The Alpha Trio’s Human Mate

Chapter Twelve

"Sorry to pull you away from your first day of classes, Cadet." Commander Jacobs offered an obligatory smile, and gestured for me to sit down in the chair facing her desk. She sat across from me, resting her elbows on the arms of her desk chair and folding her hands in front of her.

"No worries. Nothing exciting was happening," I smiled.

"How are things going for you?" She asked me nonchalantly, but there was a touch of genuine curiosity. I wondered if she knew about the incident...

"Very well, so far. The, um, boys," I cleared my throat, fighting the blush creeping up my neck at the thought of them. "Have been giving me some additional training in their free time. I think it's helping. So I'm feeling a bit more confident in my ability to keep advancing and meeting progress benchmarks."

"I was impressed with your combat performance at the initiate exams. You hardly needed the new rule to include defensive maneuvers, and defeated your opponent. You exceeded my expectations. So I'm sure you'll pass with flying colors if you cotinue to do extra training." I beamed. It wasn't often that I exceeded anyone's expectations.

"Thank you, Commander. I appreciate the encouragement. You said you needed my help, so I'm doing everything I can to ensure that I continue my time at the Academy." My palms suddenly grew clammy and sweaty at the thought of failure. What might become of me if I failed.

"Yes. About that. That's why I asked for you to come here--I wanted to follow up on what I meant by that. But first," she slid a piece of paper and a pen over to me. "I need you to sign this. The information I am going to share with you is confidential, and this simply states that you are aware of the severe penalities if you share any of it outside of our own communications." My spine tingled. I thought to look over the agreement in detail, to protect myself...but I decided against it, and scrawled my signature on the paper. I was eager to finally hear what I was so desperately needed for.

"Well, now that that's done," she slid the paper back across the desk toward herself, and opened a drawer, putting the paper inside. "I'll get right to the point. As you may know, or perhaps not, given that the Ironpelt pack's district was focused on food and clothing production, as opposed to military training...the faction that causes us the most trouble calls themselves the Red Knights." I recognized the name.

"A vampire clan?" I said uncertainly.

"Very good, Emmarie. Yes. There are a lot of small factions that just...exist, doing whatever they can to try to survive, which is usually nothing good. When they rise up, they are easily squashed by the might of our forces. The Red Knights, however, are highly organized. They have numbers, they have resources, and worst of all, their organization has an actual goal in mind: to bring the human population numbers back up. Humans are their source of food. As humans continue to die off, so, too, does their lifeblood. That's one reason that the Berserkers take in so many humans, and offer you the chance to become a wolf: it hurts our enemies."

The last sentence she spoke didn't sit right with me. I had always thought the Berserkers to be unambiguously good, protecting those who can't protect themselves, and fighting for a better world. But was she saying...that it would be better for them if we were extinct? I shook off the feeling. They'd taken care of me my whole life. There was no way their intent was malicious. It just worked out for all parties involved.

"So what's this got to do with technology?" I narrowed my eyes in what was hopefully a look of confusion rather than skepticism.

"Well, one advantage that they have on us is lifespan. We have to continue to reproduce, to train new generations. They do not. They have the same people from before the collapse, training and education included. Tech hasn't been a big issue, as a lot of infrastructure fell apart, and electricity is scarce...but it appears they were just biding their time. Intelligence tells us that they're quite operational, and technologically superior to us. They've got weapons manufacturing back online, apparently, and all the work we've done to confiscate arms the last few decades doesn't matter if this is true. We've had the weapons, and consequently the power. Most of their warfare has been with teeth and physical strength. But if they're able to manufacture weapons on a large scale, that would change the odds, and not in our favor."

"You want me to find ways to disable their technologies," I realized aloud.

"Yes," the Commander admitted.

"Wouldn't it just be easier to revamp our own? Invest in better weapons and defense for us?" I asked.

"Unfortunately, we're not as well off as we appear. We have to worry about sustaining ourselves with food, medicine, resources...but they do not. They only have to worry about that for the humans they feed on. The man power it would take to pull off weapons advancement is not something we can spare. Truthfully, we've invested in the wrong sorts of training. Really none of the wolves after the collapse, and very few of the humans had any programming skills, and we've practically started over in the stone age in that area. If we don't start finding ways to counter their technology, I'm afraid it's over for us."

"What do you need me to do?" I sighed. "Logistically, I mean."

"I need you to work on bettering your own skills, and teaching others. Our technology professor is less knowledgeable than you. We need to improve our communications and privacy, but we also need to learn to hack into their systems. Things aren't internet-based as they once were. I need you to figure out what technologies they have, regroup, figure out a strategy, and implement it."

"How do you want me to figure out their technologies?" It wasn't like I had an all access pass to what their internal systems were.

"You'll need to go on classified intelligence missions. Figure out what they've got, come back, educate yourself and others. Then return and take down their servers. I know you're hardly trained enough to go out into the field...but I'd send you with the best team that we have for your physical protection. It really can't wait." f**k. The Commander was asking me to go and start risking my life as a human, weeks after I started at the Academy? My heartrate skyrocketed at the thought...but if she was being truthful about the lack of skill in programming, they had to start somewhere. I myself was far from an expert, but but the university's old resources...perhaps I could advance my skills.

---

"What's on your mind, sweetheart?" Lynx ducked, avoiding my punch, and I staggered, off balance.

"I wish you'd stop calling me pet names." I kicked at him, only to be blocked.

"But it's so much fun to see you irritated, sugarplum," the grin he gave me was practically evil, laced with mischievous intent. His amber eyes glinted in the harsh fluorescents of the training room, and his black shirt clung to his chiseled frame, damp with sweat. If I weren't already distracted by my own thoughts, I would have been by the sight of him. I sighed, dropping my arms and shifting out of my fighting stance.

"I need a break." I turned from him and walked to the edge of the mat, grabbing a towel and pressing my damp face into it. I breathed into the fabric, trying to calm my thoughts.

"My sister is going to eat you alive if you don't improve your fighting skills," Lynx purred in my ear, coming up behind me and pressing his body against mine. I stifled a moan at the feel of his hard body, and his scent, intensified by his exertion during training.

"I know she is! And stop doing that. I told all of you that the other night was a one-off. I was drugged," I pulled away from him, and spun to face him.

"You made it very clear that you wanted us, Emmarie," Lynx's voice lowered, and he raised a brow. I flushed, hot and irritated.

"Yes, but I wasn't ready. It was a necessity. We need to take a giant step back for a bit." I shook my head, avoiding his stare. I couldn't tell him the real reason: what the Commander had asked of me was far more important. I couldn't center the Alphas right now. Lynx tilted my chin up and looked into my eyes.

"That's understandable. But just know, I'm next in line to taste your sweet p***y when you're ready. Zeph can f*****g wait," he growled, and pressed a kiss to my lips despite my protest.