Drew: Special Ops (Shifters Elite Book 4)

by Ava Benton

  “That’s as much information as I can give you,” she said, putting her glasses on and getting back to business. “Suffice it to say, we have more than enough manpower and firepower to provide all the backup you need. You might have the muscle, but we have the ammo. I think together, we’ll give these Dr. Frankensteins a surprise they’ll never forget.”

  She was right, too. Dr. Frankenstein had created a monster, and so had they. And the monster eventually came back to destroy Frankenstein—at least, that was what my dim memories of the book told me.

  I could’ve been wrong, but I didn’t think so. Frankenstein had regretted ever screwing around with the laws of nature. So would they.

  Mary looked at Dad. “Decide who you’re taking with you. I’ll send you two sets of coordinates—first for the location in which we plan to meet, and second for the location of the compound. Most of it is underground. We’re working on locating a set of blueprints, but security is a lot tighter at the moment. It’s enough to make me wonder if somebody hasn’t clued into what we’re trying to accomplish.”

  “You think so?” Dad asked, raising an eyebrow.

  “I’m wondering—but that doesn’t make it so,” she said. “Perhaps they’re just being careful.”

  “But if they’re concerned about us, who’s to say they’re not going to pull out and run?” Roan asked.

  “That’s why we can’t afford to waste time. I would strongly suggest you get moving in the morning, at the latest. The jet can be fueled up and ready to go whenever you’re ready to leave—I instructed the pilot to be on the ready.”

  “He didn’t fly back to Montana?” Roan asked.

  “No. I thought it best for the jet to stay local to you all. It was only a matter of days before we confirmed where this group of contractors is holing up.”

  Dad looked around at us. “All right. We leave at dawn.”

  “My team will be there, waiting for you. I’ll send cars to the airstrip to transport you to the rendezvous point.”

  When the call ended, I felt like somebody had punched me in the stomach. Not that I wasn’t glad we were finally getting the chance to set matters right—the wolf inside me chomped at the bit, salivating at the thought of destroying the people who ruined my life. It was just the stark reality of it that stunned me. We had all been waiting for so long for the chance to right the wrongs that were done to us. The chance was there, in front of me. There was an actual plan taking shape. It felt surreal.

  Dad stood, hands behind his back, head high. He was in full military mode.

  I almost stood at attention out of sheer reflex.

  “All right. We’ll leave for the jet at oh-six-hundred hours. How far away is it?” He turned to Roan.

  “Ten minutes.”

  “Good. Wheels up by oh-six-thirty at the latest. Once we have the coordinates, we’ll be able to determine a flight time—though it shouldn’t take more than three hours, by my estimation.”

  Less than eighteen hours until we were in Washington, close to the lab or bunker or whatever it was we were going to invade.

  Adrenaline started pumping through my body, and I wished we could leave immediately. What were we waiting for? We had the element of surprise on our side. We needed to get moving right away.

  Nia’s face floated across my mind, and the wind left my sails. Right. I couldn’t walk out on her like that—and it would probably take hours to convince her to stay behind, even though we had already talked it out. She wasn’t satisfied with my reasons for wanting to keep her out of it.

  “How many are we taking?” Lance asked.

  He clearly assumed he would be part of the mission—and since Dad didn’t correct him, I guessed he assumed correctly. I reminded myself that he was Dad’s second-in-command before we showed up.

  “How many does the jet hold?” Dad asked Roan.

  “Twenty.”

  “Then, aside from the men standing in this room, we can take fourteen more.” The two of them started throwing names around, and my team was out of its depth. We weren’t familiar enough with the group to know who was worth taking with us. I heard names that sounded vaguely familiar—Max, Blake, Karl, Chris, Xavier.

  “What about women?” Carter asked. “Are we taking any of them?”

  Dad frowned. “What do you think?”

  He shrugged. “I’ve seen a few of them on the hunt. They’re fierce. A couple of them outran me, though don’t let them know I admitted it.”

  Lance chuckled. “Who did you have in mind?”

  “That Daniela girl is good. Extremely agile. Layla, too. She was fearless out there.”

  Lance’s eyes darkened. “Not Layla.”

  “Why not?”

  “Just… I would rather not take her on the mission.” He shook his head.

  “I don’t know,” Dad said, stroking his chin. “I once saw her take down a full-grown black bear on her own. I would’ve helped, but he was already going down by the time I found them. Daniela’s a good choice, too.” He looked at me. “What about Nia? She’s the strongest, fastest woman we have.”

  All eyes fell on me.

  I wished they wouldn’t. I teetered back and forth between doing what was best for the mission and what was best for her.

  “She’s good,” I admitted. “And I know she wants to come with us.”

  “But?” Dad asked, smiling just a little. Trying to draw me out.

  “But I don’t like the idea. Not at all. I would much rather she stay behind and look after the girls.”

  “He has a point,” Roan said. “I don’t want to leave them here alone.”

  “They wouldn’t be alone. There are forty-five of us in total, not counting you four. That leaves twenty-nine full-grown shifters holding down the fort while we’re gone. I think the girls will be all right.”

  “Just the same, I don’t like the idea of leaving them here, where anybody who already knows we’re here might decide to attack while we’re gone.”

  Dad nodded, lips pursed. “What if I ask Mary to send a team down here to bolster our defenses? I know I’d feel a lot better knowing my grand niece or nephew was protected by heavy firepower.”

  “That works. You think she will?” Roan asked.

  “I’m sure she will. Anything to ease our minds and make sure we’re focused.” He clapped Roan’s shoulder and smiled. “You won’t have to worry about a thing.”

  “Good.” Roan smiled.

  Carter and Slate smiled.

  I was not smiling.

  “Guess we’d better go get the goodbyes out of the way now,” Slate suggested, heading for the door.

  Roan and Carter went with him.

  I hung behind.

  Dad looked at Lance. “You want to finalize that list for me? Then we’ll round up our nominees and make sure they want to go with us.”

  “You think any of them will refuse you?” Lance asked.

  Dad shook his head. “I don’t want any of them going to Washington out of a sense of loyalty to me. I want them to go because they want to go. I want them to know how important this is and to understand what might happen. They have to be prepared to fight for themselves, not for me.”

  “Understood.” Lance left the two of us alone in Dad’s cabin after that. I folded my arms, deep in thought.

  “What’s bothering you, son?” Dad’s hands landed on my shoulders.

  “I don’t want her to go,” I admitted.

  “I know you don’t. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that you don’t tell a woman what she can or can’t do. If you decide for her that she can’t go, and she finds out you didn’t at least give her the choice, she’ll never forgive you. And that’s not me speaking about women in general, either. I’m speaking specifically about Nia. This will mean a lot to her.”

  “I know. And it’s why I don’t want her to go,” I said. “Not that I don’t have faith in her. I don’t want to hold her back, either. But I couldn’t live with myself if anything happen
ed and I didn’t do everything in my power to prevent it.”

  “You can’t control everything,” Dad said. “When other people are involved, you have to be a little flexible. She’s a grown woman. I’ve watched her grow into a strong, capable hunter and a good leader. Since we’re bringing women on the mission, it’ll be good to know I have somebody on the team who can round up the women and be their leader. Know what I mean?”

  “What about you? Why can’t you be the leader?” I frowned.

  “I’ll be there, and you’d better believe I’ll be fighting, but…” He sighed. “This is too personal. I can’t be the leader the team deserves. I was already planning to hand the role over to Lance.”

  “Lance?” My jaw dropped.

  “Offended?” he asked. “It’s not personal, so don’t try to make it that way. It’s not that I don’t trust you boys. I trust you with my life. But I’ve been training Lance for years to eventually take over my role in the group. When this is all over, I want to be able to go home with my family and live the sort of life I’ve dreamed of for years. If that means giving him the leadership role in this mission and falling back—with my sons and nephews—then, so be it.”

  Even though I was thrilled at the thought of Dad coming back with us, I bristled at the thought of taking orders from somebody I barely knew.

  He chuckled. “You know, everything you’re thinking plays out over your face like words in a book. You’ve taken orders before. You can do it again. Besides, it’s not like Lance would ask you to do anything I wouldn’t ask you to do myself.”

  I believed that. And there was nothing I could do to change his mind—I knew that much already.

  “Okay, then. Lance’s in command. Don’t expect to have an easy time convincing Roan, though.”

  He chuckled. “Between the two of us, I’m not looking forward to it.” He turned me to face the door and gave me a shove. “Go. Talk to your woman. Let her make up her mind for herself.”

  He made it sound so easy.

  14

  Nia

  “Where is he?” I muttered to myself.

  Why had I already bitten my nails all the way down? I needed something to chew on. My bottom lip would have to do. I gnawed on it, bouncing up and down on the balls of my feet.

  All the other guys had already come out, including Lance. His face was just as stormy as when he left Layla’s tent.

  What was going on? Why hadn’t Drew come out yet?

  When Drew did, and he saw me, his shoulders fell a little. He looked defeated. I was more desperate than ever to know why.

  “What happened?” I called out as he walked down the short path between Jordan’s cabin and his.

  “Inside, please,” he muttered, putting an arm around my shoulders and steering me back to the cabin.

  Any other time, I would’ve warned him not to manhandle me that way. Yes, I was his woman—something I would have to get used to—but it didn’t mean he could move me around like that. One look at his troubled eyes told me to pick my battles.

  When we were inside, and he had closed the door, he said, “We have to talk.”

  “Oh, God.” I sat on the unmade bed when my knees turned watery. “That doesn’t sound good.”

  He shook his head. “It’s not good—well, you might think it’s good, but I don’t.”

  My stomach churned. I put one hand over it, like that would help anything. “Why don’t you just let it out and stop torturing me?”

  “Sorry.” He stood in the center of the room with his arms folded across his thick chest. “We’re leaving at oh-six-hundred. The jet’s maybe ten minutes away from here. Mary’s team located the underground compound the contractors have been using for their experiments—it’s in Washington state, outside Seattle.”

  My heart almost stopped beating. I fought against the lump in my throat and rising nausea to ask, “So, that’s it? As simple as that? You’ll leave at six in the morning, and I might not see you again?” Tears stung behind my eyes and I willed them back.

  I didn’t want our last memories together to be full of my tears. I owed it to him to at least try to be strong.

  He shook his head. “It’s not as simple as that—though I wish it were.”

  That surprised the tears away. “Why? What else is there?”

  He looked up at the ceiling and blew out a long, frustrated breath. “Dad wants you to come as part of the team.”

  My jaw hit the floor. Never in my wildest dreams. “Wait. What? He wants me to come and—what?”

  “He wants you to be part of the team that goes into the compound with us.”

  I blinked hard. Was I dreaming? “I can’t breathe,” I whispered. My hand moved from my stomach to my chest. My heart raced out of control.

  “Calm down,” Drew said. He sat next to me. “Are you gonna be okay? Because if you want to come with us, I have to know that you can handle yourself in a stressful situation.”

  I shot him a dirty look. “You don’t understand. It’s just that I never thought Jordan had that much faith in me. I mean… me? On a mission with you guys? You’re, like…”

  “Trained,” Drew deadpanned. He did not look amused.

  “You don’t want me to go.”

  “I didn’t before. Why would I have changed my mind already? Just because my father decided you’ll be all right? What does he know?”

  I took his hand, resting on his thigh. “He knows I can handle myself. So do I. That might have to be enough for you.”

  “It’s not. I’m sorry, but it’s just not.” He pulled his hand away and stood up again, looking out the window. There was tension in every line of his body.

  “What can I say to convince you this is a good idea?” I asked.

  “You can’t. There’s nothing you can say. It probably makes me sound like some chauvinist pig, but that’s how where I am. I can’t see bringing you with us when I know it’ll only put you closer to getting yourself killed.” He turned his head so I could see the look of pain on his face.

  “You don’t have much faith in me, then.”

  “It has nothing to do with having faith in you. Don’t you get it? I know what these people are capable of. They will kill you like that.” He snapped his fingers. “They don’t care about us. We’re just animals to them—and it won’t help that we’ll be animals when we go in there. How can I be okay knowing you’ll be walking into a situation like that?”

  “How am I supposed to be okay with it?” I asked. My voice rose until I was practically shouting. “Why? Because you’re a big, strong man and I’m just a woman?”

  “No! Because you’re a woman who hasn’t been trained the way I have. You’re strong, and you’re fast, but you don’t have the skill.”

  “Get real. Just admit that you don’t want me to go for personal reasons.”

  “Fine! I don’t want you to go for personal reasons! What’s so fucking terrible about that?”

  I got up and stormed over to him. “I don’t want you to go, either, and I wish you weren’t! And I just have to deal with it! At least if I’m there with you, I’ll know if you’re okay or not. And I’ll be there to have your back, and you can have mine. Isn’t that better?”

  “No.” He took my arms in his hands—I was sure he didn’t know he was squeezing, but I felt his fingers digging into my flesh anyway. “It’s not better. What would be better is you staying here, safe, with the girls. That’s where I want you to be.”

  “I’m sorry, but you don’t get to be the boss of me because we’re sleeping together,” I hissed.

  He took a sharp breath. “Is that all you think we are?” he asked. He wasn’t shouting anymore.

  I gaped at him. “I… I don’t know. I mean… I didn’t want to…”

  “Don’t you know that I’ve loved you since the night we met?”

  The world stopped turning. My heart stopped beating. Everything stopped. “You have?”

  He nodded. “Now’s not the time to screw around, sayi
ng things we don’t really mean. I’m not trying to play games. I love you. And I want you to be safe.”

  There went the tears again. I couldn’t stop them.

  He let go of my arms and took hold of my face instead. “Say something, at least,” he whispered.

  “I don’t know what to say.”

  His face fell. “Okay. That’s fine. I understand.”

  I gasped. “No! No! I love you, too, you idiot! That wasn’t what I meant.”

  He smiled. “Idiot, huh? That’s a nice thing to say when a guy tells you he loves you.”

  “Well, you were being an idiot. I can’t help it.” I slid my arms around his waist. “I do love you. That’s why I can’t stand the thought of you going some place where I can’t help you. I want to be there for you. I want us to do this together. Don’t you see?”

  He nodded. “I don’t have to like it.”

  “I didn’t ask you to.”

  His hands found my waist and pulled me closer. His dark eyes searched my face. “You really think you’re ready for something like this?”

  “I’m ready for anything. I want this to be over. I want us to have a future—not the sort of future where we’re always on the run from somebody or something, but a real future. A stable life. A family, even.” I giggled. “Sorry if I’m going too fast for you.”

  He leaned in, touching his forehead to mine. “No. You’re not going too fast.”

  15

  Drew

  If I had ever fallen into a decent sleep, I would’ve woken up around five o’clock. But waking up from nothing more than a light doze didn’t really count.

  There was movement outside, the sound of voices. Everyone was pumped, ready for action—even those of us who weren’t getting on the jet. They had busied themselves helping the others get ready by consolidating tents so we would have enough to take with us, packing supplies, everything they could think of to help in some way.

  I thought again of how much like a family they were. Dad did a good job of getting them together, training them to act like a single unit.