Her Perfect Mate

by Paige Tyler

  “So? I can handle the first twenty. You just have to handle the other five.”

  Landon glanced at Kendra. She’d come out of the storage unit and was standing with her arms wrapped around her waist. She looked as terrified for Ivy as he was.

  “You didn’t tell him about the shifters, did you?” Landon asked. He didn’t wait for an answer, but turned back to Buchanan. “The size of your balls might be impressive, but I don’t think even you can take on twenty-five super-powered shifters.”

  Buchanan’s brows drew together. “Stutmeir has shifters working for him? Where did he find that many?”

  “He didn’t. I don’t know how he did it, but he found a way to make them. Test tube shifters, apparently—and vicious as hell. They fight like they’re insane—sort of like you.”

  Buchanan grunted.

  “When we go in there,” Landon continued, “we’re going to need a lot of firepower.”

  The shifter’s gaze went to the other men and he shook his head. “There has to be another way.”

  “There isn’t. It’s these guys—whom I trust a hell of a lot more than I trust you—or the DCO. Do you honestly think they’ll mount a rescue op when they find out Stutmeir took Ivy alive? My guess is it’d be more of a sanitizing mission, but what do I know?” He pulled out his cell phone. “So, you want to call the DCO, or should I?”

  Buchanan ground his jaw, but that silenced him.

  Angelo walked over. “What’s going on? Who is this asshole, where’s Ivy, and what the hell is a shifter?”

  Landon shoved his phone back in his pocket. “This is Clayne Buchanan. He’s a friend of Ivy’s.”

  “Which is the only reason I’d ever get involved with you fucks,” the shifter growled.

  Angelo ignored the comment. “Okay, that answers one of the questions. What happened to Ivy?”

  Landon swore under his breath as the rest of his former team crowded around them. While they were wasting time here, Stutmeir could be making his escape and taking Ivy with him.

  “We came here to get some intel on an ex-Stasi-killer-turned-arms-dealer named Stutmeir, but there was a problem and Ivy got captured.”

  Angelo frowned. “And I take it these shifters you keep mentioning are the reason you couldn’t get her out, and why you need our help?”

  “What are these shifters?” Deray asked. “Super soldiers or something?”

  “Something like that.” Landon sighed. “Look, this is real black ops shit, and none of you are cleared to know a damn thing about it, so I’ll keep it short and simple. Shifters are humans that are…well, part animal.”

  They stared at him like a pig with a Rolex.

  “Part animal?” Mickens snorted. “You’re shittin’ us, right?”

  “Do I look like I’m shittin’ you?”

  “Shifters.” Angelo’s voice was thoughtful. “You mean like skinwalkers?”

  Landon wasn’t surprised at the intuitive leap. Angelo’s Native American heritage gave him a completely different set of beliefs than other people. “Not in the way you’re thinking. They can’t turn into animals. They only display certain attributes.”

  “I’m not sure if I’m following this.” Mickens held up his hands. “No offense, sir, but it sounds a little batshit to me.”

  Landon knew it sounded crazy. He didn’t believe it the first time, either, and he’d seen Ivy’s claws with his own eyes. “I know this sounds like something from the SyFy channel, but shifters are real, and they’re dangerous.”

  “So are we,” Griffen said.

  This was getting nowhere fast. “Maybe it’d be easier if I show you.” Landon glanced at Buchanan. “Could you demonstrate?”

  The shifter scowled. “I’m not a trained monkey, you know. I don’t do tricks on command.”

  Kendra muttered something under her breath. “For heaven’s sake, Clayne, just show them, dammit. The sooner we get out of here, the sooner we can get to Ivy. You do remember Ivy, don’t you?”

  Buchanan stopped glaring long enough to shift into the golden-eyed, clawed menace Landon knew and didn’t love. Growling deep in his throat, the shifter whipped out his arm and raked his claws down the side of the building, leaving four long, jagged grooves in their wake. The whole show was probably only a second or two, but it was effective. Every one of his former teammates gasped and jumped back.

  “What the…?” Marks said.

  “Buchanan’s a shifter. He was born with the DNA of a wolf,” Landon explained. “The shifters with Stutmeir aren’t natural born, though. He’s figured out a way to turn humans into them.”

  “Damn,” Deray muttered.

  “It gets worse.” Landon ground his jaw. “I’m only guessing here, but I think he might have taken Ivy to experiment on her.”

  Angelo’s eyes narrowed. “You think he’ll try to turn her into a shifter?”

  “He won’t have to,” Kendra said.

  “Why not?” Diaz asked.

  “Because she’s already a shifter,” Landon said.

  “Like me,” Buchanan added.

  No doubt that was for Landon’s benefit. It was probably the shifter’s way of pointing out how different she was from Landon, and that she’d be so much better off with him once they got her back.

  “Ivy isn’t anything like you,” Landon told him.

  “Is Ivy a wolf, too?” Mickens asked.

  Diaz shook his head. “Man, did Ivy move like a dog to you? What are you, blind and dense? Gotta be a cat, with moves like hers. Am I right, Captain, or am I right?”

  Landon knew Diaz was sharp. “He’s right.”

  Diaz gave Mickens a smug look.

  The medic’s face flushed. “I knew that.”

  “Sure you did,” Griffen said.

  Landon looked from one man to the next. “Now that you know what you’ll be facing, I’m going to ask you again—are you all okay with this? I don’t want you to feel like there’s any pressure here. I’m not your commander anymore. If you want to back out, I’ll understand.”

  “Shifters or no shifters, I’m in,” Angelo said.

  “Me too,” Diaz agreed.

  Deray, Mickens, Griffen, and Marks echoed.

  “Okay. Then we need to get moving.” Landon jerked his head at the storage unit. “Weapons and everything else we’re going to need are in here.”

  Tredeau let out an appreciative whistle as he and the others followed Landon into the unit. “Man, this stuff is top of the line. This organization of yours—what did I hear you call it, the DCO?—they don’t mess around, do they?”

  If they only knew. “No, they don’t.”

  While Angelo and Tredeau grabbed weapons and loaded magazines, Diaz found the radios and ear pieces and started checking them out. Mickens was on the other side of the room, checking out the first-aid kit. Landon’s mouth edged up. It was like old times. He wouldn’t trade working with Ivy for anything, but he’d be lying if he said he didn’t miss going to battle with these guys.

  Landon was stuffing a butt pack with blocks of C-4 explosives when Angelo walked over. His friend leaned back against the shelf.

  “So, I guess you and Ivy decided to go ahead and play with that fire, huh?”

  All Landon could do was nod. “And it might just have gotten her killed.”

  “You know I’d be here having your back regardless, but I’m curious why no one but Buchanan and Kendra are here from this DCO organization of yours?”

  Landon glanced over his shoulder to make sure no one else could overhear them talking. “Because I had orders to kill Ivy if there was even a remote chance she might get captured on a mission.”

  Angelo’s eyes went wide. “What kind of fucked-up organization asks its operatives to murder their partners like that?”

  “The kind that doesn’t want anyone to know
they have freaks of nature working for the U.S. government,” Buchanan said.

  Landon hadn’t heard the shifter come over. That’s what Buchanan thought of himself, a freak of nature? No wonder he was so screwed up.

  Angelo looked Buchanan up and down, as if evaluating how hard it would be to take the shifter in a fair fight. “Well, I don’t know about you, but Ivy’s no freak. So that tells me you two work for a bunch of assholes.”

  Landon couldn’t deny that. Buchanan didn’t either.

  When they were all armed, Landon gathered them in front of the storage unit for a quick briefing before they left.

  “I don’t have time to give you a full operation order, so here are the essentials. Stutmeir and his men are located in an old ski lodge a little more than an hour from here. The place is made out of stone and built into the side of a mountain—think about that keep in the second Lord of the Rings movie and you get the idea.” They nodded. “There are five floors and at least one basement level. My guess is that Ivy will be someplace on that basement level.”

  “What’s the plan to get her out?” Buchanan asked.

  “We break up into two teams. One causes a distraction and draws the bulk of the bad guys toward the front gate while the other one slips in and grabs Ivy. There may also be a couple doctors being held hostage, so if you see any nerdy types running, wait to see a weapon before you put them down. Other than that, it’s your standard kill ’em all approach.”

  “Hell, yeah.” Angelo grinned. “Mess with the best, die like the rest.”

  Landon ground his jaw. His friend had that right. If they hurt a single hair on Ivy’s head, he’d track down every last one of them and kill them as slowly as he could—twice if he could figure out how.

  Chapter 16

  Landon breathed a sigh of relief as he surveyed the ski lodge from his position in the forest. Four large moving vans and a half dozen oversized SUVs were parked in the front of the lodge, doors open, boxes and lab equipment waiting and ready to be loaded.

  They weren’t too late. Now, he prayed whatever the reason Stutmeir had for taking Ivy alive had kept her that way the whole night.

  He glanced over his shoulder and gave Griffen a nod. He’d picked the demolition expert to lead the team that’d take out the gate and—hopefully—draw the majority of Stutmeir’s men in that direction.

  Griffen returned the nod, then moved off without a word. Marks, Deray, Diaz, and Tredeau followed, equally silent. There’d be no radio communications until they initiated the attack just in case Stutmeir had a radio scanner.

  Landon motioned his team around the far side of the lodge, to the same place he and Ivy had crossed over the wall last night. Had it only been that long? It felt longer. If luck was with them, Stutmeir’s people would be so busy packing they wouldn’t notice anything until Griffen’s team started blowing up the place.

  He glanced over his shoulder to make sure everyone was in position and saw he’d picked up a stray to go along with Buchanan, Angelo, and Mickens. Kendra was crouched down beside Buchanan with an M4 carbine in her hands like she knew how to use it.

  “What the hell are you doing here?” His voice was a harsh whisper. “I told you to stay in the car where it’s safe.”

  “I decided against it.” She lifted her chin. “Ivy is my friend, Landon. I’m going to help get her out, whether you want me to or not.”

  “I don’t have time to babysit you and find Ivy at the same time.”

  “Then don’t babysit me. You find Ivy. I’ll take care of myself.” She held up the M4. “I don’t just stand around and watch you guys all day, you know. I know what I’m doing. I’ve been trained by the best. And like you said, you don’t have time for this. Griffen is already setting the charges, which means we have to get moving.”

  Landon growled loud enough for even Buchanan to look taken aback. He glared at the shifter. “She’s your responsibility.”

  Jaw tight, he turned and took off toward the back wall. Kendra was right about Griffen setting the explosives. If they wanted to be ready to go over the wall the second the demo charge went off, they needed to move. He glanced at his watch. 0940. Shit, they were already five minutes behind. They needed to get up there now.

  He scanned left and right, then motioned everyone up. He glanced at Kendra, half hoping she wouldn’t be able to scale the wall and would have to go hide in the woods until this was over, but she got up the wall faster than he’d expected.

  Landon just reached the top of the wall when it trembled under him. A split second later, he heard the distinctive crack of C-4 going off. He was over the wall and down the other side before the rumble of the blast faded away.

  Once on the ground, he led his team across the grounds to the basement windows he’d remembered seeing during his reconnaissance with Ivy. He’d considered the idea of going in through the roof entrance again, but dropped that plan when he realized it’d take too long.

  Gunfire erupted from the front of the lodge.

  “Engaged,” Griffen announced over the communication headset.

  Landon dropped to his knees at the first window he came to and pushed last season’s dead leaves out of the well. There were iron gratings over the windows. They were rusted, but looked stout. He could forget about the element of surprise.

  He reached into his butt pack for a block of explosives when Buchanan reached down and grabbed the grating with both hands. The shifter wrenched the ironwork completely out of the stone, taking half the window casing with it.

  Angelo grinned. “Damn. Maybe you’re a freak, but you’re a useful freak.”

  Landon silently agreed. “Let’s go find Ivy.”

  Inside, Landon grudgingly let Buchanan take the lead. In theory, it was so he could pick up Ivy’s scent faster, but Landon thought it had more to do with the fact that the shifter wanted to be the first one Ivy saw when they found her. Kendra and Mickens followed directly behind Landon, leaving Angelo to bring up the rear.

  The basement was a maze with very little light and a lot of doors, most of which were locked. On the upside, it was completely deserted. Based on the volume of gunfire, explosions, and shouts above them, Landon could understand why. Griffen and his team were obviously doing their job. Stutmeir and his men probably thought they were fighting World War III.

  Buchanan didn’t pick up Ivy’s scent in any of the rooms, so Landon didn’t waste time checking them out. As much as he hated admitting it, the guy was useful.

  “I have her scent.” Buchanan quickened his step. “I can smell her blood, too. Fuck!”

  Landon picked up the pace to keep up with the shifter even as he braced himself for what they were going to find. Buchanan said he’d smelled blood, but would he know if she was dead just by the smell? Landon didn’t want to think about it, so he focused on keeping up with the shifter instead.

  Buchanan rounded the corner ahead of him only to duck back so fast Landon almost smacked into him. The shifter held up two fingers and mouthed, “Guards.” Landon nodded, indicating he understood and was ready to take them down.

  The men had their backs to them, but the moment he and Buchanan came around the corner, they turned. Landon knew it was too much to hope they were regular, everyday humans and not Stutmeir’s homemade shifters. Their eyes went from normal to gleaming red.

  The creatures snarled and sprang, one toward him, the other at Buchanan.

  Landon put a three-round burst into the thing’s chest, but all that did was piss it off. It stumbled once, then charged him again.

  Landon squeezed the trigger. He’d empty the whole magazine into the creature if he had to.

  Kendra, Mickens, and Angelo raced around the corner, all three of them shooting the monster as fast as their fingers would go. It finally went down, but not before getting hit at least twenty times. Un-freaking-believable.

  Landon abruptl
y realized he’d never heard Buchanan get off a shot at the other creature. He spun around, expecting to find the wolf shifter in a pool of blood. But Buchanan was leaning over the second guard, his face a mask of rage. The creature was lying on the floor, his throat torn open. Amazingly, the thing was still alive.

  As Landon watched, Buchanan grabbed the man’s hair in one hand and chin in the other, then savagely wrenched his head, snapping his neck. The body convulsed, boots kicking the floor, then went still.

  Buchanan stood up and wiped his bloody claws off on his jeans, then picked up his weapon and turned around. He frowned when he found all of them staring at him.

  “What?” he demanded. “Is this guy any deader than that one?” He pointed at the creature they’d shot.

  Landon didn’t say anything. Buchanan had a point. Who cared how the monsters had been killed anyway? They were gone, and that left the door they’d been guarding free and clear.

  He jerked his head at the room. “Is Ivy in there?”

  He really wanted to know if she was alive, but he couldn’t bring himself to ask. It didn’t make sense for Stutmeir’s men to guard a dead prisoner. If she was in there, he’d find out soon enough anyway.

  Buchanan nodded in answer to his question. He started for the door and probably would have kicked it in, but Landon beat him to it.

  The room was a white square. No furniture, no windows, no wall hangings.

  And in the middle of the floor, a half-naked Ivy was curled up in a ball, her hands and feet bound. She looked more fragile than Landon could ever imagine. But the thing that tore at him the most were the barely healed cuts, scratches, and bruises on her beautiful body. Stutmeir hadn’t simply beaten her; the bastard had tortured her.

  Landon hurried across the room and dropped to his knee beside her. He was almost afraid to touch her, terrified he’d discover his worst fear was real and she truly was dead. But he had to know.

  Taking a deep, shuddering breath, he set down his weapon and tenderly brushed her long hair back from her face. She was so still and pale, there was no way she could be alive. He’d told himself he’d been ready for this, but he wasn’t.