Special Forces: Operation Alpha: Protecting Us (Kindle Worlds Novella)

by Magan Vernon

  I laughed even harder and Calder smiled. “I guess we’re just lucky I wasn’t hiding anything, or you’d have to bust me out of a Mexican prison.”

  “I have excellent negotiating skills and could have easily found some chickens to trade for you,” I said, putting my hand back on his as we drove away.

  He took our intertwined hands and kissed the top of mine. “That’s the most romantic thing anyone has ever said to me.”

  ***

  We made it into the beachy tourist town just in time for dinner.

  I wanted to get to the address Jeb had given us, but I couldn’t deny that my stomach was grumbling.

  It was as if Calder read my thoughts because he pulled into a little cantina. “I know you want to go and see this guy, but I need to get some tostadas and a large beer after getting frisked by border control.”

  I laughed. “That sounds like a good plan.”

  We enjoyed some beers and tacos, sitting out on the rickety porch of the restaurant as we watched the sun set over the ocean. After we ate, Calder picked up the bill and of course I protested. We were there because of me.

  He just shot me a wink and put down his credit card. “You can pay me back in other ways,” he whispered and my face instantly heated up.

  Once we got in the car, he pulled up his GPS and typed in the address. “It’s only a few miles from here. We could just go to the hotel and see this person in the morning.”

  I shook my head. “We came all this way...”

  This was the closest I’d ever been to getting to know more about my family and as much as I was enjoying Calder’s company, I was ready.

  He put the car in reverse. “I had a feeling you’d say that.”

  The old town was full of decrepit buildings that looked like you could just blow on them and they’d fall over. In between those buildings were luxury hotels with panhandlers standing outside of them, trying to sell everything from handmade bracelets to car cell phone chargers.

  The GPS told us we were five-hundred feet from our destination so Calder pulled into a parking spot. He got out of the car and ran over to my side, opening the door before I could protest.

  Calder glared at the old man who was staring at the car and whispering to his friend.

  Calder yelled something I couldn’t decipher in Spanish and then he pulled out his wallet and handed them both some bills. They both nodded appreciatively with their eyes wide as if they were still afraid he was going to punch them in the face.

  “What was that about?” I whispered as Calder came back to my side and put his arm around my waist as we strolled down the cracked sidewalk.

  “I didn’t want anyone to try and jack my car so I paid those guys to watch it. Well, told them a few things about my naval training and scared them before greasing their palms. Hopefully they don’t screw me over, but I have to have faith in people.”

  My lips curled into a small smile. There was something funny and also enlightening about that. Calder was growing more and more endearing.

  We entered a small courtyard full of trees. A large set of bronze doors with lion head doorknockers sat at the end of the courtyard.

  “Is this the place?” Calder asked.

  I looked down at the sheet of paper that Jeb had given me. I’d looked at it a thousand times and knew the address by heart. “Yeah. This is it.”

  Calder knocked hard on the old door.

  It seemed like forever before a woman answered. Not just any woman, but a tall, beautiful woman with light blue eyes, caramel skin, and wearing nothing but black lingerie that showed off her flawless assets.

  “You Americans here to add the spice back in your marriage? You need a reservation and one-thousand US dollars,” she drawled in perfect English with a heavy accent.

  My eyes widened, looking between Calder and the woman. Calder just smiled and shook his head. “We’re actually here to see Luz. Is he available?”

  The woman smirked. “What do you two gringos want with Luz?”

  “Jeb sent me. He said that Luz would know something about my father,” I replied meekly.

  The woman huffed. “Honey, Luz knows a lot of things about a lot of people’s padres. It doesn’t mean you’re going to see her.”

  Her?

  Did she just say her?

  I thought that Luz was a man’s name. Maybe I misheard her.

  The woman’s eyes widened and she pressed her hand to her ear where I noticed a small device was attached. “Yes ma’am.”

  She nodded. “Luz informs me that I am to show you up.”

  I glanced at Calder and he grabbed my hand, holding it tightly as we walked through the large foyer with marble floors and towering sculptures. There were different doors with numbers scrawled across them, all closed with faint music and voices coming from behind them. But we didn’t stop at any of them. The woman led us up at least two flights of stairs before pressing in a code and opening a large wooden door with intricate carvings.

  I halfway expected Calder to be checking out her ass. She was wearing a barely there negligee and was beautifully built, but when I glanced up at him, he eyes were alternating from scanning his surroundings, as if looking for danger, and coming back to me. A warm feeling ran through me, knowing he was on full alert and looking after me.

  While the downstairs was full Spanish style, the room we entered was more modern, completely covered in floor-to ceiling windows on each side. The only furniture was a sleek, white desk with a laptop on it and a large executive chair behind it.

  “You may leave now, Glorianna,” a deep woman’s voice said from behind the chair.

  “Yes, ma’am,” the scantily dressed woman replied before she left, shutting the door behind her with a loud click.

  It was just us and Luz, the woman who may or may not be able to tell me more about my father, and if I was lucky, why I could turn into a seal. The chair slowly turned around and I stared into a pair of eyes that were darker than mine.

  “You’re a shifter,” I whispered, stepping closer, not understanding how I knew, but I did.

  There was an instant connection and I was immediately drawn to her like I was coming home to an old friend.

  Luz’s lips curled into a smile.

  She was a beautiful older woman with gray hair swept into an intricate updo. She was well dressed in a beige business suit tailored for her small frame. “I am, Maya. Just like you.”

  Luz stood up and stepped forward, closing the distance between us.

  “How…how do you know my name?”

  Luz took my hand that wasn’t gripping onto Calder’s. “I’ve been waiting for you for a very long time.”

  My eyes widened. “You’ve been waiting for me?”

  “Yes, my dear. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you.”

  I couldn’t remember a time I’d met her. I was sure I would’ve remembered anyone that had anything to do with my father.

  “Your father wanted to make sure you had one of the stones of the sea, but couldn’t see your mother again, knowing he couldn’t be with her. He had me deliver it when you were just a baby. I came to the hospital, and I believe your mother was expecting your father, but she still took the necklace and said she’d give it to you when you were older. I still feared what your father was doing, but once I saw your eyes… the same eyes as him…I knew that you were destined for something.”

  I opened my mouth to speak but Calder did first. “The stone of the sea. Is that what her necklace is? A man attacked her for it last night.”

  Luz blinked slowly and turned toward Calder with amusement on her face. “Ah, the good doctor, I knew you wouldn’t leave my Maya’s side and that you’d have questions.”

  How did Luz know all of this? I was getting more questions than answers the longer we spent time with her.

  “With all due respect, ma’am, Maya has a lot of questions about her father and I want to know who would be trying to hurt her.”

  Luz pressed her lips tog
ether. “The man you speak of, I’m guessing is a poacher. Filthy leeches that don’t understand our kind and want to get rid of us. One must have seen the stone and wanted it for himself.”

  Luz turned toward me. “Did he see you shift, Maya?”

  I shook my head. “No…No…Ma’am. I can only shift when I’m fully immersed in water and it’s only the lower half of my body.”

  Luz swore under her breath before shaking her head. “Only half and not on command? What kind of training did you have?”

  I shrugged. “Training? None. My mother wasn’t a shifter and I never met my dad. It just happened one day when I was in the pool. I had no idea until that day. You’re the only other shifter I’ve ever known. I just figured I was a freak of nature or something”

  Luz’s eyes widened before she nodded again. “I see.”

  I waited for her to say something else but she didn’t. She just walked toward the window, staring out at the run down city below.

  “Can you tell me about him?” I asked meekly as I approached her.

  Luz smiled, looking out the window. “Your father was a good man. He loved humans and he loved the sea. But he loved your mother most of all. I think her distraction is what made him get caught by the poachers. Luckily he made sure you had the stone before they got to him.”

  “My father’s dead?” I asked slowly.

  Luz sighed. “Yes. Twenty years now. I miss my brother more and more every day.”

  Her brother?

  “So you’re my…”

  Luz turned toward me. Her dark eyes locked on mine. “Your Aumi as we call it in the rook.”

  I had so many questions. So so many. I wanted to know more about my father and about this rook, whatever that was. About everything.

  Before I could ask anything, Luz stepped forward and held onto the stone on my necklace. “The rook is our clan or as you humans call it, a family. Even though you’re only half shifter, you’re still part of it. The stone is a map. It’ll show you the way to your other Aumis and your sisters and brothers.”

  “I have…I have…”

  My mind was spinning. The only family I’d ever had for so long was Gran and now all of this new information was almost too much to handle.

  Luz smiled, setting the stone down. “You don’t have to go find them right now, but they’ve been waiting many moons for you and so have I. The rook is important to our survival, Maya. We all stay together. It’s why I stay here. Why I run this bordello. So I can be as close to you as possible without the poachers finding us. I’ve traveled to the states a few times to check on you, but each time I was turned away by your grandmother.”

  “You met my gran?” I asked.

  Luz nodded. “Many times. She knew who I was, but wasn’t very fond of someone saying she was your aunt and showing up at her house. I kept my distance but was there for every one of your high school and club swim meets. You didn’t see me, but I watched you swim. I knew when I first saw you glide through that water that you were part of our rook. You move beautifully even as a human.”

  It was the first time someone had talked about my swimming in a long time and there was a sudden sense of pride. Yet I also had so many questions, not just for Luz, but eventually for my gran as well. “Do…do you want me to stay here with you? In this…um…bordello?”

  Luz smiled, shaking her head softly. “No, my dear. This will probably be the last time we see each other for a while. I wanted to be closer. I thought many times of just closing down and moving to California, but this was as close as I could be for your safety. I didn’t want them to catch our scent. If they found one of us together, they’d find the other.”

  She sighed. “If it is poachers that were after you, they’re already on the trail here. I will have to contact the rest of the rook and make sure they’re safe before I send my men after them. Maybe this time my men can end the threat and we won’t have to go in hiding, but I can’t count on that. If the poachers close in on us, we’ll all have to leave.”

  “When will I see you again?” I asked, not wanting to sound desperate but I didn’t want to leave. I didn’t want to stop the questions.

  Luz nodded toward my necklace. “As long as you have the stone and listen to the sea, you’ll always find me.”

  Chapter 12

  Calder

  Maya was silent on the drive back from the bordello.

  I didn’t know how the hell we were supposed to read the map with all of the gibberish and I had so many more questions for Luz. Maya seemed just as confused about the map as I was and neither of us had a hint how to read it. But she shooed us both out, saying it was too dangerous for us to stay any longer, before we could ask anything more.

  “So…how do you think she knew so much about each of us?” I asked Maya, trying to break the silence.

  “I think she sees things. Like, more than other people do. That or she probably did a quick Google search and it’s pretty easy to find out everything about you from there.”

  I raised an eyebrow. “Have you searched me on the internet?”

  Even in the dim light of the car I could see the blush creeping on her cheeks. “Maybe.”

  “And what did you find?”

  She shrugged. “It was just a quick search, the night I met you. I just found stuff about you being a hometown hero and the military…”

  “And my injury, I guess.”

  She sighed. “That too.”

  I licked my lips, shaking my head as I turned off the highway onto the road toward the villas. “You know, I used to think that the accident defined me. That everything else before that didn’t matter. I wasn’t a hero or a naval doctor anymore, just a gimp. Now I know, especially after meeting you, that we’re more than the thing that holds us back.”

  She opened her mouth to respond but instead gasped when we crested a hill and the moonlight cascaded over the ocean and onto a beautiful village of villas surrounding a grand hotel.

  “Calder, is this where we are staying?” she asked.

  I grinned, pulling up to the main building. “I knew you’d say no if I told you, so I just booked it. I have to go check in and then we can unpack in our villa.”

  She stared at me open mouthed. “You didn’t have to.”

  I parked and opened the door, then looked back at Maya and smiled. “I know. But I wanted to.”

  I got our key from the front desk and then drove around an array of smaller villa and then down a small road until we approached a house that was bigger than Maya’s grandmother’s. It was two stories tall with a large wrap around deck on the second floor.

  “This is home sweet home. At least for a night or two,” I said, opening my door then walking around the car to open hers.

  She continued to stare. “Calder, I’d have been fine just camping on the beach.”

  I shook my head and opened the trunk, grabbing both of our bags. “Look, I haven’t taken a vacation in a while either, so this is a treat for both of us.”

  Maya followed me to the door and I slid the keycard in before pushing it open, turning on the light, and setting down our bags.

  The living room was large and open with sliding glass doors on each side that gave breathtaking views to the ocean. There was a stainless steel kitchen to the right and a winding staircase that I knew had to lead to the bathroom and two bedrooms above.

  “This is breathtaking,” Maya said, stepping toward the sliding glass door.

  “And so are you,” I whispered, stepping behind her and putting my hands on her shoulders.

  She slowly turned toward me. “You didn’t have to do any of this.”

  “I know, you keep saying that. But I wanted to. I wanted to do something to show you that I want you, Maya. I want all of you.”

  She bit down on her bottom lip, looking down slightly.

  I let out a breath and put my fingers under her chin, forcing her eyes to meet mine. “I don’t think you realize how damn sexy you are.”

  A blush crept
up her cheeks which made her even sexier.

  “I hope you don’t think I’m going to sleep with you just because you got us this beautiful villa and drove here,” she said with a slight smile.

  I took a step back, appalled, shaking my head. “I would never think that.”

  She closed the distance between us and wrapped her arms around my neck. “I want you because you’re you. It’s like you said earlier, I want to be more than what’s holding us back. My shifting always held me back, but you seem to like me even more because of it. What makes me different somehow makes me special in your eyes, and aside from the fact that I find you sexy as hell, the fact that you accept me for me turns me on more than anything.”

  With that, I did the only thing there was left to do, I crushed my lips to hers and groaned when she let out a little gasp and nipped my bottom lip. She pressed her body against mine and my dick instantly hardened just feeling her heat. All I could think about was taking her. Making her mine.

  I broke the kiss slightly only to peel off her shirt. Her breasts spilled out of the top of her black lacy bra and I instantly moved my mouth down, pushing the fabric aside with my nose to get my tongue on her pretty pink nipples.

  Maya moaned as I sucked and nipped at each little hardened bud.

  “Calder. Oh, God. Calder.”

  I growled, moving my lips up to her neck, kissing a trail to her ear. “Tell me this is what you want, Maya. I’ll stop if you want me to. I just need to know you want this too.”

  She gasped as I nibbled at her ear lobe. “I’m yours. All yours. And you’re mine,” she groaned, pulling my hair and forcing me to meet her eyes.

  That was the hottest thing any woman had ever said to me. The alpha male in me wanted to claim her, but having her tell me I was hers as well, was a new kind of turn on.

  I moved my hands down to her ass and she squealed, wrapping her legs around my waist as I lifted her up and walked toward the stairwell and up the winding staircase.

  “Calder, where are we going?”