Chapter 4: Quiet Anomalies
2225 Words
Alex POV
For the last few days, we’d been monitoring the system closely.
Rick and Laurent had returned to their own departments for the afternoon—Rick buried in financial projections, Laurent tied up in legal reviews—leaving the tech floor quieter than usual.
The tension had been building for days.
But it had been too quiet.
Dominic had been asking for updates at least three times a day—but so far, nothing had changed.
I could feel it through our bond—the restlessness, the sharp edge of his focus…
Storm kept pushing beneath the surface, restless and sharp. Dominic didn’t like uncertainty. He never had.
Neither did I.
But where Dominic pushed forward, looking for something to confront…
I waited.
Watched.
Listened.
I tried to distract him. Pulled him into conversations, suggested breaks, even dragged him out of the office once or twice.
The results were… mixed.
Dominic didn’t do “distraction” halfway.
What started as a break usually ended with me pressed against the nearest surface, his hands firm, his focus shifting—but never completely leaving.
Don’t get me wrong—
I loved every second of it.
But even then, part of him stayed locked on the problem.
Nothing stuck.
Even Rex ran out of ideas—and that almost never happened.
We could bite him, Rex suggested, not entirely serious.
I huffed a quiet laugh under my breath. Tempting.
From across the office, Dominic’s head lifted slightly, his gaze snapping to me.
Yeah… mate bond.
“Something funny?” he asked, eyes narrowing just a fraction.
“Just Rex being an i***t,” I replied, leaning back in my chair.
Rex growled in mock offense. Rude.
Dominic didn’t look convinced—but he let it go. Barely.
That was another thing about him.
He didn’t miss much.
Which meant if something was wrong…
He’d feel it.
“Alex, is there a reason you’re here?” he asked, a slight frown forming.
I leaned back a little further, letting my gaze linger on him longer than necessary.
“Can’t I just stare at my handsome mate?” I shot back, voice light, almost innocent.
Dominic’s eyes darkened slightly—just for a second.
Then he exhaled, shaking his head like he was trying to refocus.
“Not helping,” he muttered.
I stood up, walked around the desk and kissed his cheek.
“I know you love me,” I teased, letting my voice be fully innocent.
His fingers tightened slightly on the edge of the desk.
A low growl rumbled through him.
Bingo. That worked.
I leaned in closer, letting my lips brush just beneath his mark.
Dominic went still beneath me—just for a second.
Then I bit down lightly on his mark.
Not enough to hurt. Just enough to remind him.
Mine.
Then everything shifted.
His hand closed around my wrist—firm. Unyielding—
and in the next heartbeat I was pressed forward against the desk.
A low growl rumbled through him.
“Careful,” he warned, voice rough.
I smirked—
And then—
A sharp alert cut through the office.
We froze.
System alert.
Everything stopped.
Dominic pulled back instantly, control snapping into place like a switch had flipped.
The heat in his eyes vanished, replaced by sharp, focused intent.
“Report,” he said, already moving.
I straightened, turning toward the screen as my fingers flew across the keyboard.
My stomach tightened.
This wasn’t routine.
This was it.
I didn’t need to look at Dominic to know he’d felt it too.
The shift.
The urgency.
The threat.
Rick. Tom. Marco. Laurent.
My office. Now.
The command snapped through the mind link—sharp, controlled, unmistakably Alpha.
No hesitation.
No room for questions.
Dominic was already moving, stepping beside me as his eyes locked onto the screen.
“Talk to me,” he said.
The tension in the room spiked.
“It looks like the trap Tom and Marco set was triggered…”
I paused, frowning slightly.
“…but something’s not right.”
Tom and Marco burst through the door, breathing heavy, like they ran here.
“We’re here,” Marco said.
“What’s wrong?” Tom asked, unease creeping into his voice.
He knew as well as I did how tense Dominic had been since the breach.
“Your trap went off…” Dominic started.
“…but something’s wrong,” I finished.
A second later, the door opened again.
Rick stepped in first. Laurent followed—both already alert.
“Tell me this isn’t what I think it is,” Rick said.
Laurent didn’t speak, but his eyes were sharp, already assessing the room.
Marco moved to the screen, scanning the data quickly.
A frown pulled at his expression.
“No… that’s not possible,” he muttered.
“What is?” Tom asked, stepping beside him.
Marco leaned closer, eyes narrowing as he traced the logs.
“It looks like the hacker didn’t trip the trap by accident…”
He paused.
“…they triggered it on purpose.”
Silence fell over the room.
“They did what?” Dominic asked, his voice low, edged with disbelief.
Tom straightened, his expression tightening as he processed the implications.
“I‘m calling a meeting…” Tom said, voice strained. “We need more eyes on this.”
The office door opened.
Again.
Dominic went still.
Not calm.
Alert.
“No.”
The word landed hard.
“What you need is me.”
The female voice cut cleanly through the tension.
We all looked up.
Iris stood in the doorway, completely at ease—like she hadn’t just walked into a room filled with tension.
“You’re all looking in the wrong place,” she said, her tone calm, almost bored.
Marco’s jaw dropped.
Tom grinned.
Dominic raised an eyebrow.
“Explain,” Dominic commanded, still curious.
Iris stepped forward, her gaze already on the screen.
“What this means,” she said coolly, “is that we weren’t hacked.”
She met Dominic’s gaze.
“We were contacted.”
“No way!” Marco said, bewildered. “Hackers don’t just contact their targets!”
“You’re right,” Tom said. “Normally they don’t.”
Dominic’s voice was quieter.
“So they’re either overconfident… or very, very good.”
Iris stepped closer.
“Yes…”
A pause.
“But you’re missing the point.”
Her gaze flicked to the logs.
“It was intentional.”
“Intentional?” I asked.
“Who would do that?” Marco asked.
Iris didn’t look away from the screen.
“Almost no one.”
A beat.
“Let me show you.”
She tapped the console.
The main screen flickered to life.
No one spoke.
Something about this didn’t sit right.
“Here,” she said, pointing.
“This is your trap.”
Tom leaned in. “Yeah. That’s the trigger point.”
“It is,” Iris agreed.
A pause.
“But look what happens next.”
Her fingers moved.
“The trap doesn’t trigger the first time.”
I leaned forward—
and saw it.
“You’re right,” I said quietly.
Iris continued, calm and precise.
“Because it’s not designed to trigger on presence.”
Her fingers moved again.
“It triggers on extraction.”
Tom frowned. “Then what set it off?”
A small, knowing smile touched Iris’s lips.
“It wasn’t a mistake.”
Her eyes flicked to the screen.
“It was deliberate.”
I frowned slightly, eyes scanning the data again.
“But nothing was taken,” I said.
Marco’s head snapped up. “What?”
I pointed.
“No extraction. No transfer. Nothing.
Tom leaned in closer, his expression tightening just slightly. “That’s not possible.”
“It triggered,” Marco said slowly. “It should only trigger if something is pulled.”
Silence settled.
I felt it then.
That shift—quiet, but unmistakable.
Something clicked.
“But nothing was extracted…” I repeated.
I looked at Iris.
“So why did it trigger?”
Marco muttered under his breath.
“They didn’t take anything… but set off the trap…”
A pause.
Then—
I thought about it for a moment.
Realization hit—but I kept quiet.
“They rewrote the trigger,” Dominic said.
All eyes turned to him.
“Just like we did when we started,” I added.
Marco blinked. “What do you mean?”
“It is easy…,” I said looking at everyone.
“You write some code that makes a False statement…”
“Become True,” Dominic finished.
Silence.
Marco shook his head. “That’s—no. That’s not possible…”
“They would have to know how the trap work,” Tom said, impressed.
“Replicate the condition… then alter it.”
I nodded once.
“Exactly.”
I stepped closer, pointing.
“They didn’t extract anything,” I said.
“They made the system believe something was extracted.”
Marco leaned in. “A false flag inside the trigger—”
“No.”
Dominic’s voice cut sharp.
Marco stopped.
Dominic didn’t move, eyes locked on the screen. Storm pressed just beneath the surface—focused.
“Not a flag,” he said.
“A rewrite.”
That landed.
Hard.
“That is something only the best can do,” I said.
“Exactly,” Iris said.
Tom exhaled. “They altered the logic just enough to satisfy the condition…”
“…without actually touching the data,” I finished.
Marco let out a quiet whistle. “So they walked in, rewrote our system rules…”
“And triggered the alarm,” Tom added.
Rick leaned forward slightly, expression tightening.
“So we can’t trust what our own system tells us.”
Laurent tilted his head, eyes narrowing.
“Which means we could be held accountable for something that never happened.”
Silence.
Heavy.
Because now this wasn’t just skill.
This was control.
Iris looked up.
“Not exactly.”
She turned to Laurent.
“We can prove the trigger condition was rewritten.”
Marco leaned back slightly, shaking his head. “That’s insane…”
“—break it without breaking it,” Tom muttered.
“But that’s impossible…”
“No,” Iris said quietly.
All eyes shifted to her.
“It’s not.”
Dominic hadn’t moved.
Storm wasn’t restless anymore.
He was focused.
Locked in.
“They didn’t probe,” Dominic said slowly.
The way he said it—
Calm. Certain.
—made it worse.
“They understood the system the moment they touched it.”
“That’s not something you learn,” I said.
“No,” Iris agreed.
“This is instinct.”
“Instinct?” Marco frowned. “In coding?”
“Yes.”
Dominic leaned back slightly.
“Meaning they don’t just understand systems…”
“…they see them,” I finished.
Our eyes met.
“They adapt instantly,” Dominic said.
Rex shifted uneasily.
…that’s dangerous.
Yeah.
It was.
Rick exhaled. “So we’re dealing with a genius.”
“Or something worse.” Laurent said.
“What’s worse than a genius?” Marco asked.
Silence.
Dominic answered.
“Someone who doesn’t need to prove it.”
That settled heavy.
Because that’s exactly what this felt like.
No noise.
No damage.
Just—
precision.
I stepped closer to the console again.
“They didn’t leave anything behind,” I said.
“That’s where you’re wrong,” Iris said.
Tom leaned forward. “What do you mean?”
Iris didn’t answer immediately.
She stepped closer to the console.
Her fingers hovered—
like she was deciding something.
Then she typed.
The logs shifted.
Compressed.
Refined.
Stripped down.
“Look again.”
I frowned.
At first—
nothing.
Then—
“…there,” I murmured.
A single line.
Buried deep.
Almost invisible.
Marco leaned forward sharply. “What is that?”
“Not what,” Iris said softly.
“Who.”
Silence.
Dominic’s voice cut through it—low, controlled.
“Then who?”
Iris didn’t answer.
Instead—
she executed the sequence.
For a heartbeat—
nothing.
Then—
a few soft, breathy panpipe notes drifted through the office—low rising sharply into something higher, then softening into a middle tone… before cutting off abruptly.a few soft panpipes notes drifted through the office—almost forming a melody before cutting off abruptly.
a low note rose sharply into something higher… then softened—before cutting off
The office went still.
Marco’s swallowed, his face paling slightly.
“That… wasn’t code.”
“You heard that too… right?”
Tom didn’t answer.
I stepped closer.
“That wasn’t part of our program,” Tom said, almost in a whisper.
Iris highlighted the line.
If I could break it, so can others.
Silence.
Storm went still.
Rex shifted uneasily.
Dominic’s gaze darkened slightly.
“She wanted us to find this.”
Iris exhaled slowly.
“It’s a signature.”
A pause.
The faintest shift in her composure.
“I can only think of one hacker who works like this…”
The tension snapped tight.
Her voice dropped.
Quiet.
Certain.
“This looks like…”
A beat.
“PipedPiper.”
Silence fell.
Heavy.
Final.
And for the first time—
it had a name.
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