by RJ Blain
“Let’s keep it for a little while longer. Once we’re sure we won’t need it, you can trash it.”
When I had suggested escaping from her parents, I hadn’t expected her enthusiasm, nor had I expected her willingness to run on an impulse. For the first time since Desmond had caught me, my wolf and I were content, and I meant to savor every single moment of it.
“We can buy burner phones if we need them.” Snatching back the phone, Nicolina threw it as hard as she could. It cleared the roadway and disappeared into the trees skirting someone’s immaculate yard. “That’ll teach the bastards.”
Grinning at her, I made myself comfortable, stretching my legs out and admiring the dual-toned interior of the Porsche. While I wanted to play with the console and see what toys were in the navigation system, I kept my hands to myself. “When your father finds out, he’s going to hunt us down and lock us both in that cage. You realize that, right? And because I aided and abetted you in breaking our tracked phones, the Shadow Pope is going to let him.”
“They’ll have to catch us first.”
Eager to see how far my mate would go to escape her father, I decided to play the game her way—and present some of the more obvious challenges of our flight. “We’re in a bright blue Porsche, and they cheat. They’ll follow our location from credit card and debit transactions.”
“We could hitchhike.”
Hearing those three simple words, I realized the intelligent, vibrant, and impulsive woman I had fallen in love with hadn’t changed all that much, although the years had altered her shape, dulled some of her edges, and made her far too wary for my comfort. Smiling, I relaxed. “Anything you want. You’re the driver. I’ll even be your kidnapped victim, yours to do with as you please.”
“Request approved. I have some cash hidden around. We could make a withdrawal from a nearby bank and run on cash. That’ll make it harder to track us. Take the car to a body shop, swap colors, and off we go. We can hole up in a hotel while we wait for them to finish the work. If they’re looking for a blue Porsche and we’re driving a pink one…”
“They’ll expect pink. We’d have to pick something really common or unexpected.” I took possession of my wallet and dug through my credit cards. “I have four prepaid credit cards. They’re for a rainy day, and I’d say it’s pretty rainy today, right?”
“Brilliant. So we’re covered for cash.” My mate drummed her fingers on the wheel and headed for the highway. “Does my hostage have any destination requests?”
I thought about it for a few minutes. “We’re stuck in the United States; the instant we try to cross the border, we’ll be nabbed. Where’s the last place anyone would think to look for you?”
“An airport,” my mate muttered.
I laughed. “If we parked at an airstrip and arranged for a charter, we could slip off. We’d have to go somewhere with unmonitored public transit, but that might be a good way to make a run for it. Unfortunately, it seems I’m lacking a phone now.”
“I’ll drive, thank you very much.”
“If we find a lodge or resort near one of the large parks, we can run as wolves and stretch our legs. If we pick a remote one near the Canadian border, we could head up to Yellowknife in time for the full moon. I know a few places in Montana we can sneak across the border by driving through some fields. The car’ll need a bath, and it’s entirely possible we’ll scratch the paint to hell, but it can be done. There might even be a few unmonitored dirt roads and trails still around we can use.”
The last place anyone would expect me to show up was Yellowknife, especially after spending so much time running from home.
“I’m under the impression everyone expects you to go anywhere other than your home.” My mate sounded worried, and I reached over and gave her knee a squeeze.
“The house should be mostly empty, which means we could have the pool, the hot tub, and the jacuzzi all to ourselves. I’m sure if someone comes by to check things, we can keep them quiet with some begging, pleading, and cookies.”
“Sold. Direct me, hostage.”
Laughing, I indulged in a stroke of her leg before turning my attention to the navigation panel. Excitement shivered through me and my wolf when she didn’t protest my display of interest. “East bound. Let’s get across the Cascades as soon as we can; we can take I-90 East. In about six hours, we’ll have a turnoff that’ll take us closer to the border. I know of a road that skirts Canada near some farms. This time of year, the harvest’ll be done, so we can make a run to a nearby road and be on route to Yellowknife without anyone being the wiser.”
“Isn’t that illegal, risky, and bound to get us both in trouble?”
Grinning at the nervousness in my mate’s voice, I set the destination in the navigation system. “I’ll be the only one who gets in any trouble, and I’ll enjoy every moment of it, especially if it means I get to give Desmond the slip.”
“I am so sorry for what he did, Richard.”
“Don’t be. Desmond’s simply not happy unless he’s making my life as difficult as possible. He should have known better than to give me—or you—an opportunity to escape.”
“I think he was expecting Amber to keep us in line.”
While I wasn’t sure what I thought of Amber bonding with Nicolina, I did appreciate my mate having a capable Inquisition operative around as an extra layer of protection. “Amber calls you Nicole. Is that what you prefer now? Not Nicolina?”
“I don’t mind if you call me Nicolina. I’m just used to Nicole.”
“If what’s familiar makes you more comfortable, I’m happy calling you Nicole.” I’d call her anything she wanted, as long as she kept me close. “You have enough to adapt to as it is.”
Thinking of her as Nicole would take effort, but I’d make it happily.
“I wish I remembered, Richard.”
It never failed to amaze me how one tiny woman like my mate could handle such a large burden without it breaking her. Her voice wavered, but she kept her hands steady on the wheel, her dark eyes focused on the road, and her posture straight and proud.
When I had first seen her in Los Angeles, wary and afraid, my wolf’s fear had melded with my own. When she’d been kidnapped, taken away from me right from under my nose, I had thought I would break from my need to rip apart the world to find her again.
When she had attacked her kidnapper and stolen his gun, I had had reason to hope.
Even without her memories, she was the same woman I needed so desperately.
“No matter how little or much you remember, it won’t change anything, not between us. If you have questions, ask. I’ll tell you everything. I want you to remember everything we shared, but I care about now—and our future.” A great, invisible weight shifted on my shoulders, and bit by bit, it fell away.
I had no idea if my words would comfort her at all, but it didn’t matter. By speaking them, I voiced the commitment I had promised her so many years ago.
“I punched a hole in Amber’s wall,” she whispered.
Flares of temper happened among Fenerec, and our violent nature often surprised those learning how to cope with sharing their skin with a wolf. Like me, my mate had been born with her wolf, although severed for the sake of Lisa’s survival.
I couldn’t blame Wendy for her choice. How could anyone choose between her puppies? By sacrificing her powers and severing wolf from infant girl, she had somehow managed to save both. The slight dampness of a water witch accented Wendy’s scent.
“What happened?”
“She told me my father had kidnapped you. That he was holding you for ransom. I didn’t like it. I thought it had happened before, but I couldn’t remember. I couldn’t remember why I thought it had happened before. I got angry. I still don’t remember why I feel that way, or why it makes me angry. I don’t even know if something like that actually happened. I needed an outlet, or I would have zapped something—or lit it on fire. I hit the wall.”
Over the years, I’d
been targeted multiple times by those seeking a quick profit. When other supernatural were involved, I bided my time, waited for the perfect moment, and released myself, much to the dismay of my pack, who showed up while I was cleaning up my mess.
When Normals were involved, however, things got messy.
I took several deep breaths, focusing on my mate’s scent. Annoyance and dismay marred her crisp cinnamon. “You’re not wrong. It’s happened. Several times, actually. We’re both magnets for trouble.”
“I really was remembering something?”
I thought about the various times I’d been held hostage over the years. “You were. It was probably the airport incident. That’d also explain part of your aversion to flying and airports.”
“Tell me,” she demanded.
I chuckled to reassure her the incident didn’t bother me. “It happened shortly after we mated. Your father had driven you to school in California, and I was flying into Seattle on a commercial flight to do some business. A domestic terrorist group took over the airport, took a bunch of hostages, and I got caught up in it. They found out I was a pilot when they checked my wallet, and they decided to capitalize on it. They killed some people, damaged part of the airport, and fled, forcing me to fly their damned getaway plane. Long story short, I deliberately crashed the plane. Unfortunately, I did a little too good of a job of crashing the plane and injured myself enough I had to shift. You were rather upset by the whole incident, especially when Stanford’s Alpha showed up at your apartment with me muzzled and practically frothing at the mouth. He shot me with a tranquilizing dart loaded with wolfsbane, gave you my leash, and told you to deal with me until your father arrived. It took him three days.”
My mate frowned. “You smell amused. Happy, even.”
Unable to help it, I laughed. “Your first order was for me to shift back to human. You scolded me, and when you were finished, you demanded I make myself useful. When I wasn’t baking you cookies, we enjoyed some other more intimate pursuits. You have no idea how much I wanted to thank Pedro for ordering you to order me to obey only you. You were so delightfully wicked.”
When my mate’s face turned red, I swallowed my chuckles.
“What sort of pursuits?”
I growled my anticipation. “Tonight, I’ll be more than happy to show you.”
Desmond wasn’t the only one who could cheat, and my cheats were better than his. At my suggestion, and with a promise I could keep us under the radar, we stayed the night in Missoula, Montana at one of the hotels under my management.
The city’s close proximity to the mountains and national parks made it perfect for Fenerec, which in turn made it ideal for the types of establishments I operated. Fenerec needed space to run, work to feel useful, and the flexibility to avoid interacting with Normals around the full moon.
It took five minutes to ensure the silence of the Fenerec who ran the place on my behalf. I bribed them with extra paid time off work and a few other incentives their families would appreciate closer to Christmas in exchange for pretending they hadn’t seen me and to keep my mate’s presence a secret as well.
It took them a single sniff to learn what she meant to me, and I answered their silent questions with a smug smile and a nod.
In the end, exhaustion and a large dinner conspired against us.
If I had my way, I’d never spend another morning without my Nicole pressed up against me. Her hair tickled my nose, and her warmth soothed me and my wolf. Pulling her closer to me, I nuzzled her neck, teasing her awake with gentle nips.
My mate lurched for the bathroom with a frustrated wail. I sighed and abandoned my plans to seduce her in favor of holding her hair out of the way while her stomach rebelled against her. Ritual sickness usually only lasted a few days to a week, but understanding the circumstances of her uniting with her wolf, I worried it’d be days or weeks longer before she healed.
Lisa had gotten sick, too, although she’d recovered within a few days.
“I did so well yesterday,” she whimpered, head drooped while she fought to catch her breath. I grabbed one of the room’s two bathrobes and wrapped it around her shaking shoulders. “Will this ever end?”
“It will, I promise. You’ve been under a lot of stress, and your body has had a lot of adapting to do. Even Lisa got sick.” My next words would acknowledge everything that had happened to my mate, but I couldn’t afford to hide from uncomfortable words, not if I wanted her to trust me. “Lisa inherited a body in far better health than you did. You’re still recovering from the plague and adapting to being a Fenerec. We can hide out here for the rest of the day if you’d like.”
“Daddy’ll catch us if we stay here,” she whined.
Her use of ‘Daddy’ warned me she was feeling worse than she likely wanted me to realize, so I nodded, unwilling to further unbalance her—or give the appearance I thought she was fragile or weak. “Take a shower. I’ll get the room ready for us to check out, and I’ll drive today. You can rest in the car that way.”
“Okay,” she whispered, jerking her head in what was supposed to be a nod but made me believe she was trying her hardest not to throw up again.
I wanted to toss her back into bed, tuck her in, and coddle her until she healed, and it took all my will to suppress my wolf’s desire to den and guard our mate.
Heading straight for Yellowknife would serve my purposes. When I got her to the house, I could indulge the primitive urge to stand guard and drive away anyone who came too close to my mate until she and her wolf were better bonded, and her body healed. Drawing in a deep breath, I held it until my lungs burned and let it out in a slow and silent exhale.
“If you need help with your hair, just let me know. I can braid it to keep it out of the way.”
“You can?”
“Of course. I’ll get someone to get the things I need to do it.” I poked my head into the shower stall, clucking my tongue at the shampoo and conditioner, making a note to find a different brand so my mate wouldn’t smell like coconut. “Use all the conditioner when you wash it.”
“That little bottle won’t get it all. My hair’s too thick.”
“I’ll take care of it,” I swore, rising and leaving my mate in the bathroom. On my way out, I grabbed the second bathrobe and wrapped in it. Heading for the room’s phone, I considered how best to handle Nicole’s hair without sending Fenerec all over the city getting what I wanted.
I dialed the front desk, restraining my wolf’s urge to growl.
“Mr. Murphy?” a young-sounding woman answered. “How may I help you?”
“Can you send someone to the nearest salon and buy the best shampoo and conditioner for thick, dry hair? I also need hair ties, a brush, and a comb, too.”
“Of course. I’ll have someone bring them up within the next ten minutes. There’s a salon right down the street. I’ll add it to your tab, sir.”
“Thanks.” I hung up and paced the room, pausing at the bathroom door to listen to my mate groan and grumble curses. Barging in and hovering tempted me, but until I learned more about Nicole’s wolf, I’d likely do more harm than good. I resumed pacing, flexing my hands while I waited.
The sound of the shower running reassured me, and I breathed a relieved sigh at the knock at the door. When I reached the door, a bag waited for me in the hallway. The faint hint of spice lingering in the air informed me a Fenerec had delivered the supplies. Grunting my satisfaction, I retreated inside and headed for the bathroom, tapping on the door before letting myself in.
“I have real shampoo and conditioner for you,” I announced loud enough she could hear me over the spray. I slid the first bottle around the curtain, and she snatched it out of my hand with a growl. The conditioner bottle didn’t even make it a quarter of the way in before she grabbed it.
The bottle thunked into the tub, and I bit my lip so I wouldn’t laugh. I meant to retreat to the room, but my mate reached past the curtain and grabbed hold of my wrist.
“Need som
ething?”
“It’s too much work. Do it for me.”
Even without wolfsbane still in my system, I would have been eager to obey.
A shower wasn’t what I had in mind for a more intimate reacquaintance with my mate, but she had certain ideas, and she pursued them with a few orders and her teeth. Her wolf shined yellow in her eyes, and mine was more than eager to do anything to please her.
My only regret was our shower didn’t stem the tide of her ritual sickness. During the following hour, she was ill three more times, and I worried we wouldn’t be heading anywhere with her stomach so delicate.
“We’re. Going,” she snarled, waving the car keys at me.
“We’re going,” I agreed. “I’ll take us to a clothing store, we’ll get some shopping in, and I’ll cut north to the border. We’re a twenty-four hour drive from Yellowknife. I’ll give you the choice of a straight run with a few pit stops for naps or another night at a hotel.”
“Straight run. I want to get there. I’ll swap with you so you can get some rest on the way. Then we won’t have to stop at all, right?”
“Only to eat, gas up, and stretch our legs.”
Reminding her we’d be stopping so she could throw up wouldn’t earn me any favors.
“That’s right. They were worried about how much you were eating. That you’d get all snarly if you weren’t fed. How much am I supposed to feed you?” Narrowing her eyes, she prowled around me. “You’re thin.”
“Guilty as charged. We had a large dinner. We’ll find a buffet for lunch, and I’ll hit a fast food place for breakfast. When we reach my house, I’ll dig around in the freezer and find us something.”
Since Alex had been home after Lisa’s rescue, the place had probably been fully restocked.
“Will that be enough?”
“I’m sure you can keep me distracted enough to stop me from biting anyone inappropriately.” I did a final sweep of the room, nodded my satisfaction, and herded my mate out the door. “Your father’s probably in a frenzy right now.”