I Rejected My Obsessive Werebeast novel Chapter 83

Chapter 83

I showed the message to Silas first. Ile read it in silence, his expression shifting from wariness to something heavier. Then I called Kane into the hallway and showed him as well.

Kane’s reaction was immediate. “This is a trap. We can’t take the bait.”

But Silas was still looking at the photos. His jaw was tight, his ears angled forward in that way they did when he was processing something that complicated his instincts. “He’s not asking for anything this time,” Silas said quietly. “No conditions. No promises. He’s just giving us what he can.”

Kane and I both looked at him.

“This time.” Silas continued, “he really just wants to make it right.”

We brought the intelligence to the Bureau analysts within the hour. The tactical team began restructuring their assault plan around Connor’s layout, marking new approach vectors, adjusting the timing to account for the guard positions he had identified.

When we finally walked out of the Bureau building, the late afternoon light was harsh and unforgiving. Reporters were clustered on the sidewalk, their cameras lifting the moment we appeared. The headlines on the screens behind them were already written: Foundation Head and S- rank Beastman Involved in Unauthorized Warehouse Raid. Collins Woman at the Center of Another Scandal. Was the Rescue Operation a Staged Crisis?

Jessica had been busy. Her posts were everywhere, each one more carefully constructed than the last, painting me as someone who moved

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between beastmen with ease, who treated the warehouse incident as a personal adventure, who had forced the Bureau to deploy resources because of her recklessness.

Silas stopped on the steps. His tail went rigid, his ears flattening against his skull. I could see the moment he decided he was done being quiet.

“I’m going to release the binding certificate,” he said, his voice low but hard. “Every communication record between us. The full timeline. Let them see what’s real.”

I put my hand on his arm before he could reach for his phone. “Not yet.

He looked at me, and I could see the frustration burning behind his amber

eyes.

“The hostages come first,” I said. “When the rescue is over, we’ll deal with the rest.”

The operation plan came together over the course of a single afternoon, built on the foundation of Connor’s smuggled blueprints and the Bureau’s tactical assessment of the old metro tunnel network. A joint force was assembled–Bureau special agents, a SWAT unit equipped for confined- space operations, and a small contingent of security personnel from the Kane Foundation who knew the underground infrastructure better than anyone else on the team. The raid was set for after midnight, when the tunnels would be at their darkest and any guards Lucien had posted would be at their most fatigued.

Both Silas and I were officially barred from entering the combat zone. That was non–negotiable, and neither of us argued it. But the tunnel environment presented complications that couldn’t be solved with blueprints alone–certain sections were too unstable for full tactical sweeps, and the psychological profile of the people inside mattered as much as the physical layout. The Bureau asked me to ride in the command vehicle and provide real–time behavioral analysis during the

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