Her Wild Hero Read online

  Well, that sucked. Her parents might not know what she did for a living, but at least they were still proud of her. It sounded as if Declan’s family had turned their backs on him because he hadn’t followed the career path they’d wanted him to. God, she wanted to smack every one of them.

  Since she couldn’t do that, she placed her hand on his thigh and gave it a gentle squeeze. “Well, your family might not like your career choices, but if you didn’t work for the DCO, I probably wouldn’t be alive right now. So, thank you.”

  Before she could stop herself, Kendra leaned over and brushed his cheek with her lips. The kiss was nothing more than a peck, and yet it sent a little quiver through her. Declan stared at her, surprise in his blue eyes. Had he felt it, too?

  “You’re…um…you’re welcome.” He cleared his throat. “We should get going.”

  She nodded, and just that fast, the thought that she and Declan had experienced a cosmic connection disappeared, replaced by more practical matters. Like getting out of this jungle in one piece.

  ***

  He and Kendra were forced to hide to avoid groups of hybrids three more times in the space of an hour. The first two times, they’d hidden in more palms. This third time, they’d been fortunate enough to find a huge cluster of shrubs and brambles growing along the side of a stream. It was thick enough to hide them from sight and the gurgling water helped cover any sound they might make.

  Stopping to hide every fifteen minutes made it seem like they weren’t getting any closer to freedom, but it was better than having to fight their way through numerous hybrids. And there were a hell of a lot more roaming around today than there’d been last night. No human soldiers, though. That was a damn scary thought. Had the hybrids killed their own soldiers, or just turned them into monsters like them?

  Declan moved slightly, careful not to rustle the shrubs around him and Kendra too much. If there were enough hybrids to both maintain a perimeter and scout the area, that meant there could be as many as a hundred of them out there. To say this had the potential to end badly was an understatement.

  But one look at Kendra was enough to make him say to hell with that shit. She was depending on him to get them out of this, and that’s exactly what he was going to do.

  She was sitting cross-legged beside him, more strands of hair coming loose from her ponytail, a smudge of dirt on her cheek. Take away the cammies and the M4, and put her in a tank top and cutoffs, and she’d look like the quintessential girl next door. And for years, that’s how he’d thought of her. But there was so much more to her that he’d never given her credit for.

  It wasn’t only the courage she’d shown facing the hybrids, though that was damn impressive. What amazed him the most was how mentally tough she’d been. She’d seen things in the last few days that would make the strongest person curl into a ball and give up, but she kept shaking it off and pushing forward.

  Kendra was turning out to be full of surprises. Like the way she’d been able to get him talking about his family—where the hell had that come from? He went out of his way not to talk about them with anyone, but she’d asked and the next thing he knew, he was telling her stuff he’d never told a soul. The worst part was that he’d liked confiding in her. And when she’d kissed him on the cheek? Well, he damn near thought he’d died and gone to heaven.

  For one insane moment, he’d let himself believe it had meant something to her, too. But then he realized she would have done the same thing if she’d been out here with Tate, Gavin, or Brent. Or Clayne. Definitely Clayne. But while it hadn’t been a big deal for her, it had been for him. One little kiss and he’d been ready to say to hell with the hybrids and spend the rest of the day making love to her.

  His hand tightened reflexively around his weapon. It pissed him off that she could make him lose control like he was some kind of hormonal teenager. It convinced him more than ever that he needed to be extra careful around her. In some ways, she was more dangerous to his health than those damn hybrids. At least he was able to keep his head screwed on straight when it came to them.

  But five minutes later, he was still thinking about that little kiss and how soft her lips had felt against his cheek. Before he even knew what he was doing, he found himself leaning close to her, breathing deeply through his nose and inhaling her delicious scent. It really wasn’t fair. His nose didn’t work worth a shit when he needed it to, but when it came to Kendra, it worked like a frigging bloodhound’s.

  He ran his hand through his hair. He needed a distraction quick or he was going to be nuzzling her neck in a minute.

  “So, is your first official DCO field mission living up to you expectations?” he asked.

  She parted a few branches and tried to see out of their shelter. He knew she wouldn’t be able to, and after a few moments she gave up and sat back again.

  “Honestly, there was a certain part of me that was hoping for a little excitement on this mission.” She gave him a sheepish look. “Would you consider it whining if I admitted this is way more than I wanted?”

  His mouth edged up. “I wouldn’t consider it whining at all. But it does make me wonder why you wanted to come on this mission in the first place. Why risk your life if you don’t have to?”

  She looked away. “You wouldn’t understand.”

  “Try me.”

  She toyed with the laces on her boot. “Watching the rest of you go out on mission after mission, year after year, seeing places and doing things I’d only dreamed about really sucked. I guess I wanted to be a part of the conversation instead of always being the one on the outside.”

  After spending all those years in high school and college feeling like an outsider, he understood how that felt. “None of us ever thought less of you because you work behind the scenes. You know that, right? We couldn’t do our jobs without the stuff you do at the DCO. You’re amazing.”

  Her face colored with the cutest blush he’d ever seen. “Thanks, but it’s not the same. You might not think less of me, but I’ve always thought less of myself for never risking my life like you do all the time.”

  When she put it that way, it sounded insane. But he respected her for it.

  “How long have you been trying to get John to send you on missions?” he asked.

  “About three years, I guess. But the itch has gotten really bad since—”

  “Since you fought the hybrids with Ivy and Landon out in Washington State,” he finished.

  Kendra nodded. “That’s when I realized this was something I could do. And it’s when I discovered how good it felt to be part of a team and not be the one who stays at home while everyone else risks their lives. It made me feel like I was doing something important.” She tilted her head to look at him. “Does that make any sense at all?”

  He grinned. “Yeah, actually it makes a lot of sense.”

  She returned his smile with a small one of her own that lit up his little piece of the world. Dammit. Declan mentally kicked himself for asking her something personal. He’d been trying to get her off his mind so he could get his defenses back up, but it hadn’t worked out that way at all. She’d opened up and told him something she probably hadn’t told another soul. Now, instead of reestablishing a safe distance between them, she’d somehow weaseled herself in even closer.

  He was fighting tooth and nail, but Kendra was making it damn near impossible for him to not feel something for her.

  Declan was so wrapped up in his own stupidity that he made the decision to leave the shelter without checking to make sure the area was clear. And it was why he didn’t hear the pack of hybrids moving along the edge of the stream until he and Kendra walked right into them. He didn’t even have time to berate himself before the three hybrids jumped them.

  He tried to shove Kendra out of the way, but he was too late. She went down with one of the snarling creatures on her back, her scream echoing in his ears. All Declan could do was pray she lasted until he got to her. And the other two weren’t going to mak
e that easy.

  He’d barely lifted the barrel of his M4 when both creatures hit him like a ton of bricks, sending his weapon and rucksack flying. Declan let his body shift as he went down, cursing that he didn’t have the superlong claws and fangs like other shifters in the DCO. But then again, he probably wouldn’t have known what to do with them if he did. Fortunately, he did know how to use the one shifter ability he’d always depended on—his strength. And he needed that strength now to get the two psycho monsters away from him so he could help Kendra.

  He got a hand around one hybrid’s throat while he used his free arm to deflect the creature’s long-ass claws. Or tried to anyway. The beast found his target a couple times, slicing into his chest and shoulder.

  Declan bit back a growl and tightened his grip on the hybrid’s throat, squeezing until he felt something squish. He shoved the first attacker away and sent a kick toward the knee of the second one. It didn’t land, but it made the thing skip back a step.

  That was the opening Declan needed. He lunged to his feet and darted over to Kendra. His heart lurched. The hybrid was on her back, both hands clawing at her rucksack like a creature possessed. Hunks of the pack and its contents were flying everywhere, but Declan couldn’t tell if the beast’s claws had hit anything vulnerable yet. He threw himself at the hybrid, knocking it off Kendra and sending it tumbling.

  Declan came down on top of the creature, hoping to get his arms around it and crush the damn thing to death, but it was too fast. The beast slipped out from under him like it was greased, swiping at him the same maniacal way it had gone at Kendra. The thing worked itself into a rage trying to reach him. Declan desperately wanted to get back to Kendra’s side, but at the moment, it was all he could do to just keep the hybrid from sinking its teeth into him.

  He shot a quick glance past his attacker and saw Kendra scrambling backward like a crab in an effort to reach her weapon, where it lay on the ground. He swore as the hybrid whose windpipe he crushed advanced on her. What the hell did it take to put these things down?

  Declan couldn’t count on Kendra reaching her weapon in time. He had to get to her.

  He roared, gathering himself to charge the frenzied creature in front of him. He’d probably take a shot or two from those razor-sharp claws as he bulled past the thing, but it’d be worth it if it meant saving Kendra’s life.

  But then a little voice in the back of his head reminded him that he hadn’t seen the third hybrid in freaking forever.

  He turned just as a blur darted toward him.

  He caught an arm and twisted, hearing a satisfying crunch as he took down the hybrid. He’d crush every bone in its body if he had to.

  But when Declan moved to go in for the killing blow, the hypodermic syringe in the hybrid’s grip froze him in place. As big around as his wrist, it had a four-inch needle with yellow goo dripping from the tip.

  What the fuck?

  He didn’t have time to consider why the hybrid had just tried to stick him with a needle because the rabid creature he’d been about to charge earlier leaped on him. But instead of going for Declan’s throat, the beast reached for the needle. The three of them went down in a rolling ball of claws, fangs, and muscles as they all fought for control of the syringe.

  Declan was so focused on trying to keep whatever was in the needle out of his body, he barely registered the sound when a weapon rattled off three-round bursts right over his head. The hybrid holding the needle flinched, giving Declan the opportunity he needed to get the heel of one hand under the thing’s chin and shove—hard enough to snap its neck and make the back of its head connect with his shoulder blades. He didn’t wait to see what effect that had on the creature. If it survived a neck broken that badly, Declan was beyond screwed.

  Ripping the syringe out of the dead hybrid’s hand, he jabbed it into the neck of the other hybrid. He hadn’t really intended to inject the thing. He just wanted that big-ass needle someplace out of the way.

  Declan shoved the hybrid away, praying he wasn’t too late to help Kendra. But as he rolled to his feet, he realized she didn’t need his help. She aimed her M4 at the hybrid he’d stuck with the syringe and shot the thing in the head.

  He put his hand on her arm. “Are you okay? Did that thing get you?”

  Declan didn’t wait for an answer, but instead spun her around to check for himself. Her uniform top was torn in a few places, but the skin underneath appeared beautifully unmarred.

  “I’m okay,” she said. “It was close, but you got it off me in time.”

  Thank God. Declan was so relieved he felt like hugging her. He probably would have if her eyes hadn’t gone wide with horror. Oh, shit. What now?

  “You’re bleeding!” she said.

  Declan looked down at the gash on his chest. “It’s just a scratch. He barely got me.”

  She swung her M4 over her shoulder. “Let me check.”

  The urge to feel her hands on him was way more tempting than it should have been given the circumstances. But right now, he had to get his head screwed back on right and get them out of here, and he couldn’t do that with Kendra playing nursemaid.

  He caught her hands. “Later. We need to get out of here before more hybrids show up. The gunfire is bound to draw them like flies.”

  She frowned, her gaze lingering on his wounds, but then she nodded. “You’re right. Sorry. I had to shoot. I couldn’t figure out any other way to put them down.”

  “You don’t hear me complaining.” He gave her hands a squeeze. “Let’s get our stuff and get going.”

  Unfortunately, getting their stuff turned out to be more difficult than anticipated. Kendra’s pack was a goner, as was most of the stuff in it. She ran around, trying to pick up what she could salvage—ammo, protein bars, and the gun cleaning, survival, and first-aid kits. Her clothes were scattered and shredded, but she still checked to see if any of them were usable.

  “Forget about those,” he said. “You can make do with the uniform you’re wearing.”

  She put her hands on her hips, pinning him with a look as he dropped to one knee beside a dead hybrid and began going through its cargo pockets. “And what am I supposed to do about underwear?” she demanded.

  “I don’t know.” He moved to the second hybrid. “Can’t you just do without?”

  Declan was sorry he’d said it the second the words were out of his mouth because the image it brought to mind—of Kendra running around the jungle bare-ass naked—was seriously distracting.

  She bent to rummage through another pile of clothing. “I’m not even going to answer that.”

  Thank God. Because if she’d said yes, he really would have been in trouble.

  Once Kendra found what she was looking for, she ran over to his rucksack and crammed the remains of her belongings into any space she could find in the stuffed bag. What didn’t fit in his bag went into the cargo pockets of her uniform pants.

  Declan didn’t find anything of value on the first two hybrids. No food or water, no survival gear beyond two cheap knives, not even a map that might have told him where the hybrid camp was located. There was a handheld radio, but it had been smashed to pieces in the fight, so there was no chance eavesdropping on any communications. As for weapons, the hybrids had been carrying heavier FN SCAR assault rifles, so even the small amount of ammo that went with them was worthless to Declan and Kendra—it wasn’t 5.56 mm, so it wouldn’t fit in their M4s.

  He walked over to where Kendra was standing beside the third body—the hybrid he’d stabbed with the syringe and she’d shot.

  “What the hell is that?” she asked, pointing at the hypodermic needle.

  “It’s a syringe.”

  She gave him an impatient look. “Really? I never would have guessed. I meant, what was a hybrid doing with it?”

  “They were trying to stick me with it.”

  She kneeled down and yanked the syringe out of the hybrid’s neck, then depressed the plunger the last few millimeters until gliste
ning, yellow goo squirted from the tip. She seemed so fascinated Declan almost asked if she was going to taste it like they did on TV shows.

  “What do you think is in it?” she asked.

  “I’m pretty sure it’s not vitamin B. I wasn’t going to let him stick me so I could find out.”

  When she leaned close and sniffed the needle, Declan decided he’d had enough. He pulled the syringe out of her hand and tossed it to the ground, then reached down and pulled her to her feet. “We have to go.”

  “Hope the stuff I added to your pack didn’t add too much weight,” she said as he slung it onto his shoulder.

  He chuckled. “I think I can handle a few spare magazines and some shredded undies.”

  That last part prompted yet another unwanted image, this time of Kendra prowling around the jungle wearing nothing but a sexy smile and some strategically ripped underwear. He shoved that thought aside and focused his attention outward as he started to run through the trees.

  “I should have had you carry my stuff all along,” she said as she pulled even with him. “We probably would have moved faster that way.”

  He only grunted and picked up the pace. But a part of his mind rebelled and painted a nice picture of him digging through his rucksack looking for ammo and finding her cute little panties instead.

  Damn, he had issues.

  Chapter 6

  “You sure she’s leading us the right way?” Carter asked softly. “How the hell does she know where the crash site is without a GPS or compass?”

  Angelo chuckled as he stepped over a downed tree. “She knows where she’s going, trust me. And she doesn’t need toys to tell her.”

  “I don’t know.” Carter gave him a sidelong glance. “I’m not being sexist or anything, but I’m not sure I’m too comfortable with her leading the group.”

  Behind Angelo, Derek snorted. “I wouldn’t let her hear you say that. She might decide to come back here and gut you like a fish.”

  Carter threw Ivy a quick look. She was fifty yards ahead of them on point. “It’s not like she can hear me. Besides, all I’m saying is that I’ve never met a single woman who was any good at land nav.”