Page 39 of Between Imminent Fates

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: awolf.

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.”

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