Taking the card, Jackson looked at it briefly before handing it to Steel. “You can count on it. The sooner Josiah is in custody, the better it will be for all of us here.”
“Agreed,” Reeve said, rising. “Thank you for your time. I’ll see myself out.”
~/~/~/~/~
Shifting back to his human form, Josiah quickly got dressed before checking his phone. His time was running out according to the last message he received from Alice. Courting her was paying off.
With Rudy in the hands of the High Council, he bet it would take less than a day for that fucking disloyal, piece of shit to spill his guts. He should have killed him a long time ago. He wouldn’t be living in the woods as a hunted fugitive if that prick had just done what he was supposed to do and kill Jackson and hisbrothers. Nor would there be any complaint, or arrest warrants. He’d just be hauling in money by the fistfuls selling the gold he’d found on his brother’s land.
Cursing, he turned off his phone and headed to the tent. There was still a way to win; he just had to find it. Digging out his maps, he sat down and began to study them carefully.
A new plan began to take shape in his mind.
Chapter 2
“Well, what do you think?” asked Steel, after Nicolet had left.
“He hasn’t told us the whole story, yet,” Jackson murmured. “And I don’t think he has any idea where Josiah is.”
“I agree, which means Josiah is now more of a threat since his pack has been taken from him.”
“Finding Josiah has to be our top priority,” Jackson said. “I’ll put Zane, Dylon, and Glenn on it as soon as they get back.”
“Hopefully, Glenn knows Agent Nicolet and can answer a few questions about him.”
Smirking, Jackson asked, “Like what is he?”
“Exactly. I couldn’t pick up his scent so…”
“Right…he can’t be a shifter.”
“Which piques my curiosity as to why the High Council selected a non-shifter to lead a wolf pack,” Steel said.
“Maybe Dylon can find out.”
“Or Glenn, since he still works for the agency.”
“I wonder why he didn’t want to speak to Willow?” Jackson mused. “Penn thought the High Council would need to do that before taking any action.”
“You should probably call him and give him an update. I bet Nicolet hasn’t kept Penn in the loop.”
“Is he supposed to?” asked Jackson.
“Normally he should, since Penn represents you,” Steel replied.
“Maybe he just hasn’t gotten around to it yet.”
Shrugging his shoulder, Steel wasn’t going to disagree with his mate’s speculation, but he was sure Penn would have a thing or two to say about it. “Maybe…”
Hearing a knock, Jackson looked over at the doorway and smiled at Mac. “Hey, come in. How’s Mom doing?”
“Much better,” Mac said, sitting down opposite Jackson. “We had a long talk and I found out what triggered her reaction.”
Raising an eyebrow, Jackson asked, “Rune?”
“No…well, partly. You see, while Kieran did remove the darkness of Aunt Hope’s grief, unfortunately he couldn’t do the same for her fear.”
“Fear? Of what?” Steel asked.
