Between Imminent Fates (The Immortal Accords #12)

14. Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Thirteen

Jax

Despite the oppressive humidity of the early April day, Jax’s hands were clammy on the steering wheel. It’d been several days since Key had shared his part to play today, and each hour spent waiting for the inevitable had been a struggle.

Surrendering his commanding officer would effectively eliminate the facility where he was stationed. While they were gone, several auxiliary teams would oversee the other aspects of the operation. Sobell was being taken care of—and Jax had been assured that wouldn’t be a death sentence. Key had said that suggestion, a vampire gift, would be utilized to strip his memories.

Dismantling the kennel had begun the moment they’d left. He’d seen several people manifest on site in his rear-view mirror as they drove away. Nothing could have made him happier.

The previous week, he had provided Key the kennel’s schematics and noted which cells held wolves that weren’t rabid. Every day, Jax had reassured them that help was coming—and now, it was finally happening. Jax was thankful that Rayn hadn’t returned, and Barlowe hadn’t infected those that were still sane.

In the seat behind him, the Colonel remained silent.

Jax had veered off course ten minutes ago, but the officer hadn’t yet looked up from his phone. When he recognized he’d been duped, there would be hell to pay.

It took three more minutes before the man finally dragged his attention up and frowned at the countryside passing by outside their car doors.

“Where are we going? This isn’t the way back to the base.”

“No, sir.”

“An alternate route?”

Jax’s throat tightened. “No.”

Anger sparked. “Then where the hell are we going?” When Jax didn’t respond, the Colonel growled from the backseat, “Captain Hunter, tell me where you’re taking me. That’s a direct order.”

“I’ve arranged a meeting.”

“What the hell are you talking about, Captain? What meeting?”

Behind him, Jax could hear Barlowe struggling with his phone, and the belated growl when his commanding officer realized his device no longer worked. Key’s plan was already falling into place.

Small mercies , Jax thought.

What he didn’t expect was having the phone chucked at his head from the backseat. A sting of pain followed before Barlowe shouted, “Answer me, Hunter.”

“We’re going to meet with the group of people you’ve classified as kill on sight. They’d like to talk.”

“The hell we are!”

A frantic note sounded behind the fury in Barlowe’s voice, and he tried the door handle before realizing there was no way he could exit the Humvee without injury.

“Stop this vehicle immediately!”

The car didn’t slow down.

With every passing second, the anxiety of the man behind him ramped up, and Jax counted his lucky stars that the Colonel didn’t keep a weapon on him.

Two more minutes passed before they arrived at their destination: a large, nearly empty warehouse that saw little traffic other than the occasional box truck refilling office supplies. Now, well after business hours, it was abandoned.

As the Humvee ground to a halt fifty feet through the open garage door, Jax’s heart hammered in his chest. Before him stood six figures, all clad in black.

Immediately, his wolf perked. It still felt strange sometime to have another entity inside him reacting differently than he would. Key had explained it was a more primitive part of his soul, a predator that was driven by emotion and instinct rather than rational thought. For a man who’d lived his life according to a code of morality, his dual nature was perplexing—but not unwelcome.

Steeling himself, he shut off the engine and exited the vehicle. Key’s face lit up as she strode forward to meet him, and he instantly felt relief flood through him. She was unbelievably beautiful.

“Key.”

“Jax. You made it.” Her voice was quiet, soothing, but then she frowned as her eyes darted toward his temple. “Why are you bleeding?”

He pressed two fingers against the head wound and shrugged. “Barlowe was … a bit distressed.”

The Colonel still hadn’t exited the vehicle. Jax didn’t fault him, but if the roles were reversed, he certainly wouldn’t have cowered in the car. There was honor in meeting fate on his feet.

Behind Key, five immortals drew close, much to the dismay of his wolf. The beast snapped his teeth at the showing of force.

A redhead stood next to a man of Indian descent, both of them dipping their chins in greeting and murmuring their names: Lucius and Circe. The next was a woman with long black hair in a tight braid that nearly reached to her waist. Finally, he saw a daunting male wearing Aviator sunglasses with a sleeve of tattoos on his left arm, escorting a woman who wore her confidence like a cloak. But that wasn’t the most surprising thing about her.

Jax’s animal immediately alerted him that the blonde woman was the same as him: a wolf .

The sound of a car door opening and feet scurrying in the opposite direction had his beast perking for the chase, but it only took an instant before the Colonel was caught. Jax hadn’t even realized the man behind him had moved.

Lucius was dragging him back in a nape grip. The man still wore the same unbothered expression on his features, as if none of it had required any strain of effort. “Not so quick, Barlowe. We still have business to attend to.”

“Bring him here, Lucius. I’ll take care of him.” The woman with the braid said to Jax, “I’m Zia.”

“Jax.”

Offering her the obligatory nod, he returned his attention to Key, but she was already glaring at Barlowe with visible contempt.

“Who else knows about the wolves?”

In a rare moment of confusion, Barlowe sputtered, “No one; it remains a classified operation. Only my commanding officer knows the full extent of this.”

“Then how was it funded?” Key asked. “How did you come into contact with Rayn?”

At the first sign of resistance from the Colonel, a primal growl sounded from the other wolf’s throat. She stepped forward in an aggressive move that couldn’t be misconstrued as anything but a warning.

Barlowe lost any hint of his interrogation training. “I know next to nothing. A rich lobbyist named Torrin Scayde contacted my superior officer—General Winters—and from there, disclosed the truth about the deadly threat you unnaturals pose and the location of the facilities they’ve already created. Those kennels and the stockpile aren’t even on our books. He’s fronting all the costs for now, just wants the manpower and official status the army can give him.”

Zia exchanged a weighty look with Key, and quietly said, “I’ll pull the rest from his head.”

More swiftly than Barlowe could balk, he was caught in a daze. Zia’s eyes were locked on his. An eerie prickle of electricity tingled up Jax’s spine. It made his wolf stiffen, and the growl rumbled from his throat.

Oceanic-blue eyes snapped to his, the other werewolf responding in kind with a growl of her own. His beast bared teeth and stood his ground, unable to back down from Ava’s challenge.

For several tense moments, they were locked in a battle of wills, neither capable of easily submitting to the other. Jax had no idea why he couldn’t cede the fight nor why his wolf demanded he grapple for dominance.

After what seemed like ages, the woman dropped her gaze in submission. When she looked up again, there was humor in her features. “Force a submission, huh? You’re worse than Riaz.”

“Is Riaz your alpha? Your mate?”

The tattooed man at Ava’s side hooted, and she elbowed him. “Riaz is my alpha. This guy is my mate.”

As if provoked by the woman’s lighthearted tone, Jax’s wolf coiled an arm around Key’s waist and tugged her possessively into his side. “Sorry. I’m relatively new to this.”

“Figured as much,” the woman said, sobering. “How long have you been a werewolf?”

“Less than a month.”

The she-wolf bit off a curse, any trace of companionable amusement vanishing. “How?”

That was when Key rode to his rescue. “He was bitten by one of the rabid wolves at the holding facilities. Jax, this is Ava, one of the wolves I told you about. She’s the second in the Rocky Mountain pack led by Riaz, her alpha. The man beside her is Remmus, her mate.”

By now, both Ava and Remmus had moved at arm’s length. “You need a pack.”