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Full instructions enclosed. The team is available to you at any time if you have questions or wish to discuss modifications.

Bowen Knight looked at the device on his desk.

His lab people had manufactured it per the instructions sent through by the team behind the Ultrasonic.

“It’s not as secure as an internal shield,” Heenali said, a glimmer of light in her for the first time since the death of her lover. “Easy to pull off a target, to make them vulnerable again. But…”

“Yes, but,” Bo said, the others of his senior team of much the same mind. “The person on the street, the human running a shop, the human who works as a teacher, none of them are at risk of a targeted attack. This would be—”

“—enough,” his sister Lily completed, while Kaia squeezed Bo’s shoulder.

His mate wasn’t human, but she loved a human and so she understood the value of this literal gift the falcons and leopards had given the Human Alliance. No payment, no favors requested.

Bo had barely believed it when Lucas called to give him the heads-up on the info packet.

The Ultrasonic had been designed for Js with disintegrating shields, but the shield team had tested it on humans in WindHaven and DarkRiver both, with total success.

Now, so had the Human Alliance.

The Ultrasonic worked .

“People won’t have to be scared anymore,” Lily continued. “Just go about their day without ever worrying about intrusion.”

“It’ll change the face of the fucking world.” Cassius’s hand fisted on the table. “They really don’t want anything for it?”

“Only thing they requested is that if we come up with an upgrade, we share it,” Bo said. “They’ll do the same, as will the J Corps—though it looks like the Corps is relying on WindHaven’s new Ultrasonic arm to supply them.”

“I got no issue with that,” Ajax said, to a round of nods. “Hell, I’ll personally carry upgrade reports to them if they want—because what they’ve given us, it’s priceless.”

“Yeah.” Cassius agreed. “Still can’t believe they just gave it to us.”

Heenali released a long breath. “Gives me back a little of my faith in the world.”

Ajax spoke up. “You gonna tell Krychek?”

“I already did,” Bo said of the dangerous Psy who’d become a friend.

“He turned over all research on his own team’s shield project when they thought the PsyNet was on the brink of a final collapse, and he’s willing to send us assistance if we need technical support—but man’s got no time to focus on it.

“This is confidential in order to stop panic, so don’t share it outside this room, but the PsyNet isn’t fixed, just bought itself a bit of time.” Bo understood the weight of what it meant to hold an entire people on your shoulders and didn’t begrudge Kaleb his focus on the failing psychic network.

The cardinal had more than kept the bargain the two of them had struck.

“The raptors and the cats have bought us some, too,” Heenali said. “Our scientists can work without fear of being mentally raped if they make new breakthroughs. We can provide security support where needed to make sure of that.”

Bo nodded. Because while an external shield wasn’t the most secure thing in the world…it was still going to change that world.

The human race was no longer in third place when it came to the reins of power.