"Because it's been pretty difficult so far getting answers without one."
I chuckled. "You have a good grip on that?"
She shifted her weight to aim better at me in anticipation of an attack. "Why don't you find out?"
"I'm asking because the cops are after us, gaining on us, and I'm about to make a sharp turn through someone's backyard. I'd rather not hit the curb and get a bullet for my troubles."
With obvious reluctance, she lowered it, and braced one hand against the ceiling. I turned the steering wheel. Hard. We were both thrown to the side as the van tipped precariously, and then gained balance again. I heard a yell of shock from a human as we drove right through several fenced-in yards to emerge, victorious, on the other side of the block.
"Don't ever aim a gun at someone unless you're fully prepared to shoot," I gritted out. “And we both know you aren’t going to shoot me.”
She was plastered against the wall of the van, frightened, gun still in one hand but pointed toward the floor. "You think I can't defend myself?"
"I think you need to get ready to run, and keep the gun for someone who’s actually out to get you." In the glove compartment, my phone rang. "Isa—Cara, you gotta pick that up for me. I need to focus.”
"Okay." Gingerly, she pulled the phone out. "It's someone named Luke."
"About time. Speakerphone."
A moment later, Luke's voice filled the van. "Cops are closing in fast, Wyatt. Isabel with you?"
"Cara," she corrected.
A moment of silence. Then a cautious, “Who is this? Where’s Wyatt?”
“I’m still here,” I said dryly. “Isabel apparently grew up under the name Cara. She has no idea who any of us are.”
“Shit.”
“Yup. She was holding a gun on me earlier, too. But our main concern is the cops closing in on us. We need to get out of here, ditch the van, and either get back to you guys without a tail or hang low for a while.”
“She held a gun on you?” Luke laughed. “I like her already.”
I growled.
It clicked pretty fucking fast that he was mocking his Alpha while he and his mate were in clear danger. “I’m sorry, sir. Tracking your phone now, cops are all three or more blocks away that I can see. If you make your way to the edge of town, there’s actually a pretty sweet hideaway cabin a short run from the road. And it’s snowing, so if you hide your tracks you should be safe.”
Oh, shit, if Luke brings up shifting she’s going to connect the dots. I don’t think she linked my shifting question yet with that I shifted. She doesn’t know she’s a shifter. And that blew my mind.
“You in contact with the others?”
“Nyria’s working with Talin to get Isab—Cara’s father back. There’s some shit going down there that’s complicating everything, but hang in there, Cara. Doing the best we can. We got the sheriff out of the hospital and we’re… getting some answers from him.”
Cara winced, but didn’t look too upset otherwise. I smiled and took out my frustrations on not getting to help out there by running over another set of fences. “Crap,” Cara gasped as the van lurched over a low planter. “Well, I’m a fast runner. How far in the cabin?”
“Not more than two hours. Should be a trail of scent markers.”
“Two hours?”
I loudly cut over Luke’s response. “Luke, I hear sirens. Focus on getting us to a drop off point, I’ll handle everything from there.
“I’m going to see what I can do to mess up their radio signals, but you need to follow Cypress Road out of town. Ditch it there, and keep following the road until you see a stop sign that has an image of Little Red Riding hood doodled on the back.”
“That’s… not very secret.”
“Hiding in plain sight. It’s worked so far. You’ll pick up on a scent there that stands out—don’t know what it is, just that you can’t miss it. Follow it until you find the cabin. Has a rustic ground floor and a pretty good bunker basement you can access through a wardrobe in the master bedroom.” He rattled off the codes for the front door and the basement. “Got that?”
“Yep. Get the cops off of our asses. I’ll call once we’re safe. If you don’t hear from us by dawn, protect Cara.”
“Yessir. Good luck.”
I hung up, glanced over at her pale, determined face. “You ready for this?”
She breathed out a quick laugh that made me want to seduce all sorts of other sounds out of her lush mouth. “No. No, I’m not. But I’m gonna do it anyway.”
***
Just Outside Seyville, Nebraska
Cara
Sure enough, there was the stop sign, and the Little Red Riding Hood doodled on the back, still visible through the snow. Wyatt insisted on driving for a couple more minutes to further throw the police off. Makes sense, I thought, sneaking glances at him whenever he seemed particularly intent on the road. His large, strong hands manipulated the steering wheel with an expertise that, given how fast we were going, saved us from skidding off the road more often than not. I wanted to know what else those hands could do.
The gun was still in my hand, but every cell told me I was safe from him.
The snow was pouring down at this point, which would help erase our tracks, especially if we walked in the trail left by our tires. After the van was parked and we stepped out of it, it took him about three minutes from start to finish to wipe down the whole place, pack all of his stuff into a bag that he promptly handed over to me, and pour accelerants throughout the entire thing.
He pulled out a box of matches, paused, and glanced over at me. “Do you want the honors?”
“No, thanks.” Then a second later, I changed my mind. It felt awfully symbolic, like there was no going back after this. To be fair, I’d probably reached that point hours ago, but to mark the occasion with actual fire seemed like a step up. Also far more satisfying than climbing down rickety fire escapes. “Actually, yes, I want to.”
“Back up fast once you toss it.” He handed me the pack, and I struck a match. For a moment, it was nothing more than a tiny flame quivering at the top of a rapidly-shrinking stick, one heavy snowflake cluster away from being extinguished forever.
Nope. Small as it was now, it was going to be a destructive bonfire in a second.
I threw it in the back of the van and stood there for a moment, frozen, seduced by the sibilant sphere of vibrant flames that seemed to pour over the van’s surface. Wyatt's arms were suddenly around my waist, pulling me back, as with a surprisingly loud wooshing noise, the entire van quickly became engulfed in flames that shot out wider and higher than I’d expected. Clouds of smoke and steam billowed into the air as the snow around us quickly melted. My whole body rejoiced at the feeling of his arms around me, and as much is I told myself that I should step out of his protective embrace, my feet refused to move.
Not to sound like an easy mark, but it felt damn good for someone else to care about my well-being other than just myself. It didn’t hurt that even through two layers of coats, I could feel the strong, taut muscles in his forearms.
After thirty seconds or so of watching the flames and heat waves ripple up to collide with the snowy weather, he let go and I tried to not whimper as that warm, safe feeling receded, too. “We need to get going before someone else comes down the road.”
“Should we walk through the woods?” I said hesitantly. Given that there was a two-hour jog or so ahead of me, I’d rather stick to flat road as much as possible, but not if it meant getting caught before we could finish up the grand escape.
He shook his head. “If I hear a car coming, we’ll abandon the road, but it'll be a lot faster to follow along here first.”