Tactical Magik (Immortal Ops) by Mandy M. Roth Read Free Book Online Page A

slip into a funk again. He’d throw himself into work, like he always did.
    The current location didn’t appear to be much more than an abandoned warehouse. Looked like it would be another intel dud. He’d had a late flight in and no time to rest before he’d met with a rendezvous contact who handed him the new details. Somehow, Eadan didn’t think Krauss or his accomplices would be holed up in a warehouse that looked like it could blow over in a hard wind. Stranger shit had happened, so he didn’t walk away like he thought he should. The longer he remained, the more he realized something was off.
    The alley was quiet. Too quiet in actuality. His brow crinkled as he looked around more, suddenly noticing the lack of anything—sounds, people, animals, city noise.
    Letting his power up slowly, he stood in place, using his power to feel around him. It was then he sensed it. Additional power. Old and powerful.
    Interesting.
    Deciding it warranted a closer look, Eadan went around to the side of the warehouse. One rather large man stood there. He looked like he enjoyed too much fast food to be able to do much in the way of damage. Unless he planned to attack Eadan with his cholesterol. As Eadan approached him, the man postured as if his sheer size would scare Eadan away.
    Eadan nearly laughed. He’d seen bigger and badder.
    “What’s the word?” the man demanded, hands up, shoulders back. He looked ridiculous. If Eadan had to guess, he’d say the guy was a shifter of some sort—though he wasn’t alpha. He was just pretending to be.
    Drawing up his magik more, Eadan merely smiled. “You will permit me entrance.” There was a push to his voice. One he knew even supernaturals would have difficultly ignoring. It was why he made a good Shadow Agent. He didn’t generally need anyone else with him. Though, he had to admit he missed his new “brothers.” Roi would have punched his way into the warehouse. Wilson would have probably fallen through the roof by mistake. Jon would have watched it from a distance, through a scope on his sniper rifle, and Lukian would have simply raised a brow and demanded to be permitted in—no magik to his cause. Green was a different kind of Op. One who had surprised them all with a badass side. He’d probably concoct a potion to put the bouncer to sleep. That seemed like a science geek thing to do.
    Green took some getting used to. Technically, he was Eadan’s brother-in-law now that he was mated to Melanie, Eadan’s only sibling. The man needed a medal for that. Melanie was a handful during the best of times. He couldn’t imagine any guy wanting to spend eternity with her.
    Eadan waited as his magik trickled over the guy at the entrance. The bouncer nodded and stepped aside. Eadan couldn’t stop himself as he leaned and continued to push power over the man. “And the new entrance phrase is, you’re a dick.”
    The man nodded. “I’m a dick.”
    With a snort, Eadan continued into the warehouse. Sometimes being magik was way too fun.
    The minute he fully crossed the threshold, the silence that had been outside vanished, replaced by loud pulsating music and an even louder crowd of people all gathered around something in the center. He pushed his way through the throng of sweaty bodies only to emerge near a ring set up in the center.
    When he spotted the black skull flag erected at two points near the edges of the ring, he understood fully what he’d stumbled upon. An illegal underground fight ring. One that no doubt catered to the supernatural but wasn’t sanctioned. He’d attended several in his life. Each was seedier than the next and none ever led to anything good. Most were frequented by supernatural lowlifes out to make a fast buck. But in the end Eadan understood the fights had wealthy backers and connections in places good people just didn’t end up.
    There had been a rash of people vanishing who had been associated with the fights and the lifestyle. If Krauss and Molyneux