Wolf's Surrender: Part of the Immortal Ops World (Shadow Agents / PSI-Ops Book 1) (7 page)

I’m really moving up in the world
, she thought with a snort.
 

Alice ran her hands through her long hair, pushing it back from her face as she turned slightly, studying her environment, hoping this cell had a weakness. It was built much like the others she’d been in, but this one had a thick viewing window and the viewing window wasn’t showing her an empty cell. She froze as she spotted a man standing on the other side of it.

At first she thought he was a guard watching her, but from his disheveled appearance and scrub bottoms that matched her own, she surmised he too was a captive. A rather good-looking one at that, despite his overgrown beard and long, unkempt hair. His upper body was bare, showing off his toned frame, though he looked thinner than a man of his size and stature should be. That didn’t take from his muscular build though.

Her inner harlot leapt with joy at the sight of the man and Alice nearly staggered from the force with which her succubus wanted her to know she’d accept that man fully. That there would be no resistance to him, no guilt, no second-guessing. Never had it behaved this way. Normally, the succubus seemed rather bored with the males she encountered, wanting only to use them to sate its baser needs. But this man was different. This man piqued her succubus’s interest and her sexual desires. He made her cravings intensify to the point they hurt. She fought the need to double over from the cramp slicing through her. She’d suffered them before, but never this strong. Never this intense.

Alice wanted to blame it all away on the fact she’d been unable to properly feed since her capture, but her gut told her that wasn’t the case at all. This was different.

Raw.

Primitive.

And focused solely on the man through the viewing glass. Her mouth went dry as quick flashes of what it would be like to have him above her, pumping in and out of her, swept over her. Her inner thighs quivered with lust. She wanted the window between them to shatter, just like she wanted her body to do when he brought her to climax—and she was sure he could. From the smoldering look in his dark brown eyes, he knew his way around the female form.
 

Part of her survival had always hinged on her being able to read people’s sexual tells. The way they’d tip their head or bite at their lower lips, or the way they would clench a fist or change their posture when they were attracted to someone. His tells were so obvious they’d have knocked her over the head if they could. He was clenching his fists, his breathing rapid, his nostrils flaring, his pupils dilating. His gaze was focused on her mouth, another tell. She wet her lips and he squeezed his fists tighter.

Good.

That meant the fierce attraction wasn’t one-sided. If she couldn’t fight her succubus and its needs then maybe this man would be willing to help her. At this point she wasn’t sure simple sexual energy would do, but she’d try it. She had to. There was no other choice in the matter. And if she didn’t get a handle on it and soon, she’d do the unthinkable and use a guard—something she did not want to resort to. She’d never be able to wash that emotional stain away.

Ever.

Her attention remained on the man through the viewing glass. She visually traced every bit of his upper body she could see. She committed it to memory, each ridge of muscle making her want to reach down and touch herself. He was the type of man she could stare at all day.

Stop
, she practically screamed at her inner harlot.
Focus on escaping, not jumping the man’s bones.

It had been too long since she’d fed that side of herself. Too long without sexual energy. Controlling the succubus wasn’t going to be easy. Especially not with a hottie being housed in the room next to her.
 

Needing to cling to her composure, Alice kept her eye on him and spoke. There were so many things she wanted to say, but none of that came out. “Who are you?”

His hungry gaze intensified. “Brad. And you?” he asked, his voice deep and rich, only adding to the intense interest her succubus side had for him. Of course she’d be put next to temptation personified. Why not?
 

“Alice,” she replied, swallowing hard. A glass of water would be great. Especially one that wasn’t drugged, as were most of the ones she’d been given since her capture. She chanced another glance in Brad’s direction and found him still staring at her, although he was now even closer to the window. This time his gaze was locked on her breasts. He bit at his lower lip and Alice held back a smile. She liked knowing he was attracted to her.

The need to ask him to strip off the thin bottoms, grab his cock and stroke it while she watched him masturbate was all consuming. It took all she had to refrain. She wasn’t sure it would be enough or that she’d be able to cage her own inner beast once the succubus was given a taste of the man’s energy.

She’d heard horror stories of what happened when her kind was denied for too long. Heard tales of how the person they chose to feed from in that state was left a husk—a dry, withered shell, appearing mummified in some respects.

She couldn’t do that.

Not to him.

She’d have to figure out another way to sate her needs. She looked upwards at the ceiling, attempting to stare at anything other than his abs. If she could keep a tight hold on her succubus she just might make it through the night. Ezra had promised it wouldn’t be long before he got her out. She just had to hold on to that hope for now.

Easier said than done.

She exhaled loudly and twisted, her attention pulled in the direction of the bed in the corner of the cell. She was about to make a smartass comment on how much more luxurious this set-up was than her last when she spotted a discarded pair of glasses lying on the bed. She knew those frames. She’d seen them enough in the last four and a half years.

They were Mae’s!

She bolted in the direction of the bed, her heart hammering so loudly she couldn’t hear anything over it. They had Mae too? She gripped the glasses in her hand tight enough to know they were real but not enough to break them. No. They couldn’t have Mae.
 

“Who was in here before me?” she asked, desperation clinging to her every word as she stared at the window and Brad.

“That is Mae’s cell,” he said softly, confirming her worst fears. His nostrils flared
,
though this time she instinctively knew it wasn’t with desire, but with rage and anger inferred
.
“They took her hours ago. She was having a reaction to the drugs they’re giving us.”

It took everything in Alice to hold tight to the tears wanting to come. She’d been locked up, threatened, beaten and tested on over the past however long she’d been held and nothing had brought her to the brink of breaking like hearing confirmation that Mae was a prisoner too. No help would be coming. No one would know she was missing. Her penchant for taking off for weeks at a time would mean her parents wouldn’t suspect anything out of the ordinary. Only Mae would have questioned her absence. Mae would have sent up warning flags to others in their lives.

Maybe he was wrong.
 

She shook, clutching the glasses in one hand. “They have Mae too?”

“You know her?” he asked, surprise in his voice.

“She’s my best friend,” answered Alice, the fight and will to give them all hell rushing from her body. She sank to the floor and sat, holding the glasses to her chest. “She’s so innocent and always forgetting things. She’s not a fighter. She can’t handle this.”

“How long have you been here?” he asked, something off. His words didn’t match his emotions, that was easy to pick up on.

She didn’t respond at first, but when she finally did she knew she sounded tired. “At
this
facility, just today. I was at a different one for a couple of weeks. I think. Time is hard to keep without a clock.” He nodded, as if he understood her struggle to figure out nights from days and how hard it was to keep an accurate count. “They said I was too difficult to deal with at the other place. They brought me here. Something about it being higher security or something.”

A flicker of pride reflected back at her from him and she tipped her head, wondering why her confessions would cause him to fill with such an emotion. Her thoughts quickly returned to Mae. Alice knew what she’d endured at the hands of the people holding them. She couldn’t imagine what her best friend had been subjected to. “Oh gods, they’ve had Mae this whole time, haven’t they?”

Her succubus side continued to read his tells. While he still wanted her sexually, there was something else there. Was it genuine concern for her?

“She’s been here just over two weeks. She mentioned being taken the night of a blind date.”

Alice gasped and locked gazes with him. “I was taken then too.”

She nearly lost her grip on her tears, nearly let them win. There was a loud creaking noise, followed quickly by the door to her cell opening. Relief rushed through her as Ezra entered the room. Desperation clung to her. She needed to feed and soon and she needed to find her friend.

“They have my friend Mae,” she said, knowing her voice sounded weak.

Nodding, Ezra stepped into the cell more. “I know.”

He’d known they’d had Mae all along? Her temper rose, chasing away the urge to cry and replacing it with the sudden need to throw something at the man.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” she demanded, clutching Mae’s glasses to her chest. “You came with me from the other place and you never once mentioned they have my best friend too?”

There was a level of sadness in his otherwise handsome face. “I only
just
found out this morning. I didn’t know that two of you were taken from the same location. That information wasn’t presented to me prior. She’s fine, Alice. I promise.”

She trusted him. She’d read his thoughts enough before he’d learned to block her to know he was a good man stuck in a bad situation. “Did they force her to breed?” asked Alice, feeling sick at the idea. “Like they threatened to do to me?”

The question drew a snort from Ezra and a violent outburst from Brad as he punched the window separating them, his entire body coiled with rage. He then flipped Ezra off.

Alice’s eyes widened in surprise. He didn’t know her, yet he was irate and ready to blow on her behalf.

Ezra chuckled, partially under his breath as he shook his head, his long hair moving about. “Relax, wolf. I’m only laughing because any man who tries to get near Alice has been very sorry.”

She’d have taken offense but she was sort of proud of her reputation among the guards. She shrugged casually. “I told them they weren’t touching me. They should have listened.”

“Not sure the one you went at this morning will ever have use of his manhood again,” said Ezra, grinning wide before he winked.

She smiled back. “Good. Asshole should know it’s wrong to touch a woman who doesn’t want to be touched. Now every time his dick doesn’t work, he’ll remember why that is.”

Ezra held his hand out. “Mae needs her glasses. She’s resting now and I made sure to leave someone with her who will keep her safe.”

Alice stiffened, her gaze narrowing. “This Caesar guy you’re working with?”

“The fact you were able to read my thoughts before I figured it out and started blocking you is unnerving,” said Ezra. “And to answer your question, no. Caesar isn’t with her. He’s not checked in with me yet. He should have.”

“You think something happened to him, don’t you?”

Ezra offered a curt nod. “I have to say you’re one of the few people in my long life who can do that—who can read me. I’m not really a fan of it.”

Alice lifted her shoulders and let them fall slowly, trying to appear calm and collected. She was neither. She needed to feed and soon. “Never met a guy who could shift into a dragon. Hell, I didn’t think dragons were even real.”

“Most people assume werewolves aren’t real,” replied Ezra. “And I think Brad would be the first to dispute that claim.”

“I’m a lycan,” he said, posturing.
 

Ezra glanced at him. “You’re a hell of a lot more than just a lycan now after the Corporation got their hands on you and you know it.”

“The Corporation?” he asked and then stepped back from the glass. “The people who took me to start with?”

Ezra nodded and spoke, “I was planted with them, in one of their German facilities to start with. It became clear I was needed on this end more.”

Alice stepped closer to Ezra and handed him the glasses. “Tell Brad about the Shadow Agent Ops thing.”

Groaning, Ezra eyed her. “Announce it to everyone, why don’t you, little succubus?”

She glanced at Brad. He was a prisoner too. “Like he’s going to tell them. He wants them dead as much as me. Maybe more.”

Ezra stared in Brad’s direction. “I’m guessing much,
much
more, Alice. Brad has been held against his will nearly a year, at least from what I can tell by his paper trail.”

Brad touched the glass, his expression softening somewhat. “Do you know about Vic or Kimberly?”

Ezra glanced at the door and then back to the window. “Vic is still being held by the Corporation. They have him buried deep in one of the black sites. I suspect they intended the same for you, but you were liberated from their holding station.”

Alice tilted her head. What had Ezra meant by liberated?
 

Brad jutted out his chin. “I’m not going back.”

“Didn’t think you’d want to,” said Ezra.

“Kimberly?” Brad asked, desperation showing on his face, and for a second a small pang of jealousy struck Alice, though she wasn’t sure why. She had nothing to be jealous of. It wasn’t like she and Brad were an item.

Ezra nodded. “Kimberly has been free for months. That is all I know. I’ve been in too deep to keep up on it all.”

Exhaling, Brad put his head against the glass. He then drew in a deep breath and locked gazes with Ezra. “Get Mae and Alice out of here no matter the cost. Use me as a diversion if need be. I want them safe.”

He’d been locked up already for how long, and the nimrod wanted to make a martyr of himself for her? Something deep inside her snapped. She would not allow harm to come to him, no matter the personal cost to herself. With the knowledge came her famous temper. “You don’t even know me. Why would you sacrifice yourself for me? Are you stupid?”