Tactical Magik (Immortal Ops) (11 page)

She watched him carefully, wondering what his deal was. She couldn’t smell anything about any of the I-Ops team. They had no discerning scents. It was strange. Only Eadan did. Thinking of his scent, the way she smelled nature around him with the smell of man, made her pulse speed and her heart race. She felt her cheeks flush. In an effort to avoid making a fool of herself in front of Green, she decided to go with a joke. “What are you? Some sort of doctor for the weird and wacky?”
 

He smiled and she felt more at ease. “Yes. That is exactly what I am. Right this way.”
 

She followed him into a large room that looked part of a state-of-the-art medical facility. Her jaw dropped. “You know how to work all this stuff?”
 

“I do. So does my mate,” he said as he handed her a gown from a shelf. He pointed to another door. “You can change in there.”
 

“You’re mated?” asked Inara, needing to know more about mates.
 

“I am.”
 

She held the gown close to her chest. Curiosity got the better of her. “What does it mean?”

Green took a seat on a stool, putting him closer to her level. “What does
mate
mean?”
 

She nodded.
 

He looked at her with compassion and scientific interest. Yeah, he’d picked the right profession. “Did Eadan tell you anything about mates?”
 

“He said they were two halves of a whole,” she answered. “Or something along those lines.”
 

Green chuckled as if he’d heard a very funny joke. Maybe he just thought the stripped-down explanation she received was amusing. “That would be correct. It would seem that each supernatural is gifted one perfect match. One person who fits them and them alone. With them a bond is formed and the unions can often produce children where children are normally difficult for paranormals.”
 

She tugged at her lower lip, her mind full of endless questions for the man. “Eadan says we’re mates. How do you know if someone is or isn’t your mate.”
 

“It’s inborn. Your gut tells you that without them you couldn’t go on.”
 

Thinking back, she remembered how she’d felt on the pier when she’d had to leave Eadan. She also remembered the buzzing bees between them. “Do you feel energy of sorts?”
 

“I believe two people with enough magik or Fae in them would, yes.” Green folded his hands before him on his lap, as if prepared to answer any questions she had for hours if need be.
 

It was hard not to like him.
 

“He claims I’ve got magik in me. I can’t. I sneeze when I’m around a full-blood,” she blurted.
 

Green’s lips drew back. He remained pleasant as he spoke, “I’ll do some more testing, but the information I was able to obtain via PSI already tells me quite a bit. I believe you’re not allergic to magiks so much as your body craves it and suppressing that side of you causes this reaction to others of full-magik descent.”
 

She mulled over his words, letting them soak in. “You’re saying I have magik in me, and because I don’t use it, I sneeze around people who do?”
 

“In a nutshell,” he replied.
 

“Can you read each other’s thoughts?”
 

Green nodded.

Well, that explained that then. She wasn’t crazy. Eadan could hear what she was thinking and she could hear him.

She had one more question. “Is it strange to love your mate when you only really just met them?”
 

Green stood slowly. “Not at all.”
 

Good, because I think I do love him.

He watched her. “Inara, you should know that between mates, there is a very high chance you will conceive a child regardless the precautions you take.”
 

She gulped. She wasn’t ready for children just yet.
 

Green smiled. “When it happens, it happens.”
 

She held up the gown and walked past him to the door he’d pointed at. “I’ll change.”
 

The exam was quick and painless.
 

Green patted her shoulder. “All clear. I can give you some fluids. That might be best, just to be on the safe side.”
 

“I’m fine. Eadan has promised me much in the way of food and drink,” she joked.
 

“See to it you eat or I will not hesitate to haul your backside in here. Got it?”
 

She didn’t doubt he would. She nodded. “Got it.”
 

Inara drew back as Lukian and Roi burst through the door to the clinic area.
 

“What is taking so long?” Lukian asked, his voice hard.
 

Green barely seemed fazed by the two. He looked up from his computer screen and sighed. “I wondered how long it would be before you both showed up. I thought Eadan would beat you to it.”
 

The men shared a look that screamed guilty.

Inara gasped. “What did you do to him?”
 

Roi whistled and looked upward. “No idea what you’re talking about.”
 

Green swiveled in his chair. “Roi, did you do something to Eadan?”
 

Roi pointed to Inara. “He wanted to touch her. She’s too young to be touched. She’s just a baby.”
 

“She’s twenty-three,” corrected Green. He’d saved her the trouble of needing to point it out to them.
 

She had no idea why they kept behaving so strangely around her. They acted as if they were her father or something. She put her hands on her hips, annoyance making her take leave of her better judgment. “What the hell did you do to my man?”
 

Roi looked at Lukian. “She called him her man. We should kill him.”
 

“What?” she demanded.
 

Lukian nodded. “I think you might be right.”
 

Green shot out of his seat and went at them both, pushing them into the room and away from the door. “No one is killing anyone. Take a seat.”
 

They glared at him.
 

Lukian puffed out his chest. “Move. That is an order.”
 

“Sir, with respect, shut up and sit down,” Green said, not budging an inch. He was hardly a small guy. Not that Lukian or Roi were either, but Inara had no doubts who was going to win if it came down to it.
 

Green.
 

The geeky science guy wasn’t to be messed with.

He took a long, deep breath. “Sit.”
 

They each took a seat on some of the stools in the room.
 

Green motioned with his hand at them. “Your behavior makes sense to me now that I’ve been able to go over all the data PSI had on Inara.”
 

She was all ears.
 

“She’s carrying your line of lycan.” Green stared hard at Lukian. “Your exact line. And from all accounts, she was born with it.”
 

Lukian twisted and stared at Inara with wide eyes. He stood slowly, coming toward her. The closer he got, the more she considered backing away, but instead held her ground. He touched her cheek tenderly, in a loving manner, like her adoptive parents had long ago. His blue eyes moistened. “How did I not see it? You look just like her.”
 

“Like who?”
 

“My sister, Imogen.”
 

Roi came and stood next to Lukian. “You told me about her. You said she died during the lycan roundups over a hundred years ago.”
 

“She did,” Lukian said. “But her son didn’t. I placed him with another family. Far from it all. Somewhere he’d be safe.”
 

Roi shook his head. “Wait, you’re saying Inara is a direct descendent from your line?”
 

“Yes,” Green answered for Lukian. He walked closer, his shoulders slumping. “Sir, there is no listing for birth parents for Inara. Unlike the others we’ve found. From the notes I’ve been piecing together, I think her parents were killed and she was taken from them as an infant. The tests on her were done after she was born.”
 

Lukian continued to touch her cheek.
 

“She has a good deal of Fae in her that was natural to her as well,” Green added.
 

Lukian laughed. “I placed Imogen’s son with the Fae. Culann of the Council of Fae Elders helped me to hide him. That is how we know one another so well.” He pulled Inara into a big hug and held her so tight she half thought she’d break in two.
 
“He took my nephew and put him somewhere even I couldn’t find him. And he’s never spoken of him again. I got the sense it was because something horrible happened to him.”
 

She patted his back. “Nice werewolf. Can you let go of me now?”
 

Roi laughed and pulled her out of Lukian’s embrace. “My turn to hug her.”
 

He did and she simply stood in place. As she thought about it all, she gasped. “Wait. I’m your niece, sort of?”
 

Lukian smiled. “Yes, but within our kind, when the male father figure is no longer present, the next males in the line automatically take on the roles of brothers or father figures.”
 

She looked between the two of them. “I’m guessing you’re both older than you look, but can we not father me? Jimmy did that already. He found me on the streets when I just barely a teen and he taught me how to take care of myself. How to live below the radar. And I don’t need another father figure.”
 

“He was good to you?” Lukian asked.
 

She nodded but didn’t want to discuss Jimmy anymore.
 

Lukian embraced her again but didn’t hold her too long. “If Eadan hurts you at all, says one cross word to you, looks at you funny, I’ll rip his fucking head off. Got it?”
 

She nearly laughed through her pending tears. “Got it.”
 

Roi offered a lopsided smile. “We have a little sister.”
 

“We do,” Lukian said. “Who will be an aunt very soon when our young ones come.”
 

“Possibly a mother herself now that she’s found her mate,” offered Green.

Roi’s expression hardened. “If Eadan even thinks of touching her sexually, I’ll tear his dick off and—”

“Enough,” Inara snapped. Much to her surprise, both the alpha males shut up. They looked like scolded children as she put one hand on her hip. “No one is hurting Eadan. Got it?”
 

They nodded and then Roi bit his inner cheek. “From this moment on, right? I mean, we can’t get in trouble for what happened fifteen minutes ago, can we?”
 

Wilson entered and she half expected him to start in on her too. He tipped his head, staring at Lukian and Roi. “Anyone wanna tell me why the colonel and Jon are untying Eadan?”
 

“You tied him up?” Inara demanded.
 

Both men in question looked at the ceiling.
 

Eadan came running in. He pushed power at Lukian and Roi. They toppled over. Gasping, Inara ran to their sides and bent, helping them both up. “Eadan, how could you?”
 

Eadan looked flabbergasted. “How could I? They tied me up!”
 

She gave him a stern look. “And you stoop to their level?”
 

Green laughed. “Eadan, you aren’t going to win this argument with her. Your soon-to-be-bride here is genetically related to Lukian and Roi. In simple terms, you have them acting like fathers or brothers to her. Either way, they’re overprotective.”
 

Eadan wiped a hand over his face. “I know. I just hoped the paperwork was wrong.”
 

“Wait, you went after her knowing she was related to us, but didn’t tell us?” Roi demanded.
 

“Hey, I was ordered not to tell you,” Eadan shot back.
 

“By who?” Roi narrowed his gaze.

Eadan flashed a wide, mocking smile. “Your father-in-law. Take it up with him.”

Inara approached him and stood before him, listening as he ranted about Roi. She waited until he went to take a breath and then stood on her tiptoes, kissing him silent. He returned the kiss tenfold, wrapping his arms around her.
 

“Mmm,” he mouthed against her ear. “Green, can I take her home now?”
 

“You can.”
 

Eadan placed his hand over hers and led her in the other direction. The rest of the men dispersed. As Inara and Eadan were about to exit the hall she turned, the compulsion to look back too great to resist.
 

Colonel Brooks was there, his back to her, standing at the far end of the hall. He put his arms out and then in the blink of an eye was gone, vanishing into thin air. She gasped.

Eadan paused. “Inara? You okay, beautiful?”
 

She debated saying anything. Maybe it was normal for people to disappear around here. After all, they were all sort of odd. “I’m good.”

Chapter Ten

Inara couldn’t believe the size of Eadan’s home. He’d given her the tour and she was sure she’d get lost if left to fend for herself. She had half a mind to take his Eighties record collection and lay them out to make a trail for herself. She didn’t think he’d appreciate that much. He seemed fond of it.
 

His bathroom was bigger than most of the hotel rooms she’d stayed in. The long, hot bath she’d taken felt glorious. Eadan had so many shampoos and conditioners to choose from she half expected a hairdresser to pop out of the walk-in closet off the bath and offer to do her hair for her.
 

She looked at the t-shirt and men’s boxers he’d left on the counter for her. They’d be big on her but they’d work for now. She held the towel around her, staring at her reflection. She no longer had dark circles under her eyes and already she looked as if she’d put on some much-needed weight.