Chapter 6

The next day, the Genetics Bureau sent the restored report to my terminal.

My true match was a human genius scientist named Victor. He was nearly as tall and built as Ryan.

In a world ruled by shifters, he'd risen to enormous status and wealth on brains alone.

At the bottom of the file was a contact number.

That meant he already knew I existed.

A number was only included if one of the matched pair wanted to meet the other.

But I only glanced at his name before closing the screen.

I was about to get divorced. I didn't want any more complications.

That weekend, at dusk, Ryan sent a car to bring me to the Osborne family castle.

"My half-brother will be there tonight. Same mother, different father." In the car, Ryan sat with his eyes closed and casually dropped a bombshell. "He's a pure-blooded human."

I was stunned. In an empire obsessed with bloodlines, the Supreme Commander having a pure-blooded human brother was a scandal big enough to blow up every headline.

But he didn't seem to care in the least.

The moment we walked into the banquet hall, a few senior officers he knew well came over with drinks in hand.

"Ryan, give us the inside scoop. What's a one hundred percent soul match actually like?" a cheetah shifter asked with a wink. "I heard the first time you meet, your eyes go bloodshot, your heart stops, and your pheromones go totally haywire. True?"

My stomach dropped.

When Ryan and I first met at the Genetics Bureau, there had been nothing but awkward silence. None of those dramatic physical reactions.

Had he known all along that the data was wrong?

I looked at Ryan nervously. But he just swirled his wine with perfect composure and answered, completely calm:

"More than that. You'll feel a terrifying possessiveness. A hunger to tear into the other person and swallow them whole."