We left the room several hours later. I didn’t think he’d slept at all, but I had five hours of sweet nothing—well, not nothing. I’d woken to my face plastered to his bare chest. Best five hours of sleep ever.
“We should reach the Compound by nightfall.”
When we stepped into the parking lot, Luke’s stride paused. He tilted his head back, scented the light breeze, grabbed my hand, and pulled me toward the bike. I didn’t stop to wonder why. He’d smelled something. I quickly slipped the bag across my body and climbed on behind him as my eyes searched for the cause. Luke started the bike with a roar.
Just then two men stepped from the office. My heart leapt, and my arms involuntarily tightened around Luke. He took off with a squeal of the back tire. The bike slipped under us a bit, but I risked a look back. Where the men stood, two large dogs stared after us. They didn’t give chase. Instead, they turned and ran into the woods.
“They’re not following,” I called to Luke.
He nodded and opened the throttle. My stomach rolled at the surge in speed. Thankfully, I hadn’t eaten anything.
We merged with an interstate that took us south, not north. I wanted to moan in frustration, but understood his decision. Since we were so close to our goal, they would know our intended direction. Hopping on the interstate would throw them off. Heck, it threw me off. I had no idea which way we intended to come in from.
How had they found us though? We’d been careful, zigzagging all over the place in a non-pattern. I’d been watching the map. Maybe Luke was right. They had sentinels waiting for us. But we were still so many miles away. Could they have so many in their pack as that? I doubted it. Maybe it’d just been luck. Or maybe, he’d told someone again. I rested my head against his back, emotionally drained. I’d fluctuated between “just let me die” and “I don’t want to die” too many times to count. I didn’t know what I wanted anymore except to be left alone. I had never asked to be in the middle of a werewolf tug of war.
We drove for hours the wrong way and then got off at an exit heading east so we could circle back around. Despite his efforts, I knew it would be pointless. Like he said, they would be waiting—because somehow, they always seemed to know where to expect us. I knew what I needed to do.
When he offered to stop, I pointed to a laundromat. He nodded and pulled in. He loosened the bag, and I slid off, taking the bag with me. His troubled gaze never wavered from me as he followed me into the light airy building.
He used the change machine as I shoved everything in a washer. After adding quarters and dumping in the powder detergent from the packet I’d bought at the vending machine, I finally faced him. He eyed me warily. Apparently his wolfie senses knew something was up. I let out a long, slow breath, calmed myself, and let the beginning of a dream wrap its arms around me—not enough to sleep, just enough to slow my pulse. I had to mask a lie.
“I saw a fast food place a few blocks away. I’ll get us something.”
He frowned at me. “I’ll go with.”
“No way. We’ll lose our stuff. It’s two blocks away and we’re in the middle of town,” I arched a brow at him and patted the bag I still had slung over my shoulder. “I have protection and can carry everything with this. Two burgers?”
“Three,” he grumped reaching into his wallet and giving me a twenty. We’d used all the money he’d given me for rooms along the way.
I plucked it from his fingers with a smile. “Probably a good idea,” I agreed. “You may not have fries by the time I walk back.”
He smiled at me as he sat down to watch the machine.
I strode out the door, turned right, and didn’t look back. Not far away, I flagged down a ride and asked them if they could take me north. Staring out the window, trying to ignore the ache growing in my chest, I watched the mile markers go by.
My jaw popped on my third yawn. The couple had taken me over an hour north. They dropped me off and wished me luck. I smiled and waved as they pulled away. My stomach grumbled, and I thought of the twenty in my pocket. I still had a long way to go; and with no Luke, I needed to save the cash for when I really needed it.