The Forgotten Wolf

POV: Mira Voss

“Ten seconds to breach,” I whispered.

“Copy,” Eris replied in my ear, static flickering like a heartbeat. “We’re not alone, Mira. Something’s moving on the third floor.”

“Define ‘something.’”

She hesitated. “Bipedal. Not human.”

Perfect.

The server room’s lock blinks red, fighting my override. My gloved fingers danced across the cracked datapad, forcing a bypass. The walls hummed. I could feel the grid pulse under my boots. GenTech Labs didn’t just play with genetics, they toyed with power they didn’t understand.

Click.

The door sighed open.

Rows of blinking towers lined the room like soldiers. Taking a deep breath, I began extraction, Datachip out. Port open. Code slipping in like a ghost. I moved fast.

“Extraction in progress,” I murmured. “Cover my exit.”

Eris' reply came clipped. “Whatever’s up here, it’s not….shit, it's looking right at me.”

The line cut.

I didn’t flinch. Couldn’t afford to. Just sixty more seconds. I watched the chip’s progress climb: 42%, 58%, 73%…

Then the lights went out, every damn one.

I froze. The hum of the servers dropped to a drone. Silence crept in, thick as blood.

Then — click, click, click — footsteps approached. Heavy and Deliberate. No rhythm of breath. No scent of adrenaline.

It wasn't human.

My hand slid to the pulse blade at my hip, thumb brushing the activation switch. My wolf stirred. Not in warning but in fear.

A seven foot figure stepped into the room.

Synthetic Alpha.

My pulse didn’t rise. Training held it down. But my instincts screamed one thing.

Run.

“Eris, do you copy? I’ve got a damn Synthetic on my ass.”

"I thought you said this would be simple."

Eris’ piercing and mocking voice breaks through my earpiece. I roll my eyes and crouch behind the broken pieces of a concrete pillar, looking back over my shoulder.

"Never knew that ‘simple’ involved transforming the entire lab into a battlefield," I grumble, examining the ammo in my gun.

I ran out of the server room, down to the hallway. The echo of its pursuit thundered behind me, then it stopped.

I was moving quickly in the direction of the maintenance hatch, which is situated in the far corner of the building. When the ceiling's glass broke apart, leaping me forward, tumbling across the slick surface and hitting the ground hard. Now I'm surrounded by glass and debris fragments, but I can not afford to stop and think.

Looking up I say them, Synthetic Alphas.

They look like humans, Its form is smooth and metallic under a coating of artificial skin. It has no mouth, just a set of fragile mechanical openings

Crap.” Eris, I have some visitors. “Large, speedy company,” I whisper into the comms, voice strained.

“I can't assist you right now, Mira.” “This time, you have to handle it by yourself.” Eris’ tone carries a hint of arrogance, and she sounded far away.

Tightening my jaw, I dismissed the voice in my mind warning me that this was a bad decision. They were Synthetics, Alpha Synthetics, which not only kill but also track.

“Don’t allow it to take control of you!” Eris’ voice breaks through, but it’s already too late, It threw me to the edge and I collided with a pile of metal crates.

There is no time to consider the immediate and searing ache in my ribs as I gasp. As soon as I land, I am met by the cold, analytical eyes of the Synthetic Alpha.

Damn,” I spoke quietly, hurriedly getting to my feet. Blood drips from my side.

I turned a corner, skidding into a stairwell. Two floors down to street level. I jumped the first flight, landed hard, rolled. Pain sliced up my shin, but I didn't stop.

The Synthetic didn’t run. It dropped. Straight down the center shaft. Landed in front of me like death made metal.

I didn’t hesitate to draw out my gun, though my hands trembled. Synthetics are unaffected by gunshots except I can target a vulnerable spot, else I’ll be wasting my bullets.

Leave that place, this moment Mira,” Eris snaps, her tone filled with stress.

My gaze shifts quickly to the access door of the maintenance room, my way out but it's too distant.

The Synthetic was closer, I could hear their footsteps. As I head for the room, the Synthetic Alpha's claws brushing against my side. The agony is searing, a fresh injury that rips my flesh crashing me forcefully into the metal walls, I breathed heavily.

It caught my wrist mid-swing.

The grip was inhuman. My bones screamed. I dropped the gun. Tried to shift but my wolf recoiled. Something in its presence poisoned the bond. My shift stalled in my throat, choking me.

“You carry unauthorized genetics,” it said, voice like metal dragging stone.

“Yeah?” I spat, twisting in its hold. “You’re not exactly licensed yourself.”

I yanked a smoke disk from my belt, crushed it between our bodies.

Boom.

The hallway vanished in smoke and sound. The grip loosened. I hit the floor hard, rolled under its legs, and sprinted. My lungs burned, one ankle buckling slightly — but I kept moving.

Exit ahead. Neon from the city bled through the crack in the door.

“Come on,” I growled.

I slammed the bar. Bursted into the maintenance room. A drone buzzed Eris was still watching.

“I made it.

Grabbing the comm, my fingers coated in blood, I pushed the button.

"Eris, I need extraction." At this moment.

The response crackles. "About it." Wait a moment, Mira. “Don’t allow it to catch you.”

I compel myself to continue moving, the pain in my side threatening to pull me down. I cannot afford the comfort of relaxation. Not with it at my back.

Though the Synthetic didn’t follow. It stood in the shadows, watching, as if calculating.

Then a voice in my head. Not mine or Eris’.

“You are the key. The bond is broken. And you… you are the proof.”

I froze.

It wasn’t speaking. It was inside me.

Then it vanished.

Later, in the skimmer, I stared at my shaking hands.

“That wasn’t a patrol bot,” I said quietly.

Eris didn’t answer. Her face was pale under the blue dashboard light.

“You saw it too?”

He nodded. “And I recorded it.”

“Send it to Reaper. Tell them GenTech isn't just experimenting with wolf DNA. They’re building something worse.”

Eris finally spoke. “That thing... it knew your name, Mira. It said it’s seen you before.”

I looked out at the ruined skyline. A storm was rolling in, veined with lightning.

“Then this job just stopped being about money.”