Chapter Eighteen
Jackie’s legs raced under her as she bounded down the side of the road, the swing of her heavy ponytail dancing madly with every step. The stitch in her side was annoying, the sweat gleaming on her dusky skin from both the run and the summer sun bothersome, and the fact that the spontaneous jog had done nothing to ease the tension in her body, was more than infuriating. While running was far from a passion of hers, both woman and wolf needed the physical catharsis to combat the raging needs of the body.
With a glance out of the corner of her eye she evaluated her running partner’s condition. Joe Fieder had suggested a run shortly after breakfast, a meal both Zan and Scott had been absent from. It was over warm breakfast burritos that Jackie learned both men had left in the early hours of the morning to reconnoiter Shider’s whereabouts.
It should have been a simple matter of waiting at the airport for the chartered plane Russell spoke of last night carrying Shider and his men from Denver to Richmond. Except that plane landed in Houston with mechanical issues. By the time Scott hacked into the airport’s database to find out why that plane never landed at the scheduled time, the three men were gone.
The General left after breakfast to meet up with his wife and Jackie’s parents, informing Jackie he would keep mum about the current situation as it would only upset the females and cause her father to come charging to her rescue. It was later, as Joe caught Jackie digging a groove into the carpet of her room with her continual pacing, which had prompted him to suggest the run. Needing something to occupy her time, Jackie agreed.
While Marion and Russell had been nothing but kind, this wasn’t Jackie’s home and she certainly wasn’t comfortable alone in the place with virtual strangers. She hated the feeling of abandonment and would have voluntarily done just about anything to get out of the cage she felt she was in.
“I still can’t believe that bastard got one on Zan.” Joe said now as they turned right at a street corner.
The need to defend Zan rose up hard and sharp. “Well,” Jackie huffed out. “If Shider hadn’t been seen or heard from in close to two years, who’d expect him to show up in the middle of a forest high in the Rocky Mountains? Besides. Zan had other things on his mind.”
“Distractions are deadly. It’s one of the first things we’re taught in training.”
If she had claws she would have swiped them over the young man’s face. “It’s not like Zan was on an assignment and became distracted by the scent of bacon. Besides, where was your intelligence on the man? Your team, and others I understand, had him on a wanted list. Why didn’t anyone know where Shider was? That kind of information would have come in handy, don’t you think?”
Joe grunted in either agreement or irritation at the team’s missed opportunity. Either way, Jackie felt vindicated on Zan’s behalf. Zan might be a strong, masculine, intelligent shifter, but he couldn’t know everything, and because of some flaw in his team’s communication and surveillance, he’d unknowingly been in danger for God knew how long. And that made her furious.
“Never would have tagged Zan otherwise.” Joe stated, pulling Jackie from her thoughts. “He’s one of the best damn soldiers I know.”
“Mmm.” She really wasn’t in the mood to hear Joe extol Zan’s virtues. She’d already discerned those for herself, along with his flaws, and she still jumped to his defense at the first sign of dissent.
Truth be told, Jackie knew she was at the edge of the abyss. If she took that last step and allowed herself to fall, who knew what waited at the bottom with Zan. The only other option was to turn around and head back the way she came, just as she’d planned.
And that was suddenly a depressing thought.
“And silver bullets?” Joe continued. “Shit. What is that moron thinking?”
Startled out of her painful thoughts, Jackie turned her mind to Joe’s question. “That he’s trying to kill a werewolf. Speaking of which,” her voice rattled with each step. It was difficult for her to run and talk at the same time, but Joe, to her irritation, wasn’t even breathing hard. “I understand the whole wounded animal concept, that because Zan is hurt he’ll head home to heal, but why do you think Shider will attack tonight? Mythically speaking, werewolves are at their strongest on the full moon. Wouldn’t it be better for Shider to wait until Zan is at his weakest?”
A shrug. “Asshole likes his animal trophies, as did his father. Saw a room full of them when we raided his place two years ago. Shider knows, obviously, that Zan can be man or wolf regardless of the moon phase, but he probably thinks the full moon will render Zan more of the creature of legend; half-beast, half-man. He won’t be able to resist seeing for himself what Zan will become during the full moon, and take it down.”