He hesitated.
Jace had to bite back the words on the tip of his tongue. No, asshole, he knew. He was trying to protect her from you. A cold trickle through Jace’s belly told him something was very off about this—like Astor Wilding knew far more about this than they did.
Daniel’s lack of an answer dragged on. He was obviously struggling for words that would thread him through the landmines his father had laid.
Jace cringed on Daniel’s behalf, and it was all he could do to keep quiet.
Finally, Daniel said, “I knew she had the ID.” His shoulders dropped a little. Those words were some kind of defeat.
His father nodded, a cruel smirk creeping onto his face. “I’ll deal with you in a moment, son.” The Colonel turned to Jace. “And you… exactly why has one of the River brothers decided to pay a visit to my base?”
To tell you to fuck off in person? Jace was surprised how violent his feelings were in such a short period of time around this man. His wolf may be locked away, but his instincts still ran strong.
Jace stepped forward, so that he was now standing slightly in front of Daniel. “Your son was an instrumental part of a rescue mission my brothers and I were involved in,” he said, holding the Colonel’s narrow-eyed glare without flinching. Daniel was having convulsions of body language, trying to tell Jace to shut up. Jace ignored him and took a step closer to the Colonel, moving into his space. “Those were civilian shifters, snatched off the street. One was a little girl from your own pack, in case you hadn’t heard.” His wolf was climbing up with his anger, so he tried to cool it down. “And now I hear military shifters are going missing.”
If the Colonel’s expression was menacing before, his look now sharpened to outright deadly, but his voice was cool and even. “Speaking of rumors… you used to be Army, didn’t you? Medical Specialist Jace River, honorably discharged. At least, that’s the official report. I hear there are rumors of something much less… honorable that happened in Afghanistan. But we wouldn’t want to believe all the rumors we hear, now would we, Mr. River?”
Shit. That long delay at processing suddenly made sense—this guy researched the hell out of him since he walked in the gate. “What exactly are you threatening me with, Col. Wilding?” Jace’s throat was so tight he had to growl the words out. The official tribunal had ruled the incident an accident, but Jace and his wolf knew the truth. Did the Colonel?
The man smirked, falling back into the ease he had before. “Not threatening a thing, Mr. River. Just saying, one shouldn’t always believe the tall tales one might hear. Especially from my daughter.”
Jace’s mouth dropped open, but he snapped it shut again. “You have Piper.”
The Colonel leaned back, tapped his phone, and said, “Bring her in.”
Jace just blinked at the smirking satisfaction on the man’s face. He had Piper all this time but played these games with them instead. It would be one thing if it were just Jace, but he wasn’t even the primary target for the Colonel’s aggression… that would be his son, Daniel, who seemed to have lost all the blood in his face.
The door swung open, and Piper stumbled in with two Military Police right behind her. The MPs were either shifters or bulked up like ones… and they had clearly been holding her tightly by the arm in the hallway. Jace could still see the imprint of their meaty hands on her wrinkled, white blouse. She defiantly glared at the Colonel and pursed her lips when her gaze fell on Daniel, but when her eyes finally found Jace… her expression went blank with surprise.
Jace wanted to go to her side, but she wasn’t free yet. He swung back to the Colonel. Daniel was standing next to him, mute and blinking. He was waiting for the Colonel to mete out whatever his punishment was going to be… for all of them.
Fuck that. “On what grounds are you holding her?” Jace demanded. He needed more information to find a way to get her out of her father’s clutches.
“Holding her?” Colonel Wilding asked with amusement in his eyes. “I was about to have her escorted from the base. Is there some reason why I should keep her in custody, Mr. River?”
Jace narrowed his eyes at the man. What games was he playing? “So… she’s free to go?”
The Colonel ignored him and flicked a dismissive hand at Daniel, who jumped with the motion. “Get her out of here. If I see her on my base again, she’ll do time. And I’ll hold you personally responsible, Daniel.”
Daniel visibly swallowed, gritted his teeth, and strode toward the door. Piper’s expression of burning hatred was back and aimed at her father, who was busy returning his attention to his phone on the other side of his desk and completely ignoring her.