Free Her Rogue Alpha (X-Ops Book 5) by Paige Tyler Page B

thief might be. If so, figure out who he is before Hayes can pick him up.”
    Landon exchanged looks with her. “What do you want us to do when we identify him?”
    “Get the information to Frasier.” Thorn’s mouth twisted into an evil smile. “He’ll take care of it from there.”
    A chill ran down Ivy’s spine. Whatever the female shifter had taken, it was obviously something the former senator was willing to kill to get back.
    Hayes was waiting for her and Landon outside.
    “I thought you were going to talk to some fences,” Landon said drily.
    “I’d appreciate both of you staying out of the way on this case, regardless of what Mr. Thorn said,” Hayes said, then added, “I’ll give you as much credit as you want, as long as you don’t interfere in my investigation.”
    Hayes didn’t wait for an answer, but simply walked over to his silver Dodge Charger and got in without a backward glance. Landon chuckled as Hayes drove off. “I think I like this cop. He reminds me of Clayne—without the claws and fangs.”
    Ivy silently agreed. “Unfortunately, I get the feeling that Hayes is as stubborn and relentless as Clayne too. If there’s someone out there who could catch a shifter cat burglar, it would be this guy. Normally, I’d be all for that, but in this case, it’s going to get the shifter killed, and probably Hayes too.”
    “Then I guess we’re going to have to ignore his request and interfere in his investigation,” Landon said.

Chapter 4
    “I don’t understand,” Jayson said as he pulled on his shirt. “If you need me in the field so urgently, why not just let me go meet up with Layla? I could hook up with her and get the adrenaline rush or whatever the hell you said I need to activate the serum.”
    Dick gave him a placating smile. “The doctors and I already explained it to you. We need to put you in a very specific field environment, one in which you’re going to be exposed to the proper amount of stress to make your adrenaline, norepinephrine, and cortisol hormones spike, not to mention all those other hormones and neurotransmitters the doctors mentioned. The situation in Glasgow is already resolved, so it wouldn’t do any good to send you there.”
    “So send me on another mission with Layla,” Jayson insisted.
    Dick sighed. “Jayson, think this through. We don’t have time to screw around waiting for the right situation to develop somewhere in the world. Moreover, the doctors have a very legitimate concern that being around Layla your first time in the field might actually delay the process. She’s too much of a calming influence on you, and your body wouldn’t react to the stress the way we need it to in order for this to work.”
    Jayson almost growled in frustration. After all the crap he’d gone through, he really didn’t feel like waiting any longer.
    “Look,” Dick said softly, pulling him off to the side and out of hearing range of the two old doctors who were still eyeing him like a lab rat. “I promise we’re going to get you into the field with Layla as soon as we can. Until then, you need to work with me on this other mission so we can see if this serum really worked.”
    Jayson understood what Dick was saying, even if he thought the man was completely wrong. Sure, there was still some pain in his lower back, but he was able to move around better than he had in a long time. He could even bend over and touch his toes. He felt some pain, no doubt about it, but to be able to do something like that was frigging amazing.
    The doctors said that was only the first step in a very long process though. The new hybrid serum had been designed to make small, incremental changes to his body because it would be less stressful on him and less likely to lead to a violent rejection scenario. They’d told him that if the drug worked the way it was supposed to, he could expect even more healing in his back, followed by the emergence of shifter skills. It would take time—and