by Roth
She glanced down, a bit embarrassed by the thought of crying in front of him and noticed a speck of dried reddish brown on his hand. She didn’t need him to confirm what it was, she could smell it—it was blood.
“I’m sorry, Ben, but I didn’t remember having ever given you this address. I know I gave you my apartment one, but…oh, well…it must have slipped my mind. It’s good that you’re here now.” she said this deliberately. She didn’t need to alert him that she sensed that something was wrong.
Ben smiled at her and took a step towards her. “No, no you didn’t give me this address. I called your friend’s house and she was kind enough to point me in the right direction.”
Red flags shot up in Peren’s head. Melanie and Missy were both still at the safe house. There was no way he’d gotten ahold of one of them. He was lying. Her body became rigid and Ben’s facial expression changed. He noticed her alarm. Shit…double shit. She did her best to calm down, but failed miserably at it. She closed her eyes for a moment to collect her thoughts and felt faint.
Peren, Peren is that you? She heard Lukian’s voice in her head. She almost answered him aloud, but managed to catch herself before she did.
Yes, I’m here. Are you okay? Where are you? Oh, God, Lukian.
She heard Lukian laugh softly in her mind. You must be fine if you’re rambling on like this. Yes, I’m fine. I think that I’m still on the manor grounds. I’m not sure…I’m in a cell of some sort.
“Peren, are you alright? Do you need to lie down?” Ben asked.
Her eyes snapped open. Ben was next to her, holding her elbow. She jerked her arm away and then stopped in mid-motion. She put her hand to her head to indicate that she had a headache and then peeked out at him.
“I think I’m coming down with a migraine. I should probably call it a night.”
Ben moved closer to her. His leg brushed against her thigh and she knew that he was hard and ready for her. Suddenly, her nose filled with the scent of want, desire, sex, some her own, but mostly his. He wanted to fuck her right here and now. She felt her channel tighten in anticipation of being taken by him.
Peren, what’s going on? Who’s there with you? Is that Roi? Lukian’s voice was full of concern for her. She tried to block the thoughts of Ben that came to her, but she was too late. Lukian saw him too. Get away from him! Go! He’s the one who killed your stepmother…he’s the wolf that attacked you!
No, no not Ben. Even as she pushed these thoughts at Lukian she knew that they were lies. Something about Ben was making her want him. She wanted to be fucked by him. She wanted to please him as she did Lukian. What’s wrong with me?
Peren, control yourself…fight these feeling of lust. They aren’t for him, they are for me…he shares my blood, my DNA and he is a killer! RUN!
Lukian’s voice boomed so loudly in her head that she had to close her eyes to steady herself. She got a clear image of him chained to a concrete floor. She could see the blood on his wrists from the chains cutting deep into him and then she thought about his warning. Ben was the one who had attacked her when she was girl. He was also the one from the woods the other night.
Ben touched her arm again and she felt her body react with a jolt of power. A tingling sensation began in her mid-section, much like the orgasms Lukian was so good at causing and radiated up and out her arms. She wasn’t sure what to do with all this new energy until Lukian came to her mind. She knew then that she could help him or die trying. She lashed it out at him.
* * * *
A cold wave of static energy hit Lukian’s body with the force of a moving train. He screamed out as the chains ripped from his body and fell to the floor. He felt himself being lifted off the ground. Wind snapped around him and power ran through him. This wasn’t just any power, it was Peren’s power. The faerie side of her had come through. He felt his wrists, ankles and ribs healing.
He dropped to his feet in a crouched position and looked around his holding cell. The room had once been done quite nicely. The corner he was in was bare, but the rest was decorated in light pinks and whites. A queen sized four-poster bed sat kitty corner from him and next to it was a white baby’s crib. He walked closer to the bed and a lump formed in his throat. The bed was screwed to the floor and silver chains were mounted in various locations. Something had been tied to this bed, something that involved a baby.
Lukian turned towards a large oak desk in the room. He walked over to it and saw a journal lying atop it. He opened it quickly and skimmed the middle of it.
Karen, my beloved, has confessed to feeding herself the serums in my laboratory over the past year. She was reluctant to confess, but after I found her naked in the moonlight in partial wolf form, she was left no choice. I can understand her desire to produce a child, but to go about it like this was pure madness. I have watched as my love turned into a monster before my eyes and never returned to human form. This child that she carries within her may turn out to be a monster as well. I know that I should have never allowed her to come this far in the pregnancy, but on the off chance that the child is healthy, I could not bring myself to harm it.
Lukian flipped to the last few entries and felt his heart breaking.
I had no choice but to inject this shell of my beloved Susan with liquid silver. Yesterday she gave birth to the most beautiful baby girl; this morning I woke in this very chair to find her levitating the child above her head, fangs drawn, ready to strike. I have destroyed all my research into the creation of a superhuman and will never again allow this type of science to be conducted if I can help it.
My mind tells me to eliminate the men already made at the Center, but if my calculations are correct, then my daughter will be like them. One day they will only have each other and I will not take that away from them.
Lukian dropped the journal and backed away from the table. Dr. Matthews hadn’t been the one to do this to Peren, it had been her own mother. He felt the bile rising up from his stomach.
LUKIAN! Peren’s voice screamed in his head.
He ran in the direction of her scent and tried to lock onto her. He let his senses guide him. He saw the image of her being backed into a corner by Parker, who had a half wolf-clawed hand to her throat.
* * * *
Peren screamed out for Lukian as Ben came at her with elongated fingers. His teeth lengthened and his voice seemed raspier. He looked demonic, half-man, half-beast.
“I’ve waited too long for this. I won’t wait anymore.” he snarled at her.
Peren ducked down and ran under his arm. She caught him by surprise and made it through unharmed. She ran full-force towards the front door. The weight of Ben’s body slamming into her sent her flying to the ground.
“I’m going to enjoy making you my bitch. You’ll be crying my name out before the night is over.”
She screamed as she slammed the back of her head into his face. Doing this afforded her much needed time to push him off of her. She rolled to her feet and ran for the door. It opened before she got to it and she found herself face to face with Lance and Green. She’d built up too much momentum and was unable to stop herself from slamming into Green. She sent him hurdling back out the door and his gun flying to the floor, before landing square on her backside.
Something moved behind her and she knew that she had just afforded Ben the opportunity to arm himself. She scrambled to her feet and felt a hand on her shoulder, pushing her back down.
“Stay down, my Queen,” Lance said in her ear. She listened to him. He knew what he was doing.
* * * *
Lukian burst into the room to find Parker holding an MP7 on Peren and Lance. The gun would cut through them in an instant if it was set to fire in bursts of ten, which he had no doubt that it was. He stopped moving and stared at Parker. His training kicked in and he attempted first to reason with him.
“If you shoot her, then you’re back to square one,” he said, hoping this would buy him enough time to get close enough to strike.
&nb
sp; Parker froze and turned to look at him. He was unable to hide his surprise. This moment of complete shock allowed Lance to shoot first. Parker turned as the first bullet struck him and fired towards Peren. Lukian caught sight of Lance moving and then time seemed to come to a stop. Lukian screamed out, knowing that Parker’s thoughts were that if he couldn’t have Peren, no one would.
Lukian let his body do a partial change. He knew that he was now six inches taller and partially fur covered. He was also a hell of a lot more powerful . He leapt towards Parker and let his claws extend from his lengthening fingertips. He came into contact with the side of Parker’s head and as quickly as the commotion had begun, it ended.
Epilogue
Peren touched Lukian’s arm and let her head rest on it. The fog covered the cemetery grounds and the cool morning air set a chill in her bones. She turned and looked over the group of men—the I-Ops. Green and Wilson stood across the casket from them, while Roi stood tall on the other side of Lukian. She knew that this was hard for them. One of their team had fallen in the line of duty. The Priest finished and attendees turned slowly away. All except for the Ops—they stood strong as a unit around the casket. Her father had even made of point of attending the funeral. He’d been close to all the men at one point in time and Peren hoped he would be again and soon.
Lukian had explained that Lance had foreseen the horrible events from a week earlier and that he’d gone into the house prepared to die to save Peren’s life. Somehow, knowing this didn’t help Peren sleep at night.
Melanie and Missy made an appearance to pay their respects. She knew that it was extra hard on Melanie. She never admitted to it, but Peren knew that she had developed feelings for Lance, maybe just lust, but for Melanie that was a big step and now that he was gone that relationship could go no further. Green moved over and put his arm around Melanie in a protective manner. Peren’s heart softened as she saw the look on Green’s face. That was a man in love.
She turned and looked towards Roi. It was as she expected. He was focused on Missy. She’d sensed his interest in her friend from day one. Missy was oblivious to it as usual. Roi would do right by Missy if she only gave him a chance. Peren was sure of that.
Lukian’s muscles tightened and she knew that he was fighting to remain in control of his emotions. She stood on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek. He bent down and turned his face to meet her lips.
I love you so much. His voice rang out in her head. She felt the warmth of his lips on hers and her legs grew weak.
I love you too, my mate, my husband, my wolf, my King.
THE END
Excerpt from
Immortals Ops Book II: Critical Intelligence
by Mandy M Roth
Chapter 1
I-Ops Headquarters, classified location…
Geoffroi “Roi” Majors tossed his feet onto the conference table and leaned back in his chair. Captain Lukian Vlakhusha, his brother by way of shared lycan DNA, cast him a warning look. The Colonel was due in at any moment and he’d frown upon Roi’s behavior, not that Roi gave a shit.
As if on cue, the door to the debriefing room opened and Colonel Brooks made his way in, wearing his normal stoic game face. “Sorry to call you all in on such short notice, but some important matters have come to our attention.”
“Did the tabloids claim to have proof of aliens? Ooo, do we get to lie about Roswell again? That was great pretending like we hadn’t seen a thing. Who wants to do it again? Raise your hand! We can force Green to make up another lame ass weather balloon story. Everyone believed it the last time,” Wilson, the team’s wererat and resident smart-ass, said from across the table.
If looks could kill, Wilson would be six feet under. For a moment, Roi thought that he might have to restrain Lukian so he wouldn’t tear Wilson’s head off. When no one was immediately maimed, Roi relaxed. Though, the idea of getting a few good punches in on Wilson did sound like fun, but that always sounded like a great idea and could wait until a better time.
The Colonel ignored Wilson’s comment and hit the light switch. Jon groaned and shielded his amber eyes, no doubt hung over again. He’d taken the loss of their fellow I-Ops teammate, Lance, the hardest. They’d been close friends and Roi wasn’t sure that Jon would be able to pull out of his funk. The only people he had to confide in were the other Immortal Ops (I-Ops), his team members. It wasn’t like he could parade into any old shrink’s office, rambling on about losing his best friend of the past twenty-five years who never looked a day over twenty five and who also happened to be a werepanther. Yeah, a confession like that would leave Jon locked up in Bellevue in two point two seconds.
Roi suppressed a grin. Too bad Wilson wasn’t prone to pouring out his heart. Seeing him in a straight jacket would be priceless.
Jon’s amber gaze fell upon Roi and he nodded. Roi tipped his head and then directed his attention on to the Colonel. “If you don’t mind me asking, sir, why did you call us in here today? We’ve already debriefed you on the events surrounding Lance’s death, and Parker’s been eliminated. Please don’t tell me there’s another leftover insane team member on the prowl. I’m not sure my nerves can take that today.”
Wilson laughed, but Lukian growled. Roi just smiled and kept his feet on the table. Ticking off the Colonel was his favorite pastime. Well, that and sex, but since there weren’t any eligible hotties around, he’d have to just settle on harassing the Colonel.
I give and I give.
The overhead projector came on and an image of Benjamin Parker flashed up. He was an ex-I-Ops agent who’d gone AWOL, later killing one of their own. Parker had lost it shortly after Lukian’s lycan DNA had been introduced to him. He’d managed to escape, and had long since been assumed dead until he’d shown up a little over a week ago, trying to not only kill the I-Ops, but Lukian’s lifemate, Peren, as well.
Lukian sat up straight in his chair as the images of Parker flashed by. Colonel Brooks glanced up at the screen, not seeming to notice Lukian’s obvious discomfort with the situation. “Intel just sent these. Here you’ll see Parker in Munich with Gisbert Krauss.”
“Krauss?” Green asked from the other side of the table. Green was their resident scientist who had a handy werepanther gene. Sad thing was that Green actually looked tougher than he was. He was as tall as Roi with a head of deep red hair and a set of biceps that rivaled any other I-Op, but Green had never taken to the beast side of his shifter abilities. Rather, he submersed himself in books and research, vowing to make headway in the creation of more I-Ops teams. When Green had a question, they all listened. He was the smartest man they’d ever known and considering the room’s combined age, they’d been around long enough to know a whole lot of people.
“Yes, Krauss,” Colonel Brooks said, flipping to the next image, this one showing Parker standing again with the short, balding Gisbert Krauss. “How much do you know about him?”
Green shifted in his seat a bit and shrugged. “Just that he’s big in the field of genetic research. Big enough that I’ve seen his name in a number of related publications. They’re claiming he’s on the verge of some sort of genetic breakthrough. I saved all references to him. I can get them if you’d like.”
“Why am I not surprised?” Wilson asked. “They’re probably filed next to the pile of ‘things he does instead of date’ collection.”
“If you’re done,” Colonel Brooks said, staring at Wilson with a cold look.
“He’s done,” Lukian said sternly. No one dared to question him. One, they respected him. Two, he’d rip their heads off and spit down their neck before they had a chance to blink. He wasn’t like the rest of the team. Lukian was born a shifter, a lycan. His strength was unrivaled and he had other perks as well, like being King of the Lycans.
“Tell us why Parker was meeting with Krauss.” Lukian leaned forward in his seat. “I think we all know that it wasn’t for an in-depth look into the life of a cell.”
Colonel Brooks ran a hand through his sal
t and pepper hair before pointing at the image. “We’ve had our eye on Krauss for a while now. We found out that he had a hand in an underground paranormal website that talked about DNA alterations and the making of super humans with the potential to be used as weapons for the highest paying governments.”
Brooks advanced the image and the next one showed Krauss standing with Parker near I-Ops Headquarters. The room went silent. That was a little too close to home for their liking. They glanced at one another nervously.
Clearing his throat, Brooks continued, “We think Parker may have sold secrets to Krauss, led him straight to us and worse yet, participated in the human studies.”
Green shot out of his seat. “Studies? What the hell do you mean by studies? Mixing straight shifter DNA with a normal human has a one-hundred percent fatality rate. If they’ve been sacrificing men to serve their purpose then--”
Brooks put his hand up and interrupted Green. “Not just men, women and children too. At least that’s what Intel’s come back with.”
Roi’s stomach tightened. “Why in the hell is ‘Intel’ just getting this information to us now? Christ, if we were that slow half the country would be dead or vampires by now.”
“Same difference,” Wilson said, snickering. Everyone ignored him.
Colonel Brooks shook his head slightly. “Intel is not flawless. You know that. We do what we can with the information they’re able to retrieve. Have you ever asked yourself how many men died for what you’re seeing now?”
Roi snorted. “What I’m asking myself is how many fucking women and children died, sir.”
“What else do we have on him?” Lukian asked, raking his fingers over the table and ignoring Roi’s outburst. “Do we know how many children they’ve killed?”