Act of Surrender: An Immortal Ops World Novel (PSI-Ops / Immortal Ops Book 2) (12 page)

Shit.

We’ll be there as fast as we can, brother. Do whatever you have to do in order to survive
, pushed Duke.

Chapter Eight

The connection slammed closed on James as the smell of gunfire, sweat and adrenaline filled the air, but the scent of death crept over it as well. The men had killed someone.

Probably an innocent bystander.

The authorities had more than likely already been called by others who heard the commotion. His teammates would know that—they would know to intercept the calls and to assure the responding officers were supernatural, not human.

It was amazing the number of supernatural-related crimes that happened in the world daily that were covered up so humans wouldn’t learn the truth of it all. They’d never handle knowing there was bigger and badder shit out there than them.

James was so focused on the bad guys that he didn’t notice the screams at first. When he was able to draw into himself enough to realize who they were coming from, he paused, his gaze moving to Laney.

She screamed again, trying to get away from him, but he didn’t understand why. He’d just saved her life. And he certainly wasn’t the one who tried to run her down with a van before using her as target practice. That was the other guys.

“Laney, stop. It’s me. I won’t hurt you,” he said, trying to keep his voice low and reassuring without drawing the attention of the men down the alleyway. They were busy taking turns popping off shots.

Laney’s brown eyes were wide with fright as she stared at his arms. What the hell would scare her about his arms? James glanced down and froze. He was partially shifted—long, dark fur coating his now larger arms. Clawed hands held Laney pinned to the wall.

Shit!

He’d not cut her, thank the gods. He tried to force himself to shift back but couldn’t. Not with the bullets still buzzing by. Whatever had been done to him had changed his makeup enough that he was basically learning what it was to live with his wolf all over again. Like it had been when he’d gone through puberty and the first full shifts had occurred. His pack wasn’t exactly big on caring or sharing so he suffered through it alone.

He locked gazes with Laney, trying to convey with his expression how connected he felt to her. How protective he felt. How much she meant to him and that he was safe to be around.
 

Claim her.

Okay, maybe convey to her that he was mostly safe to be around. Setting aside his body having lost its ability to rationalize who was and wasn’t his mate. It certainly didn’t help any that she smelled like heaven to him. That only confused his senses more.

Not that they needed much help.

“I swear. I can explain. I’m not the one trying to hurt you. The guys with guns are.”
 

She stopped screaming and with shocked, wide eyes, looked up at him, her bottom lip trembling. Confusion covered her beautiful face and she tugged at her ear. “Guys with guns?”
 

James would have found humor at the absurdity of her missing the detail that they were being shot at, but it wasn’t the time or place for that. “Yes, sweeting, guys with guns.”
 

Her attention went to the end of the alley where the gunfire was coming from. Several more shots went off, making her jolt beneath his touch. Her mouth formed an “O” right before her forehead crinkled in question. “Why do they have guns and why are they trying to kill us?”
 

James swallowed hard, the knowledge of it all settling into his bones. The Corporation had sent a hit team after her. He wasn’t sure how they’d found her or how they’d known what she looked like when, according to the information PSI had, the Corporation had only expressed a limited interest in her.

His gut clenched.

Thoughts of traitors in PSI hit him hard. Had they altered the information PSI had received on the Corporation? Had they left out certain details? Or was something or someone else at play in this?

Whatever was going on, the Corporation wasn’t messing around. They wanted her dead. That meant she’d hit pay dirt with her data mining on the Corporation. “Not
us
, Laney. You.”

She tensed. “Me?”
 

He nodded.
 

She exhaled slowly. “It’s because of my research, isn’t it?”
 

“Yes.” There was no reason to continue to lie to her. She needed to hear the truth. Needed to hear why she was being hunted.

She trembled and moisture welled in her eyes. If she dared to cry he wasn’t sure what he’d do—or what his wolf would decide it would do. He had a feeling it would involve totally and completely wolfing out and probably going on a killing spree—much the same way Duke had weeks prior when he thought his mate was dead. No one wanted that. And covering up a rabid werewolf tearing through the city streets leaving a wake of bodies in its trail would be a tall order even for the skilled cleaners PSI possessed.

She clutched his arms, her fingers caressing his fur. His muscles tensed beneath the weight of her touch. “And you’re not human, are you?”
 

“No, but I won’t hurt you,” he said quickly, realizing just how small she was in comparison to him. She came to his shoulder at best. He had to seem imposing to her, not to mention he was partially shifted. That would scare the ever-loving shit out of just about anyone who wasn’t aware shifters were real. “I swear to you.”

She put her palm to his chest and he waited to feel her start to push him away. She didn’t. Some of his anxiety eased. The notion that she might reject him had gnawed at his gut. He wouldn’t handle her turning away from him and shutting him out of her life. He’d bounced back from other losses, some quite serious, but a part of him knew down deep—soul deep—he’d not come out the other side in one piece if this woman rejected him. The sureness of that knowledge puzzled him.

Whatever had been done to James during his time in captivity left his head a mess and his body responding to someone it shouldn’t. He was acting like Laney was his mate. She was human. Humans weren’t mate material.

Period.

The gunfire ended and James heard the men’s footfalls as they stepped into the alley. One stepped on broken glass, and the sound of it crunching beneath the sole of the man’s shoe seemed to be jacked up to eleven on James’s hearing scale. He’d feared long-term hearing loss because of the tortures he’d endured. One device in particular had been extra damaging to his ears. It was some sort of an ultrasonic wave emitter. The noise from it couldn’t be heard by a human, but to an animal or a supernatural it was ear splitting and could cause deafness.

Now his hearing not only seemed to be back, it was back with a vengeance. He could even hear the shallow breaths the men were taking.
 

“You see them?” asked one with a distinct Jersey accent to his voice.

“I can’t see shit back here,” replied another in nothing more than a whisper, yet James heard it as plain as day. “Think we got the bitch?”

My woman is not a bitch.

He nearly lost his cool and rushed out of their hiding place just to have it out with the thug for daring to say such a thing. He wisely thought better of it. He’d be of no use to Laney riddled with bullets, and with how slow he’d been to heal injuries since being tortured, he’d probably bleed out and die before he could get her to safety.
 

Not that he cared about himself. His only worry was her. He would gladly give himself for her safety.

She’s mine.

Laney’s fingers kneaded at James’s shirt as she pressed herself closer to him, despite him being in partially shifted form. She was accepting him. The comprehension eased over him, rejuvenating him. His cock perked and he nearly groaned at how much it seemed to not care about their circumstances. All it wanted to do was find its way into the sexy woman before him. It didn’t give a rat’s ass that they were in danger. And he had zero control of it. Apparently, it had a mind of its own and an iron will.

“Ah fuck, they’re gone,” said Jersey, his voice even closer than before. “They must have slipped into that other building. Let’s go search it.”
 

“Why didn’t he tell us the man would be with her?” asked the other.

James turned his head slightly, listening, waiting to strike if they moved any closer. He’d not permit Laney to be harmed. He didn’t care who he had to kill to protect her. She was his.

His?

What? Why the hell do I keep saying that?

Whatever they’d done to him must have been a doozey.

“I don’t know, but the boss is gonna wanna hear about it. He was right. The guy protected her,” stated Jersey. “Call for backup. A team isn’t far from here. They can splinter off and send some of those fucking freak things to help track these two.”

By
freak things
James knew the man was talking about the hybrid mercenaries the Corporation was creating to fight its own private war. James had his first run in with them the night he’d been captured by the Corporation. He’d lasted nearly an hour, fighting alone against fifteen of the Pet Projects, as he liked to call them, before he’d finally succumbed.

It had been one hell of a fight.

“Bertrand is going to flip his lid,” said the other.

The mention of the name Bertrand set James on edge. The scientist had been the leader of the torture bandwagon when James had been locked up in Donavon Dynamics’ holding facility in France. Bertrand was a sick bastard. The type of person who derived great pleasure out of another’s pain. The kind of guy who got off on it and his ability to try to exert power over another. James would see Bertrand dead soon enough. He’d pledged that to himself months ago.

Get revenge later. Protect Laney now.

“Let’s go,” stated Jersey.

James waited until they were long gone from hearing range before he stepped back, releasing Laney, and even then it was only with reluctance that he let her go. He had to struggle with himself to keep from laying claim to her then and there—to make his mark on her so all knew she was under his protection. That she belonged to him.

She’s not yours. Your head is fucked up. Now, step back more from the sexy little goth gal. The more distance the better.
He sighed.
What the fuck is she wearing? It smells fantastic…

His willpower sucked. He could only hope Laney had better sense than he did. He fully expected her to run from him. He wouldn’t blame her. It wasn’t everyday a young woman found herself pinned to a wall by a wolf shifter while people shot at her.

She didn’t run.

She didn’t even budge.

Shit. Her common sense was gone too.

She simply stared at him, her gaze moving up and down him slowly, seeming to soak in the sight of him. With a hesitant movement, she stepped forward in his direction. “Does that hurt?”
 

He lifted a brow, not quite following what she was asking about.

She pointed to his arms. “That.”
 

He let out a small snort, thinking about being able to shift once more, even if only partially. “No. Feels good to be able to do it again. Thought I might never be able to.” The fact he’d only partially shifted and without even realizing he’d done as much was worrisome. Green’s words echoed in James’s head. What if he was now more than he’d been before? What if ‘more than’ meant if James did fully shift, he’d lose total control of himself and end up trapped as some mindless killing machine?

A crazed alpha werewolf on the warpath?

Her hand found his arm and she touched it lightly, running her hand over it. “LabLupus.” She shook her head in disbelief before a half-laugh fell free from her. “Doc Wolf was spot on, wasn’t it?”
 

He nodded, afraid to move or speak too much and scare her away. She had nailed it when she’d given him the nickname. He let her touch him, each swipe of her hand making need pulse through him. She continued to unintentionally tease him with her tender touch. He had to bite back a groan as she slinked her hands down his torso, nearing his groin. If she went any further she’d have her hand on his cock.

Oh gods above, yes please.

She stopped just shy of his groin.

Dammit.

Her scent drove him mad. Whatever perfume she was wearing was messing with his head and throwing his sex drive into overdrive. He tried to focus on anything but wanting to fuck her against the building.

Didn’t work.

If anything, it only made him want to fuck her more.

Dammit, get a hold of yourself.

He was acting like Striker. The next he knew he’d be dancing around the alley, singing his own songs to fallen Scottish lycan legends. Worse yet, he’d want to wear a kilt and post pictures of himself online all day.

He flinched.

No thanks.

Laney kept her eye on his arms. “Is it catching?”

“Only if I decided to maul you to near death and exchanged blood with you and your body didn’t reject the change,” he said before thinking better of it.
 

“
Only
if all that?” she asked, her eyes wide.

He grunted. “Yes.”

She puckered her lips. “Think you can resist doing that?”

He scratched the back of his head nervously. While he wanted to tell her yes, he wasn’t entirely sure he trusted himself enough to commit to yes. “Probably.”

“Probably?” Her brows raised.

He shrugged. “Okay, yes.”

“Good because that would seriously blow,” she said. “And it would really add a ton of time to shaving my legs each morning.”
 

He grinned.

Her smile back seemed somewhat shaky, reserved even, as if she was barely clinging to the ability to keep a brave face. His chest ached for her as she stepped even closer to him and then surprised him by easing her arms around his waist and plastering herself to him, hugging him. She continued to shake and he wrapped his arms around her, mindful of his clawed hands. Holding her felt right.

Natural.

As if she’d been made to be held by him.

She trembled in his arms and he rocked her back and forth gently, his lips finding the top of her head. He kissed her head. As he tried to soothe her, James found his arms returning to normal. Once he was in full man form again, he brought his hands up and held her tighter to him. “Shh, sweeting, I’ve got you. I won’t let them hurt you.”