17. Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Sixteen
Jax
Killing the engine, Jax sat silently in the driver’s seat of the Humvee. Ever since he’d assumed his new role, a strange sense of melancholy had settled over him. His wolf kept pacing inside him, agitated, and he couldn’t seem to shrug off the feeling.
Key had requested he meet her here last night as she was leaving, and Jax had decided to arrive more than an hour in advance. For the first time ever, he was going to intentionally transform into his wolf. Setting his jaw, he exited the Humvee and toed off his boots.
Though Key had said he could transform without shredding clothes, he’d brought an extra set of fatigues just in case.
Steeling himself against what was to come, he jogged barefoot into the greenery in front of his car. Avoiding the sparse population of poison ivy, he dodged behind a tree and set his back against the bark.
Calling on his predator, Jax gave himself over to his wolf.
The excruciating euphoria of the shift was instantaneous. His center of balance shifted, driving him onto four legs as the beast took over. Muscle and bone twisted, reformed. Oddly, the agony of it all mingled with a surprising sense of relief.
This time, it was a partnership, not a battle.
Breathing hard following the swift change, Jax centered himself on four legs. He felt every sensation the wolf catalogued as an afterthought. He shook his coat to resettle his fur and then bolted for the hills.
The simple freedom he experienced as the animal was without equal. For his wolf, everything was simpler. Concepts that would’ve driven him mad on two legs made sense on four. Everything was straightforward, black and white, yes or no.
When Jax finally loosened his death grip on control, it became easier for them both.
It was over an hour later that he heard her. He’d been running a loop around the park, never wanting to be too far away from their meeting point. Even at a distance, the fresh mint fragrance invaded his senses and made him howl with pleasure. As he circled around, another scent on the wind made him cock his head in question.
Two people approached.
A strong smell of spiced evergreen, barely winning out over the oppressive miasma of power that accompanied it.
It took him several minutes before he skidded to a stop a safe distance away, his wolf reluctant to move closer until he was certain the second Raeth wasn’t a threat to Key or himself.
The Japanese man studied him, no expression on his features except for apathy. Dark brown eyes speared through him, assessing, while he reclined leisurely against the Humvee’s hood. The pose was deceptively lazy: he knew that if he so much as set a paw wrong, the man would be at his neck in seconds.
Jax’s fur bristled in warning at the supernatural threat. Even as his wolf fought the urge to snarl, the animal noticed the lines around the male’s eyes, the exhaustion that seemed to resonate in his bones.
“Jax?”
Key’s voice instantly captured his attention. Rather than shifting back, the wolf trotted over to her eagerly, brushing up against her legs. She let loose a giggle.
The instant her fingers sunk into his coat, Jax was in heaven. Arching his back, he savored every second she spent on his downy-soft fur.
“Your wolf is gorgeous.”
A few yards away, he heard the other Raeth deadpan, “No, by all means, please take your time.”
Throwing a snarl over his shoulder, Jax trotted behind the Humvee—out of sight—to shift. He was surprised when he emerged from the change with his clothes intact. He quickly grabbed his boots and laced them up. Walking out from behind the vehicle, Key greeted him with an enigmatic smile.
“I’m glad you’re here.”
“Yes,” came the sarcasm from the male, “if anything else, I’m happy to know the surrounding woods are well marked.”
Jax ignored him in favor of Key. “Where are we going?”
“A location in Colorado,” she explained. “A base where they’re holding weapons capable of taking immortal life. They’ve stockpiled them, and it’s enough ammunition and weaponry that I fear it’s for a world-wide assault.”
“It’ll take two days to drive there, Key,” Jax noted. “I have to report to base at six hundred hours tomorrow morning.”
“You forget that teleportation is instantaneous.” The other male’s eyes lazily looked over the Humvee. “That’s why I’m here.”
Key ignored their prickly greeting and introduced them. “Jax, this is Isaiah. Isaiah, Jax.”
“A pleasure,” Isaiah greeted blandly, his words saying anything but. “I’ll take the vehicle. You take the wolf.”
Before Jax could open his mouth to question it, Key’s hand caught his. In the next moment, they stood on solid ground in the middle of a mountain range. He staggered a bit at the sudden change of location, and her arm coiled around his waist.
“I’m sorry for the abrupt ‘port,” she whispered. “We’re already late.”
When his wolf alerted him that they were no longer alone, Jax’s attention focused on the group around them. Isaiah had teleported the Humvee directly onto the asphalt before walking toward a woman that—based on the enthusiastic greeting—was apparently his wife. The other couple, a man wearing leather bands around his wrists, and a dark-haired woman, dipped their chins in greeting.
“Jax, we need to get onto the base, and they won’t be too suspicious of your credentials,” Key explained. “Can you do that?”
He stared at her for a long moment. “Once we’re in, what’s the directive?”
“We’re burying it,” Isaiah said. “The whole base. That much anti-immortal weaponry can’t be allowed to stand.”
The man with the leather bracelets said, “We’ll doctor the paperwork to falsify records. No one will ever know you were here.”
“Gideon’s right,” Key affirmed. “No one will know, Jax. You’ll be safe.”
He nodded. “I can drive onto base, but how will you get in?”
“We’ll teleport to your location once you’re in,” she replied. “The human they have at the gate is immune to suggestion, and we can’t afford to kill him. Teleporting to you once you’re inside is our only option.”
Jax nodded. “Do I need to give you a signal of some kind?”
“No. I’ll keep tabs on you. Jedi mind tricks and all.”
He cracked a grin. “Sounds suspicious.”
“Totally suspicious.”
The flirtatious note in her voice had his wolf panting. For a split moment, she edged toward him, her gaze locked on his lips. Wolf pressing at his skin, he almost gave in to the urge to dip his head and taste her.
“Shall we come back after you two have gotten a room, Key?”
Jax leveled Isaiah with a glare, but to her credit, she only sighed. “You’re right. Jax, we can talk afterward.”
It was two minutes on the road before Jax pulled into base security just beyond the fence. He proceeded to hand the guard his clearance, watching keenly as the man’s eyebrows rose.
“You’re a long way from home.”
“Is that any of your business, corporal? Open the gate.”
“Yes sir.”
The gates proceeded to drag open in front of him with a screeching metallic sound, and he gunned the Humvee forward into the deserted base. Parking in an empty parking lot, he pocketed the keys and strolled into the first open door he could find.
It was eerily quiet. Lights hummed and there was no trace of dust, but it was completely empty. Jax ducked into one of the offices in preparation for Key’s entrance.