Immortal Ops: New & Lengthened 2016 Anniversary Edition (3 page)

Roi held up two fingers and smiled wider.
 

Green glanced at Lukian. “One of these days he’s going to regret having sex with every woman he meets.”
 

“Probably not today though,” Lukian said, moving closer to Green. The man picked science and the never-ending quest for knowledge over a social life. He hadn’t always been that way. Once, long ago, Green had given the majority of his time to the woman he loved. Her death changed him. “What did you do with your downtime?”

“Read over some medical journals and attended three different seminars. One was especially good. It was about biometric engineering. They’re doing some innovative things in the area, and I believe they could benefit wounded soldiers. And another seminar I attended was about signature-tagging mutagenesis. That was interesting as well.”
 

Lukian held up a hand to stop Green. He’d go on and on if he didn’t. The man’s love of all things nerdy knew no limits. Lukian didn’t have time to listen to a long, drawn-out discussion at the moment.

Roi’s eyes widened with alarm. “You spent your downtime learning?”
 

Lukian nearly laughed at the horrified look on Roi’s face. Roi wouldn’t be caught dead in any sort of seminar unless it was on the finer points of picking up women. He’d be the one hosting the thing.

“I did,” Green responded. “Very enlightening. There is another seminar not far from here in about three weeks. You’re both welcome to attend with me.”

Lukian froze. He did not want to attend any seminar with Green.

“Captain,” Roi said, putting his hand on Green’s shoulder as they both faced Lukian. “We really need to get this man laid, stat. I think we should make this priority number one.”

While Roi had a point, Lukian knew better than to suggest such a thing to Green. The man had his own personal demons that kept him out of anyone’s bed, and Lukian didn’t question it. There was no point.
 

Plus, it wasn’t as if Lukian had that many women warming his bed at nights as of late. He and Green must have looked like monks compared to Roi and his ways with the ladies.

To each his own.

They made their way into the conference room as Green continued to mumble something about alternating gene-expression patterns. Lukian glanced at Roi, already knowing Roi wasn’t following the line of conversation. Lukian wasn’t either. “I have no idea what he’s talking about.”

Roi shrugged. “I only understand about five percent of what he says when he starts talking about science crap.”

“Five percent? Really?” Lukian doubted very much the percentage was even that high.

“It is really basic,” said Green, lifting a hand as if he were about to launch into a lecture.

Lukian grabbed the man’s hand and released it quickly. “Green, we’re good. You’d be wasting your breath on us. We’re lost causes with this stuff.”

“Okay then,” replied Green.

The men found their other team members already seated in the conference room. Field operative Lance Toov gave a small wave, and if Lukian didn’t know better, he’d have sworn Lance tucked a dart gun below the table. Lance was a werepanther and dedicated team member, but he was also a practical jokester. It would be very like Lance to try to sneak a toy into a briefing.

Jon Reynell, a weretiger and the team’s sniper, looked far away in thought, but Lukian knew the man heard everything that went on around him. Jon had always been the quietest of the team members and seemed to often get lost in self-reflection. That was probably what made him such a great sniper—he had patience where the rest of the team suffered from a distinct lack of it.
 

Wilson Rousseau, team smart
-
ass and wererat, was leaning back in his chair, fast asleep, his feet on the conference table. He was a fantastic operative, well-rounded and able to fill in wherever he was needed, but he didn’t take much seriously. That was both good and bad.

Colonel Asher Brooks stood at the center of the room, near a whiteboard. Of all the men, the colonel was certainly the most clean-cut. At various points in Lukian’s life he’d been the same way, but it never lasted long. He liked the slightly unkempt version of himself best. It was also the easiest to maintain.

Brooks never seemed fazed by much. Lukian had never been sure what Brooks was, but he knew enough to know the man wasn’t human. The guy hadn’t aged once in the years he’d known him, and he had no scent. None whatsoever. That wasn’t normal. Not by a long shot. The only people he knew who could mask their scent were supernaturals
,
and none of them could do it to the degree the colonel could. All Lukian knew for sure was the guys who ran the show would never leave a human in charge of trying to corral the I-Ops. That would be unwise.

Very unwise.

On his way to his seat, Lukian kicked Wilson’s chair out from under him, sending the man crashing to the floor, jolting him awake. Wilson came up fast, his hair going in all directions, his claws erect, looking wild-eyed and as if he were ready to take on the world. “Who’s your daddy?”
 

All men present simply stared at Wilson. Lukian blinked several times, trying to make sense of the question. Wilson knew who Lukian’s father was. All the Ops did. “What kind of question is that?”
 

Roi leaned and lowered his voice, not that it mattered since the I-Ops had super sensitive hearing. “Slang thing. You wouldn’t get it, old-timer.”
 

Growling, Lukian showed fang in a playful manner. He enjoyed the light banter between the men and knew it was good for morale. They sometimes entered into some dark shit
,
and the ability to laugh and make light of things was needed. It was often all that kept a man sane. And he’d know, he’d seen enough of their brethren crack under the pressures of the Ops program. Seen their minds and spirits break. He wouldn’t lose any more.

He’d lost too many already.

The history of the Ops program was steeped in horror and atrocities. Unspeakable ones. When science and politics mingled, the results often were less than pleasant. Years ago, Lukian had started to hear rumors of what the government was doing, but he’d dismissed them as fables. When he’d learned the truth, he’d been horrified and outraged. That got him nowhere. In the end he was simply one man
,
and he couldn’t ask his followers to wage a war against factions of the government that were acting without the knowledge of the rest. He couldn’t risk it getting even more out of control and humans finding out supernaturals were real.

That would end in a bloodbath.

So he’d gone to the source, to the places rumored to be conducting experiments on men and women. What he had found still sickened him to this day. History told the tale of mad scientists like IIya Ivanov and his ape-army project—when he had tried to cross-breed apes and humans to make super-soldiers. History also spoke of Nazi’s Eugenics and master races, but it did not tell the tale of the Immortal Ops program or any of the other tests that were done on a global level to try to make men better—to make them all they could be and more. No, history failed to mention any of that, but Lukian had seen it with his own eyes and he’d stepped in to try to make a difference. He’d offered his pure lycan blood
,
and that of other full-blooded shifters and supernaturals, as samples to use in place of whatever it was the scientists had cooked up. He’d done so against his advisers’ wishes
,
and men had lived because of his actions. Good men. Like those in the room with him.

Men he thought of as family.

Roi snickered, pulling Lukian from his thoughts. It was for the best. Lukian didn’t want to go down that dark path again.

His second-in-command pointed at Wilson and then spoke, “Sit down. No one is scared of a rat.”

“Bite me, asshole,” mouthed Wilson as he sat and adjusted his T-shirt as if it were out of place. He flipped Roi off with both hands and then ran his hands through his hair, trying to look as if he wasn’t acting like a teenager.

“Can I eat him?” asked Roi, a child-like quality suddenly in his voice.

Brooks set a file on the table, pulling attention to himself. “No.” The screen behind Brooks lit up. “Gentlemen, I trust you had some good downtime.”

“I did,” said Roi
,
still grinning about his double action. “Green didn’t. He learned all through his break. That is just sick and wrong. There are women to see and do.”
 

Brooks paid Roi little mind. “Now, first order of business. We have an elimination order that has come in.”
 

The men stiffened. Elimination orders were always touchy subjects. There had been more and more as of late, leaving the men feeling more like a hit squad than trained super-soldiers.
 

“Who?” asked Lukian.

“Tell me it’s a vampire,” said Roi with a smile. “I hate vampires.”
 

“Me too,” added Jon, suddenly seeming to be involved in what was happening around him.
 

“Me three,” said Wilson
,
right before an orange dart appeared on his forehead, sticking there.
 

Lance burst into hysterical laughter.

Lukian gave him a stern look. “Children.”

With a shrug, Lance handed over the dart gun. “I’ve been waiting for thirty minutes to do that.”
 

Wilson pulled the dart from his forehead. “Asshole.”
 

Brooks groaned. “Are we done?”

“Yes, Colonel,” the men said, glancing nervously at Lukian.
 

Lukian motioned to Brooks. “Continue.”

Brooks shook his head. “Sorry, boys, no vamps. The target is a woman.”
 

The men gasped. They had never been sent to eliminate a woman before. Lukian cast Brooks a questioning look, and Brooks sighed, seeming as displeased with the idea of it as Lukian was. Brooks pushed the file toward Lukian
,
and Lukian opened it, his gaze whipping at once to the picture.

It took all of him not to stand and shout
mine
. Unsure where the urge was coming from and why he was having it, Lukian clasped his hands together and sat back in his seat quickly
,
as if the picture was some sort of juju set forth to bring out crazed proclamations from him.

Mine.

“Gentlemen,” said Brooks. “This is Peren Matthews and she’s the target. This came in as a high priority
,
but the details are sketchy at best. All I know is, the higher-ups want her eliminated
.
You have your orders. Make it happen.”

Chapter Three

Peren sat and listened to her friends go on and on about their stressful week. They’d been trying to outdo one another for the greater part of an hour, possibly more, but she’d been successful in blocking them out to some degree. They were going on this outing for her benefit but she couldn’t seem to muster the energy and will to be happy. She’d been doing her best to avoid social interactions for months now.

And her best friends had had enough of her behavior.

She turned her attention to the window and stared out at the night sky. Her gaze flickered to the crescent-shaped moon
,
and she had to fight the urge to trace the edges of it with her fingers. She’d always been obsessed with the wonders of night. As a small child she’d sit in her window and long to be among the stars. They seemed so peaceful, so free from care or concern. That had been what she wanted most as a child—peace. Now, on her twenty-fourth birthday, she sat in the back of Melanie’s cramped Ford sedan and tried to wish herself somewhere serene. She found little amusement in the fact that she’d come full circle.
 

She shifted awkwardly in the seat and pushed the pile of used tissues away from her feet. Melanie was far from a neat freak
,
and the lipstick-stained tissues on the floor told her that Mel had a habit of tossing trash behind her as she drove.
 

Missy fixed her dark brown eyes on Peren and looked dismayed. “Girl, you need to lighten up—it’s your birthday.”
 

Peren let a fake smile creep onto her face.
Yeah, because it’s
so
easy to lighten up knowing Kyle’s gone and he’ll never be back. It’s wrong to be celebrating with him not here.
She tried to hide the emotions on her face, but Missy’s expression told her she’d failed.
 

She couldn’t get angry with Missy or Melanie. They were only trying to help. Since Kyle’s disappearance, they’d gone out of their way to try to help her deal with her loss and move on. “You need to climb back up on that dick again, darling…that’s bound to make you feel better.” Mel had told her this on more than one occasion. Sure, she still had the same desires as the next woman, maybe even more, but moving on was the last thing on her mind. She just wanted to go home, curl up, listen to sad music
,
and wallow. She didn’t need or want their planned interventions.
 

“Let’s go to that new country music club…you know…” Melanie said, eyeing Missy in a way that said they’d already picked the destination long before the conversation started, “the one that has the line dancing. Maybe we could find some hot guys there tonight
.
”
 

Peren sighed. She was committed to them for the rest of the night—their prisoner until dawn. She’d agreed to be a willing captive, and they’d agreed to leave her alone about dating other men. Most of their blind-date choices had been disasters. The first two were your typical college guys. They had one thing on their mind, and that was to get into her pants. Melanie was upset that Peren hadn’t given in to their advances. Sure, they were hot and she could have used a good fuck, but she wanted something more.
 

The third guy they’d fixed her up with, Ben, had been decent enough. His short black hair and light blue eyes had made for a fantastic combination. His conversational skills were far better than any of the men she’d been out with before. That wasn’t the best thing about him, though. The best thing had been his smell. As silly as it sounded, he smelled like musk and fresh morning air. Kyle had had that very same natural scent. It drove her wild with lust.