Chapter 13 War Hero

Jake's POV...

I hated that she felt she couldn't be a proper mother for our son. Her doubt flowed upstream against the ache of my regret over changing her against her will. The two sloshed against each other like an eddy and poured through the bond between us like ice water. I don't know how to make her stop doubting herself and believe me, believe in us.

"But you're trying. You are doing everything a mother should do, wolf or not, you are a good mother to our son. Getting yourself killed because you didn't save his siblings from me isn't..."

"And me," Will interrupted, "And it won't bring Molly and Miles back... Shalom, if you're determined to do this, we're all coming with you, not just Jake."

I looked up and realized everyone heard our argument. They were back and Galen was with them.

Shalom scowled at him then demanded, "Will, I need you, Richard, and Saul to keep J.J. safe. I can't take him."

"Actually, you can," Galen announced. "Sebastian's cloak was made to protect you both. The big bad wolves can stay close by and protect your son while we break in. Your cloak makes you invisible to technology and mortal eyes, Nic and me can be invisible too."

"Jon? What's going on?" she demanded as the CSI stepped into the door holding a mug of coffee.

"I was right, we've been compromised." Jon Lance looked and smelled angry. "All the computers at the Hanger Research facility have spyware on them that we can't block with them knowing we found it."

Richard announced. "Shalom's laptop is the only clean device we have... They know what we know about the Project Elm Street Weapon is what the ancient Fae called Dust of Rage, and they know we know how it is made."

Jon sipped from his mug, then revealed, "Jake's tech confirmed they downloaded part of our recent data, but not all of it. We partitioned the rest of Dr. Phillips' stolen files off so they don't know just how much he copied and gave to Shalom, but we have to hurry before they clear that facility out."

I realized us knowing about Cades Depot was our only advantage now.

"Jake, you're the general, we need a plan." Jon held out a card like the one Kenneth had left for me. "This was Dr. Strawford's access card. Hopefully, with him dead, they didn't think to cancel it. It should get you in the building."

"I still have Kenneth's," Shalo admitted. "And the links and passwords to the program backdoors he left in their system."

I bowed my head, thinking, then stood. "The two planes Shalom prepared when she first arrived are still ready, they just need fuel. Will and I can fly them. I want the Monarchy jet to stay here... Jon, I need you, Bethany, and Nicolea to stay and keep working like normal. Start running weird tests on the Elm residue talk like you are making an antidote to test on Will. Act like Saul and I are still with Will. Keep their attention on you. When we get there, Nicolea can say she is going to check on us in Canon City and join us in South Carolina. They don't know he didn't really relapse after Richard showed up like you told me and Petra will tell them I am in Colorado. I have a friend who can get us there faster than the small planes. We need to leave as early as we can tomorrow." I hated sneaking away like a coyote with my tail tucked between my legs, but sometimes the best way was the quiet way.

VvvvvV

Completely hidden in her cloak, Shalom sat behind me as the two planes taxied into position on the runway. Clouds obscured the sky above. I took off smoothly, setting the flaps and throttle with practiced ease. Once we were airborne, she put her hood back. I tried not to stare at her in the small mirror. She looked so beautiful, and my wolf was reveling in her scent in the tiny cabin.

Richard, Matthias, and Galen were flying with Will and I was secretly grateful Saul had won the coin flip. I still resented Richard for taking her somewhere I couldn't find her, but it turned out to be the wiser choice because my friend's shoal of Ursus Spelaeus (cave bear shifters) was being watched. The Dark Fae hunting her always seemed to be one step ahead of me. They found her, and almost captured her this time.

Saul glanced at her nervous face then squeezed her hand. "Don't worry, Jake has been flying since World War Two. He actually stole a Focke-Wulf 190 to..."

"A fuk wolf?" She looked surprised and confused.

"Focke-Wulf," I pronounced it with a German accent, "It was the Axis' answer to the P51 Mustang."

"What happened?" She asked so softly but it made my heart beat faster that she wanted to know something about my life before her, before that night, before I was turned into her monster.

"My unit was tasked with recovering some information from a spy, but it was a trap. We were caught in an avalanche. One moment, we were crossing a snowfield then the next, there was the boom of a grenade and the cracking of the snow. I barely made a dozen steps toward a boulder when it hit. I combat shifted and clawed my way to the top, almost like I was swimming. When everything stopped, my warform laid there until the snow set, and then shifted to my skin. It hurt but it gave me room to move and air to dig myself out. I was the only one who survived because my grandfather had taught me what to do after my wolf was caught in an avalanche at home."

"Grandma said his wolf was always running off when it was bath time, even in winter," Saul taunted.

"A tub of cold water outside in the falling snow was not a bath," I objected, "It was torture, and I was twenty."

Shalom giggled at my tone, then swallowed, "So what happened, during the war, not after the bath you refused."

I sighed, remembering how desperate and cold I was. Her expression softened as if she could feel my memory, like I could feel hers. "I clawed my way out of my icy entombment. Somehow I managed to keep my pack with my camera equipment on. Voices and torches were coming as I forced myself to shift into my wolf and fled. We made it to the citadel. It was a medieval castle. I slipped inside, bathed in their dormitory and used their soap."

"Always use the soap the locals used," Shalom murmured, "That way they don't know you are just visiting."

"Exactly, there were vampires, other wolves, and a dark fae in the castle. I didn't want them to smell me. Wearing a stolen uniform, I made it inside. I took pictures of their plans and escaped with the film." I almost didn't want to reveal the next, because I still ached for the brothers-in-arms I lost on that mission. "The Nazis didn't even dig them out of the snow for a proper burial, they just stuck wires with a scrap of cloth to mark where the bodies were. I went back after the war, but I never found their bodies or any trace of them."

"I'm sorry... How did stealing the, uhm... Focke-Wulf?" she laughed slightly at the name. "Become your only chance to escape?"

"I came across the airfield where they were preparing to fly them to the front. So, I killed the last pilot to take off and took his plane. The pilots obviously didn't know each other so when they tried to talk to me over the radio, I pretended I couldn't hear them. We landed and refueled twice, but only two planes were allowed on the ground at once. My German was decent but my accent was crap, so I coughed the whole time when we were on the ground like I had a cold and barely spoke aloud. After asking my name, other pilots never spoke to me while our planes were being refueled. They kept away from me."

"That was very clever," she praised me. "How did you escape with the plane?"

"On the second day, we flew into clouds, and I turned toward Occupied France and landed at a field controlled by the French Resistance. We managed to get the plane and photographs to England and then onto an American Aircraft Carrier." It was the proudest moment of the war for me, but I didn't say that part aloud.

"Jake was quite the war hero. He stole intel, technology, trained what would later become spec-ops soldiers, and then went back for more in the Pacific theatre after V.E. day," Saul boasted.

"I was just doing my part to keep the alliance between the Dark Fae, Conquest Vampires, and Fascist Humans from conquering the world," I admitted.

"It's amazing that you served in WW2. I don't even know if my grandparents were alive then or if they were human or werewolves like my parents," Shalom admitted as she looked out the window.

"We'll find out who they really were and why they were murdered," Saul promised her again and she looked at him gratefully.

Swallowing my jealous growl, I check my instruments then asked, "Shalom, how did you learn to fly?"

"I, uhm, had a boyfriend before I met Kenneth who was a crop duster in Iowa. He would take me up with him sometimes. He taught me the basics and I loved it. When he asked me to marry him, I got on a bus and left the next day."

"Why?" I demanded a little to harshly, ignoring Saul's slight warning growl.

She looked away from meeting my gaze in the mirror. "He didn't make me feel safe. I... I think his family were werewolves, maybe most of the town. They were al obsessed with John Wayne and these historic covered bridges. I think they made a movie about them."

"Winterset... North River Pack," Saul revealed, "The Bridges of Madison County. The author was the Alpha's brother who met his human mate when she visited there to photograph the bridges. She was married with children and very happy. He met her, loved her, and let her leave to live her life."

Like I would have let you, I thought to myself.

Her eyes met mine in the mirror, and I felt her question as much as heard the whisper in my mind. 'Would you have really?' A tear leaked and painted a path down her cheek.

I nodded once and looked back out the windscreen. I didn't understand the bond between us. It was like something out of her fiction books. Mates shouldn't be able to dream each other's dreams, or hear each other's thought in actual words, or feel each other from a thousand miles away like Saul said she could do with me. I hadn't been able to feel her since she fled Monarch Mountain but now with her sitting behind me, the connection was back, and I realized it was the scarlet cloak that blocked it.

"Didn't he retire to Texas somewhere?" I asked so Saul would talk.

"You know he did after things fell apart with his choice mate." Saul continued to talk about the pack gossip, and I wondered just how much he knew about all the packs.

Shalom pretended to listen, but I could sense her thinking about her late husband and wondering about all the years of lies and betrayal his letter revealed. Resisting the urge to shake my head, I focused on the mission ahead while my wolf savored the scent of our mate and son.

VvvvvV

Getting off the private jet in South Carolina, I inhaled the scent of Charleston, city mixed with the salted air of the Atlantic Ocean. The humidity was thick as everyone hurried to get into a car. I thanked my old friend for the flight, the charter Leer flight was so smooth and fast.

"I can't believe you're the Werewolf Monarch," Malcom grinned as he shook my hand.

"It was my brother's job, and I didn't want it. It's above my pay grade," I retorted, and we both laughed then we stood quietly for a moment.

"We'll be waiting here when you finish the mission, sir," Malcom assured me.

"I'm not your commanding officer anymore, not for decades," I corrected him.

"Forgive me, Jake, but you will always be my training commander and if what you think is true, my family and I will help you stop them. The unit will too. Too many died on the Revelation Night, and honestly, we don't care if you have to wear a flea collar in the summer, you're a good man." We both chuckled.

"We'll either be back tomorrow, or we'll be in the evening news," I revealed, then I got in the rental.

"Friend of yours," Galen asked, looking at Mal intensely.

"Yes, a very good friend, why?" I demanded, wondering what the Fae wanted with him.

"No offense, Monarch Jake... He just has a very noble soul." Galen smirked then looked at Shalom. "Are you ready, Queen Quinn?"

She gave him such a withering glare, he laughed. I could only shake my head as Saul started driving us toward Cades Depot.