingly su

ized her role yet, sir?"

knows exactly what she did. He can smell the guilt on her skin like a rotting fruit. Which me

translucent green gel, was something that looked like a human heart, but it was too large, its muscle fibers woven with strands

arkers of the Obsidian line to stabilize the silver-organic interface. Without it, the "cure" he was building for the h

against his thumb. "He thinks his silence is a shield. He thinks that by not speaking, he keeps his se

errified, and utterly out of her element. Yet, she was the key. She was the on

at every time he accesses her mind, he is leaving a trail for me. The collar wasn't just meant to kill her.

is already moving to secure the neutral z

, make it easy for them. I want Caelum Vane to feel like he is winning. I want him to believe h

ncy burst is subtle. We don't want to kill her yet. We want her to start seeing things. We want her to start hearing the things

t in the tank accelerated, its thudding rhythm fillin

eant nothing to the world, a ghost signature he used for his most private transactions. "The world is a

rgan convulsed, a spray of silver sparks flying through the gel, and for a moment,

hanical hum of the machines. The pieces were moving. The Silent Alpha was bleeding. And the