Grant: Special Ops (Shifters Elite Book 6) Read online

  GRANT

  SHIFTERS ELITE

  AVA BENTON

  CONTENTS

  Shifters Elite: Grant

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Epilogue

  Afterword

  SHIFTERS ELITE: GRANT

  Cord and Jace of the Everglade Clan are looking for a missing clan member.

  A tiger shifter that hasn’t been seen for a while.

  Grant’s a dire wolf shifter born of a laboratory.

  Grant’s got a secret that threatens his life within the clan.

  A dire wolf shifter hottie that dreams of a normal life.

  Daniela’s always wanted to have a normal, less nomadic life. Does Grant offer that or does he offer dissension within a clan?

  — More Ava Benton shifters are coming! —

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  1

  DANIELA

  “You’d better keep me posted on this baby.” Nia placed one hand against Layla’s stomach, which Layla covered with her own.

  She smiled through her tears. “I will. You’ll get sick of updates in no time.”

  “Hmm. I don’t think that’s possible.” She wrapped her arms around our friend’s shoulders and rested her head against Layla’s shoulder. “I love you.”

  I stood off to the side and was pretty sure my heart would break. It felt surreal, watching my best friend leave.

  And for Montana, of all places.

  But that was where Drew was going and she had to be with him. I told myself to understand. I didn’t think she actually wanted to leave us. She wanted to be with him. Two different things. It just so happened that one made the other impossible. Life happened that way sometimes.

  She turned to me. “And you, gorgeous.”

  “Stop it,” I grinned. My chin trembled.

  “Take it easy on these new guys around here, huh? I’ve seen the way they follow you around with their eyes, practically drooling. Don’t break too many hearts, okay?”

  “I’ll keep an eye on her,” Layla promised with a wink.

  I tried to joke with them. I didn’t want Nia’s last moments with us to be full of tears. We had been through too much together to end things that way. But I was never good at goodbyes, either. My chin trembled again and my vision blurred as tears filled my eyes.

  “Come here, you.” Nia enveloped me in a tight hug and I clung to her.

  Layla joined us and we stood there, locked together, for a long time.

  I wished more than anything that she didn’t have to go, but I understood why it was important to her. Some friend I would be if I made a big deal about it. She was happy, and I was happy for her.

  It was just that I was miserable for myself at the same time.

  Alice waited behind Nia.

  I reached for her when our hug was over. “And you.”

  “And me.”

  “Thank you.” I gave her a tight hug, too.

  “Thank me? For what? I should be thanking you!”

  I pulled away and held her at arm’s length. “You started this whole thing—bringing Roan and the others to us. You got Jordan back with his family. And now we don’t have to be afraid anymore. All because of you.”

  Her cheeks burned as red as her hair. “Nobody would be thanking me if things hadn’t gone the way they did.”

  “But they did go the way they did, and everybody’s fine.” I hugged her again. “Be happy in Montana, okay?”

  She snorted. “It’s gonna be weird, living with the whole family.”

  “In the same house?” I asked, eyes wide.

  “Hope lived in a cabin just off-property while they added a new wing to their house. So I’ll live there with Carter. Maggie and Slate will be in another one, further off, and Drew and Nia will take the house. I think Jordan will live there, too, until all the construction is finished.”

  “Wow. Must be nice…” I grinned.

  It sounded like they had all the money in the world. The girls got lucky in more ways than one. I was happy for them, too. Hope and Maggie seemed nice, and it was good for Alice to have people around who were like her—human.

  “Are you sticking around?” she asked.

  I nodded. “Not much else to do right now. It’s time to figure out where to go from here.”

  “Can you see yourself leaving the group? Really? Ever?”

  “I don’t know. There are a lot of things I never thought would ever happen. My whole life feels like one big surprise.”

  She laughed. “Maybe there are more surprises left, huh?”

  “Maybe.”

  She put an arm around my shoulders and we walked over to where Jordan was saying goodbye to everybody.

  They gathered around him like he was a messiah. I guessed he was. Didn’t messiahs save people? He had saved all of us. He had protected us when we lost our parents, he had trained most of us to control ourselves and not let our animal side rule us. If it wasn’t for him, we’d all be dead. Or most of us, anyway. Those who weren’t would probably be in prison or chained up like freaks.

  I understood the looks on the faces of some of them. Betrayal. Hurt. I felt the same way—maybe to a lesser degree, but it was there. I would get over it. So would they. But it would take time.

  “You know, you could always come out to Montana,” Jordan was saying as we walked up. “There’s plenty of room out there, lots of land.”

  “We can work that out,” Lance replied with a grin.

  Lance looked shell shocked—eyes a little too wide, smile a little too bright. Like oh, gee, this is actually happening. I’m actually taking on this massive responsibility.

  I reminded myself that he did a great job with the mission in Washington, and he had stepped up in a huge way with Layla once he found out about the baby. But he loved her, so that wasn’t such a big deal. He only did what any decent guy would’ve done.

  I caught Jordan looking him up and down with a funny smile. “Yes, you have a lot to work out.”

  Better you than me, buddy. I wondered if I was the only one who noticed and figured I probably was.

  I was used to noticing things other people didn’t. Like the way Lance looked ready to throw up. He would lead us and he would do an excellent job—I was sure of that—but he was scared to death at the same time. He usually chomped at the bit for the chance to take over when Jordan wasn’t around, but it had never been permanent before. There was always the knowledge that Jordan would come back.

  Not this time.

  It hurt a little to think that Jordan was looking forward to leaving, but it wasn’t that he was looking forward to leaving us. He was looking forward to living with his family, really getting to know them. He was just as pleased as anything that his sons had found mates, too.

  The romantic side of me was thrilled for him, really thrilled. He had been through so much, sacrificed so much, but it was all finally paying off. It gave me hope, too. We might all find our happy endings.

  So why didn’t everybody else feel hopeful? I didn’t see much hope on the faces of the people around me. My pack, my family. We were breaking up, or would
be pretty soon. It was supposed to be a happy time, but all I saw was anxiety. Uncertainty. What were we supposed to do?

  “We should get going,” Roan murmured to Jordan. He flashed a smile to the group. “It’s been nice getting to know all of you. Finding out there were so many more of us out here was special. Take care of yourselves.” He shook hands with Lance before getting in one of the large cars waiting to take them to the jet.

  They definitely traveled in style.

  My stomach clenched. They were leaving for real.

  I gave Nia one more hug before shooing her into the car with Drew.

  Layla would probably take her place—nobody ever named Nia the alpha female of the pack, but we all knew she was. Somebody had to fill in the hole she was leaving. Layla would, just like Lance would fill in for Jordan and somebody would take his place as unofficial alpha male to lead the group when Lance wasn’t able to.

  Life would go on the way it always did.

  I just wished there was a place for me somewhere.

  The sun was warm, but that didn’t stop me from shivering as I watched the cars pulling out of the camp site.

  Jordan waved one more time.

  Nia pressed her palm to the window, looking at Layla and me. I could barely see for the tears in my eyes.

  I felt a presence next to me. “I didn’t think they would really go. Doesn’t that sound ridiculous?”

  I glanced up at Grant, who stood with his hands in his pockets and his shoulders slumped. “They said they would. That was the plan since we got back here.”

  “Yeah, I know, but it didn’t feel real until now.”

  I snorted. “And you’ve been with us for, what, ten days?”

  “Two weeks,” he corrected.

  “Imagine how we feel, then,” I whispered, watching as dust clouds rolled up into the air, marking the progress of the SUVs carrying Jordan’s family away.

  I would’ve sworn somebody was squeezing my heart—it hurt that much.

  “I can’t imagine. You’re right.” He didn’t say anything else, but he didn’t need to.

  We understood each other. That was one thing I could count on. Even though I barely knew him and vice versa, we could look at each other and understand. I was good at reading people and so was he.

  “I’m happy for them,” I choked out.

  “I know.”

  “So why do I feel so bad?”

  “Because you’re not a robot. You feel things. And you’re gonna miss them.”

  “I already do.”

  We turned away and followed some of the stragglers as they wandered off, away from the center of our part of the site. We would pack up and move on soon—Lance had already pointed out that we were wearing out our welcome.

  The owners of the camp didn’t ask many questions, so that was a plus. But there was a limit to hospitality, and we didn’t want to take things too far. Better for us to leave on our own than to be thrown out. Even I knew that.

  Everybody walked so slowly. They all looked a little lost. We had depended on Jordan for so long.

  I gave Lance what I hoped was a reassuring smile when I walked past his cabin—it used to be Jordan’s, of course.

  Grant stayed by my side as I wandered down to the lake.

  “It’s funny, being here without having to worry about patrols and all that,” I said, kicking stones out of my way.

  “That’s how it was before?”

  “Yeah. We were waiting on the bad guys to come and get us—or try to. And they did try. Two of them. Now, we can just… I don’t know. Enjoy ourselves.”

  He chuckled. “You make it sound like a bad thing.”

  He was right. “I guess it’s not something I know how to do. Just… being. I don’t know how to just be.”

  “I know the feeling.”

  “You do?”

  We stepped out of the woods and reached the shore of the lake. It was a little stony, a little sandy, but the water was cool on my feet once I took off my sandals. I wriggled my toes as the water lapped over them.

  “Sure. Last time I was with my clan, we were at war—or close to it, anyway. We always had to look over our shoulders. There was never time to just take a deep breath and be.”

  I looked at him and smiled. “You can now.”

  “You’re right.” He kicked off his shoes and splashed in the ankle-deep water.

  I squealed when some of it hit me and splashed him back. He was always so serious, sort of sad. Seeing him let loose was a fun change.

  But that had to end eventually.

  We stood there, smiling at each other like two kids.

  His eyes were so blue, so impossibly blue like the sky just before twilight. We’d have to end eventually, too, whatever weird thing there was between us. I bent down and cupped my hand, letting the water run through my fingers the way I felt like my life was running away from me.

  “I don’t know what to do now,” I whispered. I couldn’t remember ever feeling so hopeless.

  He came to me and touched my shoulder. “I know how that feels. I think we all do.”

  I looked out over the water, then further out to where mountains stretched up to the sky. “It was supposed to be good, you know? When we dealt with the guys who were trying to find us, and when we destroyed the lab, it was supposed to make us all happy. I feel like I should be happy, but I’m not. It’s such a letdown.”

  “And I dreamed about the day I would be able to leave that lab,” he confessed in a quiet voice. “You have no idea how many times I dreamed about it, visualized it. Imagined what I would do to the doctors and soldiers. It got pretty bloody in my dreams.”

  “Well, that happened. I mean, you didn’t get the chance to do it yourself, but I heard how nasty it got in there.”

  “It was a bloodbath,” he murmured.

  I turned my head just enough to see his face.

  His jaw was set tight and his nostrils flared.

  “And now?” I asked.

  He sighed. “Sometimes it’s like I’m still there.”

  “I guess it possible to feel one way when things are really another way.”

  “I guess so.”

  Everything rose up in my chest and I couldn’t breathe all of a sudden. Like a wave rising up, up, until it crashed over me and drowned me.

  “I’ve never felt this alone.” I leaned against Grant’s chest with a choked sob.

  “You’re not alone,” he murmured. “You have Layla. And all the rest of them.” When his arms closed around my back, I didn’t stop him. It felt natural—and I needed the comfort so badly. “And you have me, if that means anything.”

  “It means a lot,” I whimpered between sobs. It did mean a lot. More than I knew what to do with.

  2

  DANIELA

  “Where were you guys earlier?” Layla raised an eyebrow.

  I was walking again, this time with her.

  She needed the exercise—what with being pregnant—and to stretch her legs. Sometimes they ached for no reason—the doctor Mary had helped her find, around an hour away from our camp, told her that would happen sometimes. That she needed to keep walking to keep them from swelling. Otherwise, she was as healthy as could be. It was such a relief after what she went through in the lab.

  “Me and Grant?”

  “You know I’m talking about you and Grant.” She elbowed me. “Come on.”

  “Walking. Like we are now. We went to the lake and goofed around for a little bit.”

  “Goofed around? Or fooled around?” she giggled.

  “Goofed. Just goofed. He’s fun to be with. And I think he needs a little more fun in his life, too. He’s so serious all the time, did you notice?”

  “I can’t say I know much about him. I haven’t spent the time with him that you have.”

  “Ha, ha.” I rolled my eyes. “I mean it, though. He said his clan was practically at war when he got kidnapped by those bastards. I wonder what happened to them since then.”


  “Where did he live?” she asked.

  “Florida, but he was traveling through Chicago when he was abducted. He doesn’t remember much about it.”

  She pursed her lips. “That seems like a pretty big thing to forget.”

  I couldn’t have explained why, but my hackles went up. “What’s that supposed to mean? You don’t believe him?”

  “Why wouldn’t I believe him? Calm down!” She chuckled, shaking her head. “Wow. You’ve got it bad.”

  “I don’t have anything. Just because you and Nia found your mates, don’t try to hook me up with one.”

  “Okay, okay. Chill.”

  We kept walking, but I couldn’t let it go. It hung between us and made my skin prickly.

  “You don’t completely believe him, though. Right? You think his story is a little sketchy.”

  She blew out a heavy sigh. “I guess he could’ve blocked it out. He doesn’t even know how long he was in the lab, so who knows what they did to him or what they gave him. He might have lost a massive chunk of his memory. I wouldn’t put it past those sick creeps.” She rubbed her arms like she suddenly felt cold, even though the air was balmy.

  “I shouldn’t have even brought it up.”

  “I’m the one who asked, remember? Don’t worry about it. I only spent a little more than a day there. I have nothing to be freaked out over, compared to some of the others who were in those cells.”

  “I guess. But that doesn’t mean you didn’t go through something awful, just because it wasn’t as bad.”

  She sometimes had nightmares. Then again, it had only been two weeks since we came back from Washington.

  I remembered a song my mom used to sometimes sing. About time healing everything.

  I linked one of my arms with hers. “I keep wondering when he’s going to want to go back home,” I admitted.

  “Maybe he won’t want to. It’s been two weeks—he’s had plenty of time.”

  “True. Even so.”

  “Even so, he would tell you if he was thinking about it. Right?”

  “Yeah. I guess so.”

  “You sound worried. No joking—what’s on your mind?”

  “He said his clan was near war, if not fighting one. When he was kidnapped, I mean.”