Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
About the Author
Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
About the Author
Jade
A Dark Assassins Novel
Book Four
Valerie Ullmer
Jade (A Dark Assassins Novel Book Four)
Copyright © 2018 Valerie Ullmer
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in either print or electronic form without written permission from the author. Quotes used in reviews are the one exception. No alteration of content is allowed.
This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, places and locales, or events, is purely coincidental. All characters and events portrayed in this book are completely fictitious and dreamed up by the author.
Cover Design by Valerie Ullmer (http://www.valerieullmerdesigns.com)
Proofread by Faith Williams from The Atwater Group
Chapter One
Jade
Jade caught a scent of a human as she entered the fourteen-story building in downtown Snowfall. It wasn’t just any human scent, but something that made all of her instincts flare. She knew that she’d never caught this particular scent before, but something told her that this human might be important to her. She tried to brush it off as quickly as the thought came, but she couldn’t find it coincidental she smelled it in the same steel building owned by Ghost and housed the headquarters of Dark Company.
As she dismissed the fleeting thought of searching for the scent, her heart thumped once, hard, in her chest at the thought of not finding its owner. She forced herself to walk toward the elevator bank, ignoring the unwanted perusals she received from the men in the lobby. Even in an unassuming hoodie and black yoga pants, she drew unwanted attention. A side effect of being an immortal.
The elevator opened as soon as she pressed the up-button and she kept her gaze down as she walked into the elevator. She entered the code to get to Ghost’s private floor, her movements too quick to be caught by the human eye, before she squeezed into the corner. Jade used her other senses as three men in suits and two women entered the enclosed space with her. There was no need to glance at the glass interior that covered the back wall to see what she looked like.
She sensed eyes on her. Instead of searching out the gaze, she whipped her long, straight dyed black hair into a bun on the back of her head with quick movements before sneaking her hands into the front pockets of her hoodie.
Jade waited patiently as the car traveled toward the penthouse, her ultimate destination, but she couldn’t help but try to find the intriguing scent from earlier.
After my meeting.
All she knew was he hadn’t used the particular elevator she was in and the higher the lift took her in the building, the more his scent dissipated.
In her entire existence, or what she remembered of it, she’d never been attracted to…anyone. She’d never felt the pull to find someone either. But lately, she’d felt increasingly restless whenever she had any downtime and her skin tingled in a way that had nothing to do with signaling immediate danger. It was as though her body tried to convey something she didn’t understand.
Her thoughts were interrupted when a man who had gotten into the elevator with her on the first floor stepped into her personal space.
“Hey, beautiful?”
Jade rolled her eyes and raised her head to glare at the man. Of course, he wouldn’t take the hint that she wanted to be left alone. To emphasize the point, she crossed her arms and leaned against the wall, moving away from his intrusion.
The man decided to take this as an invitation and moved to wrap his arm around her waist. The move gave her a clear shot to his ribs and she took it, gently moving her elbow back and making contact. She flinched when she heard a distinctive crack, realizing she hadn’t been careful enough. Before she could apologize, the elevator door opened and he ran off without looking back, holding onto his side.
She sighed.
Jade had never told anyone, not even Liv, who knew more about her than anyone else. But she hated being the center of attention. She’d gotten so desperate to avoid it that she dyed her hair black in order to detract from her naturally soft ginger hair, green eyes, and freckles that made her look young. But instead of diverting attention, she somehow drew more.
She wanted to be known for her fierce fighting and being a good friend. She couldn’t care less what she looked like and even less if she had a mate. Xander had wondered about Frost for decades before meeting her, thinking he’d missed her. Reaper hadn’t discounted his own mate, especially after Kai found Liv, but the moment he laid eyes on Ara, he knew she was for him. It had taken Kai almost losing Liv to recognize what he knew all along. And their Seth had grown up and married Aubrey, the sweetest vampire and woman Jade had ever known.
She enjoyed her life with her family, and loved her job because she believed that she made a difference. But each time another assassin met their mate, their mates took one look at her and expected Jade to be the competition. She never blamed them, but it hurt her a little each time it happened.
Gunnar was right when he described her to Liv as needing a lot of contact and that she loved touch. But it wasn’t because she was seeking sexual pleasure. Being physically close to her family, being able to hold Silas and hug those close to her, made her red fox relax in contentment. It was why she loved it when Silas sought her out and they talked for hours about everything and nothing.
But being sexually intimate with someone required trust. She had ways to pleasure herself that didn’t make her vulnerable to anyone.
Jade shook off her thoughts as the elevator car came to a stop on her floor. She would find out what Ghost wanted and then head to Xander’s. She promised Silas that they could shift and run through the woods to Kai’s, where they would have dinner with the rest of the family.
As soon as the doors opened, she caught the scent again, only concentrated on this floor.
Well…shit.
Whatever Ghost wanted, he had a human in his office, most likely her mate.
How had Ghost known who the man was?
Jade schooled her features and turned toward his office before he came to find her. He would have scented her as soon as the elevator doors opened.
As she stepped out, her eyes locked on a tall man moving toward her from the direction she wanted to go. He felt familiar to her, but his eyes were locked on the floor as he strode down the hall toward the elevator bank. She was stunned when he turned his green eyes on her. Something fluttered in her chest and for a long moment, she couldn’t
help but stare at him. All she knew was that this wasn’t the man who she’d scented earlier.
While she was five two, this man towered over her at close to six four, almost as tall as Reaper. When he smiled a wicked smile at her, images flashed in front of her but she couldn’t capture them fast enough to remember what they had shown her.
Were they memories or had he been the one who had shown her?
He was a shifter, she could tell that much, but which animal, she couldn’t narrow down while she had other things on her mind.
While she’d been distracted, the man stepped into the elevator behind her and the doors started to close. She quickly turned to him.
“Do I know you?”
The only answer she received was a smile that left her even more confused than a moment before, but she didn’t stop him from leaving. She had a sneaking suspicion she would see him again.
Shaking off the numerous questions swirling in her mind, she strode toward Ghost’s office and knocked sharply.
“Enter.”
With quick movements, she opened the door and slid inside before she closed it behind her. She kept her eyes on Ghost behind the desk as he sorted through several folders scattered on his messy desk. She’d told him that he needed an assistant to keep everything in order but he waved her suggestion away. She was aware of the human, in ways she had yet to understand, but she didn’t look at him.
“Did you have an appointment with the shifter who just left?”
Ghost’s head snapped up and gave her his full attention. She could sense the human who had been leaning against a bookshelf across the room had straightened at her words.
“No, I didn’t.”
“He left before I could question him, so I wondered if you were recruiting again.” Jade smiled and dropped into the chair closest to her.
“Last thing we need is more trouble.”
Jade laughed at this. All they had was trouble, interspersed with moments of family and laughter, but they’d all gotten used to the dangers their profession provided.
“I’ll search through the security footage and run facial recognition on what I find.”
She nodded, knowing that he wasn’t going to find anything. They wouldn’t have sent a recon shifter if he didn’t know what he was doing.
“I have an assignment for you.”
She didn’t answer. She interlaced her fingers and leaned back on the chair, placing her hands on her stomach in a casual move, and waited. Ghost texted their assignments. She couldn’t remember one instance when she or any of the others were called into his office.
Jade knew it involved the human, the one who stood without speaking a word. He somehow drew her to him in a way she couldn’t explain. It was as if every nerve ending stood at attention and she could sense whenever he moved, even a millimeter. And his scent, a combination of sweet and spicy that she’d never smelled on another person, called to her in a way that fogged her mind. But she couldn’t shake her head to clear it.
Her gaze darted to the man, knowing he wouldn’t be able to detect her minuscule movement. With her quick perusal, she noted that he was close to six three. He had blond hair that had been once cut short but had grown several inches, probably since he left the military. His eyes were dark blue, his arms were tanned, as she assumed the rest of him was the same way, and he had long fingers that looked strong.
His lips were pressed in a thin line and his brows were down as he glared at her. When she turned her gaze back to Ghost after a split second of perusal, Ghost’s lip was quirked up, as if he was amused by her inspection. But his looked became serious once again.
“Anzu’s group is alive and looking for new leadership.”
Without thinking it through, she had moved from her chair to the corner of the room, opposite of the human. Her back was pressed against the wall as she stared in disbelief at Ghost. Her fists were clenched at her sides and a million questions ran through her mind.
“Are they safe?”
Ghost nodded. “They’ve been aware and prepared since the fight, Xander more than anyone else.”
“Explain, please.” Jade relaxed a fraction.
Ghost nodded toward the human. “Noah has intel that they are looking for a new leader and creating new members.”
Jade knew exactly what that meant. “Fuck my life. Were they successful?”
“Not so far. Six men, all ex-Special Forces, were killed during the transition.”
Jade wanted to rage. To go home and run in the woods for hours until the underlying pain for the men’s deaths, those she didn’t know, numbed her. Instead, she pinched the bridge of her nose and blew out a breath.
The man moved and his scent once again enveloped her and something tightened in her chest. She tightly packed the feeling deep down inside and promised herself she would deal with the confusion later.
“What do you need me to do?”
“I need you to track the shifters and find their base of operations before you report back to me and we come up with a plan to eliminate them all this time.”
Jade nodded. “Just me or is Gunnar coming?”
She could sense the human bristle, but she didn’t understand if he didn’t want her in charge or didn’t believe she could find them.
“Noah will be working with you. He has a personal stake in this and he knew they were holding him in a place south of here.”
“Won’t they know he escaped and try to snag him again for another go at a transition?”
“Doesn’t matter. Noah’s ex-Navy SEAL and knows he’s taking a risk, but he’s willing to help us with this op. He knows about us. And I trust him.”
Jade nodded. She was reluctant to let a human to go on a mission, but she knew she would protect him with her life. She didn’t say it aloud, knowing he wouldn’t appreciate the sentiment.
When Ghost had first brought her into the fold, the other assassins doubted her abilities as well. That brought a smile to her lips.
“Stop that. Save it for Anzu’s crew.”
She nodded.
“You’ll take Noah to Kai’s and for the next couple of days, they will train him before you two set out.”
“I’d prefer if we left now.” Noah’s voice came out deep, as though he didn’t speak much. “And I’m not sure I trust this tiny woman to be able to handle herself.”
Jade bit back a growl, knowing that Ghost wouldn’t like it if she scared their only source of intel. But she watched as Noah crossed his arms over his chest, widened his stance, and straightened to his full height as he tried to intimidate her.
“Jade, no.”
“You should listen to your boss. You don’t want to get hurt.”
A growl escaped her throat at his taunting words. But she could feel her body warring between her curiosity of the man who made all of her senses flare and the desire to punch something hard. He moved into a fighting stance and at the moment, Jade blinked and turned to Ghost in confusion.
Ghost stepped in front of Noah, almost blocking him from her view.
“Let me explain a little about why Jade is here and not another assassin from my team. Jade is an expert tracker. She can find anyone in the world within seventy-two hours. She may be the smallest and the youngest of my assassins, but she is the deadliest. But what she has never done in her existence is kill or hurt a human unless it came as a direct order from me. She would never do anything to prove her strength because you challenged her, but I would recommend you not do it in front of the other assassins. While they won’t kill you either, they will make you hurt…a lot. And if you want to be part of this mission, I suggest you stash your resentment and listen to my orders.”
Jade watched Noah and his face remained passive during Ghost’s speech, but nodded his understanding.
“I’m sorry for growling at you. That was out of line.”
“And I’m sorry for coming across as a sexist, pompous asshole.”
Jade giggled, almost disgusted with herself,
but it was covered by Ghost’s booming laughter.
“I’ll meet you at Kai’s later.”
Knowing a dismissal when she heard one, Jade walked toward the door and out of the office. Noah closely followed on her heels and she turned toward him when he pressed the down arrow, calling the elevator. Jade brushed her shoulder against his arm and a shiver of pleasure ran through her.
She swallowed as they stepped into the waiting elevator. Being alone with the man unsettled her.
“Did you drive?”
Noah shook his head. “I dropped off my rental car. I was told I wouldn’t be needing one.”
She nodded and pressed the button for the lowest parking floor in the building. When she pulled her hand back, her skin brushed against his and this time, she heard him suck in an almost inaudible breath.
Was he as affected as I am?
It was too early to get the answers to those questions. Instead, she shivered in excitement as she thought about driving up to Kai’s. Although she made quite a lot of money working for Dark Company, she liked to live frugally. She bought her small cottage in the mountains, filled it with books and made the space as welcoming as possible. She spent most of her time with Silas and the others either at Xander’s sprawling house or Kai’s. But her only splurge was an Aston Martin DB11 in Divine Red. The car drove like a dream.
Without a word, they hopped in and she started driving up the mountain and waited patiently for Noah’s questions.
“Why are the transitions killing us?”
“The short answer; we don’t really know. But Liv, Kai’s mate, has been working on comparing human and immortal DNA to figure out why some humans can make the transition. There have been four so far and Liv has come to the conclusion it’s because their mates have turned them. Humans, while there are some exceptions, will die during the transition without being turned by a mate.”
“Did your mate change you?”
Jade shook her head. “I don’t remember anything about my transition or human life, which is unusual, but none of the immortals from Dark Company were turned by their mate. Well, Reaper met Ara a couple years ago and after she transitioned, she became an assassin. Kai turned Liv, both vampires. Reaper and Ara are wolves. Seth was turned into a vampire by Aubrey, his mate. Xander, a snow leopard, turned his mate Frost and they had a baby, Silas. He’s the cutest thing and Liv suspects why Frost was able to get pregnant, but none of the other women shifters or vampires can.”
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