KAEL

The morning briefing had started at eight and it was now nine-forty-seven and Jordan was on his third attempt to wrap up the security assessment in a way that communicated both thoroughness and urgen and I could see exactly why because I could also see Nina’s foot tapping under the table and the way Ivor pen kept going back to the same notation she’d already made twice.

They were rushing.

This was not subtle. The rushing had a specific quality that I’d learned over many years of working with these people — the quality of a group that had somewhere they wanted to be and were managing the gap between professional obligation and personal priority with varying degrees of success.

Nina’s success was highest. Her professional composure held through most situations and the rushing wa visible only in the foot and the occasional slightly-faster-than-usual note-taking. Jordan’s success was moderate — he was genuinely, trying, the intelligence summary was complete and accurate, but the pace it was about thirty percent faster than his normal briefing pace and I could feel him editing out the contextual additions he usually included. Ivory’s success was lowest, which was unusual because Ivory’s professional composure was generally excellent, but Ivory had a specific vulnerability which was that she got excited about things she was interested in and the excitement leaked through the clinical register in ways she didn’t always fully register were happening.

She’d said *which brings us to the next point” four times in the last twenty minutes and each time the transition had been faster.

I knew what they were rushing toward.

I’d known since the beginning of the meeting, when all three of them had arrived simultaneously with the specific coordinated energy of people who’d had a prior conversation and had made a collective plan. Jordan had the intelligence files ready to present. Nina had the security update already organized in a format that front-loaded the conclusions rather than building toward them. Ivory had the root analysis in her hand and had clearly been up since before seven working through it, because the notes were fresh and the coffee cup was already at its third refill.

They were going to get through the briefing efficiently and then they were going to do the thing.

The thing was the book club.

I knew this because Jordan had said, when I’d come into the office at five minutes past eight: “The book club is happening today.”

“The book club that everyone said no to.” I’d said.

“The book club that has achieved critical mass,” Jordan had said. “The conditions are now favorable”

“What conditions.” I’d said

The conditions include,” Jordan had said, counting on his lingers Killian having read chapter fourteen you having confined the contents of chapter fourteen to Killian. Aria having been told about chapter

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Finis

1 fourteen by approximately four different people, and Ivory having been waiting for an opportunity to na this discussion since approximately the second month of the curse years.” He’d paused. “The conditions a

vorable.”

“I didn’t confirm anything,” I’d said.

“You told him what the chapter was about,” Jordan had said.

“I provided context,” I’d said.

“You unpacked the emotional significance of the chapter to someone who had just read it while visibly flustered,” Jordan had said. “That’s more than context.”

“He was red,” I’d said. “I was addressing-”

“You were participating in the post-chapter discussion that chapter fourteen traditionally produces,” Jorda had said. “Which is what Ivory designed it for.”

I’d sat down at the desk and opened the briefing materials and decided that arguing about the book club before the briefing was not going to produce useful outcomes.

The root analysis was Ivory’s section and she delivered it with the specific combination of thoroughness ar speed that I’d been watching since the meeting started. The network had used a directed casting on the ful moon – this we’d established in the previous briefing. What Ivory had determined in the past week, using the information Killian had provided about the network’s operational structure combined with her own research into the original curse’s construction, was that the casting mechanism required three specific elements.

A full moon. A witch with knowledge of the original curse’s construction. And proximity – physical proximity to someone who had the relevant connection to the person the root was planted in.

“Proximity to who,” I said.

“To Aria, Ivory said. “The bond acts as a channel. The root and the bond occupy the same connective architecture. The witches used the bond as a pathway- they needed someone in physical proximity to Ari who could access that pathway and push through it.”

“Vela,” I said. “When she arrived.”

“Vela’s presence at the gate,” Ivory said. “Yes. We didn’t understand the mechanism at the time. We were managing the kidnapping and the battle with the 210 wolve and the access question and we didn’t fully analyze the timing.” She paused. “Vela arrived at the gate, escaped from Aria and got back to the basement wher

du

to subdue her and send her to the highly concentrated unescapable dungeon while we

o on a well deserved break. A week later, the full moon incident occurred. Vela

blish the proximity connection she needed.

Nina said.

Ivory said “Determining the strength and accessibility of the bond ting requirements for the full moon activation She set down the

that the activation was always the plan The gate visit wasirt about

the ambush on the pack. It was rennials SILTYGO

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“She needed the ambvush to get inside,” Jordan said.

-needed the specific access that the attack gave her,” Ivory said. “Direct access to the pack grounds, with a legitimate reason for being present that gave her time to take the measurements she needed.” She looked at me. “The good news is that we now understand the mechanism. The bad news is that they can attempt the activation again at the next full moon.”

“Two weeks.” Nina said.

“Approximately,” Ivory said. “The mechanism requires specific conditions but those conditions recur monthly.”

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Mated To My Mate’s Worst Enemy

Florence

A passionate storyteller who brings emotions to life through her words. When she’s not writing, she finds peace nurturing her garden.