RAMBLING

My shoulders stiffened, and I reached down without looking at Elena so that I could throw her over my shoulder. I couldn’t wait for her to act like an adult and walk on her own. I needed to get to the Jeep and start the drive back to my house.

The trip would require me to sit next to her for sixteen hours while I sped down the interstates toward my cabin’s location in the middle of No Man’s Land.

I should have bargained for a fucking portal spell to get us back sooner, but I’d thought she would be a corpse by the time I’d started driving. Not a temptress seated next to me.

Maybe I could knock her out and tie her to the back seat.

Shit.The only thing appealing about that thought was tying her up.

With a loud huff, Elena punched me first in my side, then right at the center of my spine.

That shit didn’t feel very good.

I pulled her forward and cradled her against my chest, squeezing tightly until she was boxed in against herself.

Her sharp eyes glared up at me. “You’re a dick.”

I glanced down at her briefly, keeping all emotion from my face and tone. “I had no idea.”

She made a grumbling sound from her chest that piqued the interest of my wolf, but I ignored his longing for this moment.

She wasn’t our mate.

She was a murdering witch who needed to be put down.

Only, I couldn’t be the one to do that like I’d hoped.

At least when she was dead, the bond would end.

If it was even real.

My lip lifted, but I kept my snarls to myself as I trudged forward through the dense forest. The moon shone high above, lighting the path I needed to take back to the Jeep.

“What’s your name?” she asked, her voice calmer than it had been before.

Still, I ignored her.

“Fine,” she said a little chipperly. “If you won’t tell me, I’ll call you…Richard. Seems fitting, wouldn’t you agree?”

No, I wouldn’t, I thought.

“So, Atlas. Are you like an assassin or something?” she mused. “I bet it pisses you off that you can’t kill me. Luck hasn’t really ever been on my side, and I thought maybe that was changing when I saw you…until you attacked me like a fucking psychopath. But then I realized maybe I was right to believe you were my ticket away from the coven. I at least still have a chance to figure out who the hell you think I am.”

She paused, and I absolutely didn’t watch while she licked her plump red lips and swallowed, then continued to ramble.

“You might know my name, but did you know that every step you take is the farthest I’ve ever been from that coven back there?” she asked genuinely, though she didn’t wait for an answer. “Well, at least that I know of. I was apparently left here when I was a baby, and since nobody knew where I’d come from, the coven bounced me from home to home, but they never gave me a family. I’m not even a member of this House.”

That last bit gave me pause. There were no lies I could taste from her words, but how could she live here and not be part of Earth and Emerald?

My eyes quickly roamed over her neck and hands. There was no ring or necklace to be seen. Either she’d hidden the House object, or she was telling the truth.

I’d have felt better if I believed the former.

She continued to ramble, and I had to admit, it wasn’t a tactic anyone had used on me before. She didn’t seem the least bit scared of me. Though, that was probably because of the mate bond. Her mind was telling her she was safe when that was the furthest thing from the truth.

At least, that was what I kept trying to tell myself.

“So, I feel like I should be more upset that you’re kidnapping me, but maybe this is what my life needed,” she said brightly. “A little shakeup, you know? I’ve been going to the edge of the woods for years now, staring up at the moon and wishing for more, just like I had been tonight. Then,bam! There you were. Sure, I’d rather you didn’t try to kill me or think I’m a monster, but maybe I need to be grateful for the situation, regardless of all that.”

I finally broke. I couldn’t take her nonsense. “You are either the dumbest person I’ve ever met or the smartest.”

She smirked, staring up at my face, but I wouldn’t fully look at her. I couldn’t.

“I bet the fact that you don’t know which I am pisses you the fuck off.” Her words were a punch to the chest, because she was absolutely fucking right.

But like hell was I going to admit that out loud.

ELENA

Firstly, what the fucking shit was happening with my life? Secondly, this guy was like ice. I’d tried to break him with my fighting moves, then by playing broken, followed by talking his ear off, but still, he gave me nothing about why I was being taken from my so-called home.

Though, I hadn’t been lying about anything I’d said. After he’d stopped trying to actively hurt me, I realized, while this wasn’t the best-case scenario, he was giving me what I’d been wanting.

I was leaving the coven, walking away from Earth and Emerald, and I had protection. Of course, that last word was used lightly and he would probably gladly let someone else kill me if given the chance, but I wasn’t worried.

Well, I was trying not to be.

Hence my rambling.