Jace (River Pack Wolves 2) (Paranormal Romance) (11 page)

Whenever he smiled at her—and even worse, when he beamed that hot, smirky grin—it wasn’t just her lady parts being warmed. The man was a hot shifter determined to help find her brother, and his kisses were like a drug for her inner beast. To top it all off, he seemed to actually care about her.

It was a deadly combination. And a dangerous one. It was seriously messing with her vow not to get involved, and certainly not to mate with, anyone, ever. Period. Full stop. It didn’t matter how hot that shifter boy was or how much he wet her panties. Mating wasn’t something she could even contemplate, not after what happened to her mom.

Piper needed to stay focused on her task, which right now included checking in with her office before she wound through the long corridors of the capitol to pay a visit to the Senator’s minion. She needed to put out any fires at Civilian Defense and see if they knew about her infiltration of the Joint Base
before
meeting with Michael and doing what she had to do to uncover the Senator’s involvement in all of this. She glanced down the hall to make sure it was clear, then paused by an alcove with a bust of a previous governor and dialed the number of the secure line for her office.

The call operator, Shelley, answered on the first ring. “Al’s carpet installation, can I help you?”

Piper gave her access code, the 17 digit number that was her lifeline wherever she was in the world.

Shelley replied, “Piper! I was wondering when you were going to check in, girl. Your supervisor is not very pleased about your vacation plans.”

So far, so good. “Yeah, well, looks like I’m going to extend that vacation a few more days. But if you need me on the defense subcommittee, I’m available. Is there anything on the docket?”

There was a pause while she checked. “Nothing right now, but I’ll let you know.”

“Great. And is Simpson really pissed off at me? I mean, more than normal? Like does he have an actual reason I should be aware of?”

She let out a small chuckle. “No, just his usual grumpiness. I think his wife is holding out on him again. That boy really needs to get laid on a regular basis or he just makes everyone’s life hell.”

“Sounds like
need to know
information, and I did
not
need to know that.”

Shelley laughed, and it was a good sound to hear. Piper trusted her to give a little heads up—or insist that Piper come into the office—if anything serious was going down. Which, if Simpson had any clue what she had been up to, would constitute a major crisis.

“All right,” Piper said, “let me know if anything comes up. I’ll be taking the next few days for some personal business. Hope to wrap it up really soon. Can’t wait to get back in the field.”

“You got it.” The line clicked off.

Piper strode down the hallway, making the last few turns to reach Michael’s office, which was adjacent to Krepky’s larger, official Senate office. She didn’t bother knocking, just opened the door, right on time. Michael sat at his desk, peering at something on his screen, but he looked up when she closed the door behind her.

A smile lit his face. He was young—probably no more than 30—and not terribly unattractive, but he had a smarmy way about him. His smiles were the kind that were calculated to either win votes for his boss or threaten people into backing him. Everything served a purpose in his grander scheme.

“Piper!” he effused, rising from his chair. “Can’t tell you how glad I am to see you.”

“I’m sure you could tell me,” Piper said in a voice that invited the flirtation she knew he enjoyed. “But I don’t really have time for flattery right now. This is just a quickie visit, Michael.”

He gave her an exaggerated pout as he rounded the desk, then strode forward for one of his patented, far-too-familiar hugs, the kind he gave all the pretty assistants and interns. She allowed it, but couldn’t help comparing it to Jace’s quick embrace: where Michael left her feeling chilled, Jace had set every part of her on fire.

She shoved that thought out of her mind.
Focus, Piper.

When Michael released her, she said, “Look, I know you’re busy, so I won’t waste any of your time.”

He gave her a flirtatious smile. “Time with you is never a waste, Piper Wilding. Still waiting to find out if you live up to your last name.”

So… that’s how it was going to be. Piper held in her sigh. “Not sure I have time for that today, Michael.” She hadn’t slept with him—yet—but that had always been dangled as a possibility. And before today, she probably would have used this opportunity to initiate Michael into her list of “not-definitively-bad” 
guys who she slept with to score information necessary to her job. She drew the line at sleeping with the definitively bad guys, as a general rule, unless necessary... but in her line of business there were often a lot of gray areas. And an orgasm was an orgasm. Didn’t really matter who it was with. Until… until Jace River cruised into her life and held out the promise of more.
A whole lot more.
And suddenly the Michael’s of the world got shoved off the “maybe” list onto the “no way in hell” list.

Which made the idea of sleeping with him now give her the creeps.

Michael leaned forward and swept a lock of her long, black hair over her shoulder, a touch as calculated as it was shudder-worthy. “Oh, come on, Piper. You’ve been teasing me so long, I’m not sure I can withstand a rejection at this point.”

She forced a flirtatious smile onto her face and leaned into him, fussing with his collar and giving him a long, hot look straight in the eyes. “I’m not saying
never…
I’m just saying I don’t have time to do it properly right now.”

He took that as a license to pull her closer, sliding his hands around her waist and yanking her body up against his. His erection poked her stomach, and she had to force herself to keep the smile and not actually throw up in his face.

It was so obvious that Jace River had
already
ruined her—
bad
—for anyone else. And she hadn’t even slept with him.
Damn him.

“I hear shifter women are extraordinarily hot and dirty in bed.” Michael leered and came close to kissing her, but held back. “How about a taste as a little down payment?” Then he kissed her, forcing his tongue into her mouth and digging around like he was searching for some kind of buried treasure.

God.
Noah had better survive whatever trouble he was in, so she could beat the shit out of him for putting her through this. She made a mental note to replay all the gory details for him once he was safe again. Thinking about that got her through the kiss. When it was over, Michael pulled back and gave her a little space.
Thank God.

“Too bad I can’t stay and play.” Piper pulled back a little farther. “But like I said, not much time today. Just need to know something.”

Michael was all smiles and erection still pressing into her side “What can I help you with, hot little Piper?”

She played with his collar again. “I was wondering if there was some kind of new program the Senator was looking to start. Something having to do with shifters.”

“Why do you ask that?” He frowned a little.

“Some rumors I heard. About shifters in special programs, possibly in the military.” There, she said it. She couldn’t get too close to the truth without having him clam up tight.

“That,
my hot shifter girl, is classified information. I’d need a lot more inducement to give you all the details of a program involving shifters.”

Which only confirmed the existence of one.

Piper leaned close again and gave him a soft kiss that lingered—more erotic and less
slobbering dog
, the way he’d kissed her. It was remarkably difficult to pull off—the only way she got through it was by closing her eyes and imagining Jace was on the receiving end.

When she stopped, Michael was breathing hard.
“Damn.
I am so going to enjoy fucking you.”

She had to repress the shudder. “Consider that an advance for a little more information about this program involving shifters. I promise to make it up to you later.”

He wet his lips, hesitated, and finally said, “Let’s just say the Senator has big plans for shifters. He’ll be making a public announcement soon, anyway, so I guess there’s not much harm in telling you what’s coming.”

She waited.

“You know the Senator’s long been interested in the way that the government can use the resources that shifters possess. He’s recently become more concerned about those who aren’t in our military programs or government programs, such as yourself. He’s looking at proposing a new registration system.”

She frowned. “Registration? You mean like what we already do with the police?” Any shifter—including her, especially those in the military or government service already, but really anyone who had been identified as a shifter—had to provide DNA samples to the police in both their shifter and human forms. They basically assumed that shifters were criminals just waiting to commit a crime, and the government wanted to have them on file, just in case.

“No, that’s not what I mean.” His hold on her got a little tighter. “Piper, he’s going to start advocating for registration of the general public. You know I have a soft spot for shifters…” He gave her a squeeze. “But the Senator is more concerned about the danger your kind might present.”

She pulled back. “Danger? There are shifters serving in the military. And in the government. We’re
part of
the US government. How can he think we’re a danger?”

Michael shrugged, but he loosened his hold and moved back to the other side of the desk. “It’s just politics, Piper. You understand.”

She understood, all too well. And she was about to burn a bridge the Senator’s office if she didn’t get her ass out of there—immediately. “I understand,” she said thickly.

She turned and strode towards Michael’s office door.

“Send me a text when you get a little free time,” Michael called after her. “I can’t wait to cash in that advance.”

She ignored him and left before she said something she would regret.

Jace had been pacing the same dozen feet in front of the window in the great room of the safehouse for the last hour, hoping Piper would just show up. He didn’t know where she had gone exactly, but he suspected she was at Senator Krepky’s office in the capitol… which could only mean she was getting in trouble again. He’d utterly failed to stop her from running off, and he’d been kicking himself every minute since. Like an idiot, he hadn’t even gotten her phone number. He literally let her run off with no way to contact her. He was cursing himself pretty spectacularly about that, too.

His brothers and the rest of the wolves who’d gone on the mission had returned to the safehouse as well, each now off on some task to try to unravel this mystery. Piper’s brother, Daniel, had gone back to the Joint Base, clearly unconvinced that anything at all was happening. But Jace and the rest of them knew—the makeshift military hospital they had discovered was just the kind of setup Agent Smith would use to experiment on shifters. Jace had no doubt there were more shifters still under his control, and he trusted Piper’s instincts on this—Noah was one of them.

His brother Jared pounded down the stairs.

Jace stopped his pacing. “Any news?”

Jared had a fistful of papers in one hand and tablet in the other. He slowed his rush into the room and examined Jace for a moment. “Nothing about Piper. But I might have a trace on Agent Smith.”

Jaxson, who had been talking in the kitchen with Olivia, must’ve heard because the two of them quickly strolled into the room. “What do you have?” he asked.

“He’s definitely still in the Seattle Metro area,” said Jared. “I’ve got three separate pings on him: a convenience store, a McDonald’s, and an ATM. All on the south side of Seattle.”

“So he’s a resident,” Jace said. “Any way to nail down his identity? What about the ATM? Can we pull bank records and tie him to an account?”

Jared grimaced. “Yeah, but you’re not gonna believe this. It’s registered to a John Smith.”

Jace groaned. “So this is deep, deep cover for him.”

“And probably going on for some time,” Jaxson added.

“I’ll see if I can nail down some patterns of activity. Maybe, if we get lucky, we can intercept Agent Smith on the way to the dry cleaners.”

Jace snorted. “Somehow I don’t think our luck is that good.” He sighed.

Jaxson shrugged. “I still think we should go to the witches.”

Olivia nodded—she had been standing quietly behind him, listening to the conversation. “I’m sure my aunt Gwen and her coven could do a better job with a seeking spell than I did. But I would have to go down to the coven.”

“I don’t want to put Piper through that again.” Jace folded his arms across his chest. “What did you see during the spell that freaked her out so badly?”

Olivia pursed her lips, hesitated, then said, “It’s not my place to tell you, Jace. But I agree—it would not be good to put her through that again.”

A crunch of tires on the gravel road outside the safehouse drew everyone’s attention to the window. The sun was setting, and it was nearly dark as a small black sedan pulled up. Piper jumped out and hurried to the front door. Jace unlocked his arms and ran to open the door before she got there.