Immortal Ops: New & Lengthened 2016 Anniversary Edition by Mandy M. Roth

corner and found the redheaded man busy at work. Green had his eyes pressed firmly to his microscope as he babbled to himself.  
    “Interesting.”  
    “What’s interesting?” Lukian asked.  
    Green spun around and shook his head. “Try not to do that. You nearly gave me a heart attack.”
    “Sorry. What’s interesting?” He smiled softly. Green had survived an attack by a werepanther decades ago but had never taken to the predator side of the beast. He was easy to sneak up on when he was preoccupied.  
    Green pulled up a picture on his computer screen and pointed to it. “Look here, the target’s…Peren’s,” he corrected himself quickly. “Her DNA is a melting pot. Look,” he said, pulling up another page. “This is normal human DNA. This here is normal shifter DNA , and here’s hers. Notice the extra strings? She’s not human, Lukian, and she’s not just a shifter either, she’s…” He seemed to be searching for the best way to tell him this.  
    “She’s what?”  
    “She seems to be a living and breathing incubator for various strains of supernatural creatures. There are signs of vampire, human, Fae , and shifter blood in her. I’m also picking up bits and pieces of cells that I can’t yet identify. I do know that the wolf blood is prominent, I think because of the attack you told me about. She showed me the scars on her leg. Pretty nasty. She’s lucky she didn’t lose her leg. I’m guessing that having vampire and Fae DNA in her sped up the healing process. That would also account for her throwing out that jolt of energy you felt when she first touched you.” He took a deep breath. “There’s something else.”  
    “Go ahead,” he said grudgingly.  
    “Her father is Dr. Lakeland Matthews. One of the scientists brought in to help stabilize the Ops program. Someone who would have had access to the experiments and DNA samples.”
    Lukian’s stomach dropped. “Oh God. He was a major contributor to the program until he suddenly went cold turkey,” he thought back, “almost twenty-five years ago.” His mouth was suddenly very dry. “Green, you don’t think he did this to his own daughter, do you?”  
    “No. Well, I wouldn’t think so. It’s impossible to do this to someone and not kill them or leave them as a vegetable for the rest of their life. I can’t explain what she is or how she came to be it. I think this happened because of his involvement with the creation of the Immortal Ops, but I don’t think he did it on purpose. At least, I hope that he didn’t do it on purpose.”

Chapter Nineteen

    Peren sat on the edge of the large bed and pulled up her feet. She was thankful for the t-shirt and sweatpants Lukian had given her to change into after her shower. Being attacked in the woods , and then , upon her arrival at the safe house , subjected to endless tests from his friend, Green, left her feeling tired and on edge. Green had tried to be quick, but he was the stereotypical man of science, wanting to perform every test possible on her. She knew his kind. Her father was one and Kyle had been another. She was actually surprised she’d managed to get out of the testing when she did and that it wasn’t still going.
    She had wanted to let her father know that she was okay, but Lukian had thought it was best that she and her friends just lie low for a while. After spending some time watching Lukian and the men he called friends, it didn’t take her long to figure out they were some sort of paramilitary group. She’d grown up around enough talk of government covert operations to make her immune to it—almost.  
    A cool brush of energy prickled over her , and she knew Lukian was headed back up the stairs to her room. She turned to the door and watched it open slowly. He poked his head in quietly, obviously expecting to find her asleep.
    His blue eyes narrowed as he saw her sitting up. “You should be resting.”  
    “I feel fine. I’m a fast healer. Always have