"I have a phone now, so we can keep in touch," I said. "Oh, I have an idea! Let's get a selfie before you go."
Mira giggled as I pulled her close, and we smiled wide for the camera like we were on vacation and not running for our lives. It wasn't the same as having a real camera, but at least I could have a picture of us in my phone. After I’d taken a few pictures—just in case one of us was blinking in any of them—I frowned down at the little screen, trying to see if they’d turned out okay. The cheap phone's camera was a piece of crap, but it was all I had.
“Did you ever get a new camera?” Mira asked. "After yours was broken?"
“No,” I said, trying to keep the sadness out of my voice. “I haven’t had the chance to get a new one.” Or had the means to do so, for that matter. It wasn’t like Kaden had ever paid me a salary during my time with the Ophiuchus. I doubted I'd have been allowed a camera anyway, just like I hadn't been allowed a phone. The Ophiuchus pack had rightfully been wary of anything that might reveal the location of their village.
Mira tilted her head at me, her dark brows furrowing with concern. “I’m sorry, that’s such a shame. I know how much photography means to you.”
“I have other things to worry about right now." I caught sight of the others waiting for Mira and knew our time was up. "Here, put your number in my phone.”
Mira nodded and took it from me, tapping a few buttons before returning it. I looked down, finding she’d put a heart and a fish emoji behind her name, and I smiled. I really would miss her.
"Let me know what happens with the Pisces pack," I said.
She got a hopeful look in her eyes. "I will. I just pray Aiden is all right."
"I'm sure he's perfectly fine and will be very happy to have you back."
She sucked in a breath and nodded. "I really do appreciate everything the Ophiuchus pack is doing to help me. I can't promise that I'll be able to sway the Pisces alpha to stand up to the Leos, but I'll try."
"That's all we can ask."
“It’s time to go,” Kaden said, making me jump. He was leaning against the car behind me, close enough that he could have heard our whole conversation, looking as annoyingly hot as ever with his muscled forearms crossed over his chest. Had he been listening in the entire time? Probably.
I said goodbye to Mira again, and then she was off, slipping into one of the other cars with Harper. My chest tightened as they drove away, turning down the road and moving out of sight. I quickly typed out a text. Let me know when you land safely.
When I looked back up, Kaden had pushed himself off the side of the car and yanked the passenger door open. “Ready to go, little wolf? Or do you need another ten minutes standing around this parking lot?”
"Forgive me for taking a moment to say goodbye to my oldest friend," I muttered as I slid into the passenger’s seat. Somehow I'd managed to forget just how arrogant and irritating Kaden could be. But he'd also called me little wolf, a nickname I'd originally hated, thinking it was an insult before I came to realize it was a term of endearment, even if Kaden would never admit that. Maybe he didn't hate me as much as he wanted me to think.
“Looks like you’re stuck with me,” I said with a wry grin, as he started the car. This would be the first time we'd spent hours alone since… Well, since the previous full moon. It was hard to not think about what had happened then. “Just the two of us, and this time we have a long journey ahead of us."
"Don't remind me," Kaden said dryly.
"I guess you’ll have to let me drive now, whether you trust me or not.”
He glanced over at me with a raised eyebrow. “Do you even know how to drive?"
"Of course I do," I snapped, but then a wave of sadness washed over me. I looked away, my voice dropping to almost a whisper. "Wesley taught me."
Kaden was quiet after that, letting me sit with my ever-present grief. He understood it, of course. He'd lost his parents to the Leos too.
"You'll have to direct me to the Cancer pack lands," he eventually said, once we were back on the road. "I know they're north of Vancouver on the coast somewhere, but I've never been there myself."
I got the sense he was trying to distract me, but all it did was remind me that I was about to return to my first home, the one that had produced so many bad memories. There were some good memories too, of course, but many of those had been with Wesley, and driving down those same roads would only rub it in that he was gone. I squeezed my eyes shut, dreading what lay ahead of us. "Just drive."
Chapter Fourteen
Despite his earlier skepticism, Kaden stopped after a few hours and traded places with me. I hadn't driven in months, and truthfully hadn't done it much back home either, but it all came back to me once I was in the driver's seat.
It would be about a seven or eight hour drive from Spokane to Vancouver, and the closer we got, the more tightly strung I became. I never thought that once I’d escaped the Cancer pack, I’d want to go back. Everyone in the pack other than Mira and Wesley had made it clear that I'd never belonged there, yet here I was, determined to go back and try to win them over. What was I thinking? When we found them, if we found them, would they even listen to what I had to say? I might have been the alpha’s daughter, but I’d never been treated with respect. Dad had made sure of that. The beta had been just as bad, and he was likely the one running the pack now. Were we making a huge mistake?
"You're very quiet," Kaden said after night fell. He'd been dozing for the last hour, but now his gaze rested upon me and the intensity of it made it hard to focus on driving.
"You're one to talk," I said to the windshield, pointedly staring at the road. Outside, the car's headlights illuminated twisty mountain roads and tall trees. We'd decided to take a more scenic route to avoid Seattle, partly to stay under the radar in case the Leos were looking for us, and partly because I got the feeling Kaden didn't like big cities. "I just have a lot on my mind, okay?"
“Like what?”
I huffed out a breath. “I’m surprised you care.”
“Call it boredom if you want.” Kaden stretched his legs out in front of him, and I tried not to notice, even in my periphery. Even though his words sounded casual, as if he didn't care at all, there was something in his voice that made me think he really did care.
I sighed but found myself talking anyway. “I'm dreading going back to the Cancer pack lands and worried about what will happen once we get there. I was never popular among the pack. Okay, that's an understatement. I was the town pariah, the alpha’s mistake, nothing more, and no one ever let me forget that I was half human and an outcast.” I paused as I remembered what I'd learned during my time with the Leos. “Although I guess that's not even true. I know my mother was a Moon Witch now."