Page 130 of Glitched Fates & Stolen Mates

My blood froze.

The first photo showed Rory coming out of Fat Cat’s, arms full of coffee cups, grinning at something off-camera.

Then the second.

Felix leaving his apartment block. This wasn’t a CCTV angle—someone had photographed him from across the street. He had his headphones on, gaze fixed on the pavement, completely unaware he was being watched.

Fury clawed up my throat. Every instinct screamed at me to react, but my face stayed blank.

“He seems nice,” Moira said conversationally.

Another burst of hot, fresh rage coursed through my system, though my body remained frozen to the chair.

“Unusual for us to have a human mate, but not unheard of, of course.”

The words slammed into me. She knew. She knew about Felix, our mate bond, about everything.

“We’ve had a listening device in your hotel for months,” Moira explained casually. “Your Felix sounds brilliant, by the way.”

My control snapped.

I lunged forward, chains pulled taut as my chair toppled backwards. “Leave them out of this! This is between us! I swear, if you touch a hair on their heads!”

My father stepped forward, rifle raising slightly, but Moira waved him back with one dismissive hand.

Every inch of me shook with rage. I’d been here before. Different people, different country, but the same helpless fury. Cara’s blood soaking through my skin as the extraction team finally arrived, too late, always too fucking late. Her eyes going glassy while I begged her to hold on.

I’d sworn I’d never let that happen again. Never watch someone I loved die because of Greywatch’s games.

And now here was Moira, with these photographs of Felix and Rory like bargaining chips.

“You can’t,” I said, voice cracking. “You can’t do this again.”

Moira tilted her head. “Again?”

I couldn’t answer. My throat had closed up completely.

No. Not again. Not Felix.

“This doesn’t need to be difficult,” Moira said calmly. “And this isn’t forever. You can go back to Rory and Felix as soon as you’ve helped us perfect the technology. Back to your old life.”

Someone knocked on the door, then poked her head through. A young soldier in fatigues.

“They need you upstairs, ma’am.”

Moira nodded. “We’re done here anyway.” She stood, smoothing down her uniform. “It seems as if I won’t change your mind, Kit, which saddens me. We’re finalising the details for your chip installation. I’ll be there for the operation.”

She turned and walked out, leaving me staring at the photos. Rory’s carefree grin. Felix’s quiet concentration. The two people I loved most in the world.

They were both in danger because of me. Because I’d failed to protect them. I was chained, powerless, while the woman who’d destroyed my life once already prepared to take everything that mattered to me.

My father stood motionless in the corner, rifle trained on me. His finger rested against the trigger guard—ready to fire the moment I moved wrong. I wanted to scream at him, to beat my fists against his chest. Even his cruelty would be preferable to this hollow shell.

Would that be me in a few hours? Standing guard over the next poor bastard they dragged in here, my own mind locked away behind metal and circuitry?

I thought of Felix’s hands on my face, the way he’d looked at me after our first kiss in the woods. The soft sounds he made when I held him close. The trust in his eyes over the last few months as he ever so slowly let me into his heart.

They’d take all of that from me. Replace it with empty compliance, mechanical obedience.