Logan tapped his head. “I have a mental link to the pack. They can all talk into each others’ minds, but only when in animal form, and I can talk into their minds in my human form since shifting isn’t a great idea for me. Eva did it with magic,” he explained.
Wow. This whole time they had … what had they said about me that I didn’t know about?
Oh. Another thought struck me then. “My car!”
Logan sighed. “Gear will have to get it later and drive behind us.”
I scrambled to get my keys out of my clutch, but Logan laughed. “Gear doesn’t need that.”
Oh. Right.
With nothing left to say, I gave Logan a long look, staring at the strong features of his face. Mate. What a weird and freaky word, and yet … so right. From the moment I met him there had been this magnetic attraction that I kept trying to blame on the heat or every other thing but…
A thought struck me then. “Logan? Did you know that we were mates? I mean, before tonight?” The way he’d almost kissed me in my room that day … some of the things he’d said…
Logan gave me a sultry side glance, eyes half lidded. “From day one. Although I was in denial for a little bit. Might have been because you punched me in the face and nearly broke my ribs.” He winked, and then let his eyes shift back to the road. Oops. I didn’t even remember doing that.
Well, vaguely.
“You caged me,” I growled in defense.
His hand slipped into mine and a contented sigh escaped me. The adrenaline high of being on the run had worn me down and sleep was dragging at the corners of my mind. A soft sliding noise behind me forced my eyes to snap open, and a hand suddenly plopped a feisty mewing Mittens on my lap.
“She’s attacking Sophie,” Eva’s voice called out softly from behind me.
I rubbed Mittens between the ears. “Good girl.”
“I heard that,” Sophie growled, but I could hear her smile. We had reached some kind of bitchy mutual friendship that I was okay with. Besides, she had Ruben to obsess over now, so Logan was mine.
It was silent but I knew Eva was still looking at me. I could see her from my peripherals. The window was still down. I could barely look her in the eye. I felt too awful for betraying her and going to Jeanine.
“Sloane,” she said finally, “if I would have known you were going to run … that you would take the news that badly, I never would have told you.” I could hear guilt in her voice.
I turned to face her, tears welling in my eyes. “I know. I’m sorry. I just couldn’t handle it. I couldn’t handle knowing I was half monster. That I was living in a house full of people who hated what I was.” The car went eerily silent then and I was surprised at who chose to reply.
“You’re nothing like them,” Dom’s deep voice echoed throughout the car.
“Here, here!” Danny called out, and I heard the clinking of glasses.
I turned fully around, eyes wide, to see there was a disco light on in the limo and it was spinning, causing lights to dance across the faces of my clearly intoxicated friends. Each one had a shot glass in hand. “Are you guys getting drunk?” I asked, mystified.
“Operation: Save Sloane, was a success. We’re celebrating,” Keegan said. “Besides, with our metabolism, the buzz will be gone in less than an hour.”
I just laughed and Eva’s hand reached out and grasped my shoulder lightly. She leaned forward and whispered in my ear, “We’re going to see my friend now, honey. The druid I told you about. He’s the only one that can help you now.”
Logan didn’t seem to like that, because his grip on my hand tightened. I stared straight ahead as a lump of fear formed in my chest. Now that she mentioned it, I noticed we were driving away from Arizona and towards San Francisco. Holy shit, I was going to willingly meet and possibly train with a druid. Why else would they be bringing me to him if not to train with him?
‘Don’t worry. I’ll protect you,’ Logan spoke softly in my mind.
I whipped my head to the side and just stared at him. ‘We need to lay down some boundaries for the mind speak thing.’
He grinned. ‘Mind speak, I like that. Eva can make it so you don’t project so loudly. It happened with the whole pack at first. Dom is a closet Prince fan.’
I grinned. Good to know.
‘Just give me privacy until then, please,’ I told him.
He nodded. ‘Unless you try to run away again. Then I’m going to be all up in your mind.’
I smirked and leaned closer, laying my head on his shoulder. My dragon pulsed, sending warmth down my legs as I breathed in his scent.
‘I’m never leaving you again. I promise.’ My heart couldn’t take it if I did. It was the last thing I said to him before I fell asleep, with Mittens on my lap.
“Sloane!” Logan was shouting, shaking my shoulders. I jolted awake, looking around frantically. I had fallen asleep in the front seat of the limo, and now we were pulled over with the entire pack outside of the car. My side of the car’s door was open and Logan was leaning over me, shaking me.
“I’m awake! What’s wrong?” Then I saw it. Gear’s bird was lying in Nadine’s lap, his wing bent at an odd angle, nearly torn off.
“Should he shift?” Nadine was asking Eva.
“No way! His arm could sever. Stay in bird form, Gear.” Eva pointed a finger at the falcon and then crisped her suit, turning on me.
“You!” She pointed.
I shrank back as if I was being scolded by my mother. “What did I do?”
Eva’s face softened. “You need to tell me everything about that spell Jeanine did on you. I think it was a two-part spell. One part to keep you from transforming and one part tracker.”
At the word “tracker,” my insides dropped and I felt sick. “No,” I said, in denial.
“Quickly! Tell me.” Eva waved her hand and now Danny was standing next to her; he was all ears.
“She had a … a jar and she was putting stuff in it. Umm … a match—”
Eva cut me off. “Tell me it wasn’t a spell where you had to breathe in smoke?” Eva’s face and hands were frozen as she awaited my reply.
I just winced and Eva and Danny both let a curse word fly.
“She didn’t know! It’s our job to teach her these things,” Logan said in my defense, stepping closer to me.
I sighed. “What did I do?” Oh God. Was Gear going to be okay? The look in Nadine’s eyes gutted me.
Eva motioned for me to stand. “Get up, honey. The druid is tracking you and they will be here any moment. I need to remove the spell and it’s going to hurt like the fire of a thousand suns, but it’s the only way I know how.”
Logan stepped in front of me, blocking the car door. “No way! We’ll kill the druid and find another way.”
Keegan stepped beside Eva. “What if that druid brings his boss? That’s right, what if Ardan is on his way and we all die and your mate can’t even shift and fly away? We need to remove the tracker spell. Now!”
I reached out and let my hand stroke Logan’s arm. “It’s okay. I got myself into this. I need to face the reality of it.” I was a major wuss with pain. Like, bump my foot on the edge of the couch and scream like a dying cat wuss. But I would do what needed to be done to keep the pack safe.
Logan sighed, resigned. His body moved to the side, opening up room for me to stand just in time to see Danny turn to Eva. “What are you thinking of doing?”
Eva looked at me sadly and then turned to Danny. “A complete blood eradication spell.”
I could tell from the way Danny winced, every muscle in his body flinched, that this would hurt like nothing I had ever experienced.
“Feel free to just knock me out first,” I said nervously, using humor as my fallback, but secretly hoping someone would just hit me over the head and knock me out for reals.
“You need to be conscious for the spell to work dear.” Her voice held a sadness and I knew she didn’t take pleasure in what was about to happen.
Logan slipped his hand in mine, glaring at Eva, no doubt wanting to intervene.
‘I got this,’ I told him, but his face didn’t change.
Gear’s falcon gave a soft caw and I frowned. “Can we help Gear? Do you need a scale?”