Immortal Ops: New & Lengthened 2016 Anniversary Edition (7 page)

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 behind 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.

It was no ordinary wolf, not unless someone had figured out a way to breed wolves with horses—the thing was that big. It fell to the ground with a thud. The animal rights advocate in her didn’t even cause a fuss, as the inner certainty that whatever the beast was, it wasn’t natural
,
settled over her. It was like the one she’d seen when she was ten. And she’d bet all the money in the world that it wasn’t just a wolf. That it could be a man if it wanted to be. A brief moment of relief nearly overcame her when she sensed something else close to them. Two more giant wolves leapt out of the darkness at them.

Lukian fired at one, scoring another hit, but not before whatever it was crashed into him. Lukian’s weapon scattered into the darkness, vanishing under brush just as the second of the attackers went directly for the back of Lukian’s neck.
 

The training her father had started to put her through after the events of her tenth birthday kicked in, directing her actions as if she were on autopilot. She kicked at the wolf, striking its side. The sound of bones breaking rent the air, accompanied quickly by the wolf’s yelps. It fell off course. Lukian was safe for the time being. Though that was short-lived as the beast snarled, snapping its jaws and nearly catching Lukian in the process. She made a move to kick it again
,
but Lukian shoved her with just enough force to move her out of the wolf’s reach. The beast shrank back for a moment before making a play for her. Lukian snatched the wolf by its throat, out of midair. The action looked like something out of a movie. It was surreal seeing that much power in a man as he snapped the animal’s neck with one hand and very little in the way of effort.

It wasn’t over. She didn’t need to hear more howls or growls to know there were others around them. Others who wanted to kill. Lukian twisted, his blue gaze moving over her, his poker face cracking slightly, showing relief. In that second she knew the relief was for her—that she wasn’t harmed. Unable to help herself, Peren lifted a hand, wanting to make contact with the man. Wanting to feel his flesh against hers. Some inner force driving her to want to be sure he too was okay. His gaze went to her hand
,
and in that very second a large mass burst free from the bushes nearest them and pummeled into Lukian, sending him hurtling to the ground. She grabbed at the snarling mass on Lukian of what seemed to be part human and part beast in an attempt to pull it from him. Just as her fingers nearly connected with it, pain shot through her head as something snatched her up and off her feet by her hair.

Chapter Fourteen

Lukian rolled onto his stomach and brought the half-changed werewolf around with him. He struck out, catching its jaw. His fingers burned for the change. His body wanted to be allowed to go to wolf form for the battle. He knew he could take them, all of them, as a wolf. He also knew the act of shape-shifting in front of Peren would send her screaming to her death if she saw him become what she feared most. He resisted the burning need to allow his wolf free and fought in human form.

He brought his knee up hard and caught the half-wolf in the gut. It lurched back. Putting his hands over his head, Lukian touched the hard earth with his palms and thrust himself upward in one fluid motion.
 

“The cavalry is here, Captain. Take cover.” He heard the voice of Jon—the team’s sniper—in his earpiece.

Good.
 

His team would assist and help make short work of the rogues around them, allowing Lukian to focus on Peren and her safety. He kicked, sent the half-wolf flying high into the air, and spun
,
looking for Peren. She was no longer near him. She wasn’t anywhere that he could see or smell. His heart lodged in his throat and his hand went to his transponder.

“Jon, hold your fire. Hold your fire!”
 

Lukian dropped down, looking at the dirt beneath him. Tracking came naturally to him. It was in his blood. He’d been born to be a hunter and he let his instincts take over. He sniffed the air, running his fingers over the imprints in the ground from Peren’s boots. A set of large footprints was next to hers, matching the dragging pattern she’d left step for step. A shifter had her and she’d not gone willingly. His beast roared within him, wanting to be free. He almost let it, but his fear of not being able to rein it again seemed justified. It had never been this forceful, this insistent
,
and he wasn’t sure he’d be able to put the horse back in the barn once it was set free.
 

If anyone harms my woman, they will die
.
 

“Captain?” Green’s voice came over the comm.

Lukian ignored his fellow teammate, his attention on Peren and tracking her. It was all he could do to keep his beast caged. He couldn’t focus on anything else. Not when she was missing.

Her screams slashed through the darkness, stabbing at him.

I’m coming, baby, hold on
.

He ran fast and hard. His boots gave him the traction he needed to scale up the side of a rock wall to shave time off his pursuit. He hit the road just as headlights splashed over him. A van squealed to a stop in front of him. The side door slid open, revealing Jon and Wilson, both men dressed in black from head to toe. Lukian met Jon’s confused amber gaze and struggled to get his breathing under control. “Jon, they took her… I lost the trail. We have to find her! We have to protect her!”