Chapter 12 Hope for the Best, But…“Look, this stuff isn't going to work,” I said for the millionth time.Maybe only the fifth or sixth time. But still. Ian and Matthew were both leveling identical glowers at me, their brows furrowed and their arms crossed over their broad chests. I turned a laugh into a cough, and they frowned in unison. I choked down another laugh and leaned back against the kitchen table of the pack house, taking a load off, since it looked like we'd be here arguing for a bit. My ass ached, and the boots I'd found in the pack house's hall closet to cover my stolen super-socks didn't fit quite right. I needed the boots, though, if only to keep Ian from ripping the socks off my feet. He’d actually growled when he saw them on me that morning.I was finally caffeinated enough to deal with it, though. Ian and I had slept all night tangled up in each other's arms, and he'd slipped out of bed at the crack of dawn, taken a shower, and set a hot cup of coffee down beside
Chapter 13 Out on the Town“I’m not actually a bad driver.” I jumped, startled out of my funk, as Ian spoke for the first time since we’d gotten in the car — I glanced at the clock on the dashboard. Ten minutes ago.“What?”Ian pressed his lips together, hit the gas so hard I jolted back in my seat, and shifted gears with a force that would have cracked the shifter in a car that wasn’t as sturdily built as this one. Figured that Ian would have some muscle-car nightmare. He’d probably restored it himself, since he had more time than money.“You’re white-knuckling your seatbelt,” he said. “You don’t need to. I drive just fine. Matt drives like someone’s grandma. I mean, he drives a hybrid.” There was enough contempt dripping from that last word to qualify him for a bit part in a BBC costume drama.I started to laugh, and then I pictured Ian in a waistcoat and my brain shorted out for a minute.“Hello? Nate? Anybody home?” he asked irritably. I came back to reality again, a little dist
Chapter 14 On the RunI wiggled my hips, trying to hoist myself a little higher on Ian’s back. “Sorry, I keep slipping,” I muttered.“At least you stopped telling me to mush,” Ian shot back.“Only because I believed you when you said you’d drop me.”Ian snorted and tightened his grip around my thighs. It had taken all of half an hour of fighting our way through thorny bushes and tall weeds and mud, and more mud, before he’d rolled his eyes, stopped, and leaned over so I could climb on — and another thirty seconds before I pissed him off. But hey, in my defense? I honestly wasn’t trying to be a jackass. I thought maybe what we needed in this situation was a little humor, so sue me.Note to self: alphas had no sense of humor about dog jokes. To be fair, I probably should have been able to work that one out on my own.“You still not getting any signal?” he asked.I pressed the button on the side of Ian’s phone, where I had it awkwardly poised in my left hand. My right arm was wrapped a
Chapter 15 Out of the Frying Pan…“A cocktail lounge?” Whatever I’d been expecting when I stepped through Dor’s door, it wasn’t booths upholstered in blood-red velveteen, a long polished-wood bar, and a small stage set with a microphone and a chair. I would’ve just called it a bar — I mean, I didn’t have any pretentions to being Frank Sinatra — except that Ruby’s Cocktail Lounge was written on the wall over the bar in loopy gold script. “Seriously? And where are we?”The place was empty, as you’d think it would be in the middle of a Tuesday, with curtains pulled back from the front windows to let in natural light. But it had a seedy vibe all the same, like the ghosts of all the dicks sucked in the corners of the room were haunting the place even when the bar, sorry, lounge, was closed and the drunks were at work nursing their hangovers.Ian’s grip loosened a little, but he didn’t let me go or move from my side so much as an inch. “Kind of cliché, isn’t it? You know. The red velvet,
Chapter 16 …Plan for the WorstCharlie’s studio apartment was surprisingly dusty and plain for belonging to the same guy who thought red velvet and gold script were tasteful. At least it had a functioning bathroom, because the second I woke up, sprawled inelegantly across a faded old futon, I needed to get rid of about a gallon of coffee. The bathroom was obvious, so I staggered in there, took care of business, and staggered back out.Ian rolled over with a groan as I approached. They’d left him on the floor.I wasn’t sure if I was more annoyed or amused by that, but either way, I bit my tongue. He had a dust bunny stuck to his ear and his eyes weren’t quite focused. Poor guy didn’t need me laughing at him on top of it.Openly, anyway. I was definitely laughing on the inside.“Hey,” I said, crouching down next to him. “You okay?” Dor’s magical whammy seemed to have hit Ian harder than it hit me. I was fine, now that my bladder wasn’t about to explode.Ian blinked at me and sat up, b
Chapter 17 …And into the Fire“Why here?” Ian muttered.Dor had crossed over the northeastern edge of the Kimball territory, passing through the Kimball wards without even a ripple. I forced down the envy that rose up to choke me. I’d be capable of that kind of magic, I knew it — if I’d ever had anyone to teach me. Which made me sound like that bitch of an aunt from Pride and Prejudice, with her I’d have been a proficient if I’d ever learned bullshit, but I kind of got where she was coming from. How were you supposed to reach your potential if you didn’t even know what steps to take to get there?Anyway, Dor was a million of those steps ahead of me, and that was depressing, but it wasn’t the most important issue. I got my head out of my ass and focused. We were a mile or so inside the Kimball territory, but we were right near the road that led southeast toward the Armitage territory. I thought it was fairly obvious why we were here.So did Dor, by the way he sighed, so faintly it wa
Chapter 18 A Family Reunion“No,” someone was muttering. “No, no, no, no, no…” It took a moment for me to realize it was me, sounding like I was on the verge of a panic attack.By my tingling fingers and the way the top of my head felt like it was buzzing and about to fly away, I was past the verge and plummeting down fast.“How the fuck has he hidden from us all this time?” Charlie, coldly furious. And glaring at Dor, like this was his fault.Dor drew back, offense in every line of his stiff body. “I wasn’t looking for him,” he shot back. “Were you?”“No,” I whispered. “Oh, no.” Everything was blurring in front of me. Tears. Those were tears, making my vision go all swimmy.Charlie turned and looked at me, and then really looked at me, frowning, his blue eyes narrowed and almost glowing. “You’re afraid of him. He’s your father. I’d think you’d be the only person who’d be happy to see him alive.”I felt like I was choking. Happy? Fucking happy?“He’s not happy because he already fuc
Chapter 19 Blood Will Out“You know that would never work,” I said dully. “We both know it. But there’s an alternative.”My father frowned down at me. “This isn’t a negotiation.”“Yeah.” It wasn’t. And I had to choose my words incredibly carefully, because the faintest hint that I was getting what I wanted, rather than giving in to what he wanted, and he’d say no on general principle. “But you think I’m going to try to escape, somehow. I won’t. Break the bond between me and Ian. The ritual can work if I help, and I will. Let him live, let him go, and I’ll mate with any other alpha you pick.” His brows drew together, thunderclouds on the horizon, and I hurried on. “I would anyway, because I don’t have a choice. But I won’t fight it. Not ever again. You’ll get more out of me if it’s voluntary. And you’ll maybe be able to mend fences with Matthew, and not have the Armitage pack as enemies.”My father snorted and shook his head. “You think you’re so clever, boy. Always have. You think I