Don't Poke the Luna (Xena and Ryder)

Xena's POV

Come on! It's time to see what I've prepared for you!" Wiley's voice carried a twisted excitement that made my skin crawl.

Hands grabbed my arms and dragged me from the trunk. The parking garage was dimly lit, shadows dancing across concrete walls. I caught sight of another figure being pulled from a second trunk. It took me a moment to realize it was William, but he was unconscious. A warrior threw him over his shoulder like a sack of grain while Tatum gripped my arm, forcing me to follow alongside them.

Despite my efforts to look around for any identifying features, nothing stood out to tell me where we were. By my calculations, we'd only been in the car for an hour or two at most. We'd passed some railroad tracks, but when they'd taken a turn too sharply and I'd been thrown against the other side of the trunk, I'd lost track of our location entirely.

My head had struck something metal during that turn, and I could feel blood trickling down my temple.

"Welcome to our research laboratory." Alpha Wiley seemed proud of this revelation.

The moment he opened the door, I was blinded by harsh fluorescent lighting. Everything was white-floors, walls, ceiling, even the lights themselves were a brilliant, sterile white. The people inside wore full protective suits that covered them from head to toe, leaving only their eyes visible behind clear face shields. The lab stretched out before us, filled with gleaming equipment, computer terminals, and rows of glass containers filled with various colored liquids. The antiseptic smell was overwhelming, mixed with something chemical and wrong that made my stomach turn.

"What is all this?" I asked, the acrid chemical smell in the air making me uneasy.

"Different formulas. This one is a wolf poison spray we use to quickly subdue werewolves." Alpha Wiley pulled on latex gloves and picked up what looked like a black bath bomb. "We also have various poisons, and our latest creation..." He held up the dark sphere with disturbing pride. "This little bomb releases deadly toxins into your drinking water. Just drop this into a water tank, and everyone in the city dies the moment their lips touch water."

My blood turned to ice. They were manufacturing weapons of mass destruction. I fought to keep my expression neutral, but rage burned through me like wildfire. These lunatics wanted to poison innocent humans.

"What's inside it?" I stared coldly at Wiley.

"That's a family secret." Alpha Wiley glanced at me with a look that told me I needed to stop asking questions. Tatum pulled me from that room toward the hallway. "We're researching many things. This one, I know Ryder would be most interested to learn about."

Alpha Wiley stopped in front of another door and opened it for me to see inside.

Several men were bent over welding tables, wearing protective masks. At first I didn't understand what I was looking at,

and until I stepped closer and realized it was a collapsible drone. "Now do you see? This little guy flies to its target explodes. The deadly sleeping powder it releases will knock people unconscious for hours... or forever."noveldrama

e pulled a My heart nearly stopped beating. I stared at Alpha Wiley in shock as he seemed to enjoy my expressi remote control from his pocket, and what had appeared to be a solid gray wall suddenly became transparent, revealing an entire wall covered in shelves. Hundreds of drones sat silently, waiting for their missions.

Dizziness washed over me. The sophistication of these weapons was staggering, and it made me realize just how dangerous our enemy truly was. They weren't just a group of thugs-they were organized, technical, and methodical

terrorists. My fists clenched Involuntarily.

"The next room might interest you even more." Tatum smiled as he pulled me from that room toward the next one.

Alpha Wiley opened the door and Tatum shoved me inside.

On the table sat something that looked like a bird. Directly in front of me was a black screen displaying nothing. The left wall showed a complete layout of our pack territory. They'd done the same thing I had-used photographs to map everything out. They'd circled the three tunnel locations. Each position was labeled with names like "swimming pool or "pack house." But what disturbed me most was that bird.

Wiley nodded to a technician, who immediately began typing on a keyboard. The bird slowly rose into the air, circling the room. The screen in front of us gradually lit up, displaying the room's view from above.

My breathing became rapid and shallow. Even if we were looking for drones, no one would question a bird in the sky. Their biotechnology and engineering capabilities were beyond anything I'd imagined. Even with Logan's pack fighting alongside us, we wouldn't stand much of a chance in direct combat. My heart sank as the cruel reality hit me like a falling boulder.

"Impressive, isn't it?" Wiley's voice was filled with sick pride. "We've been perfecting this technology for years. Perfect surveillance, completely undetectable."

The technician continued typing, and suddenly the screen split into multiple views-different angles, different locations. I recognized some of them. Our pack house. The training grounds. The border patrol routes.

"How long have you been watching us?" I demanded, though I wasn't sure I wanted to know the answer.

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