Looking to the COMscreen offered by his second-in-command, Shepherd watched a feed of Svana fingering through schematics spread on the main table of the Followers’ Command Center.

“It’s unorthodox. Spying on your men will lead them to believe you don’t trust them.” Shepherd wanted to be angry. More so, he wanted to not feel relief his second had acted in such a subversive manner.

Jules didn’t trust Svana and it was no secret. He was thoroughly unapologetic. “There is nothing in that room I have not anticipated she might see.”

Shepherd grunted, the noise deep in his throat. It was neither an affirmation nor a negation.

The way the Alpha female had crept down there with no fanfare, spoke volumes. There was a reason Svana had breached the underground, and it wasn’t to speak with him. She wanted something. “You will wait outside while I speak to her.”

Jules turned down the corners of his mouth. “Understood, sir.”

Shepherd was not finished. “But you will watch and listen through the COMscreen. I doubt she would suspect you would plant surveillance equipment in your own Command Center, especially since we know the resistance has partial access to our communications network.”

“When I heard she was in our halls, surveillance equipment was not the only thing I planted in the room. I placed a micro-tracker on her person.”

Shepherd had suspected what the Beta had done before Jules had confessed. “We will discuss what you’ve done later. For now, don’t make me feel my faith in you has been misplaced.”

Buried deep in his expression, was a small sliver of hurt. “Brother, I am loyal to you, always. Which is why I am telling you now, do not allow her to leave that room.”

Shepherd made his final point before reaching for the door to his Command Center and leaving the Beta in the hall. “Svana killed Kantor. It’s done and cannot be changed. So remember, without her compliance, we cannot subvert the population of Greth Dome. Without her, not one of your brothers will know freedom. You, we all, need her.”

The hinges moved smoothly, even for a door of such size. As he had been ordered, Jules remained in the hall, cut off from his leader, glaring down at a dissatisfying exchange on his COMscreen.

Door sealed tightly behind him, Shepherd took a deep breath, and looked over his statuesque beloved. Glowing with health was such a cliché term, but it fit Svana well.

“Svana, you have been missed.”

Her dark hair was loose, glossy, and clean. She pulled it over her shoulder as if to display its beauty, offering a soft smile. “I knew you’d be angry I was gone for so long.”

Cocking a brow, Shepherd asked, “Was it your intention for me to worry?”