by Selina Woods
“How will you be able to tell which one might run?” I asked.
“I’ll just see if any of them simply need a jump start.”
Porter climbed into each cab as Morgan and I kept watch for trouble, turning the keys. “They all might simply have dead batteries,” he said, jumping back down. “I’ll lift the hoods and see what I find.”
His eyes must work well in the dark, for he toyed with three engines before deciding that the fourth would serve. “This one,” he said, lowering the hood but not slamming it. “I got a spark. Let’s go inside the shop and see if there’s a battery charger and fuel.”
Porter knew exactly what to look for. Lifting a box with cables, knobs, and dials, he said, “There’s electricity in this building. We’ll put this on the battery and let it charge the plow up.”
“Won’t someone notice?” I asked.
Porter shook his head. “Not many live down here, and we’ll put the hood back down to cover the charger. We’ll wind the cord around so it’s not obvious.”
He installed the charger, then climbed back into the cab. Leaning his arm out of the window, he grinned down at us. “We got juice. And the tank is nearly full. Someone is smiling down on us.”
“Glad to hear it,” Morgan replied, watching down one side of the street while I kept an eye on the other. “Do what you need, and then let’s go. I got a bad feeling.”
Chapter Twelve
As Porter quickly hid all traces of our activity, my nerves told me something was wrong. “I don’t see anything,” I muttered as we loped back down the street. “I don’t think we’re being followed.”
“Nor do I,” Morgan answered, leading the way toward Porter’s shop.
“I feel it,” Porter growled from my side. “I’m hearing cars now.”
Morgan stopped. “Where are they coming from?”
The wolf jerked his muzzle toward the east. “That way. They’re headed toward us.”
“We can’t run,” I told them. “We have to go. Now.”
“Where?” Porter asked. “All these structures are rubble.”
“That one isn’t,” I said, galloping toward the squat building that still had a roof. “We need to get up there.”
Morgan and Porter ran hard on my tail as I leaped piles of broken cement and scaled the ones too tall to jump over. “They’ll follow our trail,” Porter said, scrambling over the chunks. “We can’t hide our scent.”
“Don’t give in so quick,” I replied with a grin. “I have ideas.”
“Listen to him,” Morgan said, “the kid’s smart.”
Behind us, the group of vehicles, headlights spearing the night, pulled to the curb behind us. Raphael’s goons. Whether they had a report of a pack roaming around, or somehow, they knew I was there, it didn’t matter. I had to kill our scent before the wolves in that outfit tracked us to our hiding spot. I sniffed for the right kind of odor in the alleys I led us through. The building we wanted to escape into loomed over us.
Though nothing helpfully dead presented itself, I found something almost as good. “Here we are, boys,” I said cheerfully, picking up the nearly full can. “Have a soak of this.”
Shocked, Porter stared at me. “Are you out of your mind?”
“Nope.”
“Declan,” Morgan said, his tone urgent, and maybe slightly scared, “we can’t soak ourselves in gasoline.”
“Sure, we can. Just don’t light a match.”
He and Porter gazed at one another and then at me. “That’s nuts, kid,” Morgan snapped. “The wolves will guess what we did and follow the scent of gas.”
“Not if all we do is leave behind the scent of gas.”
“What are you talking about?”
Instead of answering, I shifted forms and tipped the five gallon can, splashing the liquid on the ground. “Get your paws good and wet,” I ordered, going lion again and demonstrating.
Reluctant, hearing the voices and seeing the flashlights heading toward us, Morgan and Porter did as I said. “Now, we vanish.”
Leaping upward, I seized hold of the lowest rung of a fire escape with my jaws. From there, I climbed paw over paw and made my way steadily upward until I reached the mesh landing. I peered down. “What are you waiting for?”
Porter had the most difficulty as he wasn’t feline, but he struggled on up to my position, then leaped in through the nearest window as I watched Morgan climb.
“Kid, we’re leaving traces of gas wherever we go.”
“Yup.”
He growled. “So, this is hardly leaving no trace of ourselves.”
“Not yet.”
Morgan heaved himself, gasping for breath, onto the metal platform even as I made room for him by jumping into the building with Porter. “What now?” Morgan asked, following me.
“Now, we lose them.”
A quick glance out the window showed me the goons, most in their human forms, following the wolves toward the alley we just vacated. They stopped, talking amongst themselves as they spoke about the spilled gasoline even as a wolf sniffed the air, gazing up. “Here we go,” I said. “They’re following the scent of gas, right?”
Morgan and Porter exchanged a long glance. “Right.”
“When that odor ends here, they can’t follow us. Right?”
“Declan, I’m gonna bite you in about ten seconds,” Morgan growled.
I laughed. “Then watch.”
Ripping a strip of cloth from an old chair, I wrapped it in a piece of broken brick, then lit it on fire with a lighter in my pocket. “Bombs away.”
Dropping it out the window, I watched it tumble through space, shouts and yells of warning arriving too late. The flame lit the gas puddled at their feet. The resulting burst of fire sent the wolves and shifters in their human forms scattering in all directions.
“I think they lost our scent,” I said. “Let’s go.”
“The kid is crazy,” Porter muttered as the two of them followed me up to the roof.
“I’m beginning to believe that,” Morgan replied.
A quick glance over the edge revealed a marked lack of enthusiasm in the enforcers for following us. Below, the goons trailed back toward their cars, the sound of their voices drifting up to where I watched, grinning. “The gas on our feet confused them long enough to keep them put,” I explained, withdrawing back from the brink. “When I lit the fire, they decided they liked their health more than they liked chasing us.”
Morgan looked at Porter. “I told you the kid was smart.”
Determined to see Jae, I left Morgan sleeping on the couch in Jae’s apartment the next morning and crept silently out the door. Had he not been as badly hurt as he was, I’d never have gotten away with it. He’d have woken up the instant I tried to go through the door. Of course, the painkiller I slipped into his food may have helped to some extent.
Though I didn’t know exactly where Chad lived, I did know it wasn’t far from The Tiger’s Paw, and I knew what his truck looked like. Reaching his neighborhood an hour or so before the bar was to open, I walked around until I saw his truck. It was parked in front of a nice-looking bungalow amid several like it, all filled with families like Chad’s own.
He wouldn’t be too happy if I walked up and rang the bell, so I slipped into the rear seat of the cab and hid in the floorboards. I had written the note beforehand and left the small slip of paper on the front passenger seat. Waiting for perhaps thirty minutes, I heard the house’s door open and then close again, and Jae’s voice talking as she and Chad walked to the truck.
I listened as Jae opened the door and immediately saw the paper. It crackled in her hand as she picked it up, and as I had hoped, she said nothing of it as Chad climbed in behind the wheel. “When can I see Declan again?” she asked as Chad started the engine.
“I hope to talk to Porter today about the plows,” he answered, pulling away from the curb. “If he has one running, then we have to get our plans together. That’ll mean getting Declan and Morgan inv
olved.”
“Are you going to drop me off and then go see Porter?”
“Yeah. Will you be all right alone for an hour or so?”
“Sure. I need to unpack the crates in the storeroom, get everything organized before we open.”
“Thanks. I hate being forced to separate you two, but it’s for the best right now.”
“I know.”
The truck vibrated uncomfortably under my body as Chad drove to the bar, the two of them talking about Chad’s mate and kids, what they would do when we all escaped to a safe city. Once I thought about Denver, the call in my blood returned in full force, pulling at me with a powerful voice I found difficult to resist. Leave me alone. It persisted the remainder of the way to The Tiger’s Paw, driving me nearly crazy with its strength.
Chad parked the truck and got out to open the bar for Jae. I slipped out silently, and, as there was nothing else in the alley to hide behind, lay under the truck. Chad’s legs stepped back toward it as the bar’s door opened, and Jae went inside.
“Be back in a while,” Chad told her.
“See you.”
He got in behind the wheel, started the engine, and rolled away, leaving me flat on my belly on the gravel and oily dirt of the alley. Jae burst out laughing as I got up, dusting myself off. “That was slick,” she said grinning. “Chad had no idea.”
I kissed her, then urged her inside and locked the door behind us. “Morgan will be pissed when he wakes up and realizes I gave him a knockout pill.”
Jae shrugged as she switched on lights. “He looked so bad yesterday; he’ll need the sleep. He should be grateful.”
“Somehow, I don’t think gratitude is in his genetic makeup.”
“I missed you so much,” Jae told me, taking me into her arms.
I held her close, breathing in the clean, delectable scent of her, her body pressed tightly to mine. “I love you, Jae.”
“Show me.”
“Huh?” I pulled away long enough to gaze, puzzled, into her laughing hazel eyes.
“Show me how much you love me,” she answered with a breathy giggle. “We don’t have much time. Morgan will probably come straight here looking for you.”
I glanced around the storeroom we stood in. “There’s nothing for us to lay on.”
“Who said anything about lying down?”
Jae unzipped my jeans as I fumbled with my coat, trying to take it off while kissing her. Both of us laughed, our excitement rising, trying to kiss while opening each other’s clothes. I pulled her jeans down around her ankles at the same time she stroked me to full erection. Jae pushed my pants open to expose me to her very talented hands and kicked aside her own.
Reaching down to her mound, my tongue in her mouth, I buried my fingers inside her, feeling her growing arousal. She spread her legs to invite me further, pulling her lips from mine. “Come on,” she muttered thickly. “Give it to me.”
“You’re not ready.”
“Oh, yes, I am.”
Pinning Jae against the wall, I picked her up with my hands under her thighs. Opening her legs wide, she wrapped them around my hips, her arms around my shoulders. In one quick thrust, I filled her with my staff. Jae gasped, clutching me frantically, her breath hot in my ear. Intense pleasure roared through me, my hips bucking as I pounded her slick, wet tunnel. My breath came and went quickly, and I shut my eyes to better feel the lusty sensations pouring through me.
“Yes, yes,” Jae moaned, her head falling back against the wall. “Don’t stop.”
Sweat trickled down my cheeks with the effort of both holding her up and driving my shaft ever deeper into her. Resting my forehead on her shoulder, I drew in ragged breaths of air, feeling my climax approaching fast. Wanting to bring her to her own orgasm before I did, I stroked out slowly, then rammed back into her hard.
“Oh, yes,” she hissed through her teeth, “I think I’m ready.”
I knew I was about to. Jae’s body quivered as she muttered, “Oh, oh, oh, oh,” her nails digging deep into my shoulders. Her mound undulated around my thick shaft even as she shook under the force of her orgasm. Unable to hold on any longer, I blasted my seed inside her, groaning under the sheer sensual pleasure that seemed to rip straight from my belly.
Slowing my thrusts, I sank deep into her, my erection deflating as the last of my climax drained away. Jae slid down my body to stand, her juices dripping down us both. We held each other for a while, catching our breath before the air became too uncomfortably cool to remain damp and naked.
I kissed her, then bent to pick up her jeans to give her, then pulled my own up. Holding her cheeks in my hands, I gazed into her eyes. “Did I show you?”
Jae giggled, kissing me. “You sure did. And I love you, too.”
“Good. Now, we better get these crates unpacked. Morgan may be showing up at any time to drag me away.”
Morgan did, less than ten minutes later. His fist pounded on the rear door, and he yelled, “Declan! I know you’re in there. Open up.”
Jae laughed. “We timed that perfectly.”
I opened the door for him, barely standing aside in time before he barged in, his face dark and furious. “You little shit,” he growled, seizing me by my shirt front. “You doped me.”
“And your face looks much better for it,” I replied, unafraid of his anger. “How’s the pain?”
“Never mind. I should rip your face off.”
“And violate your precious oath?”
Swearing, he shoved me from him, throwing me to the floor. In retaliation, Jae roared in fury and her lioness charged him from the side. Her weight knocked him flat. Jae’s bared fangs, inches from his face, dripped saliva. “Touch him again and you’re dead.”
I sat up, unharmed, and grinned at Morgan’s predicament. “Look at the big, bad lion now,” I said with a smirk. “Mess with me, and you answer to her.”
Morgan heaved a huge sigh. “Sorry, Jae. That little runt just pisses me off.”
Jae slid her lips down over her very sharp armament and licked his wounded cheek, her thick raspy tongue making him cry out in pain. “Call him a runt again, and you’ll have a matching set of scars, dickhead. Declan has more guts and brains than you’ll ever hope to have.”
While he could have switched forms and fought with her, and possibly even won such a bout, Morgan pushed against her chest with a grin. “I defer to your greater wisdom and strength, dear lady. And I sincerely apologize.”
“Good.” Jae stood back from him, then switched back into her human self. “You’re supposed to be protecting him, not shoving him around.”
“I know. Declan, we should get out of here. We’re putting Jae in danger.”
I stood up, dusting off the seat of my jeans. “I don’t want her alone, Morgan. We can wait until Chad gets here.”
At least he saw the sense in that, and stood near the front window, on guard duty while Jae and I unloaded the crates and boxes, stacking the bottles on shelves and the kegs on top of one another. “The wolf, Porter, found a plow that will run,” I told her as we worked. “Now we have to get the supplies together and decide when we’re gonna make our departure.”
“We have to get word to Chelsea, too,” Jae reminded me. “We aren’t leaving her behind.”
“I haven’t forgotten.”
“Chad told me Porter has a big family he insists on bringing with us. Do you have friends you want to have escape with us?”
“The only one I have is you, Jae,” I told her quietly.
Pausing in her work, she gazed at me, sadness in her eyes. “You never made any friends out there?”
“None that I ever trusted. Folks tended to avoid street urchins like myself, and any kids I might have grown to trust were killed.”
“That is just wrong,” she snapped, her anger flaring. “We, as a society, should be better than that.”
“That’s why we’re getting out of here,” I replied with a smile. “So maybe we can have a better world to raise our k
ids in.”
Jae hurried across the room and hugged me. “I can’t wait for us to get to Denver, find your mom, be mated.”
“If she’s really there,” I answered, holding her close.
The door rattled as someone used a key in the lock and the door swung wide. Chad gaped for a moment, observing us wrapped around each other, then he shook his head, shutting the door again. “I should have known I couldn’t keep you two apart.”
“You shouldn’t even try,” Jae said with a sniff. “We’re going to be mated once we get to Denver.”
“Let’s get there before we start making plans,” he commented dryly as Morgan stood in the doorway that led to the bar. “Can you boys be back just after closing?”
Morgan nodded. “Sure. Time to finalize our plans?”
“Yeah. At least make some tentative ones. Porter will be here as well, and he wants to bring a few friends.”
“The more, the merrier,” I said with a grin. I kissed Jae. “See you later.”
After giving me a final squeeze, Jae let me go. She eyed Morgan, who ambled across the room toward the door. “Look after him. And quit calling him a runt.”
Morgan bowed in her direction, then opened the door. “Let’s go, kid.”
With a wink, I followed him out and heard the lock engage behind us. “Where are we going?”
“I want to have another look at that house Raphael stores those caches in. I’m not understanding why he doesn’t have guards on it. Nor do I want any surprises when we raid the place.”
The sun in the cloudless blue sky warmed the afternoon to the point it felt almost pleasant to be outside. We strolled down the sidewalk, as did many other people of all species, cars and trucks driving past on the road. The few enforcers we saw paid us no mind, nor did they seem to be tax collecting for Raphael’s overflowing coffers.
“This is making me nervous,” Morgan muttered. “Are they busy looking for you?”
“Since they found Barry,” I replied, my tone low, my eyes scanning the people all around us, “they must be. No, I still don’t believe I left anything on his corpse, so don’t say it.”