“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.”