Immortal Ops (Immortal Ops Book 1)

Peren Matthews sat and listened to her friends yak away about their stressful weeks. She turned her green eyes to the window and stared out at the night sky. Her gaze flickered to the crescent shaped moon and she had to fight the urge to trace the edges of it with her fingers. She’d always been obsessed with the wonders of night. As a small child she’d sit in her window and long to be among the stars. They seemed so peaceful, so free from care or concern. That had been what she wanted most as a child--peace. Now, on her twenty-fourth birthday, she sat in the back of Melanie's cramped Escort and tried to wish herself somewhere serene. She found little amusement in the fact that she'd come full-circle.

She shifted awkwardly in the seat and pushed the pile of used tissues away from her feet. Melanie was far from a neat freak and the lipstick stained tissues on the floor told her that Mel had a habit of tossing trash behind her as she drove.

Missy fixed her dark brown eyes on Peren and looked disgusted. "Girl, you need to lighten up. It's your birthday."

Peren let a fake smile creep onto her face. Yeah, it's so easy to lighten up, Kyle's gone and he’ll never be back. It's wrong to be celebrating with him not here. She tried to hide the emotions on her face but Missy's expression told her she failed.

She couldn't get angry with Missy or Melanie. They were only trying to help. Since Kyle's disappearance they'd gone out of their way to try and help her deal with her loss and move on. "You need to climb back up on that dick again, darling’ that’s bound to make you feel better." Mel had told her this on more than one occasion. Sure, she still had the same desires as the next woman, maybe even more, but moving on was the last thing on her mind. She just wanted to go home, curl up, listen to sad music and wallow. She didn't need or want their planned interventions.

"Let's go to that new country music club. You know?" Melanie said, eyeing Missy. "The one that has the line dancing. Maybe we could find some hot guys there tonight?"

Peren sighed. She was committed for the rest of the night to them--their prisoner until dawn. She'd agreed to be a willing captive and they'd agreed to leave her alone about dating other men. Most of their blind date choices had been disasters. The first two were your typical college guys. They had one thing on their mind and that was to get into her pants. Melanie was upset that Peren didn't give in to their advances. Sure, they were hot and she could have used a good fuck, but she wanted something more.

The third guy they'd fixed her up with, Ben, had been decent enough. His short black hair and light blue eyes had made for a fantastic combination. His conversational skills were far better than any of the men she'd been out with before. That wasn't the best thing about him, though. The best thing had been his smell. As silly as it sounded, he smelled like musk and fresh morning air. Kyle had had that very same natural scent. It drove her wild with lust.

Missy had been most surprised to find out that she'd gone on multiple dates with Ben. She'd really enjoyed his company, but felt guilty about betraying Kyle and cut it off. The nameless, faceless other dates meant so little to her that she'd lost count of them.


* * * *


"Do you smell that?" Lukian Vlakhusha asked his long-time friend, Roi.

"Smells like teen spirit alright," Roi said, his tongue running across his lips.

Lukian ignored the comment because he'd known Roi long enough to know what his tastes in women were and teenage girls weren't one of them. He turned and looked at a gaggle of young women as they walked into the nightclub. Nope, not the ones they were shadowing. These girls didn’t look legal. The ones they were after were a bit riper. Not old, no, just a little more mature.

"Tell me again why we're here?"

"Because we have to be," Roi said sardonically.

The answer wasn't the one he wanted to hear, but it was the truth. They did have to be here. Lukian knew what their mission was, probably better than Roi. He was, after all, first in command. Search and destroy, that was the mission. The target was what he had a problem with. It'd been a long time since he’d been forced to take a woman's life. He didn't look forward to it now.

He glanced down at the photo of the auburn-haired girl he’d been carrying in his back pocket. Her large green eyes had haunted him since he'd first been given the assignment. He knew the rules: don't get attached, don't put a face to the name. He'd broken them both. He'd been fixated on Peren's picture since he’d received it. He silently hoped that he wouldn't have to be the one to deliver the killing blow. He'd been doing this kind of work for too long and was too good at it, to let this one get to him.

"Showtime," Roi said, watching the tiny turquoise car containing their target pulling in.