Chapter 275

Grace

Tears streamed down my face, a mixture of fear and a dawning horror at the lengths someone was willing to go to. The flames danced in my eyes. All could hear was the distant roar of it. I saw flashes of my dream about Mooncrest burning down around me.

I could hear Alpha Shadow's voice, mocking me. Time swirled and screamed in my ears. My heart....

Was it still beating?

A hand touched my shoulder gently. I looked up to see a woman I knew worked in accounting. She wasn't looking at me but at the burning building in the distance.

"It's okay," she said, her voice soft but firm. "You can rebuild a building... you can't bring the dead back to life. We all got out safe, I think."

Taking a shaky breath, I nodded, allowing her to help me to my feet. I joined the group, checking in with everyone. Amira arrived moments later, and I had her alert the Mooncrest Police Department to block off the area and keep an eye on the buildings around Mooncrest.

It made me happy to hear that they'd already mobilized to keep the warehouses and clinics safe.

By the head counts, everyone who had been in the building had gotten out safely, unscathed. I didn't understand how the hell that was possible unless Charles had known that something like this would happen.

But how?

Hours later, they'd killed the fire and a detail, including Neith, escorted me and Amira back to the compound... or rather what was left of it. It was a towering heap of wet metal and broken glass, but nothing around it had been damaged thanks to the barrier.

The acrid stench of smoke hung heavy in the air. I had dismissed the rest of the staff. They needed rest, not to deal with the throngs of reporters buzzing around like vultures. I really didn't want to manage them while trying to figure out how I was going to get them working as quickly as possible.

Exhaustion gnawed at me. My life's work, my research – potentially reduced to ash and twisted metal. A lump formed in my throat, threatening to choke back a sob. After all this time, and all this effort, was the universe laughing at me?

"Alpha Wolfe!" I turned seeing Xavier dressed more casually than I had ever seen him. "Are you alright?"

I nodded.

"Grace," Amira said, her voice gentle, "you should come away from here. Get some rest."

I shook my head, my gaze fixed on the smoldering ruins. "I can't. I need to see… to know how bad..."

My voice trailed off, the words catching in my throat.

A commotion erupted at the edge of the police-established perimeter. A gaggle of reporters, their faces twisted with a predatory eagerness, surged forward. Xavier let out a low growl in warning. I frowned at the tone and looked at him.

Xavier... was a lycan. I chuckled. Made sense. The growl caused the reporters to back away slightly, their hungry gazes never leaving me.

"A statement, Alpha Wolfe?" a particularly persistent reporter shouted. "The public is eager to know what happened, how the roll out will be affected…"

I opened my mouth to reply, but before I could speak, another voice cut through the din. A disembodied voice, emanating from a small speaker held aloft by another reporter.

"This is Wolf's Bane," the voice boomed, laced with an unsettling coldness. "The destruction of Wolfe Medical was just the first step. We will not allow werewolves to continue to propogate and spread their curse."

I looked at Xavier. "Wolf's Bane?"

"Another terrorist group?" Amira groaned. "Again?"

Xavier chuckled. "The lycan version of Blood Moon, and way more organized."

The fear that had been simmering within me since the explosion intensified, coiling around my heart like a serpent.

"Anything to say?" The reported asked, staring at me.

I turned to Xavier. "Can you get me access to a computer?"

Xavier tilted his head, his dark eyes gleaming with understanding. He pulled a tablet out of his bag and opened it. Amira squeezed my shoulder reassuringly.

"We'll get through this, Grace," she said, her voice firm. "Together."

I nodded.

A tense silence hung heavy between us, broken only by the crackle of the dying embers. Xavier pulled up the news. There was apparently a reporter giving a full report near where the front steps used to be and broadcasting Wolf's Bane's statement.

"Mark us, filth," the disembodied voice boomed again, sending shivers down my spine. The coldness had deepened, laced now with a chilling sense of triumph. "Werewolves are a blight upon this world, a disease that needs to be eradicated."

Xavier zoomed in on the scrolling text displaying the final part of the Wolfsbane statement.

"Consider this a warning. The production and testing of that so-called Moonlight Phoenix will remain ended. Werewolves are meant to die. Let us see how well the States function without their primary pharmaceutical provider."

The smugness in the voice was impossible to miss. Then, the connection cut out. The holographic screen flickered and faded, leaving us in the eerie silence of the devastated grounds.

Anger, hot and fierce, surged through me, battling the lingering fear. These bastards had fucked with the wrong woman. I wasn't the terrified woman I'd been months ago during the Blood Moon attack.

These psychos were no Alpha Shadow either. I crossed the space to where the reporters had been corraled.

"Hey!" I called out, my voice surprisingly steady. They turned towards me, a flurry of notebooks and microphones thrust forward. "You want a statement? A response? I have one for Wolf's Bane and whoever agrees with them."

Silence descended, the only sound the crackling embers from the ruined building.

"If I knew who you were, I'd sue you property damage, you piece of shit. But since you're too much of a coward to even show your masked face, you can fuck off. I can rebuild a building, a lab. The trials will happen soon. Mark me," I snarled. "I've dealt with one terrorist already, and he's dead." I thrust my arm up, showing the singular challenge circle on my wrist. "And I'll deal with you too. Moonlight Phoenix will not be stopped. Nothing will stand in my way."

The reporters erupted, a cacophony of questions and shouts. Ignoring them, I turned to Amira, who stood beside me, her face a mask of grim determination.

"Get these vultures off my property!" I marched toward the nearest Enforcer. "Amira, with me, please. Xavier keep an eye on any other information. I want it gathered and handed over for investigation by the government. This is the second time they've offered no assistance. We'll see what they'll do when the States run out of vaccines."

Xavier grinned, "I think that's another statement."

Amira fell into step beside me as we approached the man. It was Daniel. He smiled at Amira, a soft loving look took over his face before his gaze dropped to the band on her arm.

Then, he looked at me and nodded his head in something like a bow.

"Alpha Wolfe, how can I assist you?"

"Can you cast a privacy barrier?"

He cocked an eyebrow and raised his hand. A soft shield of light enveloped us.

"Thank you," I replied, my voice tight with urgency. "Wolf's Bane?"

"Terrorist group, thought to be an extension of the LSU, but there's no proof of that." He sighed. "I heard the broadcast, HIs Majesty is going to go postal."

"I'm going postal," I said. "Can you tell me how much of the building is salvageable?"

He smiled. "Nothing but the underground."

My heart leaped. The labs were all underground.

"The bombs were magical; His Majesty put a rush on the barrier for the lowest floors. It got done, luckily, early this morning."

I nodded, trying to keep a straight face. "Who knows?"

"No one but the Enforcers."

"Keep it that way. No one on the Mooncrest Police should know and I want the compound kept under surveillance."

"As you wish." He smiled, leaving off the end I could almost hear as he glanced at the band on my arm. "Anything else, I can do for you?"

My lips twitched. "Continue to look as menacing as possible, and keep me up to date about who all was in the building when it came down."

Hours later, I was driven into my driveway. The sun was an unwelcome reminder of the sleepless night spent overseeing the extinguishing of the building and strategizing with Xavier and Amira about how to move forward. The thought of rebuilding filled me with a weary dread, mostly because of the cost, but it was a future problem. Right now, all I craved was the comfort of my own home.

Just as I stepped out of the car, a sleek black motorcycle roared to a halt in front of me. I thought it was Neith, but it wasn't.

"Charles?"