The thugs reached their car, and with a flurry of shouts and commands, they ordered Piper and Jace face down onto the dirt-packed road. Jace couldn’t see Piper any longer, given she had to exit on the opposite side, which coiled up tension in the pit of his stomach. While the thug shoved a boot in the middle of his back, holding him down, a prick of pain in his shoulder sparked alarm through him. He twisted around to see the thug pocketing a syringe—whatever he injected into Jace didn’t take effect right away, but immediate drugging wasn’t one of the contingencies they’d planned for.
Jace strained to see where the suits were going. Agent Smith was saying something to Piper, but Jace couldn’t make out the words. Just as the thug none-too-gently hauled him to his feet, Agent Smith strolled around the car. His face was full of red fury, no doubt from whatever line Piper had fed him.
“What are you up to, Mr. River?”
“About six-foot-two. Yourself?”
“Whatever game you’re playing here, I want you to understand: I’m going to win it.” He narrowed his eyes at Jace. “And my multimillion dollar research project could use another guinea pig. Nice of you to volunteer.”
“I just can’t get enough of your charm, Agent Smith.”
Agent Smith looked seriously unimpressed. He lifted his chin to the thug standing closest Jace, who then sideswiped the butt of his gun across Jace’s face. Pain exploded across his cheek, and his head whipped to the side so hard, it spun him to the ground. He tasted blood, but he was sure Agent Smith was just warming up. Shifters healed fast, which meant they could take quite a beating… and Jace already knew Agent Smith liked to mete those out from when he got his jollies with Jaxson strapped to a chair. Watching that go down had been painful, but Jace would happily take whatever Agent Smith had to dish out as long as he didn’t start in on Piper. If he did, there was going to be a problem. Namely that Jace wasn’t sure he could keep himself under control.
At least the two of them were still conscious—whatever the thugs had injected into them wasn’t knocking them out. Which meant it was probably more of the drug Agent Smith had used before to keep them from shifting.
“Bring them,” Agent Smith barked. The scuff of his hard-soled shoes meant he was done with Jace for the moment. One of the thugs cuffed his hands behind his back and hauled him up from the ground. He shoved Jace toward the back of his own car, which had been commandeered by the second thug. Agent Smith was returning to the Jeep, while the other suit had Piper by the arm, climbing into the back seat. He pulled Piper into his lap, holding a gun conspicuously pressed against her side. Her hands were cuffed behind her, forcing them into the suit’s lap… which Jace was sure the suit was getting off on. The thug guarding Jace shoved him in next to them in the back while he took a seat up front. He kept his pistol trained on Jace’s head.
Piper squirmed a little in the suit’s lap. “It’s getting a little stiff in here. Do you like what you’re feeling, G-man?” Piper’s sultry tone just reddened the suit’s face, which would have made Jace laugh… except then the man gave her a vicious leer behind her back and moved his gun to obviously caress Piper’s breast.
“I’m kind of hoping you’ll misbehave, Ms. Wilding.”
Piper huffed with disdain. “Don’t get your hopes up, shorty. I don’t misbehave for men in cheap suits.”
The unnamed agent growled and jabbed his gun deeper into Piper’s chest. “Keep talking and we’ll see.”
Jace’s wolf was clawing to come out, and they hadn’t even gotten within a mile of how bad this could go.
“Tell me again why I agreed to this?” he asked Piper, not exactly blowing their cover, but he couldn’t help letting her know he was seething with dislike about this whole thing.
“Because Daddy ratted these guys out, remember, pumpkin?” Her strained smile had a definite what the fuck are you doing? look to it. But Jace didn’t think it mattered—they were rambling toward the hangar, regardless. Nothing they said at this point would matter.
“I know, but he didn’t mention anything about handcuffs,” Jace said, straining to keep his voice light. “Is it too late to mention I’m not into the kinky stuff?”
“Shut up.” The front-seat thug nudged Jace’s head back with the barrel tip of his gun.
Jace glared at him, but followed Piper’s lead and kept quiet for the rest of the ride in. As they were hustled into the main hangar, Jace hoped Jaxson was still getting a good feed on the audio, as well as the button cameras—and that he’d get his ass in here if things went badly for Piper.