by Morgan Wylie
“No. You are staying here, Poppy.” Mather was done. He turned away from her to move on. This was not something he was going to negotiate on.
“Mat, I’m going,” she whispered sternly, her stance strong—legs shoulder width apart, hands on her hips, and chin held high.
“I’m point on this mission. Stay here, Poppy.” There was something pleading in his eyes even though his voice gave nothing away.
“Can you read the encrypted message that came from the location?” she taunted.
Mather growled. He actually growled at her—at the frustration she was inciting within him. Poppy’s eyes narrowed. No one dared to stand against Mather when he was adamant about something—except his brothers in arms, but they were his equals or superiors. However, this little slip of a woman was holding her own against him—against his wolf—and his wolf liked it, he preened within Mather, pouncing to get out and play with her, to roll around with her, to mate with her. Sensing the slight shift behind his eyes, Poppy raised an eyebrow.
“Concede?” she asked quietly.
“Never,” he cockily replied. His eyes narrowed, but there was slight humor glimmering there at her tenacity and recklessness in his face. Yes, she could hold her own against him, and that turned him on like nothing else.
“Too bad. I’m going.” She paused and willed him to understand. She not only wanted to do this for Alana but she needed to. She needed to do something to free her mind from her recent past of being held against her will and tortured—something to free her from the fear that she was unable to protect herself and to protect those she loved. Alana had come for her, and Poppy wanted to go after her in return. She owed it to Alana. “I have the location. I can help, Mat. Please.”
It was the please that pulled at his heart and went against his better judgment. He could see in her eyes she needed to do this, and he didn’t want to be the one whom she resented for the rest of her life because he wouldn’t allow her to be who she was capable of being. Plus, she would have enough things to resent him for if they lived through this. He nodded with a sigh, realizing that their little show hadn’t been the most private, and stared down those surrounding them as if they were eavesdropping and not just in the same vicinity awaiting orders.
“Fine, but don’t make me regret this, Poppy,” Mather’s words shot out with a growl of warning.
Poppy nodded, but the twinkle in her eyes and the small smile that threatened to explode from her face prided her small victory.
Something she had said struck Mather. He turned to her. “Did you say you received an encrypted message from the location?” he asked suspiciously.
“Wondered when that was going to come back?” She smirked at him. “Yes, I got a message from the exact location that we had just discovered. It was from Simmon. I met him while I was”—the words stuck in her throat—“while I was held there. He did a lot of computer stuff for the Alliance, though not magically gifted with it. Anyway, he said if we want Alana, we need to get there quickly because she will be moved soon.”
“Shit.”
“What?” she asked, surprised at his outburst.
“I haven’t been able to reach Rylen yet.” Mather raked both hands through his hair and blew out a frustrated breath. He turned to Lucius who had remained quiet and pensive as he continued to stare unseeingly at the map before him on the table. “Luc, what’s your vibe?”
Lucius turned his face toward his brother, unconcerned with any of the previous debate with Poppy, having been content to let them hash it out. His expression was a blank mask of indifference except for the slight lines of concern that only Mather knew to recognize on his brother. “Time is running short. I have the Lair.” Lucius looked out at the men and women before Mather and nodded, deeming them a sufficient team for the job. He turned back to Mather. “Alana must be saved; it will destroy Rylen if she isn’t. We have a lead—it should be taken.”
Lucius strode out of the Throne Room doors, the back of his duster flailing behind him, the tails of confidence attempting to catch up with him. Mather examined his team, ensuring they were all ready and prepped as much as they could be. “Our leader is on another mission. This cannot wait for him to return—Alana, his mate, cannot wait for him to return. We go in his place, and we will return with his mate at all costs. The plan is to be a simple extraction. In, snatch, and out. We are not prepared for an all-out war with the Fairfax Alliance, and we do not yet know what awaits us, but we know we need to act quickly. Do you follow me?” He asked knowing they would be, but it needed to be said to declare he was the acting leader on this op.
The room erupted with a resounding warrior reply, “With you until the death!”
“Head to the vehicles,” Mather instructed.
“Last chance.” He had turned to Poppy, hoping she would take it. He could sense the gravity of the situation hitting her, but she inhaled slowly and turned to face him. Her emerald eyes were lit with a fiery passion, giving them a life of their own.
“With you until the death,” she repeated the statement of loyalty that the rest of the team just had.
Feeling like something had just punched him in the gut, it impacted him more than he thought it could. Her life was in his hands, and he couldn’t allow death to rip her away from him. No. He refused to let that happen.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Three black vehicles slowly approached where Poppy had directed them to. They rolled to a stop and parked in an inconspicuous spot near the heart of the area they would be sneaking into. Everyone jumped out silently and strapped on whatever weapons they had. Forming three separate teams, a shifter included in each, they all waited a moment as the shifters changed forms. Mather gave a few last minute instructions and reminders to be checking in on the comms. They didn’t know exactly where Alana was being held, so they would approach from three different sides and close in around the location Poppy had pinpointed. Once the teams were all ready, complete with their shifted counterparts, Mather sent them out.
He then turned to Poppy as she stood next to the vehicle, taking it all in. She had never been on this side of a team mission and was fascinated by watching everyone prepare. She studied all their gear, her mind spinning with possible new ways to improve their tech and gadgets that would help them. On the exterior, she seemed calm and collected, ready to engage. On the inside, Mather could see the fear behind the scrutiny in her eyes, and being a shifter, he could also smell the tang of it as it wafted from her direction.
“Out in the field, it’s okay to be afraid, but you can’t let it get in the way of what needs to be done.” There. He could educate just as well as Enock could; he would rub it in later.
Poppy’s eyebrow raised as she pursed her luscious red lips to the side of her mouth. Her chin raised in defiance as well placed hands went to her hips. “I can do what needs to be done just as well as anyone of those other team members,” she voiced in her defense.
There she was. Mather bowed his head, “My apologies.” He smirked internally. See—a teacher, he thought. “We will head that way.” He pointed. Mather picked the most efficient PAC members for his team since Poppy was a part of it. He pointed to a very large man who stood nearby, his stance more intense than the others’. His jet-black hair swooped down into his eyes, but his gray eyes stood out behind the veil. His arms were crossed, and he wore a belt with a gun on one side and a large hunting knife holstered on the other. His look was reminiscent of Lucius, but no one could pull off the Lucius stare. “Jet, here, is a tiger shifter and will be the lead shifter on our team. I will lead in human form so I can communicate with you and the rest of the team as you lead us according to your GPS app thing.” Mather turned to Jet. “Go ahead and shift, Jet. Then catch up to us. Team A, follow my lead.”
“Why did he not shift when the rest of the others did?” Poppy asked.
“He is very private and likes to shift alone, I guess. It’s just the way he works. Not really sure why, though.” Mather shrugged. I
t was good enough for him since it was good enough for Rylen.
Their small team consisted of five people including Mather, Poppy, Jet, Jackson—a magic user—and Bastion—one of their vampire guards she knew from working at the Lair. Even though their PAC wasn’t huge, she didn’t know everyone especially since she spent most her time in Headquarters and they weren’t required to live at the Lair or check in every day. Some were only called upon for specific ops they were skilled to do while others had more significant roles or just liked to hang around the Lair more often.
Poppy couldn’t help but notice how good Mather looked from behind in his black fatigues that accentuated his firm ass and his tight black t-shirt, revealing some of his many tattoos that roamed up only to get lost under his sleeves. She knew what those looked like as they crawled up his defined arms and shoulders then down his back, some leading down to his trim waist. He was a fine specimen if she had ever seen one. If only she could trace her fingers along the lines of his muscles and follow those markings with her tongue until…
Her thoughts were interrupted with a subtle growl coming from just ahead of her. Mather didn’t look back, but his intent was enough. He could probably smell her arousal. It made her giddy to think she could drive him crazy with only her thoughts. She smirked but made herself busy to distract her thoughts from their naughty journey. She turned on the locator app and tapped on several buttons to gauge not only the signal she was getting from Alana herself but also the signal that she had pinpointed separately from the scrying. They were very close, but for some reason were still separate, which concerned her slightly—in the very least, it confused her.
“The signal is coming from up ahead and a little to the east,” Poppy whispered, knowing Mather could hear her and hoping that the enemy couldn’t. Mather nodded and veered his direction to match.
Night had fallen, but the area was unnaturally dark, almost supernaturally dark. Did they have the ability to manipulate the light around this area? The air was still, and the atmosphere silent. No night creatures were to be heard at all. They were in what seemed to be a dead zone.
“Bastion?” Mather called over his shoulder. Bastion trotted up to his side. “Can you sense any bodies?”
Bastion closed his eyes; he wasn’t as quick or as powerful as Enock, but he was skilled at his talents. “Nothing. Either no one with a heartbeat is nearby or they are blocked somehow.”
“That’s what I was getting. I don’t hear anything other than ourselves,” Mather affirmed. “Keep checking.”
From the darkness, something stalked next to them. Poppy whipped her head toward the bushes. “There’s something out there,” her voice squeaked slightly as she tried not to show her surprise.
“It’s just Jet,” Jackson explained.
“Oh, thanks.” She smiled back at him, not realizing he was close behind her. She didn’t know if he could see her in the dark, but she didn’t care.
After a few more minutes of walking in silence, minus the occasional stumble from Poppy—seemingly the only team member who didn’t have a gift to see in the darkness easily—she noticed something new on her radar.
“Mather… I’m getting a new signal. It’s not one of ours, and it’s slowly coming in this direction,” Poppy informed, her words fused with confusion. “How can I be getting a signal that’s not one of mine? I don’t get it.”
“I’ve learned anything can happen out in the field. You have to expect the unexpected,” Bastion filled in.
Poppy cocked her head toward him. “Is that supposed to help?” She laughed quietly.
Mather halted his forward motion and stepped back until he was in front of Poppy. Waiting, he raised his nose to the air, sniffing prospects on the wind. He closed his eyes, listening to everything around them, which was not much. Something moved on the wind, silent as a ghost sneaking up on them. “Stay behind me,” Mather whispered to Poppy. Bastion moved up behind Poppy, and Jackson and the large black tiger with faint gray stripes flanked her sides.
Poppy sighed, trapped like a fragile helpless girl, which she was not—she just wished Mather could see that.
“I see you got my message, smart girl. I knew you would be able to decipher it,” a bodiless voice spoke through the darkness to their right, a large bush camouflaging whoever was there.
“Show yourself,” growled a fierce and impatient Mather.
“I will when I know you won’t take off my head as soon as you see it.”
“What do you want?” Mather inquired.
“There are many wrongs in this life—many I have committed myself.” He paused. “The girl was always kind to me. She doesn’t deserve the treatment she gets from those who should be her own.” Simmon stepped from behind the bush.
Still in the darkness, it was hard for Poppy to make out who it was. “Who is it?” Poppy whispered to those next to her. “I can’t see remember—the one blind to the darkness, here.” Her words were laced with sarcasm.
“I’m not sure,” Bastion replied under his breath behind her. “He seems familiar.”
“She is marked by my brother. She belongs with him.” Simmon’s words were solemn and genuine.
Mather took a step forward. “Why are you doing this, Simmon?”
“This is the only thing I can do for him, to hopefully redeem myself in his eyes,” he replied. “It’s the right thing to do for now.”
Now understanding who it was, Poppy moved up beside Mather with her hand gently on the back of his arm, letting him know she wasn’t going anywhere but there. She had worked with Simmon on and off during her time in captivity. She liked him fine enough. He never did anything to hurt her and even helped her understand what they had wanted her to accomplish while she was there.
“Thank you, Simmon,” Poppy began but was given a pointed stare from Mather, telling her to shut up. She squared her shoulders and even took a step forward. Her inner child smiled when she heard the warning growl erupt from Mather’s chest. He didn’t own her. He didn’t even want her. So he could stick it where the sun didn’t shine for all she cared; she was here to get Alana back, and dammit, that’s what she was going to do. Let these boys engage in their hierarchical pissing contest, but she wanted results… and she wanted them now.
“Simmon, thank you for the message. It was brilliantly done,” she praised him. He watched her carefully with his smoky blue eyes. “There isn’t much time, which I’m sure, you are more than aware. Will you tell us where to find Alana?” Poppy looked down at her app. The foreign signal marked right where Simmon was standing. “You created your own signal… how did you do it so my locator would pick you up?”
He smirked at her. “Just as magicians never reveal their secrets, neither do I.”
She pursed her lips in frustration but also a bit of humor, understanding his lighthearted way of telling her he wouldn’t tell. She really hoped he would come to his senses and join the PAC—she would have someone else to talk to that understood a fair amount about computers and how magic affected them as she could. She had Tom, of course, but his conversational skills were a bit lacking, poor guy.
“And yes, I will show you where Alana is—that is, in fact, the reason I called you. But please hurry. We don’t have much time before my absence is noted. I cannot be aligned with this rescue attempt. But something tells me you were getting close on you own. Perhaps I just tipped the scale?” he asked with a bit of humor in his tone.
“Yes, you did. I had the general location.” She showed him her signal she was chasing on the GPS app. “It kept moving in this arena, but I could never pinpoint it down. Do you know why?”
“Poppy,” Mather said through his clenched teeth. He reached forward and gripped the end of her shirt between his fingers.
Poppy looked back at him with an innocent expression that said, What?
“Your signal is picking up the original tracking device that Alana carried on her—great trick by the way—but it was found and taken from her. One of the guards
walks around the area hiding the compound with it to throw you off, which has seemed to work.” He studied the app quickly, taking in all the signals blinking on her screen, noting where his was and the moving target. Staring at the other dot that remained in a fixed location, he pointed to it. “Very clever. You somehow kept a mark on her location. That is Alana. How did you do that?” He looked at her inquisitively and with a gleam of intrigue and hunger that only one interested in the same arena could have.
Mather moved up beside her. He leaned in closer than he would have to any of the other girls on their team.
“A magician never reveals their secrets,” she threw back at him with a smile and an expression that said he should have known better than to even ask.
“Touché” he bowed his head. “Let us go find the princess.” He turned to move away, fully expecting them to follow.
Poppy moved after him without a second thought, but Mather’s grip on her arm halted her in place. He leaned into her ear. “Do not trust so willingly. It could be a trap.”
“It could, but either way, I’m finding Alana with or without his help and with or without your help.” She looked down where he gripped her arm with disdain and pulled away. She had had enough of his games. It was time for Mather to make a decision and until he did, Poppy was keeping her heart closed.
“We follow,” Mather instructed the men. “Stay close and alert at all times. Could be a trap.”
Poppy rolled her eyes but allowed him to move in front of her to lead the team. In all honesty, she was glad because she still couldn’t see well and would stay closer to him than she would to anyone else. Despite what her emotions were doing, bouncing all over the place, she trusted Mather with her life and would follow his training and his gut out in the field. Plus, she kind of liked walking next to a large tiger. She knew there was nothing getting by that guy. He was a terrifying sight to behold in either form, but she preferred the tiger. Her fingers itched to touch his fur, but she wouldn’t. That would incite all kinds of menacing trouble between her and the wolf who wouldn’t claim her, and that wasn’t how she wanted to get his attention. He would have to come to a decision all on his own.
