Page 129 of Glitched Fates & Stolen Mates

Don’t let her get a rise out of you. My self-control was better than this. Had to be.

I forced myself to still, clenching my teeth so tightly they ached before jerking my head towards my father. “So how did you pull that one off? I was told he was dead. Shot by armed police after some farmer reported him.”

The fake warmth drained from Moira’s face. “Your father was a piece of shit who deserved to die. I’ve simply put his body to better use.”

The casual brutality in her voice stunned me. Malcolm stood there like a statue, eyes completely vacant. Was there any part of him that could hear what she was saying about him? Understand?

“The shooting was staged,” Moira continued, eyes never leaving mine. “Police were paid off to claim they held the wolf’s corpse. Malcolm was recovered by Greywatch assets. We planned the extraction for months. It wasn’t easy, but he’s perfect for our programme.” She gestured towards him with obvious pride. “At that time, we had tonnes of test subjects, but very few alphas. Someone with natural authority over other wolves.”

“Does my mother know the truth? Does she know he’s alive?”

Moira shook her head. “This is a win-win situation for everyone, I’d say. Kinder for everyone. Don’t pretend you and Rory were sad to hear he’d died. Besides, I hear Edina’s a far better leader than Malcolm ever was. I’m sure the pack is glad to be rid of him.”

I lurched forward, rattling my chains. “That wasn’t your choice to decide, you sick, twisted—”

“Let’s cut to the chase.” Moira stood, beginning to pace like she was giving a presentation, hands clasped behind her back. “Let’s discuss why you’re here.”

“Why… I’m here?” I repeatedly back, stupidly.

“Greywatch provides assets to governments worldwide. Conflicts that would drag on for years can be resolved in weeks or days with the right application of enhanced force.”

I raised an eyebrow at her. “There’s no point pitching Greywatch to me again. I fucking lived it.”

“I’m aware. Though we’ve moved on since your time.” Her smile turned calculating. “You’ve got an early prototype of our chip in your head. You’re aware of that, aye?”

Something prickled at the back of my head—memory or metal, I couldn’t tell. I forced myself to nod.

“We’ve come so far since then. All with the goal of making our assets more reliable. More focused. Think about it, Kit—no more internal conflict, no more moral struggles. The chips remove the burden of choice entirely. Some might argue it’s kinder.”

“Kinder?” I eyed my father’s face, devoid of any emotion. “You’re talking about lobotomising them!”

“The controlled wolves are effective,” Moira continued, ignoring my disgust. “But there are… teething problems.”

“What kind of problems?”

“We’re struggling to maintain control of them once shifted. It’s fair to say that side of the technology is still very much in development. As wolves, they become wild, unpredictable. Difficult to direct.” She stopped pacing, fixing me with those cold eyes. “It comes down to this, Kit. We need someone who understands both sides—the wolf and the soldier. Someone who can help us refine the process. Train our assets. Make them more… compliant.”

The pieces clicked together with sickening clarity. “You want me to help you break them. The shifted wolves, who refuse your control.”

“I want you to help us perfect them,” she corrected. “You’d be given respect, responsibility. You’d join our team as an equal, not an asset. You’d have a chance to make a real difference to the world.”

Laughter bubbled up and out of my throat. I stared at her in disbelief. “Are you joking? Greywatch has never made a positive impact on the world. My time serving proved that. I was an assassin for hire, nothing more.” Zara Siddiqui’s face swam to the forefront of my mind, as she often did—that young woman in Pakistan we’d killed on some politician’s orders, caught up in someone else’s revenge plot. “I killed innocent people. Innocent people who haunt my dreams. I now have to live with that for the rest of my life. Greywatch is an abomination.”

Moira’s eyes lit up, like I’d sparked something in her. “That’s where you’re wrong, Kit. Greywatch prevents wars before they start. We eliminate threats to global stability. Remove dangerous individuals before they can cause widespread suffering.” She leaned forward, voice taking on an evangelical fervour. “Imagine conflicts resolved without civilian casualties. Rogue states neutralised before they can develop weapons of mass destruction. We’re not killers, Kit—we’re peacekeepers.”

“If that’s what you tell yourself to sleep at night, great,” I said, flatly. “But I’m having no part of it.”

Moira’s expression didn’t change, but something cold flickered behind her eyes. “I hoped you wouldn’t say that, Kit. Because there are only two ways this ends.” Her eyes flicked to the corner of the room. “And I think you understand the other option perfectly.”

My heart leapt to my throat. No. I’d fought so hard to escape Greywatch, to recover from what they did to me. And this time, it would be worse. I’d become just like my father, standing vacant-eyed in the corner. Like all the other wolves they’d broken and reprogrammed.

The room seemed to shrink around me. My pulse spiked, my wolf clawing frantically at my chest. This couldn’t be happening. Not after everything I’d survived, everything I’d built for myself. After I’d found Felix.

Felix.

My wolf whined, desperate to return to our mate, to pick him up and hold him close to me. To breathe him in.

Moira reached for a manila folder on the table, sliding out two glossy photographs and placing them in front of me.