Lupine: Awakened-Chapter 10: Not a Sample
**“They called it a cure... but at what cost?”**
Aside from humans, we were trained to retrieve the broken, the dead, the dangerous.
Samples sealed in canisters. Infected tissue. Failed experiments.
But this time, the orders were different.
"It’s not a sample."
Those four words changed everything.
Because samples don’t breathe.
Samples don’t bleed.
Samples don’t whisper your name in the dark.
Whatever lies beneath Site Delta wasn’t meant to be found.
And yet, they’re sending us—Alpha Team—in...
Not to destroy it.
But to bring it back.
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Jay
The rain had turned to mist, like the city itself was trying to vanish—fold into the fog and hide from what was coming.
We moved through Horizon HQ with damp boots and heavy silence, our footsteps echoing off the concrete as if we were already ghosts. Every corridor led deeper underground, every hallway colder than the last.
But what haunted us wasn’t the storm.
It was Speed’s voice from earlier.
"The Founder has called."
That never happened. Not to us. Not to anyone.
The elevator doors opened onto a floor I’d never seen—white walls, quiet lights, a sterile hush that made your thoughts sound loud. At the end of the corridor, a glass conference room waited, glowing faintly like something sacred—or cursed.
Inside stood a man.
He was tall and slender in a Bureau uniform we didn’t recognize—slate gray, silver cufflinks, a badge with no name.
But when he turned, the air changed.
"General Cassian Armand Del Rhoan. Lieutenant Alexander Theron Drake Moll," he greeted, his voice razor-smooth. “Team Alpha. I’ve heard of your work.”
Speed raised a hand in quiet acknowledgment.
Third’s eyes narrowed. “And you are?”
“Cyprus Alaric Voss,” he said, gesturing to his badge. “Assistant to the Founder. And co-director of the Bureau.”
Parker raised an eyebrow. “Bureau? That’s not Horizon.”
"No," Cyprus agreed. "But we are sisters —cut from the same throat. Horizon develops. Bureau retrieves. We specialize in dangerous things —living, moving, sometimes thinking."
His eyes flicked across us, sharp. Too sharp. Like he could measure doubt before it surfaced.
He gestured toward the seats. "Alpha Team. You are not here to sample. You are here to extract. And failure is... inadvisable."
Speed, Third, and Parker sat. The rest of us remained standing.
Otto muttered to Malcolm, "So... we’re bloodhounds now."
Cyprus didn’t miss a beat. “No. Not this time. This time, you’re the scalpel.”
A holographic display flickered above the table—encrypted files, heat signatures, and something that looked like a map, overlaid in crimson red.
"The Founder believes we’ve located the cure."
The word landed like a weight.
Parker leaned in, his voice low. "A sample? Or a viable synthesis?"
Cyprus met his gaze. “Not a sample.”
Silence bloomed. The kind that crept down your spine.
Philip shifted. “Then... what are we retrieving?”
"CLASSIFIED," Cyprus replied, crisp and final.
Gabby tilted his head. “If it’s classified, sir, how will we know when we’ve found it?”
Dave added, arms crossed, "And how do we know it’s safe?"
Speed’s tone flat. "You’re asking them to walk into something blind. We don’t do blind."
Cyprus leaned forward slightly, eyes glinting. "Alpha Team. I expected resistance. I didn’t expect it to be this... persistent."
A flicker of irritation—or was it amusement?—crossed his face. I couldn’t tell. That was the thing about him: you never knew if he was warning or testing.
Malcolm stepped forward, tension radiating off him—until Third’s hand on his chest froze him.
Cyprus didn’t blink.
“What you’re retrieving,” he said, “is the cure. The one we’ve waited years for. And no—this mission cannot be declined. Direct orders from the Founder. You will not damage it. You will not delay it. Understood?"
Third remained stone-straight. "Define it."
Cyprus offered a thin, unreadable smile. "You’ll know when you see it."
Chill crawled down my skull.
I looked at the others.
Extraction. Retrieval. We’ve done it dozens of times.
But this... this was different.
Even Parker looked shaken. His fingers tapped his thigh—rhythm broken.
"And what if it resists?" Dave asked, arms crossed. Always the realist.
"Then you remind it what’s at stake," Cyprus said.
"And if it won’t come willingly?" Gabby pressed.
"Do what you do best. Minimal force. Damage it and it’s useless."
I opened my mouth to speak, but Third glanced at me—don’t. He’d ask what we needed to know. But even he was gripping the edge of the table like he needed it to stay grounded.
Cyprus moved into the adjacent war room. We followed. The lights dimmed, revealing a 3D projection above the table.
"This is Site Delta," he said. "A Horizon facility. Off-grid. We lost contact four weeks ago. No survivors."
Sage squinted at the map. “And you’re only sending us now?”
"You weren’t ready."
Ready for what?
The cure? The mission?
Cyprus turned to me—and something passed behind his eyes.
Recognition. Or warning.
I looked away.
"Your drop point is two kilometers from the site," he continued. "Get in. Secure the asset. Extract. Clean and quick. Do not linger."
Asset. Not subject. Not person. Not thing. Asset.
Then the Founder appeared on the screen—face blurred, voice filtered through distortion. Yet I felt it. Like cold fingers at the base of my neck.
"You are Alpha for a reason," the voice rasped. "Do not fail me."
The screen went dark. Silence followed.
No one moved.
Gabby looked sick. Otto stared at the floor. Malcolm’s jaw was tight.
Even Parker—the one who never cracked—wasn’t tapping anymore.
They felt it too. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞
This wasn’t a mission.
This was a trap.
... A test wrapped in protocol.
Outside, the storm howled louder.
------------------------
Staging Bay
We returned to the hangar like ghosts.
Checked gear. Cleaned blades. Loaded weapons. No one spoke.
Third approached me quietly.
"Jay."
I looked up.
"You’re second eyes. Watch everyone. Especially Dave."
I nodded. "Got it."
He didn’t need to say why.
Dave had been colder ever since her name came up.
Since she surfaced.
Mikka... a name that echoed through the silence.
And the silence between us wasn’t empty. It was haunted.
I stared through the hangar doors, past the haze of rain and floodlights, the steel glint of the dropship.
Not a sample. A cure.
And I couldn’t stop thinking...
What if we’d already seen it?
*********
Chapter 9:
"Some doors stay locked for a reason.
But now... one of them just opened."
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Author’s Note:
Petals, if you’re enjoying Lupine: Awakened, could you tap the ⭐ and leave a quick rating?
It tells the wolves you’re with us... and helps more readers find our story before the truth is uncovered. <3
- M. Poppy
