Blaire
BLAIRE
Stony-faced, watched Jack and Seven from across the stolen military vehicle. They sat side-by-side, their hands touching on the bench between them. The knuckles on Jack’s right hand were littered with raised scabs like he’d been throwing some serious punches.
How the hell were they suddenly so okay with what Farida had done to them? It wasn’t just the callous violence that made feel sick to her stomach. It was the manipulation of them. Of Seven.
Roman hadn’t stopped touching her since it had happened. She knew he was worrying, was picturing her lying there, bleeding out, instead of Jack. couldn’t help but feel like Farida had been sending him a message, too.
If he tried to leave her behind with the pack members outside, she was going to lose her shit. Her mother was inside that place! And Jude … who wouldn’t have been captured at all if it wasn’t for her …
There was no way she was letting any of them cut her out of this. She couldn’t sit around, wondering and worrying and waiting, while they all risked themselves for her family.
They bumped through the narrow forest trails, Clay driving because he knew the Taiga better than any of them.
“Is anyone going to explain the plan?” asked, folding her arms and glaring at Farida. Roman’s grip on her waist tightened.
“Clay’s pack have spent time around the perimeter of the facility,” Farida said, voice all business. “There is a ground-level entry for vehicles. We will access it from that point. The pack members, aside from Clay and Cas, will conceal themselves in the forest surrounding Taiga to intercept the hybrids we hope to be sending their way.
“Jack will shift into the form of the agent and will take over driving a few miles out from the facility. Seven will remain in the back here, restrained with some of the … implements the Operation keep stored in these vehicles.
’s stomach churned. There was no fucking way she would ever have the balls to do what Seven was doing—immortal or not. She was essentially offering herself up on a shiny platter for Baxter and his minions.
“And what about us?” demanded. “It’s going to kind of give the game away when they open the back of the truck and see six of us just sitting around looking awkward.”
Farida fixed her piercing gaze on . “I will cloak us. The humans inside Taiga will only see Jack and Seven in the vehicle.”
“How …?”
“We don’t have time for questions,” Farida snapped. “We have much to do once inside. The arrival of Jack as the agent, with Seven in tow, should cause enough of a ruckus for us to slip past and into the facility itself. We will break into pairs. and Roman, your aim will be to find where Jude is being held and retrieve him first.”
Roman’s fingers twitched on ’s side. Did he disagree with this plan? If he did, he wasn’t speaking up, and his voice inside her head was eerily silent.
“And what about my mom?” insisted. “What about … about Harvey, and Michael and Gretchen?”
“Jude first,” Farida repeated harshly. “An extra immortal on our side will be advantageous once we start moving the hybrids.”
“Michael and Gretchen are being held in the upper levels of the place,” Jack added. “They … they took me to visit them there, once.”
“Cas and I will head that way, then,” Clay called back from the driver’s seat. “Jack’s parents may have insider information on the facility that will be of use.”
Farida nodded.
“This is the shittiest plan I think I’ve ever heard,” muttered. “So, if we find the people we’re looking for, how do we convince them to leave with us when we’re fucking invisible?”
“Cloaked,” Farida corrected snippily. “It’s very different. Think of it this way … if they’re not expecting to see you, they won’t. So it’s important to remain … unobtrusive around anyone we wish to avoid. But if we wish for someone to see us, the cloak can be deactivated by interacting with them.”
snorted. “And then there are prisoners walking around, looking like they’re unaccompanied by anyone. How is that any better?”
Farida’s cold gaze fixed on her. “I hope that by that time, Ellis and I will have achieved our own mission, and the last thing anyone will be concerned with will be who is wandering the hallways.
blanched. “What the hell is your mission?” she asked. Farida glared, stony-faced at her. turned to Ellis. Hopefully the blonde girl would actually tell her something.
Ellis grinned at her, twirling an imaginary mustache. “Mwahaha!” she chuckled dramatically. “You’ll find out soon enough.”
rolled her eyes, but she felt some of her nerves dissipate. Ellis was a jokester, but she wouldn’t make light of this if she didn’t feel confident that whatever she and Farida were doing was going to work.
“And what do Jack and Seven do while we’re all roaming around?” grumbled. “Seven will be apprehended like a prisoner the second they clap eyes on her.”
Unease creased Jack’s forehead, and he leaned closer to Seven, pressing a featherlight kiss to the top of her head.
“Seven has her own agenda, and this will allow her to enact it,” Farida interjected. “Disguised as an agent, Jack will have relative freedom to move around.” Farida turned that stare on Jack, who, noticed with a small smirk, glared murderously back at her.
“Jack should attempt to seek out Agent Grace. If we need assistance with creating a larger diversion to evacuate the hybrid population, she may be instrumental.”
Jack gave a tight nod, his fingers curling around Seven’s. The pretty shifter glanced up at him, flashing him a small smile.
They might have had their Join broken, but there was something … real and honest about them. Something that didn’t need the Join to be present.
leaned against Roman. She’d felt that real thing with him before they Joined, hadn’t she? She’d felt that … need for him. The insatiable want to know about him … all about him.
It hadn’t just been the urge to Join that had her feeling things for him, had it?
The Join isn’t like that , Roman whispered inside her head, and she blushed. Fuck, had he overheard her wondering if what they had was real? Her head was a confused mess at the moment.
We are drawn to the one who is compatible with us in every single way, he explained, tugging her closer until she was on his lap. He nuzzled his lips into the crook of her neck, and she let out a tiny moan of approval, not even caring that the others could see.
You’re everything I never realized I wanted in a partner, Sweetest. You’re feisty and passionate, and you aren’t afraid to call things as you see them. You stand up to Farida, which, quite honestly, isn’t something even I feel comfortable doing. You’re perfect for me … and I hope that I’m perfect for you …
She turned her head, catching his lips with her own.
You are .
But a tiny seed of guilt burrowed away deep in her stomach. She wasn’t what he thought. She was afraid. Afraid of the knowledge that Farida had locked inside her brain, away from him. Afraid that he would find out one day, and he’d be angrier with her for concealing it than at Farida for what she’d done in the first place.
When this was all over, when Jude and her mother were safe, she was going to tell him the truth. Screw Farida. No more secrets.
“Oh Gawd, save me from the loved-up couples. It’s making me queasy,” Ellis grumbled, and with an awkward giggle and a blush, climbed off Roman’s lap with a brief brush of her lips to his cheek.
“Everything okay?” he murmured, tucking her close as they hit a bump that jolted her off the uncomfortable bench seat.
“Mmhmm,” she mumbled, giving him a tight smile. “Just … I can’t wait until this is over.”
He nodded with understanding.
“You know what I really wanna know?” Ellis interjected, her excited energy bouncing with more vigor than the ride itself. “We get out … what, a hundred or more hybrids, plus the kiddos in the nursery. Where do we stash them all? I know the Vault is a fantastical, mystical place, but even it can’t stretch to accommodate that many of us.”
“Clay is willing to provide temporary housing for them with his pack … if we are able to take down the Operation’s base in its entirety—”
“Wait, that’s on the agenda?” burst out. Farida leveled her with a withering glare.
“We cannot possibly liberate an entire prison full of halflings without destroying the place,” she muttered. snapped her mouth shut, anxiety churning. How had this gone from a covert rescue mission to the destruction of a government stronghold?
Just do your part to get Daphne and Jude out, she told herself. Don’t worry about the rest. It’s not your problem to handle.
“But, in the longer term, we plan to make contact with a covert branch of renegades working out of Denmark.”
Jack straightened at this. “Asbj?rn?” he asked.
Farida nodded, her eyes widening just slightly. “You know of him?”
“Baxter took me to meet with him … while I was in Taiga,” Jack explained. “He … they have an uneasy truce. Baxter had promised Asbj?rn his hybrids to bolster the renegade force and hopefully defeat Fortis. But Asbj?rn doesn’t trust Baxter. I actually think they fucking hate one another.”
Ellis giggled at that. “Well, Baxter is pretty hateable. I’ve heard about Asbj?rn—the White Bear of Copenhagen.” She waggled her eyebrows suggestively. “And about his … club.”
Jack’s face flushed crimson, which had raising an eyebrow in his direction. What was that blush all about? He steadfastly ignored her.
“He would, I think, take on any hybrids who wished to assist in overthrowing Fortis,” Jack added. “Asbj?rn wants Fortis gone, but he also has no interest in being the figurehead that’s put in to replace him. He wants the treaty with the humans maintained correctly, but he just wants to keep doing his… thing, running his business.”
Ellis cackled again. “ Business ,” she said with an exaggerated wink.
“He’s also … my biological uncle.”
That shut everyone up. Including , who had known there was an uncle, but not that he was this guy. This well-known renegade, with a title like ‘The White Bear of Copenhagen’.
“Okay, so this is good news, right?” Ellis crowed, bouncing even higher this time. “We’ve got an in with Uncle Hot Bear Shifter. Ooh!” she squawked, raising her hand like she was in first grade. “Can I be the one to ‘make contact’ with Uncle—”
“If you call him ‘Uncle Hot Bear Shifter’ again Ellis, I swear to God …” Roman scowled, rubbing at his forehead. A hysterical giggle threatened to bubble out of . They were about to infiltrate a U.S. Government facility, and from what she could gather, try to tear the place to pieces, and they were all making jokes about Jack’s hot Shifter uncle?
“The hybrids need to make their own decisions,” Seven interjected, her voice quiet, even, and brooking no argument. “They’ve been locked up for their entire lives. They need to have a choice in how they live, now they have a chance to.”
“We can work all the details out when we have everyone out and to safety,” Farida snapped, but then her face softened. “But you’re right. No one should ever be forced to do things they don’t want to do. And if we are on the verge of beginning a true revolution … then we need to start how we intend to continue.”
itched to punch Farida. Because what had she done but manipulate people into situations where they had no choice?
She hadn’t managed to manipulate Roman, though. She’d failed to get him to break their Join, despite her very graphic demonstration of the dangers of it.
Are you okay with all of this? she asked. With … me going into this with you?
Roman’s fingers tightened on her shoulder. Raoul is waiting back in the Vault. If we need to get out fast, we can zip to him. If you get separated from me, you zip to me. Immediately. Or I will zip to you. I don’t care what else is going on. But let’s try not to need it, okay? Let’s just … stay together.
gave a wan smile as Clay slowed the vehicle, bringing it to a stop.
We stay together, she agreed, as Clay turned to the riders in the back of the vehicle.
“Jack, you’re up.”