Immortal Ops: New & Lengthened 2016 Anniversary Edition

by Mandy M. Roth

  Not even from him, sadly.

  The girls exchanged glances then nodded.

  Leave it to women to trust a cold-blooded killing machine with their friend’s life. He glanced back at Roi and nodded in the direction of the door before leaving. Roi gave him a thumbs-up as he left to retrieve Peren.

  Lukian hit the outside and took a deep breath. The scents of the night filled his lungs. He craved the night air and running free in wolf form. Tonight he craved something else too, and it was headed down the darkened street, apparently planning to walk all the way home, rather than use a car.

  Stubborn woman.

  Damn, he wanted her even more after she’d scolded him and then stormed out. He liked a challenge, and Peren was proving to be one. He just had to keep her safe long enough to figure out just how much of one she was capable of being.

  Lukian took off in a slow run in the direction of her scent. Even in the darkness of the night, he could see her clearly. His night vision was excellent. It had to be. The blood of the wolf that ran through him would not have it any other way.

  He caught up to Peren with ease and slowed his pace, reading her thoughts, mildly amused with her opinion of him in the process. She was definitely attracted to him but conflicted. She was also doing her best to fight off her feelings of fear. He wanted to tell her she had nothing to worry about, but explaining how he knew she was afraid of anything at all wasn’t a conversation he wanted to have. Besides, he was reading way more from her than he did others. Reading her thoughts was easy for him. Most humans weren’t too difficult for him to eavesdrop on, but Peren was like an open book to him. That caught him a little off-guard.

  He stopped and put his hands up in the air slowly as she shot a dirty look over her shoulder at him. “I come in peace.”

  Her full lips curved into a smile so white that she lit up the night, causing his insides to lurch forward. His cock wanted to be in her so badly that he wondered if he could control himself. He was far too old to be behaving as if he were still a young pup. He was experienced now and wise enough to be able to control his erections at will, or at least he had thought so prior to meeting Peren.

  The wind caught her long skirt and blew it up. Shiny black leather boots that ran up to her knee showed through. He waited for a better glimpse at what kind of panties she wore under her skirt, but the wind refused to help out any longer.

  Just as well. He’d probably jump on her right here and now.

  This target of his, Peren, stirred things in him that hadn’t existed in over a century. He watched her take a wider stance, one a person with defensive skills would assume. She was ready to try to protect herself. It hit him then that if all had gone according to plan, she’d be dead already, so her instincts were good, but so were his.

  Chapter Eleven

  Peren tried but failed to wipe the smile from her face as the man from the bar stood near her, his hands in the air, looking like a fool with a lopsided grin on his face. She wanted to be angry that he’d followed her, but something about him made her grin. “What do you want?”

  He gave her a large smile and shrugged, his shirt pulling against his muscles as he did. “I’m not sure, maybe to know that I wasn’t what chased you off. That could leave lasting effects on a man’s ego.”

  I’ll just bet you’ve got ego problems.

  No, he looked like the type who was incredibly comfortable in his own skin. She thought about how comfortable she’d be skin to skin with him too and shook her head.

  Cut it out. You don’t sleep around. You leave that up to Melanie. She’s good at it.

  “I’m Lukian, and you must be Peren,” the man said, extending his large hand out to her. She took a small step forward and grabbed it quickly. A spark of energy flew between them.

  The same thing had happened long ago, the night she’d had her fortune told, the night her entire world turned upside down. All the fear and dread she’d been sensing since arriving at the bar hit her in a wave that nearly took her legs out from under her. There was no way she could push down or ignore the urge to flee. It coursed through her every fiber.

  For a split second Lukian appeared confused, and then an expression settled over his face that told her he was fully expecting her to panic and run. But how did he know? She wasn’t going to wait around to find out.

  Distance.

  She needed distance between her and the feeling of danger—whatever the hell was causing it. Peren didn’t run back in the direction of the bar and her friends. Instinct drove her away, as if something deep down was telling her to avoid taking the trouble to them and laying it at their feet. She gave in, turned, and ran as fast as she possibly could, her past blurring with her present, the fear all-consuming.

  She hit the edge of the woods and never skipped a beat. She knew she didn’t have that good of a lead on him and that he’d catch up if she dared to stop. A limb scraped her cheek, and she whimpered, pushing onward wildly.

  It’s just a scratch, definitely not worth dying over.

  She could see the forest in her mind, even though she could not see her hand before her face in the darkness. The same type of darkness that had blanketed her that fateful night when she was ten. That same feeling of fear and of being hunted. Not again—her mind raced as she ran. She thought back to the night of her tenth birthday. Every fear and bit of pain she’d felt then washed over her, giving her the strength to push forward, to draw on whatever thing lived inside her—whatever thing that made her an abomination. Whatever thing that had saved her life that night long ago.

  Chapter Twelve

  What the hell is she? Lukian’s mind raced as his feet moved quickly under him. He was faster than any human could hope to be. Yet this tiny woman was managing to outrun him. She couldn’t weigh more than a buck o’ five, yet she made him work to catch her. Perhaps he’d been wrong to abort the mission. Apparently, he was dealing with more than just a pretty face. And more than just a human.

  No, his inner beast roared. He wasn’t wrong. She was not to be harmed. The beast was very clear on that much.

  Stopping, he sniffed the air, the wolf in him clawing at his gut, demanding to be set free to hunt her. It didn’t want to harm her. It wanted to own her, mark her, make her his.

  Mine.

  The word thrashed around in his head, jumbled with her thoughts, still assailing him in a way no other’s ever had. Lukian did his best to hone in on her location, but somehow she blocked it from him. The only others he’d ever encountered who were able to do such a thing were trained operatives. He’d never met a civilian able to pull off such a feat. Had she been trained? Had she been recruited to join an elite team too? Perhaps she was from a unit similar to his own? Maybe she was with Paranormal Security and Intelligence (PSI), another branch of government that stayed hidden from humans but operated to help police supernaturals. But if she was, an elimination order would not have been issued to the I-Ops. No. PSI handled their own affairs. A sobering thought struck him. Maybe she didn’t work for the same side he did. Maybe she was with the enemy.

  No!

  His wolf nearly won the struggle for freedom, its insistence she was not the enemy making him sway as he fought for control. He fixated on her scent, sweet vanilla with hints of flowers. He took a moment to catch his bearings and figure his exact location. They’d scouted the area enough for him to know where he was and what she was doing. She was headed back to the road.

  Smart girl.

  He heard her rustling off to his left, and a slow smile crept over his face.

  Not smart enough, though.

  He leaped up and over a rock to a ledge, hoping that the higher vantage point would allow him to not only see her but possibly be able to surprise her from above as well. It took a moment for him to calm his wolf side enough to focus fully on Peren, but when he did, he heard her pulse racing. His own sped to match, syncing with hers as if he were afraid. As attuned as he was to her, Lukian’s breathing fell in line with hers as well
. In all his years, he’d never had such a thing occur.

  What was she?

  And why did he care so much?

  You know why, he thought, shaking his head, hoping to banish the thought. No. It couldn’t be. She couldn’t be his mate. The odds of that were too high. And he’d long ago given up any hope of ever finding the one person created for him. Yet there was no denying the pull to her or the fact his wolf was obsessed with her.

  Her thoughts hit him hard once more. Images of a carnival of sorts flashed in his mind. He saw a young girl, no more than ten, holding the hand of a woman as they entered a tent. Drapes of red hung from all directions in the tent, and a circular table sat in the center. At the table was a woman wearing many necklaces, and a silk scarf tied around her head. Large hoop earrings adorned the woman’s ears, and they jingled as the woman leaned, looking at a crystal ball on the table. The young girl was fascinated by the earrings at first before her attention went to the woman—the fortuneteller.

  Lukian realized then the flashes were memories of Peren’s. That she was somehow sharing them with him, though he wasn’t even sure she realized she was doing it. Crouching, he lowered his head and put a hand on the ground to steady himself as her memories continued to wash over him.

  The fortuneteller’s head had snapped up. Her dark gaze whipping to the young girl, her eyes going milky white suddenly, scaring the girl, right before the woman proceeded to yell.

  Abomination.

  The word sent a chill down his spine.

  Scenes from the past continued to play out in his mind, the emotions tied to them feeling as if they were his own. It was nearly impossible to stay removed from it all—to feel nothing. He wanted to reach through the memories and rip the woman to shreds. The very moment the idea struck him, another vision came, this one of a clawed, fur-covered arm doing just that—killing the woman.

  Butchering her and the others around her before giving chase. It wanted something. What?

  Lukian nearly toppled over as it hit him. The beast had wanted Peren. It had hunted her, its intent unclear, but one thing was for certain. It was a shifter, not a normal animal, and it had sampled her—tasted her flesh and blood.

  His gaze snapped open, and he looked out into the darkness, the sound of his pulse beating in his ears, temporarily blocking him from hearing anything else. Peren had survived a werewolf bite as a child, and she’d witnessed deaths at the hands of a shifter.

  Oh God, she was attacked by one of us, a fellow shifter.

  His heart sank with sadness. Here he was chasing this woman, making her relive the same feelings of horror she’d experienced as a child. He wasn’t so old that he couldn’t remember what it was like to be a child, but he’d been born this way. Born able to change into a wolf.

  A shudder ran through his veins. He couldn’t imagine running into a werewolf at such a young age and then having it attack. His heart broke for Peren, filling him with an overwhelming need to find and protect her. Someone wanted her dead, and he was supposed to be the man to do it. He knew that would never happen. He’d find out who had issued the hit order, and he’d tear them limb from limb for daring to think harm should befall his woman.

  My woman?

  Lukian gasped at the thought. He caught the scent of his own kind near, and confusion knitted his brow. His men had been trained to mask their scents. Mask who and what they were. Why were they suddenly being so careless? What had happened?

  Another thought struck him.

  Maybe what he smelled wasn’t his men at all, but other shifters. If that was the case, they were there for one thing and one thing only.

  Peren.

  Tapping his transmitter, he looked around, trying to discern what direction the shifters were in. Their scent blanketed the area, as if they were everywhere at once all of a sudden. “Ops, status report.”

  It was Green who responded. “Bravo is holding at station one, in stand-down mode. The rest of Alpha is still together and in the club, Captain.”

  Shit.

  That was what he was afraid of. Something else was out here in the night with them. Someone wanted her dead enough to bother sending additional hitters. His team wasn’t cheap, and sending in backups meant that someone with a lot of power and money was backing this. Lukian tried to imagine what Peren could have done that would make someone so adamant about seeing her life come to an end, but he came up empty-handed. The hows and whys were irrelevant. There was no way he’d let any harm come to her.

  He scanned the woods for a sign of her and then waited. Within seconds she came running toward him.

  It’s now or never.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Peren continued to run, unsure where she was going or why she was running. All she knew was danger was close and she had to keep moving. She also knew that heading back to the bar would be bad—that she would take trouble right to the doorstep of her best friends in all the world. Two women she considered to be sisters to her. There was no way she would drop the devil at their feet.

  Each step she took brought with it memories of her tenth birthday. She tried to push it all from her mind, but the harder she tried, the more she felt the same as she had when she was young. The same fear, the same feeling that a beast was on her heels, and the same fear she’d felt when it had caught up with her long enough to sink its teeth into her.

  The trees over her head shuffled, and there was no reaction time as the heavy weight of a man fell onto her. He knocked her to the ground, sending pain shooting up and through her head. She tried to scream, but his hand clasped over her mouth.

  “They will hear you,” Lukian said softly in her ear. She tried to scream again. She wanted him off her and hoped that everyone in the world would hear. She bit down on his hand and he tightened his grip on her. “Shit, I’m trying to help you. Something, someone, is coming for you—” A loud howl interrupted him.

  Peren’s body tightened under his as terror filled her veins. Lukian hadn’t made the noise. If he wasn’t what she was running from, then what was it? The realization that she knew that sound and had heard it before hit her hard, leaving her sinking against Lukian’s powerful body. She’d heard the same howl on her tenth birthday. It was forever embedded in her brain. She would never forget it. The only person who had believed her had been Kyle, and he was gone.

  Whatever had attacked her that night long ago was back.

  Lukian held tight to her and pulled her to her feet, twisting her around to look at him. She met his eyes with tears glistening in her own. She wasn’t one to cry in front of others, but the terror gripping her body was too great for her to deal with alone. The look on Lukian’s face told her he wasn’t about to abandon her, regardless of the beastly noises around them.

  Brave man.

  Another high-pitched wolf howl sounded from their left. Her body went rigid with fear. She resisted the urge to shriek and stared at this tall, mysterious man who claimed to be on her side. Could she trust him? Did she have a choice?

  A growl came from their right this time. Lukian turned first, putting his body in front of hers in a protective manner. He whispered something to himself that she couldn’t make out, but sounded vaguely like Alpha something or other. Was he talking to her? If so, he wasn’t making any sense.

  He reached into the back of his tan pants and pulled out a handgun. She scanned the contours of it and recognized it for what it was—military issue. Her father had spent the greater part of his scientific career working for the military. He’d been out of the business since she’d been born, but had never lost his interest in all things military. He loved to quiz her on interesting bits of trivia and to test her hand-to-hand combat training. He raised her much like he would have had she been a boy. She’d always felt as if she’d let him down when she’d chosen art school over the armed services. Regardless, she knew enough of weapons to recognize several on sight, and the one Lukian was carrying was hardly a peashooter.

  Lukian pushed her body behin
d his even more, acting as a barrier between her and whatever was surrounding them. No fear showed on him, and his braveness in the face of the unknown helped to calm her to a degree. Though a pang of curiosity lit in her. Why wasn’t he afraid? Ordinary people would have been afraid. Peren was hardly what anyone would label typical, and she was terrified. She raked her gaze down Lukian’s back, her eyes adjusting more and more to the darkness, allowing her to see with ease. The man before her was a well-oiled fighting machine. How had she missed that before?

  Ordinary, my ass! she thought, shaking her head, her focus on his backside.

  Ordinary, everyday citizens didn’t run around carrying military-issue handguns with them. Nope, Lukian was definitely hiding something.

  Reaching back, he took hold of her arm with one hand and heat raced over her flesh. She gasped, the sensation that he was composed solely of static energy rushing through her for the briefest of moments. It faded, but the draw to him didn’t. That only strengthened. She tensed but allowed him to move her backward gradually. His hand brushed over her right breast in the process and her nipples hardened instantaneously. Without thought, she touched his muscular arm. He flexed under the weight of her fingers.

  Typical male reaction.

  He inched his hand farther around her, pressing her to his back while his hand rested firmly on her backside. The tighter the grip on her ass got, the more damp her inner thighs became.

  Now is not the time to be thinking of banging the hot guy. Now is the time to think about surviving.

  She did her best to shake the naughty thoughts from her head. They left, just in time to be replaced by thoughts of death and destruction as more howls followed. She almost wanted the horny thoughts back instead. A flash of fur seemed to come right at them. Peren cried out, fear gripping her in its hold like an iron fist. Lukian never so much as flinched as he took aim and fired, scoring a direct shot to the forehead of a ginormous animal.