Before Anna and Sam, there was Dani and Sam. There's one rule that all Branch operatives must live by: No attachments. When Dani O'Brien entered the Branch, she planned to trade her freedom so that her family could have a better life. But joining up with the mysterious organization is more than she bargained for. Branch head Connor watches over her closely--too closely. The training is brutal, the experiments are secret, and the missions promise to be anything but ordinary. The only thing getting Dani through each day is the hope that she'll run into Sam--a young man, about her age, who wears the world on his shoulders. Find out how it all began in this short-story prequel to Jennifer Rush's thrilling and suspenseful Altered series.