Jace (River Pack Wolves 2)(43)

He kissed her gently on the forehead, and it almost brought tears to her eyes. “Make sure that you do.”

And without him saying it in so many words, she got the message loud and clear—if something happened to her, Jace would feel responsible, just like he felt responsible for those people in the village, whether that was really his fault or not. It made her even more determined to uncover the truth about that, but she also realized that she held another sacred duty in her hands—she needed to not only find her brother, she needed to survive as well.

Because she was not going to be the person who broke Jace River’s heart.





Jace was riding shotgun while Piper drove the black sedan that belonged to his pack.

They were riding across the broken asphalt road at the perimeter of the abandoned airfield where her brother, Noah, and the other shifters were being held. At least, that was what the witches claimed, although he was inclined to believe them. The pack had hastily pulled together a plan that was fraught with risk, undermanned, and really just a bad idea. But they didn’t have a lot of options at this point. They could wait and try at a later time, after gathering more intel, but that would just give Agent Smith another chance to slip away. Especially now that the Colonel knew Piper was on to him, and they were about to test just how involved he was in this whole scheme. Jace wouldn’t put anything past the man—anyone who abused his family would do anything he could get away with, if it served his purposes.

Jace was still riding high on the fact that Piper wasn’t letting the Colonel jerk her around and intimidate her anymore—and that she had opened up to him. The night they spent together, even if that was all there ever was to it, was worth all the risk. He didn’t like the fact that the two of them were about to volunteer themselves for capture.

“There’s the shack.” Jace used his miniature scope to check it out, even though they were still a half-mile way. “Looks like just a single guard.”

Piper nodded and swung the car onto the long drive that would lead up to the shack. She adjusted her collar where the hidden microphone was sewn into the fabric. “Testing, testing. Can you still hear me, Jaxson?”

His brother was waiting with the rest of the pack farther out along the perimeter, at the opposite side of the airfield. Jace and Piper were supposed to gather intel on security without raising alarms. Well, without raising whatever alarms would happen when they showed up—which would be pretty much all of them. They hoped. That was part of the point. Flush them out, see what they had, then come in for the assault from a different angle, that hopefully, they wouldn’t be expecting.

If the witches’ magical GPS was correct, the objective was a large hangar in the middle of the airfield. There were several smaller hangars strung out along the length of the single lane airstrip that was crumbling and weed-filled from years of disuse. There were no visible planes in the area, but that probably just meant they were stashed in one of the smaller hangars.

“I hear you loud and clear, Piper,” Jaxson’s voice came over the stereo speakers in their car. They had it tuned to a far-band frequency that was unlikely to be used by Agent Smith’s forces on the airstrip. The communication would be one-way once they left the car, but they were at the maximum distance from the pack right now—if Jaxson could hear them at this point, he should be still receiving once they were inside.

“Do you have a visual on us?” Jace asked his own hidden microphone embedded in his shirt. The car was tricked out with a couple cameras, and he and Piper also carried button ones as well. But the best intel would be whatever movement happened on the airfield once they made their presence known.

“Affirmative. I have a clean line of sight all the way to the hangar.” Jaxson’s voice was calm. He was the lookout, while the rest of the pack were strategically placed in three different camps around the perimeter, fully armed, and waiting for the signal for the assault. Jaxson would coordinate and lead the assault, but it was up to Jace and Piper to get him the intel he needed for it to be successful.

“All right,” Jace said. “I’m going radio silent with the car stereo. Repeat, we will not be able to hear you from here on out. Please don’t forget to come get us.”

“Well, don’t be all day about it,” Jaxson said. “I’ve got a lunch date with Olivia.”

Piper smirked and smacked the off button on the radio. “How long have they been together?”

“About six minutes.” Jace returned her smile and thought about how fast Piper had whirled into his life as well. “But so far they seem fabulously happy.” Jaxson could still hear them, but Jace wasn’t saying anything his brother didn’t already know. Besides, there wasn’t much Jace would keep from him.