Relentless Tiger (Wounded Warriors Book 2) Read online

  There was a loud explosion, coupled with a burst of light, when the missile collided with the chopper seconds later, disintegrating the aircraft to nothing more than small pieces of debris falling from the sky. He dropped the Stinger and turned to face the woman, knowing she needed help.

  She was struggling against one of the soldiers, and this one looked to be a cross between a human and a hyena. It was snapping and ripping at her, and if she hadn’t been wearing a puffy coat, she wouldn’t have had any protection at all. The tiger surged to the forefront, and he let it. Unlike his teammate Wyatt, he’d never lost touch with the tiger. Refusing to shift would have been like letting the military have control over yet another aspect of his life.

  His tiger acted on instinct, and he jumped on the soldier, pinning the woman to the ground. He knocked it off, and they rolled around together, trading vicious blows of their claws until he had an opening. He darted forward, his mouth closing around the neck of the hyena/human hybrid, and biting down forcefully. The tang of copper filled his mouth, but he didn’t let go until it stopped moving beneath him.

  As it was in the death throes, she started firing the AK-47. He looked up as quickly as he could, once he was assured the soldier beneath him was dead, and just in time to see her fire a last round that took out the head of the honey badger/human hybrid. He got up, shifting as he did so, and spat several times to clear the blood from his mouth.

  He moved toward her, carefully taking the gun from her when he realized her hands were still locked around it, and her finger was on the trigger rather than the trigger guard. “Easy. I don’t detect any more of them, and the chopper’s down too. It bought us some time, but we need to get out of here.”

  She turned to him, suddenly collapsing in his arms in a surprising motion. He supported her easily, allowing her a moment to gather her emotions and restore her calm. He was impressed when she didn’t burst into sobs. She simply leaned against him as she breathed deeply multiple times, at first seeming to verge on the edge of hyperventilating, before her breathing grew deeper and more even. When she finally pulled away, a sense of loss accompanied the separation, and he frowned at the reaction. He stifled that expression when he looked down at her. “Okay now?”

  Her eyes shimmered with unshed tears, but she nodded. She looked fairly composed considering the circumstances. “I think I’m okay. Or I will be.”

  He gave her a small smile. “That was good shot.”

  She snorted softly. “It was total luck. I had no idea what I was doing.”

  He just nodded, not sharing with her the information that she might need to learn what she was doing and quickly. If she was on their radar at all, she would be a target too, even if she was at the bottom of the list.

  “Now what, Devon?”

  He hesitated. “I’m not sure, Miss…?”

  “Tianna Barrett.” Her tone turned no-nonsense. “I have a cheap hotel room nearby. I think you should come with me, and I can show you what I have.”

  His mind immediately jumped somewhere that he was certain she hadn’t intended. It had been a while since he’d taken a woman to bed, and certainly not in the last nine months or so, since he’d become aware that he was a target slowly being hunted by the black ops group in charge of Project Shift.

  He cleared his throat and tried to control the physical response attempting to manifest itself. Since he was standing stark naked in front of her, she wouldn’t fail to see if he suddenly developed a raging hard-on. By sheer strength of will, he managed to keep his erection at bay as he headed back toward the shack. “Let me see if I can scavenge some clothes, and we’ll head to your hotel.”

  It was only a temporary measure, and they’d have to go underground soon, or she’d have to decide if she was going to risk being on her own. Since the team had left her in the root cellar, they had clearly not marked her as a threat, or as nothing more than a low-grade one. Maybe she could use some of her hacking skills to determine if she was on their elimination list. Either way, he was eager to see what she had dug up about Project Shift and the assassination attempts on their lives.

  Benjamin was a bit shorter than he was, but they were about the same when it came to muscle mass, so other than the jogging pants he slipped on being a bit short, and the shirt fitting more like a crop top and exposing a tiny sliver of his belly, he was modestly covered. When he shrugged on the leather coat and buttoned it, it completely hid the discrepancy in size and his bared midriff, though a few inches of his ankles remained visible.

  She cleared her throat before entering the shack, holding out his shoes. “I found these. One looks a little split on the side, but it might work for you until you can get a new pair.”

  He was touched by her thoughtfulness as he took the shoes from her and slipped them on. “Have you seen a shift before? You’re handling this all pretty well.”

  She nodded. “One summer, I was on a cruise in Alaska with my parents, and we took a land tour as well. We were in the Denali National Forest, and I came across a man in mid-shift, turning into a bear. At the time, I didn’t realize what he was, and of course no one believed me, but it set me on the path.”

  She didn’t expound on what path that might be. “Eventually, I figured out what he was with some research. I actually told Joanna about it once, and she was the only adult in my life who didn’t humor me or mock me about what I had seen. Now I know why, of course. At the time, I didn’t realize she was a shifter too, but I just appreciated her not making me feel like I was crazy.”

  He smiled. “Joanna was the best.” He was dressed and ready, but there was one more thing to do. He couldn’t leave his friend’s body here, not like this. There would be questions if he fell into a coroner’s hands, and he couldn’t bear the idea of the military further stripping his friend’s body, or just disposing casually of Benjamin when they sent a cleanup crew.

  He went outside, finding an even smaller shed behind the shack, which actually seemed to be in better shape than the home itself. It yielded a can of gasoline along with a small lawnmower, though he saw no signs that his friend had ever used the lawnmower in the thick grass around them. He took the can and walked back toward the shed, putting up a hand when she would have followed him in. “Stand here, and stay alert. I don’t think there are any more of those things in the vicinity, but don’t get careless. I’ll be out quickly.”

  She nodded and fell back, taking on the soldier role as though she’d been born to it, though her anxiety was still visible in the way she trembled and in her pheromone signature.

  He entered the shack quickly, splashing the gasoline around everywhere, but particularly focusing on Benjamin’s body. Cursing, he realized he hadn’t retrieved his dog tags, and he set down the gas can to do that. Benjamin’s eyes had opened as rigor mortis set in, and after he pulled off the dog tags, he tried closing them, but they flicked open again. With the sharp features of his Native American ancestry, and his long black hair, he looked like the fierce warrior he had been.

  Devon bent his head for just a moment, pressing his fingertips to his friend’s forehead. “I’m sorry I couldn’t do more for you, Benjamin.” With those words of parting, he stood up and backed away from his friend, moving to the exit of the shack.

  Once he was across the threshold, he reached into the inner pocket of his jacket, where he kept an emergency fire starter kit. It included several matches, and he lit one before flicking it inside the cabin. The whoosh of flame meeting gasoline greeted him a moment later, along with a wave of heat. He moved quickly away, approaching Tianna and taking her hand. It felt natural to pull her along beside him, his body curving around hers in a protective fashion as he moved toward where he’d left his vehicle. She started to go in the opposite direction, and he stopped, not letting go of her. “What are you doing?”

  She nodded her head to the left. “I left my car about a quarter-mile down the road.”

  He tugged her in the direction he wanted to go instead. “I’ll drive
you to it, but we aren’t splitting up.”

  She seemed to see the wisdom of that, and she didn’t offer a protest as she jogged lightly to keep up with him. He was probably moving too quickly, but he wanted to get out of the area before Fort Glacier sent reinforcements. If they had viewed the footage transmitted by the chips in their super soldiers’ brains, they were aware what was happening, and they’d be eager to get another team with boots on the ground to clean up the mess and try to reacquire Devon. He wanted to be out of the area before they had a chance to get that operation underway.

  Chapter Two

  Tianna followed behind Devon Manchester without protest. He was a skilled and experienced soldier, trained in black ops engagement, and a shifter to boot. She was an inexperienced civilian, and smart enough to follow his lead in this instance. Her heart was still pumping with adrenaline, though the high of it was starting to fade, and she was beginning to feel exhausted.

  He must have parked his car about a year away, and she was grumbling under her breath at not having insisted on going to her car and driving him instead of the other way around. Finally, they broke through the forest and out to the highway. She groaned when he led her across that too, but fortunately, they didn’t have to go much farther. He’d stashed his SUV in an area obscured by brush, and she climbed inside gratefully a moment later.

  She directed him toward her car, but couldn’t seem to think of anything else to say for the moment. She was still stunned by the events of the last hour, and her first foray into investigative journalism had taken an unexpectedly violent turn.

  Reading about Project Shift, and piecing it all together, had been exciting and mentally challenging, but she hadn’t truly grasped the danger of the situation when she had involved herself in it. It was slowly crashing in on her how close she’d come to death. If it hadn’t been for Twitch’s sacrifice, followed by Bone—no, Devon—protecting her and showing her how to use a gun, she probably would’ve been dead by now.

  She was also slightly ill at the idea of having taken a life. From her research, she was relatively confident there wasn’t much left of the human being in those super soldiers, but they had once been people, and the man she’d killed had once been a living, breathing human with his own thoughts, fears, and feelings. She started to tremble and looked over at Devon. “Pull over. I’m going to puke.”

  Devon pulled the vehicle over as quickly as possible, with a squeal of brakes as the SUV shuddered to a halt on the side of the highway. With shaking fingers, Tianna managed to open the door and slide out, bending forward at the waist before she gave in to the bile surging up her esophagus.

  At some point, Devon thoughtfully held back her braids for her and rubbed her back until she had finished. When she stood up, her stomach aching from the sudden expulsion, he stepped away from her. After opening the door in the back, he retrieved something from the backseat. A moment later, he thrust a bottle of water into her hands.

  She unscrewed the cap and swished her mouth several times before she felt even a semblance of clean. When she was capable, she offered him a shaky smile. “Thanks.”

  “Are you all right now?”

  She shrugged. “I think I’m done vomiting, but as far as if I’m all right? I don’t know the answer to that. I didn’t expect any of this.”

  He patted her on the back once more. “It’ll take time to process everything. You’re safe now, or at least for the time being, and we need to figure out our plan.”

  She liked how he said our, which made her feel safer and more secure. She was still having trouble moving on from what had happened though. “I’ve never killed anyone before. Or anything, for that matter. My grandpa took me fishing once, and I couldn’t even bear to club the fish. He was disgusted with me, but he gave in when I asked him to throw them all back.”

  Devon stepped a bit closer, putting an arm around her shoulder in a comforting fashion. That it had elicited sparks of heat where he touched her was surely an unintended side effect. “It’s a tough thing to do, and you aren’t even trained for it. With those things, maybe you should look at it as alleviating suffering rather than taking a life. What kind of existence must they endure? If there’s anything left of them, they’re trapped in their bodies and at the mercy of artificial intelligence and DNA changes they can’t control. Who’s to say how many of them would choose death over life if they had the option? I know I would in that situation.”

  She nodded, finding his words comforting. Maybe it was a blatant justification, but it was one she could live with that wouldn’t drive her mad with guilt. “I’m surprised you can be so compassionate toward them since they’re trying to kill you.”

  Devon shrugged as he looked up and down the highway, as though expecting an attack at any moment. It wasn’t an unreasonable expectation. “My former colonel is the compassionate one when it comes to them. I guess his words have influenced me. Besides, it’s not the super soldiers trying to kill us. They’re being controlled, and they’re at the mercy of the black ops group that’s trying to take us down. They’re dangerous, and they have to be dealt with, but they’re not the true target that we need to take out to end this.”

  She nodded. “I might know just who to focus on.”

  He seemed intrigued. “Are you feeling better now?”

  As an answer, she turned back to the car and slipped inside. “I think I am. I’m not going to paint your upholstery anyway.” She even managed a shaky laugh.

  Devon closed her door for her before coming around and getting in the driver’s side. Moments later, they were at her car, and she relayed the name of the hotel as she slid out, in case they got separated. Apparently, Devon was good at tailing, or perhaps it was because there was hardly any traffic on the road, but he stayed in her rearview mirror the whole time, his lights a welcome presence as she drove her small hatchback to the cheap hotel.

  Whispering Pines was nowhere near as idyllic as it sounded, but the price was right, and the desk clerk hadn’t required anything but cash to get a room. She might not have actively pursued an investigation before, but she had learned enough in journalism school before dropping out to know the basics of protecting herself and trying to hide her involvement in the investigation until she published the exposé.

  She was thankful her room was on the back side of the hotel, and they were able to pull off and around, using the building to shield their vehicles. She slipped from her car and joined Devon, who was already waiting on her. He held a bag in his hand, but she didn’t have anything to grab, since all of her things were still in her room. She took the key card from her jeans and led him up the stairs to room 202.

  After opening it, she stepped inside, and he was a step behind her. He took a moment to lock the door and secure it with the chair that was a mismatch with the scarred table included in the room. She figured that’s how they got away with calling it a kitchenette, since it had a coffee maker that didn’t work, the table, and two chairs that didn’t match in addition to a lumpy queen-size bed and a tiny bathroom.

  She’d been pleasantly surprised to find it had a room safe, and she went to it now to retrieve her laptop. She joined him at the table, edging it closer to the bed so she could use it as a chair since he’d propped the door closed with the other one.

  He was sitting far too close to her even with her on the bed and him in the chair, at least far too close to allow her to focus well. She had to close her eyes and look away for a moment, sternly lecturing herself about inappropriate timing. A woman would have to be dead not to find Devon Manchester attractive, but now wasn’t the time to succumb to the response. They had far more important things to focus on than how he made her heart race, or the slickness between her thighs as she imagined taking him inside her.

  She cleared her throat, aware of the heat in her cheeks and she looked back at him. There was a knowing gleam in his eyes, and she wondered if he somehow knew what she was thinking. She cleared her throat again, studiously avoiding his gaze a
s she focused on the screen and brought up all the information she had.

  He frowned at her as he glanced away from the screen. “Who are you, and how did you find all this?”

  “I’m a journalist.” She crossed her fingers as she said the words. She damned well was a journalist, though she hadn’t finished journalism school. The professors had been too closedminded to the topics she wanted to investigate, and she had found them all too restricted by stale rules that didn’t apply. Citizen journalism was where she’d found her niche, and she was good at her job. The hundred thousand or so followers she had who read all articles she posted on her webzine, AltTruth, let her know she was doing something right. “I investigated using all means at my disposal.”

  He read over her shoulder as she talked him through most of it, not really saying much until she got to the part in her research about the group heading up Project Enhanced. She pulled up a picture of Lt. Col. Jasper Caswell. “Do you recognize him at all?”

  Devon shook his head. “I’ve never seen him before.”

  She tapped the keyboard, and his file appeared side-by-side with his picture. Devon was clearly focused on the information, and she looked away. She’d seen Caswell’s picture before, and she preferred not to look at it again. He was a handsome man, but it was his eyes that were disturbing. Along with his carved cheekbones and sharp nose, his eyes reminded her of a bird of prey. Or a dinosaur.

  There was something cold and predatory in his official photo, and she was certain he would look that same way in real life. She didn’t think she was allowing what she knew of him to influence her perception, because she’d had that reaction the first time she pulled up his picture, stumbling across it in the files before she’d realized he was in charge of Project Enhanced, and one of the tasks of the group was to eliminate all survivors of Project Shift.