Jace (River Pack Wolves 2) (Paranormal Romance) (20 page)

Then Jace paled and braced himself against the gurney, and Piper realized how injured he really was. Blood was weeping from several holes all over his body.

She rushed brace him so he wouldn’t fall. “We need a medic!” she yelled out.

“I
am
the medic,” he said, weakly. “Just a few holes. Nothing that won’t heal up on its own. Probably.”

“Probably is
not
 good enough.” She couldn’t tell if he was joking or not, but he looked like he was ready to pass out. Before she could do something about that, a group of four camouflage Jeeps rolled in front of the open hangar door. Piper watched, slack-jawed, as Daniel spilled out of the first Jeep, and a dozen armed Army MPs flowed out of the rest. They hustled into the hangar, weapons at the ready, sweeping the area.

Daniel strode toward her, eyes wide, pistol out, but pointed at the ground. “Piper are you all right—” He cut himself off when he saw Noah standing beside her.
“Noah!”
His voice was disbelieving.

“Hey, bro.” Noah threw side look to the Piper, and she shook her head. She wasn’t at all sure what Daniel was doing, storming in like this.

Daniel motioned to his MPs, and they took up a perimeter stance around all the prisoners and the downed the guards. Then he stared at the shredded straps of the gurneys, and Jace’s blood covered form. “What’s going on here?”

That was when he saw their father being held at gunpoint by Owen. Daniel’s gun came up and pointed at Owen’s head.

“Daniel!” the Colonel exclaimed, holding his throat, which was bloodied from Jace’s fangs. The greasiness in her father’s voice made Piper wish Owen had decided to shoot him after all. “Thank God, you’re here. These criminals had just about beaten us.” Behind her father and Owen, two of the other prisoners had Agent Smith on the ground, their boots pressed into his back, holding him still. It was clear the prisoners were in charge—but it was also obvious that they had maimed a lot of people, namely guards, in the process.

Daniel’s gun wavered. “Piper, are you responsible for this?”

Piper stood taller. “Yes.” And he better not try to undo this escape, or she would find a way to tear out her brother’s throat with her own fangs.

Jace reached for her hand. “She’s responsible for this, all right. If it weren’t for her, there would be a lot more people dead, including your father, who she convinced me not to kill just a minute ago. And probably your brother, Noah, as well, who has been trapped here, tormented by your father and Agent Smith, that asshole on the ground with the boots on his back.” Jace pulled in a ragged breath, and Piper’s heart clenched—she needed to get a healer for him,
stat.
But they would only be able to do that if Daniel and his MPs were on their side.

“Don’t listen to them,” the Colonel rasped out, his hand still on his throat, playing up his non-injury. “Daniel, son, you know she’s never been anything but trouble. For herself and for everyone else.”

Daniel scowled. “Doesn’t look that way to me,
Dad.”
He turned to Piper. “I went back to the safehouse. This whole thing wasn’t sitting right with me. I don’t always like the things you do, Piper. I think you’re reckless, arrogant, and a danger to others. But…” His gaze flicked to Noah standing next to her. “But the one thing you’ve always cared about in this world was
him.
When Mrs. River told me you’d found Noah and had convinced the entire pack to go after him… I figured you could probably use a little help.”

Piper’s shoulders dropped, and she huffed out a sigh of relief. Then a scuffle behind her drew her attention. Her father had quickly disarmed Owen, and now they had reversed positions, with the Colonel holding the gun to Owen’s head. In his weakened state, Owen could hardly fight back.

Piper gritted her teeth.

“I’m not going down for this, Daniel,” the Colonel growled. Then he raised his voice. “Tell your men to stand down.”

Daniel gave him a look of disgust, and he swung his weapon to point at the Colonel’s head. “Remember all those times you made me stay on the target range until I finally hit dead-center? Put down the weapon, sir, or you’ll find out exactly how good a shot I am.”

The Colonel’s mouth momentarily fell open, but he didn’t move. “I’m not bluffing, son. And you’ll pay for this, once all of this is said and done.”

“This is your only warning.” Daniel’s steely-eyed gaze convinced Piper well enough—he was
actually
going to shoot their father if he didn’t stand down.

Piper’s eyebrows hiked up, and it seemed like everyone was holding their breath. The Colonel’s eyes slowly went wide as he seemed to realize the same thing. He released Owen all of a sudden and threw his hands in the air. Two of Daniel’s MPs rushed forward and disarmed her father, shoving him to the ground and cuffing his hands behind his back.

Piper could hardly believe it.

Daniel was putting his own father under arrest.

The prisoners were free.

She’d found Noah.

And even Jace’s elusive Agent Smith had been caught.

Then Jace let out a soft groan. His hold on the gurney slackened, and he slumped to the floor, smacking on the concrete.

Piper gasped and dropped down next to him. “We need a healer!” she shouted, tears reaching up to choke her again.

One of the prisoners rushed forward. It was a woman, and her eyes were sunken and shadowed like Owen’s—she must’ve been imprisoned for a long time.

“Get him up on the gurney,” she quickly instructed the others standing around them. A rush of hands gripped Jace’s body and heaved him up onto the silver table. Noah and Daniel were among them, along with Jace’s brothers, Jaxson and Jared. They stepped back but stayed nearby, watching the woman work. Another prisoner scavenged a needle and thread and medical kit from the nearby cabinets and brought them to her. Jace’s eyes were squeezed shut, and his skin was too pale. He looked like he had passed out, but then he moaned when the woman started digging into his wounds.

An arm slipped around Piper, and she realized she was shaking.

She looked up—it was Noah.

“He’s strong,” her brother said. “And not just his wolf, I have a feeling. I don’t know the man at all, but if he’s won your heart, he has to be something special.”

She was choked up and could hardly force the words out. “He is.”

“Then I’m sure he’s going to be fine.”

Piper prayed her brother was right as she watched the woman pull bullet after bullet from Jace’s quivering body and stitch up the battered flesh left behind.

Jace felt like he’d been attacked by a porcupine with poisoned quills.

At least, that was the vague thought he had as he worked his way up from the depths of sleep. He didn’t know who sewed him up, but he wouldn’t be alive without them. He’d stayed awake for most of the painful extraction of bullets from his body. He lost count after fourteen, and that didn’t even include the darts. Although most of those hadn’t made their way into his system. He was convinced the only reason he’d been able to stay conscious as long as he had was that the darts had anesthetized some of the pain—that and massive doses of adrenaline. But the surgery had been too much, and he went down hard, tumbling into a blissful pain-free blackness.

He remembered praying he’d actually wake up again.

Now that he was rousing out of that deep sleep, he realized he must’ve been transported back to the safehouse. He hadn’t opened his eyes yet, but the soft blanket over him, the deep pillow under his head, and the wafting smell of dinner told him he’d made it home alive.

Jace stretched and groaned and finally opened his eyes. The room was very dimly lit by light sneaking under the doorway and through his window. It was nighttime, he was in his bedroom, and the moon glistened everything with a silver sheen. He rolled toward it, letting out a groan because the bullet wounds were still fresh, only to find Piper sitting next to his bed.

A wide grin was plastered on her face.

“Oh, um…” he mumbled. “You’re here.” Very articulate, Jace. He swallowed and tried to come up with something coherent to say, but his throat was extremely dry.

“Hello, big sexy thing,” Piper said with a smirk. She handed him a glass of water that she snatched up from the floor next to his bed. “I’m glad you decided to wake up on my watch. I’d hate for one of your brothers to have the pleasure of that very special greeting.”

He propped himself up on his elbow and grimaced through the pain. He took a sip of water before trying to speak again. “Thanks for saving my life.” That seemed a little better, and a hell of a lot closer to how he truly felt.

“I’m afraid that honor belongs to that healer girl, Macy.” She cocked her head. “I hope that’s not a requirement for sticking around.”

He smiled. He could hardly believe it—they had found her brother, rescued the others, and he’d lived through the whole thing—best of all, the bad guys had been caught. At least, he hoped so. He had pretty much passed out during the critical part. And his wolf… it still boggled his mind that he’d been wrong all along about that. That Colonel Wilding had let him take the fall for that village. That he wasn’t a murderer… and his wolf was something that enjoyed the hell out of Piper scratching him behind the ears. The truly best part was
her,
sitting in a chair at his bedside and looking after him. He didn’t know if he could convince her to stay, not really—she had a job that took her all over the world. And she was damn good at it.

But she couldn’t have any doubts as to how he felt about her now.

He dipped his head to peer at her. “I’ve been trying to get you to stick around since you snuck into my house in the middle of the night.” He smirked. “In fact, maybe we could go back to the kitchen and start up where we left off.”

She gave him a sexy grin and leaned closer. Her simple V-neck was cut low enough to remind him that he hadn’t paid anywhere near enough attention to her gorgeous breasts the last time they had made love—which had also been their first time. That was something he planned to remedy one way or the other.
Soon.

“I don’t know, soldier. You sure you’re up for those kinds of gymnastics? With the amount of ammo Macy pulled out of your body, you could start your own Army surplus shop.”

He handed the glass of water back to her, but as soon as she took it, he snagged her hand and pulled her closer. “How about you come over here, and we find out?”

She set the glass down and crawled into bed with him. His body still ached, but the delicious feel of her sliding into his lap made him forget all about it. Then she kissed him, and his hands got full really fast, holding her back with one to pull her closer and palming her breast with the other.

When she pulled back from the kiss, he said, “Now this is the way to wake up.” He kneaded the hot, heavy globe of breast again and went for another kiss, but she stopped him with two fingers to his lips and a serious expression.

He stilled his hands and brought them back to her hips. “What’s wrong?”

She shook her head but didn’t answer… just looked at his chest, which was apparently left bare after the surgery. It was crisscrossed with fresh scars, shining sliver-pink in the moonlight. She traced one with her fingertip, and all the aches and pains faded in a surge of lust that had his cock rising to the occasion.

But she hadn’t answered his question. He gently lifted her hand from his chest, kissed her fingertips one at a time, then curled her hand to rest on him again. “You’re not saying what’s on your mind, Piper Wilding. And that’s just peculiar.”

She smiled. “You know me so well, do you? Now that we’ve been acquainted for…” She pretended to think. “About six minutes.”

“Best six minutes of my life.” He said it with utter sincerity. She’d come in like a tornado and turned his life upside down… and fixed everything that was wrong with it. She gave him back a hope that hadn’t simply died—it had been obliterated. He didn’t have words for the magnitude of the change she’d wrought in his life in just a few short days.

“The Colonel is officially under arrest,” Piper said, totally switching subjects and dodging whatever she had been hiding before. “Daniel’s bringing him up on charges.”

“Fair enough. What’s that got to do with why you’re sitting in my lap but not letting me kiss you?” He wasn’t going to let her off that easy.

“Just thought you might want to know.” She ducked her head and went back to touching his scars. A frown etched on her face, which was ethereal in the moonlight, all shadows and sharp cheekbones and dark-as-midnight hair spilling over her shoulders. God, she was beautiful.

He brushed her hair back from where it had fallen across her face. The direct approach wasn’t working, so he’d have to come at this sideways. “I’m glad to hear your brother is on Team Good Guys again.”

She nodded. “He really is a straight arrow, but there’s hope for him yet.” Her smile was pained, and it was really starting to tear at him. “But the Colonel’s slipperier than an eel. He’s already talking
plea bargain.
And I wouldn’t be surprised if someone up the chain of command gives it to him, just to keep his mouth shut.”