by Paige Tyler
But Ivy wasn’t paying attention to her husband. She had her eyes closed and her face turned up, sniffing the air.
“Shit,” Clayne muttered. He dropped his pack and started digging in it.
“Ivy?” Landon said.
Ivy finally turned her attention to him. “I heard you. And I’d love to take a look at the dead hybrids, but later. Right now, I’m more concerned with the live hybrids coming this way.”
Angelo swore and reloaded his magazines. Butler did the same. On the far side of the clearing Tate and Brent picked up the dead hybrids’ weapons and raided their ammo pouches. Probably not a bad idea.
Beside Angelo, Clayne was reloading his M4 magazines faster than Angelo had ever seen anyone reload. Then he did the same to his .45 clips.
“I swear that if we get out of this alive, Danica can have her wedding in any damn church she likes,” Clayne said. “That includes the Vatican.”
Angelo laughed. “I’m going to tell her you said that. Though I think there might be a long waiting list of people ahead of you.”
Clayne slammed a fresh clip into his .45 with a growl. “I have a way of dealing with waiting lists.”
***
“Stop wiggling around like such a baby,” Kendra said. “It’s just an antiseptic wipe. Sheesh, I’d have thought someone your size would be tougher.”
Declan chuckled. “It doesn’t hurt. It’s cold.”
“Oh.” She cringed. “Sorry.”
She fell silent as she went back to cleaning the three long, ragged wounds that started at the top of his left shoulder and ran diagonally across his chest. She’d already cleaned the other claw marks on his chest, but the ones on his shoulder concerned her the most. They were deep. She thought about putting on her NVGs so she could see better, but she hated those things—everything looked so green and washed out. She’d do a better job working by feel.
Declan had attempted to tell her he didn’t need her to fuss over him, but she wasn’t putting up with any of that. The moment they’d gotten far enough away from the attack site and found a good hiding place, she’d ordered him to take off his shredded uniform top and T-shirt.
She’d been really worried about his wounds; there’d been a lot of blood on his clothes. She had no idea what kind of nasty jungle crud those hybrids had been carrying under their claws. The last thing she needed was for Declan to get some kind of hybrid-induced infection while they were out here fighting for their lives. And working at the DCO had taught her one thing—shifters healed quickly. She had to get his wounds cleaned before they started closing over and trapped dirt and possible infection inside. Fortunately, after she’d gotten his top off and wiped away the worst of the blood, she realized they weren’t nearly as bad as she’d thought.
“That was a lot of shooting we heard before,” she said as she ran the wipe over his skin. “Was it as close as it sounded?”
Declan growled a little as she hit a tender spot but shook his head when she asked if she should stop. “I’m okay. Keep going. As for the shooting, it might have been only a few miles away, or it could have been fifteen. All the valleys, canyons, and cliffs around here can do crazy things to sound. But I agree with you. There were a lot of people—or hybrids—shooting.”
She’d hoped his shifter hearing would be able to pinpoint the source of the gun battle. But she still had reason to hope the sound might bode well for them. “Do you think it was a rescue party looking for us?”
Declan was silent as he considered that. As she waited for him to answer, she let her fingers trail along his ribs and abs, looking for other damage. She didn’t think he’d gotten scratched anywhere else, but she wanted to check and make sure. The act of slowly and gently cleaning his muscular body, checking for other wounds, running her fingers here and there was extremely mesmerizing for some reason. At first she told herself she was doing it to be thorough, but as she continued to trail her fingers over places she knew the hybrids had never gotten near, she finally admitted she was touching him because she liked it.
She blushed, but she didn’t stop what she was doing. Declan had a really nice body—even with the ragged claw marks. It was dark in the shelter, so she couldn’t see much, but she didn’t need to see his body to enjoy it. The sensation of his warm skin under her fingers was enough.
“It might be a rescue party,” he answered, his voice soft. “But it’s just as likely those shots were from a pack of hybrids executing a random group of hikers or ecotourists they stumbled across.”
Kendra shuddered. God, she didn’t want to think about that. Instead she focused on the positive. “But there’s still a chance it was Tate and the other guys. Shouldn’t we try to rendezvous with them?”
He pondered the question before answering. Kendra took the opportunity to let her fingers wander farther, from his thick, muscular neck, down across both broad shoulders, and around his big biceps and finally his forearms. Declan didn’t seem to mind her ministrations, and she sure didn’t mind doing them. If she closed her eyes and blocked out all the plant smells and animal sounds, she could almost imagine they were back home in her bedroom, enjoying a leisurely massage instead of fighting for their lives in the hybrid-filled jungles of Costa Rica.
“Before we started running into all these hybrids, I would have been the first to say we should be heading in that direction,” Declan said, pulling her back to the here and now. “But now, we can’t take the risk. There are just too many bad guys running around the jungle right now. And all that shooting is bound to draw even more hybrids in that direction. We’d literally be walking ourselves right into their hands, then end up having to fight our way through who knows how many of them, exposing ourselves and likely using up what little ammo we have left. And what do we do if we get there only to find out that it wasn’t Tate and the guys? It’d be over for us.”
She sighed, knowing that he was right. “Sorry. I was just hoping. Silly, I know.”
Declan put one of his big hands on her leg and gave it a soft squeeze. The squeeze was nice but not nearly as nice as the warmth of his touch. “There’s nothing to be sorry about, and it wasn’t silly. I had the exact same thought when I heard those shots. If I thought the risk was worth it, we’d be heading there right now. But I really think our best bet is to use the distraction offered by whoever was doing that shooting and keep moving northwest as fast as we can.”
Kendra moved her hands up his well-muscled arms to his equally chiseled chest. She had a thing for really muscular chests. Or maybe she just had a thing for Declan’s muscular chest. Either way, she kept swiping here and there with one of the medicated wipes, using the flimsy prop to justify what was really nothing more than a massage now.
Declan didn’t complain. In fact, she was pretty sure his eyes were closed. No shock there. He’d just fought off three hybrids, not to mention hadn’t eaten for the last two days. He was probably wiped out, and her gentle touches were likely putting him to sleep. She smiled in the dark. She was glad she could do something simple like this for him in return for the amazing job he was doing keeping her alive.
But as she glided her fingers down the center of his abs and along the light happy trail of fine hair toward his belly button, Declan stiffened. “I think I’m good, Kendra. I don’t think any of those hybrids got me that low.”
Kendra flinched at the sudden harshness in his tone. Apparently, he didn’t appreciate her touch quite as much as she’d thought. It hurt her feelings more than a little, but she supposed she shouldn’t be surprised. He’d been avoiding all contact with her for months, so he probably didn’t appreciate it now.
“I was just checking,” she explained softly. “Even a little scratch can get infected out here.”
“I know…and…thanks.”
Kendra took her hands away as he slowly sat up, already missing the contact with his skin and the sense of calm that had come with it. As she scooted back to make room for him, she abruptly felt foolish, both for letting herself get so
emotionally invested in something as impersonal as cleaning a guy’s wounds and for feeling so hurt by his rejection.
She mentally slapped herself. She needed to stop acting like a hormonal teenager on prom night and focus on the here and now. They had bigger crap to worry about than hurt feelings and unrequited interest. As Declan pulled his pack over and dug out a semi-clean T-shirt, she focused on the one issue that had been bothering her since the hybrids had attacked them earlier.
“You know that needle meant the hybrids were trying to take you alive, don’t you?” she asked.
He pulled on his shirt. “I’ve been thinking the same thing, but why? They sure as hell didn’t have a problem shooting at me that first day. What could they want with me?”
Kendra had a pretty good idea why the hybrids might be trying to take him alive, but she wasn’t sure how to tell him without spilling all of Ivy’s secrets—and those weren’t hers to spill. She could try and mince words, maybe say enough to get him to recognize the risk he was facing. But that wouldn’t be fair. She’d be risking Declan’s life if she didn’t give him the whole truth. She had to make sure he understood the kind of psychos he was up against.
“They don’t want you,” she said. “They want your shifter DNA.”
Declan frowned. “How the hell do you know that? Oh wait, let me guess. You can’t tell me. It’s a secret, right?”
“It’s a secret all right…a big one. But you need to hear it because I need you to realize how serious this is.”
Declan was silent. “This involves Ivy again, doesn’t it?”
She nodded. “Yes. So when I tell you that you can never breathe a word of what I’m about to tell you to another soul, you know why.”
“Okay. I understand.”
Kendra took a moment to collect her thoughts, trying to figure out what to say that wouldn’t require at least an hour of backstory. Finally, she decided to stick to the important facts that mattered the most right now.
“You know those two doctors the DCO has been hunting for months?” she asked.
Of course he did—everyone in the DCO was aware that they’d been after the architects of the hybrid program since Ivy and Landon had filed their report on the two insane doctors. But she needed somewhere to start and that seemed as good as anywhere else. When Declan nodded, she jumped in with both feet.
“They grabbed Ivy out in Washington State and experimented on her. The one big thing they were after were DNA samples—all kinds of samples.”
Declan swore. “How the hell did this not come out?”
“It didn’t come out because Ivy and Landon never told anyone.”
Silence, then another curse. “Because then everyone would have known Landon didn’t follow the DCO’s first standing order and kill Ivy when it looked like she was going to be captured.”
“Exactly,” she said.
Hopefully Declan wouldn’t ask the next obvious question: Why had Landon refused to follow the most rigid DCO order? Telling Declan that Ivy had been experimented on was bad enough; telling him that she had fallen in love with—and married—her partner? That was a whole different level of complicated.
But Declan was more interested in something else. “So Ivy was captured and instead of calling the DCO for help, Landon called…you?”
“Sheesh, you don’t have to make it sound like I’m that far down on the list,” she said wryly. “But you’re right. Landon initially wanted you and your team, but you were out chasing down Tanner. Landon wanted someone he could trust. That ended up being me.”
She wasn’t going to mention Clayne or the entire Special Forces team Landon had called in. No need to draw anyone else into this story. She was already violating so many promises it wasn’t even funny.
“And these doctors—they experimented on Ivy. Took DNA samples?”
This was the part she really needed to hammer home. She needed Declan to understand the kind of vicious psychos they were up against.
“Experimented is putting it mildly. Tortured would be a better word. They wanted DNA samples and they didn’t care how they got them. At the same time, the doctors wanted to evaluate Ivy’s pain threshold. They used scalpels, drills, and worse. If we hadn’t found her when we did…” She shuddered. “They were planning to take brain tissue samples next.”
Declan was growling before Kendra was halfway finished, and she looked up to see his eyes glowing a soft rose color. She’d never seen Declan’s eyes glow, even when they’d been moving around at night. But while the glow was reddish, it was completely different than that of the hybrids. Nevertheless, to know that his eyes did that when he got angry was a little…scary. She couldn’t believe in all the years she’d worked with him, she’d never seen that part of his shifter nature.
But the glow disappeared just as fast as it had appeared, leaving her to wonder if she’d really seen it at all.
“Is Ivy okay now?” Declan asked, his voice a little thick, and Kendra knew he was fighting to get his fangs and jaw to shift back to normal.
“Yes. As okay as one could expect after what happened to her. But she’ll never forget what they did to her or what they took from her. And when she finds them, they’ll pay.”
“Is that what she and Landon have been doing all those times when their missions ran over or they got delayed in transit, trying to find those doctors?”
Kendra tried not to look shocked, and thought she’d managed it, until Declan chuckled. “I’ll take that as a yes.”
“How long have you noticed this going on? Have you told anyone else?” she asked.
If Declan had noticed—or pointed out—what Landon and Ivy were doing, they were screwed. Did John know? Or worse, Dick? If so, the Committee almost certainly knew as well. Her pulse began to beat out of control.
“Relax and breathe.” Declan reached out to place his big hands on her shoulders. “I noticed a while ago, but I haven’t told anyone. And I’m pretty sure no one else has realized what’s going on, so you can calm down before you start to hyperventilate.”
She took a deep breath, then another while Declan sat there with his hands on her shoulders, waiting patiently.
“How did you figure out what was going on?” she finally asked.
He took his hands away. “I’m big, but that doesn’t mean I’m stupid. I pay attention to the little things most people could care less about. Like when I noticed Landon chewing a piece of gum from a pack with airport markings for a tiny island in the Philippines, even though they were supposed to have been in Japan. Or that box of real Belgian chocolate Ivy left on your desk a couple of weeks ago, though they’d supposedly just come back from Moscow. Little things, but I noticed them often enough to figure out the two of them were doing some off-the-books traveling. I figured it was none of my business, so I didn’t tell anyone about it.”
Kendra was shocked—and embarrassed. She’d never thought of Declan as being that perceptive. Stupid of her. She knew he was smart—MIT smart. It shouldn’t be surprising he used that intelligence to see things around him other people missed. And since he was so quiet, it wasn’t like he’d broadcast what he picked up on. Had he already figured out Ivy and Landon were a couple, too?
“Do you think anybody else noticed the same things you did and figured out what Ivy and Landon are up to?” she asked.
“Like John? I doubt it. He is way too busy keeping the DCO going. He’s so big picture that the day-to-day stuff isn’t even on his radar.”
“What about Dick?”
Declan snorted. “Dick isn’t around any of us field agents enough to notice stuff like that. He’s too busy spending all his time in the offices up on the Hill. He’s the least of our worries. No, the only one who might be on to you is that Russian doctor—Zarina. She’s sharper than anyone realizes. She runs around with her nose stuck in her lab notes, but trust me, she sees everything. If there’s someone you need to worry about, it’s her.”
Kendra smiled. Nice to know that while Declan w
as observant enough to see some things, he didn’t see everything. “Don’t worry about Zarina. She’s not a problem.”
“More secrets?” he asked, then held up his hands. “Never mind. I don’t want to know. Let’s just focus on why those hybrids were trying to stick that needle in me.”
Good idea. She didn’t want to spill any more of her friends’ secrets. “That needle tells me it’s likely the doctors who tortured Ivy are here in Costa Rica looking for DNA material from more real shifters to improve their hybrid process.”
Declan frowned, considering that. “Maybe that’s why we were ambushed—so they could get their hands on me.”
“I thought that, too, but then why shoot at you when they first came after us? I don’t think you were their target.”
“Okay, but then what changed?” he asked. “The doctors Ivy and Landon have been chasing certainly have the intel to let them know I was out here. Why go from trying to kill me to wanting to grab me?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know. There’s obviously something going on here we don’t know about.”
“Well, there’s one thing we do know.”
“What’s that?”
“That I sure as hell don’t want to fall into their hands. I like my DNA exactly where it is.”
She laughed. “Me, too.”
Declan pulled his pack closer and dug around inside it, then held out an energy bar. “Here. You haven’t eaten anything since this morning.”
Kendra made a face. “God, I hate these things. It’s like eating tub and tile caulk.”
He lifted a brow. “And you have experience eating tub and tile caulk?”
“After eating these things, the answer is yes, I do.”
“Just eat it,” he said gently. “If you do, I promise to take you out to a real restaurant when we get back and buy you anything you want.”
She eyed him thoughtfully as she tore open the wrapper. “Anywhere I want to go, and anything I want to eat?”
He chuckled. “Yes and yes. But you have to eat the whole bar.”