Page 44 of Charged By the Razorbacks

Something real.

“I think I might be in trouble,” she added.

Jarek’s brow lifted. “Yeah?”

Tamsin pushed off the wall, stepping past them toward the door, her voice light, but not dismissing it. “The kind I like.”

Aleksy’s gaze followed her.

Jarek’s grin returned.

And together—they followed her out.

Chapter Eight

The command center didn’t feel tense when they walked in. It felt alive.

Not the sharp, brittle edge of reaction they’d been operating under since Chimera escalated. Not the tight control of damage management and containment.

This was different.

Energy moved through the room, steady and rising, like a current building beneath the surface. Screens were already active, data flowing across multiple displays, maps layered with movement patterns, known sites, suspected routes. Every unit was present, every space filled—not just with bodies, but with focus.

Intent.

Aleksy slowed just inside the doorway, taking it in.

The Bears stood at the center, Victor anchored at the main console, Ivan at his side, both of them steady in a way that grounded the entire room without needing to say a word. The Lions were spread along the far side, Caleb leaning forward with his weight braced on the table, Jackson and Wyatt flanking him, their attention already locked in. The Wolves occupied one bank of screens, Rafe and Dorian tracking movement patterns in silence, their focus sharp and inward.

The Leopards were there too, Kairo and Rylan set back slightly, their attention split between the room and whatever they were already pulling from the network through Claire’s system.

And the Gorillas—

Massive, solid, unmistakable—stood near the rear access point, arms folded, their presence less about observation and more about inevitability.

Nothing got past them. Nothing got out once they moved.

But it wasn’t just the men.

It never was anymore.

Elara stood near Victor, her attention already on the data feeds, her fingers moving across the interface as if she’d built it herself. Riley was beside the Wolves, reviewing medical overlays and impact projections, her voice low as she spoke to Dorian about neurological response patterns.

Sienna leaned against the edge of the main table, one hip resting there as she studied the room, her focus not just on the data, but on the people—on how they would move, how they would respond when the plan shifted from theory to execution.

And Claire—Claire sat at the secondary console, multiple screens running in front of her, code moving faster than most could track, her attention split across systems without missing anything.

Tamsin stepped in beside Aleksy, her presence quiet but not unnoticed, her gaze sweeping the room once, taking everything in.

Just like she had from the beginning.

Jarek moved up on her other side, his shoulder brushing hers briefly, grounding without making it obvious.

The room went quiet when Victor stepped forward.

“Enough reacting,” Victor said, his voice carrying without force. “We’ve seen how they move. We’ve seen what they’re willing to deploy.” A pause as his gaze moved across all of them. “Now we take it back.”

Aleksy felt it settle into place, the shift from defense to offense locking in across the room.