Wyvern Protection Unit - Chapter 102: Chapter 102

Jennifer paced inside her office. She’d left earlier than she’d intended, arriving alone—which was also unintentional.
“Fuck,” she murmured, hands on her cheeks.
Her heart was racing, and she felt like such a fool. She’d made a mess of things. After Zircon rejected her last night, everything went wrong. She’d gotten out of bed, grabbing for her torn clothes.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“What do you mean, what am I doing? You got what you wanted, right? Now, I’m leaving.”
“That’s not fucking fair, Jenn. It’s not like that⁠—”
“Fuck you, Conny. I’m done.”
“I’m not a fucking light you can switch on and off when you want. I’m a person, Jenn. I have feelings. You pulled me down towards your neck, am I supposed to think suddenly you want to bear my mark? After years of telling me no! Dammit, Jenn, listen to me⁠—”
But she didn’t stick around to hear the rest. She’d run out of his room, naked as the day she was born, clothes pressed to her chest. She didn’t even realize she was crying until she’d landed on her bed and soaked the pillow with her misery. Really, though. Was he wrong?
If she were being honest with herself, Jennifer would admit Zircon had every right to refuse her. Maybe he’d been toying with her. Just a way to pay her back for the years of making him wait and always saying no. Her heart squeezed inside her chest and her Owl cried out mournfully.
The beast’s noise was so soft and tiny, she barely heard her. But that was likely because the animal was pissed off at her, too.
“FUCK!” She yelled this time.
“Is there a reason you are swearing in the office today, Miss Dylluan?” Mother said from the doorway.
“What? Oh, sorry, sir!”
“I don’t care. Come into my office. I have something to share with you,” the man said, walking away briskly.
He moved very fast for such a stocky character. Jennifer pulled herself together and followed after him, her familiar low-heeled shoes clacking along the polished vinyl tiles. Frigging government buildings all seemed to have the same nondescript tiles on the floor. Everything was beige or gray, ugly, but functional. Like her. Well, that was how she felt on the inside.
Ugly, but functional.
“Take a look at this video,” Mother said, motioning towards one of four monitors on his enormous desk.
Jennifer frowned, watching as he pressed play. The footage was in color, but grainy, but it appeared to be an alley where a group of males was shouting at an older male. He opened his car door, and inside was a woman bound and gagged. She narrowed her eyes, stepping closer.
“Oh my gods, is that a Drakein? Wait, I know her. Her name is Lyra, but isn’t she supposed to be with the California team?”
“She was. But her handler lost track of her two days ago. It seems she was intercepted while on a shopping trip.”
“But no one knows what the Drakein even are? Who would take her?”
“Likely it was too soon to send her out on her own. If you watch the second video clip of the market where Lyra was taken, she displays traits of a Shifter⁠—”
“Traits of a Shifter? For example?”
“Sniffing the air constantly. Hearing things she shouldn’t be able to. Keep watching, Miss Dylluan. You will see how the assailant identified her on that film. But for now, watch this.”
Jennifer bit back her growl and continued watching the screen. The older man slammed the door shut, and it seemed as if he was bartering for a better deal. One of the younger males slapped him across the face, but she felt no sympathy for the man.
The bastard was trafficking in women! He turned then, his face in full view of the camera. That was when her entire world shifted. Jennifer’s eyes widened, and thunder roared in her ears.
Holy fuck. No way. It was impossible.
“That’s my father. THAT’S MY FATHER!” Jennifer yelled, eyes wide. “What’s going on? What does he have to do with this?”
Mother pointed to the screen again, and her gaze flicked back to watch the scene unfold. Horror filled her as she saw an older, but familiar version of the man who’d abandoned her as a child get roughed up by a couple of thugs.
“From what we understand, your father is mixed up with an underground group of humans who know about Shifters. They call themselves the Global Human Alliance.”
“My father is mixed up with the GHA? Those are the assholes responsible for bombing greener companies and environmentalist rallies! They are like the worst people ever.”
“I agree, their politics are strange. They seem to hate people who want to save the world and believe humans are the only thing that matters. However, what is even more troubling is they know about supes. They’ve been collecting them, it seems.”
“For what reason?”
“We aren’t sure yet, but our intel shows they’re not just kidnapping Shifters, they’re experimenting on them. Look at this file.”
Mother handed her a thick file, inside it was filled with horrors the likes of which Jennifer wished she could erase from her memory. The DPCA did not handle this kind of thing, at least not her teams. The documents detailed horrific goings ons, complete with gory and grotesque photos, of Shifters being taken apart like science experiments.
“This is. Oh, gods!”
Jennifer gulped and swayed on her feet. Mother grabbed a chair and shoved it behind her. His face was unreadable, but that was the least of her worries. Yes, she knew some of the human world knew of their existence. There were whole departments dedicated to rooting them out and dealing with them using whatever methods they could—magic, persuasion, and sometimes, even death.
That was not Jennifer’s purview. She worked with elite Shifter teams who made the world safer. It was the kind of thing that improved relations between the supernatural and normal worlds for those in the know.
But this? This was something she didn’t even want to know about.
“What does my father have to do with this?” she asked and sat down heavily.
“He’s a catcher. He lures unsuspecting female Shifters into his confidence, then he sells them to the GHA goons. I am sorry to have to tell you this, Miss Dylluan.”
“No. It’s fine. I don’t know my father very well, as I am sure you already know.”
“Yes. That is why I believe we can trust you with this assignment.”
“What assignment?”
“We want you to bring your father in.”
“What?” she asked, completely aghast. “With all due respect, Mother, I am not an operative⁠—”
“No. But he is,” he replied and gestured towards the door.
Fuck. When did he arrive?
Jennifer frowned, refusing to look at the man who only hours ago made her come more times than she even thought possible. Her Owl perked up, but the beast was still mostly quiet. Her head pounded, and she felt sick to her stomach.
“Zircon, did you read the brief I sent?” Mother asked.
“Yes.”
“Then you understand the task?”
“I do.”
“Good. Miss Dylluan, check your email. We’ve sent your father’s contact information. I need you to set up a meeting with him. Bring him in, that is your goal.”
“What about Lyra?” Zircon asked.
“Your brothers are on it. We’ve had the GHA and, more specifically, the scum Jonathan Dylluan has been selling Shifters to, under surveillance for months. The location of the warehouse where they hold their prisoners has just been confirmed. Jasper, Heliodore, Larimar, and Medjed are on their way now⁠—”
“Why wasn’t I told? I am their handler,” Jennifer growled, visibly angry.
“Because, Miss Dylluan, I am in charge here. Now, we’ve been waiting to find their supplier before taking apart the GHA. Your father is that supplier. His work as a trucker allows him to prowl the country, looking for prey.”
“Just like a serial killer,” she muttered, and closed her eyes on a wave of pain.
“Yes. Exactly. But the human law enforcement agencies have not caught on to him yet. That is why it is imperative we get him first.”
“I can’t believe it. I haven’t seen my father in years. And you’re sure he is their supplier?” Jennifer murmured, her throat constricting on the words.
“Yes. The evidence is conclusive.”
“I’m sorry, Jenn,” Zircon whispered, and she heard the truth in his voice.
It felt like the walls were closing in on her. After all this time, after all he’d done to her and her mother. Was she ready to confront him? To play the part of the daughter just looking to reconnect? Jennifer was a kid the last time she saw him. She didn’t know if she could handle pretending to give a shit at this late date.
“Fine. Yes. Tell me everything you know.”
“Okay. Jonathan Dylluan, though he goes by the alias Dillon Johns.” Mother said.
“Jenn, you don’t have to do this—” Zircon interrupted, but she ignored him.
“Miss Dylluan is a professional, Mr. Wessex, and we’ve already sent the initial contact in her name. You just need to wait for his reply, then make a plan to meet. But I must ask, are you sure you are up for this?”
Mother turned to face her, his expression blank. Anger filled her. Fuck. She didn’t know if she was up for that or anything else, but so what? It was her job. Jennifer wanted to rage against both overbearing males. She’d worked too long and too hard to not be respected at her place of work.
“Yes, sir. Like you said, I am a professional. I will let you know when he’s made contact,” she growled with fierce determination.
She did not bother to look at Zircon as she pushed past him. She scrolled her email for the brief with her father’s contact information. After decades of silence, she was finally going to talk to the man who’d sired her. Bile rose inside her throat, and she cursed before sprinting to the restroom.
One of the perks of being a Shifter was having a topnotch immune system. Jennifer hardly ever got sick. Hell. She couldn’t remember the last time she threw up. NO, that wasn’t true. She did remember.
It was the time Caro thought she could make them chicken wings during a sleepover and wound up giving them both salmonella after putting the cooked chicken back in the same dish where she’d placed it when it was raw.
“Are you alright?”
The softly whispered question dragged her attention back to the present. That was when she realized she was no longer kneeling in the ladies’ room, but rather, she was being cradled inside a pair of enormous arms.
Zircon carried her to the sink, sitting her on the counter before running a wad of paper towels beneath the faucet. He let the water run for a few seconds before using it to wipe her face and clean her mouth. She was so shocked, Jennifer didn’t move for a second.
His pellucid gaze bore into hers, and she swore she saw remembered heat flickering behind the crystal blue. That was about all she could take of that, so she looked away a second later. She was still too ashamed of the way she offered herself, too hurt by his rejection.
“We need to talk, Jenn,” he started.
“Not now. Conny. Excuse me. I have to brush my teeth,” she murmured, pushing off the counter and going to grab her spare toothbrush and paste.
She always kept extra in the office for late nights and what nots. Jennifer returned a moment later, unsurprised to see him still waiting, arms crossed over his massive chest. The gods clearly hated her, otherwise they would not have made Zircon the sexiest man on the planet.
His dark hair cascaded across his forehead, the color seeming to emphasize the crystalline blue of his eyes. He was sporting some serious scruff, and fuck, that only made him look hotter. Her body flushed, remembering the way he’d completely taken over her last night, owning her with his skill and sublime physique. She should have been embarrassed, but he’d made her feel so good.
“You keep looking at me like that, baby. Go on, I dare you,” he growled, and she could see him trembling with the effort it took to keep still.
“Ha! That’s unlikely, don’t you think?” she replied, putting toothpaste on her brush, and facing the sink and mirror.
She tried not to look at him, but couldn’t help it. He drew her eyes to him like a magnet. He had one eyebrow raised, making him look like some cocky, annoyed nobleman from times when ladies swooned, and men built towers and castles to protect what was theirs, then went around slaying dragons and shit.
Technically, he was a prince, so that was kind of fitting. Only Zircon wouldn’t have slayed any dragons. He was the dragon, well, the Wyvern, or Drakein, as they were called back on their planet. Didn’t matter what he was called, or what time they were in. He still made Jennifer swoon.
Foolish. Really foolish, Jenn.