Spike, Ratchet, Stewie, and Hopper congregated around the pool table, talking among themselves. Gasket was leaning against the wall, watching me with a raised eyebrow. Ram, Watts, and Rhodes looked like they would rather be in the garage. Finally, Rocket and his gang of thugs were ready to crack some skulls. The smell of blood was in the air, and Rick was mysteriously absent.
Shondra, Emily, Raquel, Kelly, and Sierra were sitting in a circle, talking low. When they’d realised I’d appeared, they glanced up at me. Shondra glared the hardest, and I felt an overwhelming urge to punch her square in the nose.
“Sloane,” she purred. “How are you, hon?”
I didn’t like it when they called me pet names like babe, baby girl, and especially hon. It made my eye all twitchy with rage.
Before I could answer, there was a lull, and everyone turned towards the door. Sam stood just inside the common room, her eyes red and puffy. She was dressed in a plain black top and denim skirt, and her hair was combed and done up in a ponytail. If it were any other day, she would look normal, but it was far from it.
“Hey, babe,” Raquel cooed. “Come sit here.” She patted the couch beside her.
Sam gave me a tentative glance, then shuffled across the room and sat with the other women. They proceeded to fawn over her with thin reassurances and fake compliments. Exchanging a look with Gasket, he shrugged. Women weren’t his thing.
I really wished Sam had stayed in her room
Chaser was nowhere to be seen and my heart sank. Would Marini make him—
Gasket appeared next to me and dragged me back against the wall. “I know everything, Sloane. It’s time to stop pretending.”
“Then tell me something true, Gasket,” I challenged.
“This game is moving faster than you realise.”
“Don’t patronise me,” I snapped.
“Marini knows about you, Sloane. He threatened Chaser with the talisman binding him to the pack and I hate to say it, but that thing is unbreakable. While Marini holds it, Chaser is trapped.”
I froze, my heart stuttering in my chest. I asked him to come here. I asked him.
“Do you think he’d use it against us?” I hadn’t seen hide nor hair of the thing that bound Chaser, but Marini had revealed it to send a message. While the alpha held it, Chaser was under his full control. “If he knows, then why hasn’t he used it to take us out?”
Gasket shrugged, which didn’t instill much faith in the matter. “Chaser knows what he’s doing. We’ve got a chance. It ain’t much of one, but we’ve got to take it.”
“Why do I get the feeling you’re not telling me all of it?”
“The less of us who know everything, the better. Knowing too much is a one-way ticket to getting us all six feet under, girl.”
I wanted to ask him ‘what now,’ but I clamped my mouth shut. I was supposed to already know—being the mastermind and all—and I didn’t want to admit that Gasket was right. I was in over my head.
“This is going to end badly,” I said, throwing a look at Sam. “You said you’d help me.”
“I can’t make any promises. You know that. I can’t do anything that could out me with your father. My leverage inside Fortitude might be the only thing that saves you.”
I opened my mouth to counter, but something felt…off. “Do you feel that?”
Gasket tensed. “What you’re feeling there…that’s the pack tearing apart. The attack went down just like the Hollow Men had planned.”
“But if the pack is at war with one another—” Gasket threw me a sharp look and I clamped my mouth shut.
“None of this would’ve happened if Marini had left her to rot,” a wolf barked.
“It has nothing to do with Sloane,” Ratchet shouted. “The vampires would’ve attacked anyway. Trouble’s been brewing for months.”
“That’s bullshit,” someone yelled.
Gasket edged in front of me as wolves began shoving each other.
“Four pack members are dead,” Rocket bellowed. “Four wolves were dumped into shallow graves last night because of her!”
Stewie shoved Rocket, sending him stumbling back into Spike. “You’d defy the alpha’s orders?”
“Marini’s not going to do anything about it!” Rocket seethed. “Our packmates died for nothing! I want blood, don’t you?” He looked around the room, but Gasket’s bulk hid me from his gaze. “Don’t you?”
The room erupted, but not in the way I was expecting. Fists began to fly, and I snapped into action.
Pushing Gasket aside, I strode across the room, grabbed Sam’s wrist, and hauled her to her feet. I dragged her from the common room, ignoring the eyes following us.
“Sloane,” she cried, practically running after me. “What are you doing?”
“Shh,” I hissed. “Hurry up.”
I couldn’t chance taking her back to her own rooms, so I went in the other direction, taking the long route back to my bedroom. We made it back with no one challenging us, though shouting and thumping echoed all around as I shoved her inside.
“Stay in here, and lock the door,” I said. “Barricade it if you have to, but don’t open it for anyone except Chaser or me. Got it?”
“Chaser?” She blinked, looking lost and on the verge of breaking down into hysterics.
There wasn’t time to explain, so I practically shoehorned her into the room.
“Promise me, Sam.”
Her bottom lip quivered. “I promise.”
“Is there anything you want me to get from your room?” When she stared at me blankly, I snapped, “Sam.”
“M-my m-mum’s necklace,” she said. “On the bedside table.”
“Is that all?”
She nodded, tears falling from her eyes. She was terrified.
I grimaced and glanced down the hall. “I’ll get you out of this. Hold tight.”
I slammed the door shut and waited until I heard the lock click before I moved away.
First, I had to help Sam get the hell out of this cesspool, then I’d worry about myself. I’d promised her. Several times.
Gasket was still in the common room when I peered through the door. He was doing his best to pull wolves back into line before more heads rolled. By the looks of it, half were for murder and half were not. To my surprise, DeLuca was going head-to-head with Rocket, who was up in his personal space shouting insults.
Marini was nowhere to be found, the absence of the alpha giving the pack free reign to lose the plot. Gasket was doing what he could, but the only person who could end the tension was my father.
Diving headfirst into the madness, I clawed at Gasket’s arm, pulling him from the room and into a shadowy alcove.
“Sloane, what are you playing at? You’re the reason the compound was attacked, and right now, you’ll end up dead regardless of Marini’s orders. Don’t be a happy accident, girl. Get back to your room.”
I wasn’t interested in self-preservation right now. Not when I was the only one who had the power and the guts to save someone who needed freedom more than I did.
“I need your phone and Chaser. Now.” I clicked my fingers and held out my palm.
“What for?”
I clicked my fingers again. “Hurry up, old man.”
Gasket reached into his back pocket and pulled out his phone but hesitated. “What for?”
“I need to keep a promise.”
Chapter 18
Chaser
Leaning against the side of the car, I let my head fall back and sighed.
I wished I’d brought some blood with me, or at least a bottle of hard spirits. The scent of violence was stuck up my nose, my throat had an annoying itch, and death was on my mind.
Behind me, the compound was lit up with a thousand artificial lights, but darkness clung to the alley. The sky was tinted orange by the city. Always orange. I decided I hated it. Being alone out in the middle of nowhere with Sloane had been a nightmare, but strangely, it had been the calmest I’d felt in a
long time. Maybe it was her, or maybe it was the lack of Fortitude.
Movement drew my attention, and I straightened up, my palm settling on the gun shoved into the waistband of my jeans.
Sloane emerged out of the darkness, her hand firmly in Sam’s grasp.
I didn’t want to know how they got out of the compound with no one noticing, but I assumed Gasket had something to do with it.
“Okay?” she asked, her voice low.
I nodded. “Clear.”
Sam glanced at me warily, her gaze falling to the gun. I knew what she thought of me—that I was a cold, hard killer who cared nothing for nobody. Everyone said the same thing, so I wasn’t surprised by her hesitation. She was here because she had nowhere else to turn to.
Sam had brought nothing with her, just the clothes on her back.
“Here.” Sloane took Sam’s hand and set something into her palm.
“You got it?” Tears misted Sam’s eyes as she inspected whatever Sloane had given her.
Sloane nodded. “I promised, didn’t I?”
The two women embraced and I turned away, not entirely sure if I was irritated by their display of emotion or saddened by it. They would likely never see one another again.
“You’ll like Yvette,” Sloane said. “She’s got a daughter. Bringing her up on her own. She’s going to meet you at the border, give you a ride back west, and give you a place to stay for a while.”
I opened the car door and raised an eyebrow.
Sloane waved me off. “Give us a second, would you?”
“We’re out of time,” I told her.
Sam nodded. “He’s right. If you get caught—”
They hugged again, this time a little tighter.
“Thank you, Sloane. For everything.” Sam wiped a tear and got into the car. Fiddling with the necklace in her palm, she reached behind her neck and put it on.
“Take care of her,” Sloane said to me.
I smirked. “I got you here, didn’t I?”
Sloane’s lips curved, and she pressed her forehead against mine. “What about Marini?”
“He thinks I’m scouting out the Hollow Men,” I told her. “He wants us to think he’s planning some kind of retaliation.”
Sloane glanced at the car, but Sam was already sitting inside and out of earshot. “Is he?”
I tensed, conflicted about telling her the truth. After a moment, I settled on, “Not the kind the pack wants.”
Sloane pulled back and I knew she was onto me. Her gaze studied mine and her scent was full of the wolf I knew lived inside her. It was almost time.
“Gasket’s waiting for me,” she said after a moment.
“Go. I’ll send word when I get back.”
I rounded the hood and opened the driver’s side door.
“Hey, Chaser?” Sloane’s voice echoed down the narrow alley.
I glanced over my shoulder. Even the darkness made her look beautiful.
“Thank you.”
I nodded and slid into the car.
“What’s with you two?” Sam asked as I turned on the engine and coasted down the alley.
I grunted, not wanting to talk about it. Sloane had started off as cargo, just like Sam was now. Difference was, Sam would stay that way. Unless Marini realised where I was, who I was with, and where we were going. The Hollow Men didn’t rate a mention…yet.
“You fell in love with her, didn’t you?”
“You don’t know anything about my life,” I replied, keeping my eyes on the road.
“I suppose not.”
Thankfully, she shut her mouth because I was not in the mood for a heart-to-heart. I was driving ten hours across the country for her—for Sloane—risking my life to get Sam out. I didn’t need another big-mouthed woman telling me what I needed to do on another long drive through hell.
“She’s not safe there,” Sam said, breaking the silence I craved. “She’ll never be safe.”
“She knows that,” I shot back. “We know that.”
“If you care about her, you need to get her out of there.”
“Sloane… She has unfinished business with her father.” It was all I could say on the matter. Trying to explain my past, Sloane’s, and our current plans for taking Fortitude to a woman who’d become a widow less than twelve hours ago was impossible.
“You can tell me, Chaser,” she said. “I’m not going back there. I can’t.” She snorted and sank back in the seat. “Harley was the only person who kept me safe, and even then, he’d become a monster. I loved him once, but I was too afraid to leave. There was still a part of me that hoped the man I fell for was still in there. That Fortitude hadn’t taken him away from me entirely, you know? I was afraid to let go.”
I tensed, her words hitting home. He’d become a monster. I was the same. I was a vampire, which made me a monster by default, but through the talisman I’d become the Devil himself.
“Everyone else, they might’ve liked me in their own way, but they didn’t stop him hurting me,” she went on. “Not once. Sloane was the only person who stepped in, you know. I should’ve trusted her.”
“You had no reason to trust anyone,” I said. “Not with a track record like that.”
“I only trust you and this Yvette woman because Sloane vouched.”
I gritted my teeth. I hated deep and meaningful conversations. I wouldn’t even entertain them with Sloane, let alone Sam.
“No one ever stuck up for me like that,” Sam went on, babbling. “Stood up to Harley. I can’t believe he’s gone… Just… Dead.”
“Sloane stood up for you for a reason,” I said. “She risked her life for you.”
“You risked yours for her, right? You got killed?”
“It’s my job,” I snapped.
“No one voluntarily gets killed,” she declared. “Not even a vampire.”
“I do.” I was so over this conversation.
Sam’s mouth fell open in shock. “She’s got you by the short and curlies, hasn’t she?”
I screwed up my face. “Huh?”
“Kelly will be devastated.”
“Who the hell is Kelly?” I scowled and rolled my eyes.
“Stewie’s woman.”
“Bet he’d have a few things to say about that.”
“What are you going to do?” she asked. “When you get back to Fortitude? I don’t think Marini’s got good intentions. I’ve always been scared of him.”
“Smart girl,” I drawled.
“So?” she prodded. “What are you going to do?”
Thinking about Marini’s plan to sell Sloane off to the Hollow Men, I narrowed my eyes. We were on the highway now, travelling away from the lights of Melbourne. Soon, we would be able to see the stars again. The real ones.
I grunted, signalling I didn’t want to talk about it because I didn’t know what I was going to do.
Whatever happened, it was going to be a bloodbath. Sam should be happy she got out now. Extremely happy.
“We’ve got a long way to go,” I said, turning on the radio. “You should get some sleep.”
Sam sighed and nestled into the seat, rubbing her eyes with the sleeve of her cardigan.
“She’s so got your balls,” she muttered.
It was a long way to the border.
A full night had passed, and the sun was showing its face by the time we parked in the lot of a McDonald’s near the highway. I left Sam in the car stuffing her face with cheeseburgers and fries while I sat on the bonnet, watching the traffic come and go.
Apart from our insightful conversation about who had or did not have the possession of my short and curlies, the trip had been uneventful. Unlike the last time I drove across the country, no one had shot at us.
Sam… Well, after a while, things kind of got to her. She’d fallen asleep after a while but had cried and sniffed straight across Victoria. Couldn’t blame her, but I had no words of comfort. Harley was dead—I’d snapped his neck and covered it up to save Sloane—and the
re was nothing I could do about that.
Besides, I wasn’t Sloane. Sloane knew how to use her words. All I knew was how to pull the trigger. The life I led at Fortitude had erased the one I knew when I was with Loretta—a life full of tenderness, smiles, care, and sacrifice. How did I get those things back? If I lost Sloane to the Hollow Men or her father, did I want to care that much about her? Loretta’s murder had destroyed me utterly and completely. Her death had turned me into a shell with no humanity.
I watched as a red Suzuki Swift turned into a spot across the car park and lifted my head.
I vaguely remembered Yvette from the pub where I’d found Sloane. A tiny blonde with pouty lips. That and how much Sloane cared about her. The fact Yvette had just upped and left her kid to drive across the country to take in a woman she didn’t know scored more points in her favour. She was taking on a lot for no other reason than Sloane had asked.
The driver’s side door opened and a little blonde woman climbed out. Turning, she spotted me sitting on the hood of the car and glanced around. Inside the McDonald’s, there were tables full of travellers eating their way through chicken nuggets and sweet and sour dipping sauce, but the far edge of the car park was empty, save for a few long-haul trucks.
The woman wandered over, her hands shoved into the pockets of her denim jacket.
Yvette pouted and looked me over. “I can’t believe Sloane trusted you.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Is that right?”
“How is she?”
“Fighting.”
“She was always good at that.” Yvette craned her neck and gave Sam the once-over in the car behind me.
I slid off the bonnet and opened the passenger side door.
“Your ride is here,” I said, tapping the roof. I narrowed my eyes, warning her to keep her mouth shut about all things supernatural.
Sam got out of the car with a sigh and sized Yvette up. Immediately, she combed her fingers through her knotty hair and wiped the back of her hand across her mouth.
I snorted, earning myself a glare from Sloane’s BFF. I could see why she intimidated other women. She was pretty and all, but she wasn’t Sloane.
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