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“I’m pretty sure that would have been something the Network added. The military medals fit from what I know of their core members,” River said. I was impressed with how he’d figured out the device’s lock so easily. He seemed to make connections the rest of us couldn’t see. He was walking around the device again, looking at it from every angle.
“It has to have an opening somewhere, but I can’t see anything,” Max groaned.
I took a step back and looked at it again, trying to look at the whole device at once.Were we overthinking this if this wasn’t the Network’s device?
A sudden idea had me stepping forward. I pushed on the edge of the middle panel, the one with the console. It popped open. It was a simple push mechanism, the same as in a lot of kitchen cupboards.
“The Palace techs have never been that creative,” I said. I dragged the door further open, then folded back the panels in a concertina, exposing the inner workings of the device. “Or particularly tech savvy.”
“How the hell did I not see that?” Max grumbled, as he squatted down in front of the device. The inside had nowhere near the elegance and simplicity of the smaller device; it was a mess of moving parts, wires, and cables. There was no doubt it was producing the same kinetic energy, though.
“This was definitely either a prototype or the Palace tried to replicate something they saw and did a shit job of it. It seems to be stable, though,” Max said.
“It’s concerning that they knew about this technology and didn’t implement it,” Damon growled. “I don’t understand why they wouldn’t. Surely they could have patented it and sold it the same way they did solar panels.”
“Don’t forget, one member of Maven is the CEO of Integral Mining. Solar panels contain expensive parts as well as mined resources like silicon, silver, aluminum, and copper,” I answered. “Producing them requires a lot of mining and they’re not sold cheaply. If this technology got out, and it’s as simple as it looks, anyone could replicate it using repurposed materials, once they knew how. It would be impossible to contain. Unless there’s something I’m missing.”
“There has to be something complex about it, or someone else would have invented it as well by now,” Max said, as he squatted and looked over the device’s moving parts. “We know how kinetic energy works, but it’s never been able to produce this much power before. Maybe he built a large-scale prototype before he faked his death and couldn’t destroy it without it looking suspicious. After he was gone, they probably couldn’t replicate it effectively. Or clearly miniaturize it the way he later did. Maybe he had to leave the machine but destroyed his notes. All I know is, it’s not as simple as it looks.”
“Makes sense,” I muttered absently. The moving parts inside, despite being chaotic at this scale, were mesmerizing.
“Max, are you okay down here alone? It looks like it may take a while to figure it out,” Damon asked. His affection shined through as he smiled down at his pack mate.
“Yeah, you guys go. There’s no use in you standing around. Check on Maia.” Max waved us away, his mind already whirring, and his eyes seeking answers.
As he shifted, Max’s t-shirt stretched, and I noticed two new bite marks, one on his biceps and another on the back of his shoulder. He had four now, and each one looked different. I was insanely curious, but it was none of my business and not something I’d draw public attention to. I’d ask him about it privately, if I got up the nerve.
“I’m going to head up to the lab Wolf was in and keep working my way through their server files. See if I can find any kind of plans or instructions for this thing that will help us,” I said as I forced my gaze away.
Max paid us no attention as we left, already engrossed in figuring out the device.
“I’ll pop down and check in on him regularly,” I told Damon when we got to the top of the stairs. I was the only person Max would tolerate interrupting him when he was working on a problem, outside of his pack.
“Thanks, I appreciate it, Nick,” Damon replied as he patted me awkwardly on the shoulder. He seemed nervous about spooking me.
River gave me a nod as everyone dispersed, and I wandered over to the second lab. I figured he would head to check on either Ava or Wolf, maybe both. I peeked back down and looked in on Max a few times, but he didn’t even notice. He got like that sometimes.
Time slipped away as I became engrossed in navigating through the servers’ files. Desperately trying to find anything else that could help the pack I was so desperate to join. And to figure out more about Wolf. As much as he had revealed this morning, I sensed Wolf was still holding something back, and I wanted to know what it was.
If Maven came for Wolf, it would come to a fight. One I knew would get ugly. Unless we held the balance of power somehow.
The knowledge was a shadow hanging over us all.
twenty-one
IthinkI’dstartledHunter with my giant hug, but he’d quickly recovered and hugged me back just as tightly. After wondering about him for so long, daydreaming about what it would have been like to grow up together, having him right in front of me had been too much. I’d needed the contact.
He’d apologized for running, but I didn’t need his apology and brushed it off. I was just glad he was talking to me now. We’d been sitting and chatting for a while. I wasn’t much of a talker. I’d already talked more today than I ever had in my life. So it had mostly been Hunter keeping the conversation going, while I decompressed for a bit, and he seemed comfortable with that. I sensed he was good at putting people at ease.
He’d touched on his childhood briefly, but I imagined he’d left out a lot. I hadn’t pushed, content with whatever he was willing to tell me until we got to know each other better. He’d quickly moved on to telling me about meeting Damon at school, their time in the military, and how they’d met Leif and Max. His life fascinated me, as did their pack dynamics, and I was happy to sit and take it all in, only giving him an occasional grunt and laughing at some of his anecdotes. He was a funny guy. He didn’t seem to mind that I didn’t have as many words right now.
“Man, I went from no brothers to gaining both a brother and a half brother on the same day. It’s a bit of a mind fuck,” he blurted suddenly, completely changing direction from what he’d been talking about. “We already had Leif and Lexie, then Maia and Sam, as siblings between the packs. Now I have brothers in two of the packs. I can’t help but think there’s something bigger at work here.
“Yeah, Maven couldn’t keep their dicks in their pants,” I grunted.
Hunter laughed. “Yeah, that’s probably it.”
“So Sam seems like a good guy,” I said, wanting to get Hunter talking again. “Does he have a little trouble with his dominance, though? He was leaking all over the place this morning.”
