Jace

by Alisa Woods

  She let out something like a growl, then allowed Daniel to haul her into the hallway outside her father’s office. The MPs followed, clearly intent on escorting them out with their hulking presence. Jace hurried after them.

  Daniel and Piper kept an angry silence on the way downstairs and toward the front of the building, no doubt because the MPs would overhear, but Piper flicked a couple looks back to Jace, trailing behind, with something like amazement in her eyes. He wasn’t quite sure what that was about, but he really wanted to ask her what went down before she got caught. They would have time for that later. Besides, there was an undeniable relief coursing through his system at seeing her unharmed and knowing she was on her way to freedom. Although, he really had no idea how that had happened.

  Just as they were about to exit the building, Jace felt a hot sensation on the back of his neck—it was the prickling feeling you got when someone was watching you. He whipped his gaze around the two-story entranceway they were striding through… and just barely caught a glimpse of someone ducking back inside one of the offices at the perimeter of the white-granite-lined open space. A hot surge of anger froze him in his tracks.

  Agent Smith.

  Jace could have sworn it was him, but he was gone now. Jace started to trot toward the office, intent on catching whoever it was and seeing if it was really the asshole who had been capturing and torturing shifters, including little girls, but a voice stopped him cold.

  “Hold it right there, sir!” One of the MPs had his weapon out, pointed at Jace’s head.

  He put up his hands and turned to face the MP. “Just had to use the restroom before we left.”

  “No, sir.” His aim was unwavering. “My orders are to escort all three of you off the base.”

  Jace grimaced, but there wasn’t anything to be done about it. They were on the Colonel’s turf, and they were lucky to be staying out of the brig.

  “All right, fine. No need to get excited.” He lowered his hands and took his time strolling over to where Daniel and Piper waited with the second MP at the entrance door. Daniel looked like he was barely keeping from shifting, with the livid anger on his face, and Piper was working hard, too… to keep a smirk contained.

  “Bathroom break?” she asked quietly as they trotted down the steps to the parking lot below.

  “Hey, when nature calls, a guy’s gotta go.” He gave her a small smile.

  She chuckled under her breath, then gave the MPs a final glare before climbing into the back of Daniel’s car.

  The MPs followed them in a military police car all the way to the entrance of the base.

  Chapter Six

  To Piper’s utter amazement, she was riding in the back of Daniel’s car, free as a bird, leaving the Joint Base instead of heading to the brig. Or FBI custody. Even more amazingly, Jace River sat in the passenger seat, giving her an occasional smirk over his shoulder. By unspoken agreement—probably because all three of them were holding their breath—they waited until they were through the gate and off base, leaving the MPs behind, before speaking.

  “You really know how to screw things up, don’t you, Piper?” Daniel’s voice was tight.

  At least his opinion was no surprise. “It wasn’t exactly part of my plan to get caught.”

  “Oh, I guess that makes it better.” Daniel’s scowl reached across the seat and smothered her words of indignation before they could fly out of her mouth. “At least now we know there are no missing soldiers.”

  “Um… you do realize that was complete bullshit, right?” Jace looked at Daniel like he couldn’t quite believe he would be that naïve. But he didn’t know her brother like Piper did. Daniel only saw what he wanted to.

  Daniel flicked his scowl between Piper and Jace.

  She fought to wipe the grin from her face. It was amazing that Jace was here at all, much less defending her against Daniel—it brought a delightfully unfamiliar feeling of having someone actually in her corner. Add on top that Jace was helping her get off base without being arrested or held for questioning, and he was officially her favorite shifter at the moment. But something wasn’t right about all of this—in fact, she had no idea why her father let her go.

  While Daniel was still struggling to understand what Jace meant, Piper captured his gaze. “Why are you helping me?”

  “I told you before,” Jace said, “I’m not leaving a fellow grunt behind.” His slight smile was inscrutable as he looked her over. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

  “I’m fine.” Piper grimaced—the MPs had a bit of fun with her dignity, shoving her around and leering at her when her father wasn’t present. Not that it would have mattered if he had been—he’d done far worse to her himself back when she was still living in his house. Never outright physical or sexual abuse, just the mental kind. And the MPs didn’t harm her beyond the bruises from the cuffs and a sore shoulder from when they’d thrown her to the ground, then yanked her back up again. As if she’d done anything close to resisting arrest.

  Besides, she would take a beating any day—it had happened a couple times in the field when she’d messed up, not been careful enough—rather than endure the cutting words that came out of her father’s mouth. Somehow, with a single, carefully placed sneer, the Colonel could reduce her to that eight-year-old who innocently asked him why he didn’t love her. He’d told her in military-precise terms why she wasn’t worthy of his love. The Colonel favored his sons over her, but he was really a monster to everyone—he’d branded Daniel and Noah each with a special kind of abuse. She could still see the emotional scars plastered across Daniel’s face, even though he’d never admit to it. When both Noah and Daniel were sent overseas, she breathed a sigh of relief just to have them out of the Colonel’s zone of influence. Noah saw their father for what he truly was, but somehow, Daniel never did.

  Piper must have been subconsciously rubbing the bruises on her wrists because Jace was scowling in spite of her assurances that she was fine.

  “What did they do to you?” he asked. There was an audible growl in his voice.

  She growled right back. “I told you, I’m fine.”

  Even Daniel looked concerned now, throwing a glance over the seat at her and scanning her body for signs of injury or something, instead of watching the road.

  “Eyes forward,” she said, but without too much harshness. “I am not going to die on a side street in Washington just because you forgot how to drive.” Her sass didn’t seem to deter their concerned looks. She sighed. “Look, they just cuffed me a little more roughly than necessary. It’s nothing. Trust me, I’ve seen a lot worse in the field.”

  That seemed to reassure Daniel, but Jace’s expression just darkened further. What was his deal? Why was he even here? She wasn’t sure she bought this whole rescuing all the shifters thing. Was anyone really that heroic?

  “I don’t understand why the Colonel let you go.” Daniel’s voice had returned to his normal mode of disapproval.

  “Would you rather he turned me over to the FBI?” she asked, her ire rising again. “Thanks, bro.”

  “I’m just saying, it just doesn’t make sense.” He scowled at her again.

  Jace twisted around to face her, his eyes alight with curiosity. “How far did you get?” He still had that rough, just-tumbled-out-of-bed look, and her wolf responded to that direct gaze more than she would have liked.

  “What do you mean?” she asked, trying to recover from the sudden flush of lust. For God’s sake, she didn’t even understand why he was here. Or why a single, piercing look from him was enough to set her nether parts on fire.

  Jace gave her a small smile. “I’m assuming you earned the cuffing. What did you find out before you were caught?”

  She huffed a short laugh. Was he flirting with her? “Actually, I didn’t get far. Couldn’t even access the central database. They must have known I had a false ID from the jump and just waited to see what I was up to before nabbing me.”

  Jace nodded. “Makes sense. Which
begs the question of why they let you go. It’s not like falsifying classified access ID isn’t a crime, you know.”

  Piper shrugged one shoulder, and Jace looked like he was holding back a smirk.

  Daniel had no humor on his face whatsoever. “Once again, you get off scot-free,” he grumbled. “And I’m going to pay for this, one way or another.”

  Piper sighed. Her father probably would punish Daniel for letting her lift his credentials, even though it wasn’t his fault. It would never cross the Colonel’s mind to consider who might actually be at fault in a situation—he’d only care about how he could use it to his advantage.

  “If I were you,” Piper said. “I’d work on getting deployed again. Safer in Afghanistan.”

  Daniel snorted his agreement—they both knew the score on that much, at least, even if Daniel was more than willing to heap the blame on her all the time, for everything. But they both knew from personal experience that dodging bullets for your country was preferable to an extended stay stateside in the sphere of influence of their father.

  It was Jace’s turn to seem baffled.

  Piper turned to him. “I’m sure my father has his own reasons for letting me go, but it’s also possible one of my superiors stepped in. I need to check in with the office as soon as possible.” She didn’t mention she had no intention of telling them anything they didn’t already know. This could be entirely her father playing some game where she didn’t even know the players on the board, much less the game map or the rules. Part of why she was good at her job was having grown up in a house full of secrets and lies.

  Jace nodded and turned to the front, a puzzled look still on his face.

  They kept quiet for the rest of the hour-long drive back to the safehouse, each immersed in their own thoughts. Piper had no incentive to explain anything, not until she had a better handle on why Jace was helping her. Maybe he was genuinely concerned about Noah. The River brothers’ pack had that gung-ho attitude, for sure—they did help out with rescuing Cassie after all.

  Her bad guy radar was telling her Jace was one of the good guys. Her wolf had been desperately panting after him since the moment he showed up, and it would be nice to think he was helping out because he liked that hot kiss in the kitchen as much as she did. But coming after her at the Joint Base? That was a lot of risk to take, and Piper was sure someone as hot as Jace River didn’t have to work that hard for a bed partner. There was more to it than that, but she didn’t have a handle on it yet. And Piper didn’t like things she didn’t understand. It made her twitchy—not knowing what was happening was a good way to get strung up in a Nicaraguan warehouse in the jungle. She’d had enough of that for a lifetime.

  When they arrived at the safehouse, Piper was surprised to see how busy it was. The place was filled to the rafters with shifters, mostly male and definitely hot. She was swimming in male flesh once again, all of it shifter. Her wolf was going nuts.

  There were a few females as well, and Jace quickly introduced her to his mother, who met them at the door. She had gorgeous silver hair with streaks of white flowing in long waves to her waist. If Piper didn’t know better, she would’ve thought Mama River was a witch, with her regal beauty and slender limbs. Piper certainly hadn’t expected the warm hug and hadn’t returned it at all. Then, suddenly, she was being ushered into the kitchen. A strange sense of guilt washed over her as Jace’s mother shoved a plateful of gorgeous-looking pastries, fruits, and cheeses at her, along with the giant glass of milk. The guilt turned into a vague sense of being insulted—Mama River was treating Piper like a child—but it was obvious that this was the warm sort of childhood Jace and his brothers had. The kind she never did. She was a giant bag of emotions over this—the sense of insult and guilt was now being thrashed with a heavy dose of envy—but it was all quickly washed away by a flush of craving. The food beckoned, her stomach growled, and there was no denying she was famished. Her 3 am adventures had stretched without a break into the afternoon of the next day.

  Piper smiled at Mama River and dug into the food. Jace and his mother both had grins on their faces, although Jace’s was a little more amused than pleased. Daniel seemed baffled that she had decided now was a good time to eat, but it wasn’t like the Colonel had given her anything.

  People wandered in and out of the kitchen, but they didn’t take much notice of her tucked in the tiny eat-in table in the corner. After she spent a minute of blissful silence devouring the delicious treats, two shifters strode into the kitchen, trailed by a younger woman. It was obvious the men were related to Jace, only older: same towering, bulked-up bodies with a hardness that came from military service, not just the shifter gene; same intelligent eyes; same confident alpha walk. Their faces were all hard planes and kissable lips, but they also had a touch of the softness she saw in Mama River’s open concern for her—it was like kindness personified, touching their faces with a glow that came from lives surrounded by people they loved.

  One of the men glowed more than the others, the one with his fingers laced with the girl’s. She was a curvy, dark-haired beauty, and anyone with eyes could see the man was madly in love with her.

  “Hey,” he said to Jace, “I’ve got some good news for you. But first, tell me—” He cut himself off as he noticed Piper at the table, scarfing down pastries. “Oh! You must be Piper.” He dropped the girl’s hand and strode over.

  Piper regretfully put down the chocolate croissant she was about to devour and rose up from her chair. She didn’t say anything, just tried to gauge his intention.

  He extended his hand and a smile. “I’m Jaxson River. I hear you have a brother we’re going to find.”

  Her heart couldn’t help responding—a smile snuck on her face without her permission. She shook his hand. “I hope so.” The words came out more emotional than she intended, so she ducked her head and tried to get a grip on herself. She dropped his hand and backed up a little to gain space. The girl arrived at Jaxson’s side.

  “Hey, I’m Olivia.” She offered up her small hand.

  Piper leaned over to shake that, too, then retreated again. “Piper Wilding.”

  Olivia grinned. “We know. And I think I might be able to help you.” She looked to Jaxson for confirmation, and he gave her an encouraging nod. She turned back to Piper. “You should know I’m half-witch.”

  Piper took a step back that banged her legs against the chair she’d just been seated in.

  “It’s okay.” Olivia’s hands were up. “I’m one of the nice ones.”

  “I didn’t think they came in that flavor.” Piper peered around her for the matriarch of the River pack, wondering if maybe she was a witch, too, as she appeared, but she had already slipped away.

  “If you’d asked me last week,” Olivia said with a smile, “I would have said the same thing. I didn’t think witches could be anything but nasty and evil.” She beamed a newlywed look at Jaxson. “But then I fell in love with a wolf, and that kind of changed my perspective.”

  Piper frowned. “You two are mated?” She’d never heard of such a thing. In fact, she wasn’t even sure it was possible.

  “Mated, in love, and soon to be married,” Jaxson said with a grin that implied this was still a brand-spanking-new turn of events, and he wasn’t tired of boasting about it yet.

  “Um… congratulations?” Piper couldn’t quite wrap her head around the details, but that wasn’t really her concern, anyway.

  Olivia gave Jaxson’s arm an affectionate squeeze, and Piper was suddenly spiked through with envy for the second time in less than five minutes—not only did these River wolves grow up with a family that obviously loved them, but they had mates who adored them as well. Her heart twitched, wondering if Jace had a mate, and she flashed a look to him.

  He was watching her carefully, like he was studying her every small movement, and she had to wrench her gaze away before her thoughts were betrayed on her face. Even if Olivia was a witch, that clearly didn’t stand in the way of her and Jaxso
n falling in love. In fact, their love must be pretty epic to bridge that kind of gulf. All Piper had was a damaged childhood and a series of anonymous orgasms.

  Her whole body stiffened. It didn’t matter if Jace River had a mate, because she—Piper Wilding—had long ago vowed never to take one. A vow her wolf was objecting to more with each passing moment. Clearly, Piper needed to limit her time at the River family safehouse. Ten minutes in, and it was already causing massive internal chaos.

  “Never mind all that,” said Olivia. “What matters is that, even though I’m half witch and seriously out of practice using magic, I have something that might help you. I just spent the morning with my Aunt Gwen learning a seeking spell. If you would like, I can try to find your brother, Noah.”

  Piper blinked and took a moment to respond. “You can do that?”

  Olivia nodded.

  “I… um…” Her brain was spinning with this. “Will it hurt him in some way?” Piper really had no idea how witches did their magic. Everything she had heard about witches involved bloody death, pack-wide destruction, and general painful mayhem.

  “Oh no! It won’t hurt him at all. But I will need your assistance. And it might be a little… embarrassing? I don’t know what kind of relationship you have with your brother.” She glanced at Daniel, who suddenly looked extremely uncomfortable. Olivia looked back to Piper. “I’ll have to access some of your memories of him so the spell can hone in on his trace in the magical world. Would that be all right?”

  Piper nodded quickly. “I have no problem with that, not if it will help us find him.”

  “Great.” Jaxson looked to Jace. “Did you have any luck at the base in figuring out where Noah might be?”

  Jace gave a quick look to Piper, but all he said was, “No.”

  Then Jaxson turned to the third River brother. “Jared, what about your facial recognition search at Riverwise? Anything on Agent Smith there?”

  “Nothing so far, but I’m running a few new algorithms. Would be better if we had a picture of the guy, not just my sketch. My art skills kind of suck.” Jared was a bit gruff, but Piper liked him immediately. Seemed like an all-business kind of guy, not quite as soft as the others. She appreciated that. Although as far as her wolf was concerned, even with hot shifters wandering in and out of the kitchen every minute, there was really only one man in the room—and Jace was still watching her with the kind of piercing intensity that made her think he was taking notes on her every word and move.