Her Wild Hero

“You know those two doctors the DCO has been hunting for months?” she asked.

Of course he did—everyone in the DCO was aware that they’d been after the architects of the hybrid program since Ivy and Landon had filed their report on the two insane doctors. But she needed somewhere to start and that seemed as good as anywhere else. When Declan nodded, she jumped in with both feet.

“They grabbed Ivy out in Washington State and experimented on her. The one big thing they were after were DNA samples—all kinds of samples.”

Declan swore. “How the hell did this not come out?”

“It didn’t come out because Ivy and Landon never told anyone.”

Silence, then another curse. “Because then everyone would have known Landon didn’t follow the DCO’s first standing order and kill Ivy when it looked like she was going to be captured.”

“Exactly,” she said.

Hopefully Declan wouldn’t ask the next obvious question: Why had Landon refused to follow the most rigid DCO order? Telling Declan that Ivy had been experimented on was bad enough; telling him that she had fallen in love with—and married—her partner? That was a whole different level of complicated.

But Declan was more interested in something else. “So Ivy was captured and instead of calling the DCO for help, Landon called…you?”

“Sheesh, you don’t have to make it sound like I’m that far down on the list,” she said wryly. “But you’re right. Landon initially wanted you and your team, but you were out chasing down Tanner. Landon wanted someone he could trust. That ended up being me.”

She wasn’t going to mention Clayne or the entire Special Forces team Landon had called in. No need to draw anyone else into this story. She was already violating so many promises it wasn’t even funny.

“And these doctors—they experimented on Ivy. Took DNA samples?”

This was the part she really needed to hammer home. She needed Declan to understand the kind of vicious psychos they were up against.

“Experimented is putting it mildly. Tortured would be a better word. They wanted DNA samples and they didn’t care how they got them. At the same time, the doctors wanted to evaluate Ivy’s pain threshold. They used scalpels, drills, and worse. If we hadn’t found her when we did…” She shuddered. “They were planning to take brain tissue samples next.”

Declan was growling before Kendra was halfway finished, and she looked up to see his eyes glowing a soft rose color. She’d never seen Declan’s eyes glow, even when they’d been moving around at night. But while the glow was reddish, it was completely different than that of the hybrids. Nevertheless, to know that his eyes did that when he got angry was a little…scary. She couldn’t believe in all the years she’d worked with him, she’d never seen that part of his shifter nature.

But the glow disappeared just as fast as it had appeared, leaving her to wonder if she’d really seen it at all.

“Is Ivy okay now?” Declan asked, his voice a little thick, and Kendra knew he was fighting to get his fangs and jaw to shift back to normal.

“Yes. As okay as one could expect after what happened to her. But she’ll never forget what they did to her or what they took from her. And when she finds them, they’ll pay.”

“Is that what she and Landon have been doing all those times when their missions ran over or they got delayed in transit, trying to find those doctors?”

Kendra tried not to look shocked, and thought she’d managed it, until Declan chuckled. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

“How long have you noticed this going on? Have you told anyone else?” she asked.

If Declan had noticed—or pointed out—what Landon and Ivy were doing, they were screwed. Did John know? Or worse, Dick? If so, the Committee almost certainly knew as well. Her pulse began to beat out of control.

“Relax and breathe.” Declan reached out to place his big hands on her shoulders. “I noticed a while ago, but I haven’t told anyone. And I’m pretty sure no one else has realized what’s going on, so you can calm down before you start to hyperventilate.”

She took a deep breath, then another while Declan sat there with his hands on her shoulders, waiting patiently.

“How did you figure out what was going on?” she finally asked.