Forbidden: Part One (Luna & Sol Omegaverse Book 1)
Forbidden: Part One – Chapter 36

“I can’t believe Theo gets to have Josie all to himself tonight,” Ben complained, angrily pounding on his laptop keys.

“Stop whining and work,” I grunted, checking my phone for the hundredth time to see if Josie had texted me back.

“Like you’re any better,” Ben muttered.

I sighed, turning my swivel chair to face him. I struggled to keep my tone measured.

“I know this fucking sucks, but the sooner we finish this job, the sooner we can return to her.”

“Fine, fine,” Ben said, lifting his hands in surrender. “Don’t mind me, just hacking away at a server I already know is secure because I secured it.”

I rolled my eyes, shifting back towards the security monitors. I knew Ben was right. He was the best hacker I’d met. If he said the system was secure, it was. But the idiots at Greytex Industries were obsessed with ensuring their systems were impenetrable. A kernel of unease settled in me. They had been vague when they described what they manufactured, describing it simply as “pharmaceutical tech.” I wondered again why they were so anxious about security. I shrugged it off. The amount we were billing them was enough to buy three more houses. I wonder where Josie would want a vacation home…

My phone vibrated, and I almost fell out of my seat in my rush to grab it.

“Sure, I’m the only one who’s jealous,” Ben muttered.

I flipped him off and read Josie’s text.

BABY GIRL

Finished class and headed back home. Everything’s good here! Miss you!

My eyes bored into the screen as if I could teleport my way through it and show up at her side. I had gotten as much of her scent on me as I could, but the haze of vanilla wasn’t a substitute for the real thing.

“What did she say?” Ben asked, scooting his chair to read the text over my shoulder. He paused for a moment before asking, “Do you think they’re going to have sex tonight?”

I grunted noncommittally. I thought there was a good chance they would. The alpha in me growled in displeasure at the thought of someone else being inside her before me. But it wasn’t just someone else. It was Theo.

I took a deep breath.

“Probably,” I responded. “We promised each other we wouldn’t get jealous. We’re all pack, and it will make her feel bad if we do.”

“I know,” Ben said. “I’m not… I’m not really jealous. I love them both. I just didn’t realize how hard it would be to be away from her. It’s like a part of me is missing.”

“Yeah,” I responded. He described how I was feeling perfectly. I hoped it would get easier to be apart once we were bonded, but deep down, I knew I would still want to be by her side as much as possible. Fuck, I loved her so much. I hadn’t told her yet. I still didn’t think I was good enough for her. She was pure sunshine and perfection. Every step she took towards me, showing her trust, knocked the wind out of me.

We returned to our work. I flipped to the video feeds of the Greytex labs. They had been concerned that their lab cameras had blind spots. After meticulous testing, I found a six-inch area in Lab Room C that wasn’t visible from the two cameras in the room. I rolled my eyes at installing a third camera to give six inches of coverage.

I felt a burst of surprise through the bond. Ben muttered, “Well fuck, would you look at that.”

He was hunched over his laptop, his eyebrows furrowed in concentration. A few moments passed before he sat up and stretched his arms above his head.

“I don’t know if I should be disappointed in myself or impressed. Probably both,” he said.

“What happened?”

“I did it. I hacked into the server.”

“I thought you said it was impossible.”

“It was,” he said, running his hand through his hair in a Theo-like gesture. “But I just did it. I really outdid myself here. Figured out a new way to manipulate the code.”

“So… what did you replace?” I asked, rolling my chair over to his desk.

“A bunch of lab reports.”

Ben clicked on a file. It looked like a medical chart.

He read from the top of the page, “Initiation of Pilot Program for Project Excer with Omega Test Subject 001. Completed successful device implantation in 001’s upper arm.”

“What the fuck is this?” I asked, my unease growing.

“Some product test, I guess,” Ben said, shrugging his shoulders.

I skimmed the report, much of which contained data from whatever device they implanted.

“Wait, look at that,” I said, pointing out a small hand-written notation at the bottom of the page. “No anesthesia given. Physician noted that 001 appeared to be in severe distress during the procedure but that implantation was still possible as 001 was fully strapped down. Anesthesia recommended in future trials unless otherwise specified.”

I felt Ben’s growing unease through the bond. He scrolled through a few more pages.

“Efficacy trial one,” he read out in a low voice. “Upon device activation, 001 showed 90 percent increased compliance within three minutes. Compliance lasted for approximately twenty-eight minutes before 001 regained awareness. Subject 001 was commanded to engage in pre-specified tasks as outlined in list 21.38 and completed 62 percent of tasks before regaining awareness, at which time 001 was severely distressed and attempted to physically harm a trial attendant. Once the testing team regained control, 001 was questioned about what she remembered during the activation period. 001 demonstrated significantly reduced memory during the twenty-eight-minute period. 001 expressed understanding that an unknown amount of time had passed but could not disclose specifics of what had occurred during that time.”

A sick feeling settled in my stomach, and my palms were slick with sweat.

I typed a note on my phone: Can you copy all the files and cover up the hack?

Ben gave me a curt nod.

We had already swept the security control room for bugs when we got here, assuming that a company so paranoid about security would also want to spy on us, but we couldn’t be too careful.

We quickly wrapped up our work, my heart pounding a mile a minute.

I didn’t know what the fuck those files meant, but this was way beyond the scope of a typical pharmaceutical company.

“I’ll work on the final report in the car,” I said gruffly. “Let’s go home to our girl.”