"What have you got?" Ian stepped close but paused, headed cocked to the side. I heard the sound a moment later, barely louder than the ringing still in my ears but getting louder by the second.
Sirens.
"Definitely time to go," Ian took off running down the hall and I followed right on his heels.
Thinking quickly I paused outside, ignoring Ian's urging, and locked the door before we ran for the trees opposite the driveway. There was nothing we could do about the tracks we were leaving behind in the snow, but hopefully the locked doors would slow our pursuers enough for us to get away.
We were well into the woods before the sirens stopped at the house.
"That was a tad closer than I would like lad." Ian said, head turned to look over his shoulder as we ran deeper into the woods.
I nodded but didn't reply as I angled our run to take us back towards the town. We needed to get back to Kris and the doctor, but had to go a round about way or our trail would lead the police right to us.
"What was on that paper?" Ian pressed as we continued to run. "You lit up when you saw it."
Looking back at him I felt the pad clenched tightly in my hand and answered simply.
"An address."
Chapter Three
Jen
Waking up was a slow and confusing ordeal, again.
As consciousness crept back one slow step at a time I became more and more aware of my surroundings. I was laying down on a bed, but my legs were bunched up and over the side. The bed felt like it was moving too. That wasn't normal.
Was it?
Slowly opening my eyes I saw the inside roof of a car. Why had I gone to sleep in a car? Movement above me caught my attention as the vehicle took a wide turn, the directional clicking off as we straightened out.
Focusing above me I was able to make out the silhouette of a man looming over me, my head must be on his lap.
"Liam?" I croaked weakly, then began to cough, my mouth was dry and my throat hurt, terribly.
"Good morning my dear!" Troy's voice pierced the cloud of my confusion and I sat up quickly, pulling my face from his lap as if I had been burned.
This was the second time in as many weeks that I had passed out, it wasn't a trend I wanted to continue. A splitting headache clouded my thoughts as the events of last night came back to me clearly. I shuddered at the thought of having been touching Troy and pressed myself as far from him as I could manage in the space available.
His face darkened as he clearly smelled my revulsion, though his twisted smile never altered. It was all I could do to keep my panic down.
"Now now, don't be that way." He turned back to the road and the smile slid from his face, leaving it unnaturally blank. "You're just confused. I had to give you something to keep you asleep."
"Where are we?" My voice was hoarse, raw from the pressure he had used to choke me into unconsciousness. "Where are you taking me?"
Keeping one eye on him I looked around, taking in my surroundings. We were in a pickup truck I vaguely remembered seeing in his garage the one time I had visited his house. There were some bags and luggage in the small space behind our seats; outside was a wilderness of trees, hills, and snow. Wherever we were it felt far off the beaten path.
"Troy, where are we going?" A little fear crept into my voice as I asked. It would be difficult, if not impossible, for Liam to find me. I was going to have to get away from Troy myself.
"We're going on our vacation, remember?" Troy's face lit up with a smile.
"Vacation? Troy you kidnapped me!"
"What? No! We've been planning this for weeks." He looked over at me, confused. Trying to get a read from him was fruitless still, each attempt came back as chaos.
"I've only known you for a few weeks," I said cautiously, watching him. "Were you planning this with Kristen?"
Mentioning her was clearly a mistake.
Troy slammed on the breaks and I slid forward, slamming into the dashboard. Apparently Troy hadn't buckled me in. And, also apparently, Kristen's name was taboo.
Pulling myself up, wincing at the pain blossoming in my arm, I came face to face with a madman. Twisted in rage, Troy's face was close enough to my own that I could feel the unnatural heat radiating from his body. His hand shot out, gripping my already sore are and I let out a gasp of pain.
"Who is Kristen?" The neutral tone of his voice was completely at odds with the angry visage before my eyes.
I didn't know which was more terrifying, the words he had said or the way he had spoken them. Looking into his eyes I could see the monster that was his anger, I sensed I could even feel it through his grip on my arm.
A memory came back to me of a time I had eased Liam's concern. With that in my thoughts I reached out with my mind and, somehow, released Troy's anger.
Just as quickly as it had arrived, the moment passed. Troy relaxed and looked around, confused, before staring at his own hand clutching my arm.
"Here, let me help you up." He spoke normally and helped me up slowly. Smiling at me as I sat back into the seat and buckled myself in.
I had no idea how I had done whatever it was, but it was something that might be able to keep me alive. Even more odd though was that, for a moment at least, his insanity had cleared.
I'd been able to get a read on him.
There had been nothing truly clear, just an overwhelming sense of a lifetime's worth of pain and betrayal. Both taken and given.
It seems Kristen's refusal to bond him had been the final blow that had shattered his mind.
Troy looked out at the road and began driving again as if nothing had happened. I licked my lips nervously and watched him in case he tried anything, not that I could defend myself very well.
As the drive wore on, Troy seemed to slip further and further back into his madness. Eventually he even began muttering to himself under his breath.
After a time he pulled over to the side of the road and my fear spiked as I came fully alert. He left the engine running and reached into his pocket, not looking at me once. When he took out his phone I felt myself deflate with relief. I had no idea how much more of this I would be able to take.
Watching him warily I saw him bring up a map app and punch in an address he read from a small slip of paper. More disconcerting was that he continued to talk to himself the entire time, as if his mouth was being run by another person.
I whet my lips again as he set the phone in a holster on the dashboard and put the truck back into drive. I needed more information and the only way I could get that would be to talk to him.
Carefully.
"So, uh... where are we going for our vacation again?" I asked cautiously, timidly, watching for any signs of aggression. Whatever he answered I needed to keep to the truth as much as possible, he'd be able to smell the lies by my emotions, if he ever bothered to check. Best to play it safe all the same.
His muttering stopped mid-word and he answered in a more normal voice. "Where we go every year." He turned to look at me, "You know that."
"The past few weeks have been... difficult." I barely kept the confusion from my voice, he and Kris had barely been dating for a year, not years.
He watched me a moment more before his usual creepy smile was back. More unsettling was that it was the first genuine smile I could remember seeing on him, one that finally touched his eyes.
"We're going to the lodge! I was able to book your favorite one again!" He was giddy with excitement as he spoke to me. The normal self control of a shifter had over their emotions had obviously fled Troy when his sanity had. An exuberant shifter was a truly uncomfortable sight.
"Oh, ok." I continued slowly, "I think I remember some beautiful scenery. Where... where was it again? Exactly?"
"West Virginia." His voice was flat again as he turned back to the road.
"Ah, right." I repeated the name in my mind like a mantra, burning it into my memory. If I was able to get to a phone I didn't want to waste any time fighting to remember
names or places.
Plus, it was far better than dealing with Troy directly.
"You aren't her." His whisper sliced the silence and the malice in his tone caused a body wracking shiver to pass through me.
"What..." I had barely started before he slammed on the brakes again. Fortunately I had buckled myself in after the first time, the downside became immediately obvious however.
I had nowhere to go.
His first slap was more startling than painful, but the second stung furiously.
"YOU! AREN'T! HER!" He had gone full crazy again and brought his hand back as if to hit me again. Moving faster than I would have believed possible my hand shot out and grabbed his wrist as he swung to strike.
We both stared at my hand in shock. Not only had my reflexes somehow been up to the task, my strength nearly matched his own. In that moment we both seemed to realize that I was far from defenseless.
Buckled into the front seat of a pickup wasn't the place for me to try overpowering him however.
Seeing a way to take advantage of the moment I again tried soothing him. This time instead of targeting his anger specifically I just tried to reduce all of his negative emotions with a sense of calm.
Blinking as if coming out of a trance Troy shook his head slowly and took in the scene as if seeing it for the first time. After a moment he focused on my hand gripping his wrist, then he looked to my face. One side still burned with the fire of his slap and I could only imagine what it looked like.
"Jen?" His voice was confused as he shook his head again, trying to clear it. "What happened? Where are we?"
"I'll tell you, but first I need to make a call, ok?" I asked softly, releasing his hand and nodding towards the phone.
"Something isn't right." He turned, squinting at his phone.
"Can I make the call? Please?" I didn't know how long this would last, I needed to try calling Kristen's phone. I hoped she had signal finally, and that Liam was near her.
"Why?" He turned back to me with his head cocked to the side and I could see the insanity creeping back into his eyes.
I needed to calm him again.
Cursing myself for letting his hand go I reached out slowly and went to touch his hand as I looked into his eyes, trying to keep his attention. "Troy, please. Your phone, it's important."
Something must have given me away because he shrank back from me and looked down at my hand warily. It seemed that tense situations undid my calming quickly, I could see that I had lost him again.
"Don't touch me." He said simply, looking confused at his own words but continuing all the same. "Stay on your side of the truck. If you reach over again I'll tie you up, understand?"
I nodded reluctantly and he turned back to face the road, looking lost. Finally his eyes caught sight of his phone and he smiled.
"We're going on vacation, remember?" His smile faded slightly and he cocked his head to the side again. "Deja Vu, odd."
Putting the truck back into drive he continued on down the road. Before long the muttering began again, punctuated only by the occasional directions barked out by his phone.
"We're still quite a few hours away. You should get some sleep." He spoke absently, face unreadable as he continued to watch the road.
I didn't respond. Whatever the next few hours held, sleep would not be an option. I was now in a race between escape and exhaustion, there would be no way I'd be able to sleep around Troy.
I had to escape.
Chapter Four
Liam
"How is she doctor?" I barely waited for the door to close before asking the question. The doctor gave me a flat stare before speaking.
"She's fine, and she's getting better." He leaned back against the door as he spoke, crossing his arms in front of him.
"She needs to be better now." I growled softly and began to pace around the room, casting glances at her bundle of clothes. Kris might know where the address lead.
"Liam," the doctor shook his head and spoke over my growls. "It's only been a few hours since you left, what did you expect?"
"His mate has been taken, it's got him just a tad on edge." Ian commented from the same chair he had been occupying earlier and I shot him a glare that rolled right off of him.
"I see." The doctor looked between us for a moment before continuing. "Have you contacted the tribe? Is there anything I can do to help?"
"Why would you help us?" I asked cautiously.
"I'm a doctor," a hint of anger coated his words and caught my attention. "I help people. It isn't always just sewing them back together." I stopped my pacing and nodded, then shrugged.
"Thank you. But unless you can tell us where an address leads we're going to have to wait until Kristen wakes."
The weight of the situation began to overwhelm me but ended quickly as the doctor spoke.
"That's it? What's the address?" The doctor made it sound as if this weren't really that difficult an issue. I took out the paper and handed it to him.
Looking over it quickly he nodded then began to walk out of the waiting room, gesturing for us to follow. Ian stood, shrugged, and began to walk after him. I fell into step beside Ian as he reached me and we continued through several rooms before ending in what appeared to be the doctor's main office.
"Lets see," the doctor walked to the computer at his desk and began to type.
By the time I had crossed the room he had apparently already discovered where the address led. He turned the display towards me but I couldn't really make heads nor tails out of it.
The doctor watched me a moment before realizing I had no idea what he was showing me. "It's a cabin in upstate New York. Here, I'll zoom out and switch it to satellite view."
There was movement on the screen and then it showed us a view of a thick forest as if viewed from above. He pointed to the cabin again, barely visible in the dense foliage, and began to show where roads lead to the area.
"The trail," Ian spoke, excited. "I think the Appalachian Trail would take us close, then take some of the shifter runs right up to the area."
"And the trail would be nearly empty of humans this time of year." The doctor nodded as he spoke, leaning back in his chair and looking to Ian and I. "Nobody would take much notice of the two of you running the trail as wolves.
Ian shot me the same quick look as he had earlier, but I didn't need his warning. Anyone that saw me would definitely take notice. A Prime stood out. It was still a great idea however, we'd just have to be careful.
"We'll get close and get an idea of how to get inside." Ian looked at the display, planning our route. "Once we know what the cabin looks like from the ground it'll be easier."
"Hang on." the doctor began moving things around on the screen again and suddenly the cabin filled the display. It looked as if we were standing at the base of the stairs leading to the main entryway.
"What the hell?" Ian was looking at the display warily. "Can you look inside? See if they're there?"
"It doesn't work like that." The doctor was smiling slightly as he looked at Ian while I did my best not to look as awkward as Ian did. "These are just pictures other people have taken when they were there before. The birds eye views are photos from satellites. They're uh, cameras. In space."
Ian and I both glanced up at the ceiling warily, feeling the human inventions staring down at us. The doctor chuckled at our reactions.
"Are they watching us now?" Ian was having trouble keeping his voice level.
"They're always watching," the doctor replied quietly. "They aren't the worst though. Most humans carry cameras now and their cities are full of them."
"It's why we have to shift so far from town, out in the woods," I said quietly. "Or in places like the gym."
The doctor nodded sadly. "It's only a matter of time now before our secret is out."
"Well," I sighed, "that's a worry for another day. I must get to my mate. Thank you doctor." He waved his hand absently as he stood and began to walk us out. As we enter
ed the waiting room I made my way to Kristen's clothes and picked them up slowly. Wishing I could be here for her when she woke I instead turned and presented the items to the doctor.
These are Kris's, obviously. Please let her know where we went, and why." I handed them over to the doctor, who nodded, before I turned and walked towards the exit with Ian.
"Liam, wait!" The doctor's voice halted me and I waited as he approached. "Is this phone your sister's?" He held up her phone, it had been in the bundle I had given to him.
"It is hers, yes." I looked at him, confused, as he held it out for me to take.
"Take it. She can call you when she is better, and having a phone is a must if you're going to be in the human world." He gestured at me with the phone. I spared Ian a glance, he was looking at the device thoughtfully.
"Neither of us know how to use it," I replied finally.
"Well, no time like the present to learn." And with that the doctor began showing us the basics. When we left the office we brought the phone with us. The first human device we knew how to use.
We made our way into the woods surrounding the cabin and prepared to shift. Since I would be out of place no matter who saw us it was decided that I would shift first and Ian would tie our bundled possessions to me. A wolf with a backpack might stand out, but a wolf the size of a moose already drew enough attention.
To put it mildly.
Ian took point and lead the way to the Appalachian Trail. Once there he ran ahead to alert me to any witnesses as I followed.
Afternoon wore on, and we ran. Evening descended upon us, the sun dipping to touch the horizon, and we ran. Finally night fell fully, the moon heavy in the sky.
And we ran.
There were no hikers, human or shifter, on the trail and we made good time. Miles disappeared behind us at a rapid pace but I still had a building sense of worry. Ian was my guide but he was slowing me down.
Where he ran I trotted, where he cautiously stepped across stones on a small river I walked through it easily, where he climbed down a steep slope I simply leapt to the bottom.
Bound to the Prime (Bound to the Pack, #3) Page 2