“The weasel with the tablet? Are you sure?”
“Make no mistake, he’s a danger to anyone who crosses him. Even Aldrich isn’t safe. He’s poised and ready to send his people on a rampage, and they will kill everyone that stands in their way.”
“Won’t the elders stop him?”
“No. They’re too arrogant to even consider that Laskin would go against them.”
Olivia struggled to stay awake, but she was quickly losing the battle.
“I just have one more question and then I have to sleep, I’m sorry.”
“What is that?”
“What did you write on the note that you left in the safe for Sable.”
“I wrote ‘our last family vacation’ so he would know where we are going.”
“And where is that?”
Egan smiled at her. “You’ll see soon enough. You need your rest. Go to sleep and I’ll wake you up when the car is loaded and we’re ready to move. Sweet dreams, Olivia.”
Olivia smiled at him. “Thank you for saving my life.” She placed her hand on her belly. “I mean our lives.”
Egan nodded. “It’s what I was put on this earth to do. As long as I live, you will always be safe.”
Olivia nodded and rolled over to sleep. Egan watched her until her breathing steadied before he laid down on his own bed. They had a long day of driving ahead of them tomorrow. He needed to rest.
CHAPTER SIX
Laskin hurried through the darkness, glancing over his shoulder every few minutes to make sure he wasn’t being followed. He had to get a message to the brotherhood before Aldrich caught up with him. Infuriated, Aldrich had told Laskin that he was as good as fired, and to turn over any property of the council before he left.
Stalling so that he could get away before Aldrich and the others realized the depth of his betrayal, he had bowed low, muttering his shame at having failed the council. He claimed embarrassment that he had mistakenly followed Sable that fateful day, noting that he had been told to follow Sable and not the human. So when they split up for the first time in weeks, Laskin did what he was told. He kept his eyes low, his voice heavy as he apologized for his regrettable choice.
Aldrich took pity on Laskin.
“Laskin. You have been my right hand for the better part of a decade. I should know that you only do as you’re told.” Aldrich chuckled to himself. “That’s all you’ve ever been capable of doing.”
It took everything he had to remain bowed as Aldrich insulted him throughout his apology. Aldrich would see soon enough what Laskin was capable of.
Aldrich continued, oblivious to Laskin’s barely concealed rage. “I was rash in my decision, old friend. You’re not fired, and there will be no punishment for following Sable that day instead of Olivia. None of us could have known what was going to transpire that day, and I will not lay blame on you for the actions of others.”
“Thank you, Aldrich. Your kindness is more than I deserve.”
With that, Aldrich left the room in search of Sable. Laskin snuck out of the house while Aldrich stormed through halls of Sable’s massive home, looking for the free-spirited man.
Still checking over his shoulder, Laskin stopped briefly, shifting to tiger form so he could cover more ground. His white coat gleamed silver in the moonlight, stretching across his slender muscles he broke into a fast clip in the forest.
Within minutes, he came to the once-abandoned cabin deep in the woods. Laskin slowed, circling the cabin several times to make sure that there was no one lying in wait for him in the bushes surrounding it. Satisfied that he was safe, he shifted back to his human form, walking into the cabin and greeting the small group of about twenty men waiting there.
Laskin addressed the men. “Brothers. What we feared has become reality. A shifter has mated with a human, and will be forced to marry the shifter by the end of the month or face death.”
The small crowd murmured to each other, enraged by the injustice forced upon a human by the shifters. Laskin raised his hand, silencing the angry men.
“She’s been kidnapped, taken to who knows where to be forced to give birth to an abomination! I ask you now, brothers, who is willing to stand with me and fight for the human right to be free from the tyranny of the shifters and their oppressive laws? Who here will stand and say, ‘We will not live in fear of shifters any longer! We will stand up and fight for humankind and our right to live as nature intended!’ Who here will join me in the fight for our rights, and our freedom?”
The men roared, coming to their feet to applaud Laskin and his bravery. Laskin surveyed the small group, a smug smile tugging at his lips that resembled pride. Each of these men represented a group of anti-shifters working quietly to end the oppression of humans by shifters. Laskin had brought them together long ago, convincing them that they would be stronger together, when the time was right.
“The time has finally come to stand up and say that we will not tolerate them bringing their laws to our world. We will not stand by while they kidnap and torture our women to propagate their species. It’s time we took back what’s ours and fought for our rights, as humans.”
Laskin pulled the tablet off of the fireplace mantle and pulled up pictures of Egan, Sable, and Olivia.
“This is the woman that you’re saving. And these are her kidnappers. Make no mistake, they have brainwashed this poor woman into believing that they are a family. They are hiding out together, but they could be anywhere by now.” As Laskin spoke, the men passed the tablet around, each taking out his cell phone to take pictures of the woman and her captors.
“Send these photographs to your families and friends. The more people that have their pictures, the better. If we use our resources, we can find her before it’s too late.”
The men applauded again, quickly passing the tablet around until they’d each taken a picture of the group. A bearded man handed Laskin back the tablet, shaking his hand and patting him on the back. Laskin fought the urge to wipe the human stench from his hand as he smiled at the man and thanked him for his bravery.
The group flowed out of the cabin, eagerly heading towards their respective homes to begin the process of plastering the photos all over social media. By this time tomorrow, someone would spot Olivia and Egan. And when they did, Laskin would take care of Olivia and the brothers once and for all. Her murder, at the hands of her own kind, would set in motion a series of events that would tear down everything Aldrich and the council had foolishly worked so hard on for decades. They could go back to the days where humans feared shifters, and Laskin wouldn’t have to pretend to be one of these vile humans any longer. These men were about to serve his purpose, and lose their lives fighting against their own cause.
Laskin smiled warmly as the last man left the cabin, shaking his hand and pumping it with obnoxious enthusiasm.
“I just want to say that it has been a pleasure fighting the good fight with you, Brother.”
Laskin smiled and nodded. I hope you’re the first to die, he thought. I hope you all die.
**
Olivia and Egan sat at the table in the busy diner, eating quickly so they could get on the road once more. Egan wore a ball cap pulled low over his eyes, careful to avoid eye contact with the waitress and the other patrons. In between bites, he looked at Olivia, who didn’t look a thing like the Olivia he knew and loved. Gone were the flaming locks of auburn hair, and her emerald green eyes were unnoticeable under the brown contact lenses. She’d covered her light splash of freckles with heavy foundation, and just like that, Olivia had disappeared before his very eyes.
She turned her attention to the television over the bar, closed captions running across the silent screen.
“In other news, social media is abuzz with news of Olivia Turner’s kidnapping as authorities search for her and her two traveling companions. Brothers Egan and Sable are shifters who have impregnated Ms. Turner against her will, kidnapping her when she refused to marry them and help rebuild the dwindling shifter
population. Both men are considered armed and dangerous, and we urge you to contact the local authorities if you see them. Or, post on the social media page bringoliviahome.hum. There is a large reward for information leading to the whereabouts of the three.”
Olivia scanned the other patrons nervously, hoping that none of them had seen the newscast. At the bar, an unkempt man in a dirty hat stared at her. Olivia was in a panic when the man winked at her, licking his lips suggestively. Sighing inwardly, she was relieved that his attention seemed to have nothing to do with the newscast.
She threw a twenty dollar bill on the table and nudged Egan under the table.
“We need to leave.”
Egan nodded, standing slowly and walking out behind her, with his hand on her back. The man at the bar whistled softly under his breath.
“When you get done with her, Tiger, I’d love to give her a whirl.”
Egan’s blood boiled beneath his skin, but he ignored the man. He could smell the alcohol from ten feet away. The man was drunk and lonely, honing in on Olivia because she was the only woman in the joint under fifty that wasn’t a waitress.
They hurried out the door and into their car, Egan forcing himself to drive carefully to avoid making a scene.
“Olivia, what was that all about?”
“The man was nothing, just a drunk man with too much confidence. But our pictures were on the television. And there’s a bounty on our heads.” She stopped for a second. “Well, not my head. The news is saying that you and Sable kidnapped me to bear your shifter spawn. The good news is, the report says that we’re traveling together, all three of us.”
“What’s the bad news?”
“I think that man from the diner is following us.”
Egan glanced in the review mirror, spotting the late model pickup two cars back. Olivia was right, the man was the same man from the diner, and he was on his cell phone. Egan pushed down the accelerator and the car jumped forward. Egan merged right at the last second, entering the highway going back the way they’d come. The pickup nearly missed the entrance, skidding dramatically as the driver fought to make the tight turn.
Egan accelerated even more, the speedometer inching closer to seventy miles per hour as he moved up the ramp. Only one car separated them from the truck, though Egan was about to change that. He watched the side-view mirror, adjusting his speed to fit in a tight spot between two fast-moving vehicles.
He slid between them with ease, immediately changing lanes twice more to get into the fast lane. Olivia turned and watched the pickup, which had stopped to wait for traffic to lighten. The large vehicle lurched as the driver finally saw an opening and floored it. Already at the next exit, Olivia watched the pickup fade in the distance as the driver attempted to weave the behemoth truck in and out of traffic with little success.
On their left, a high occupancy lane opened up, with the sign warning that it was five miles before the next available exit. Egan merged into the single HOV lane and slowed the car to go with the flow of traffic.
“Egan, what are you doing? With the median there, if he gets in the lane we’ll be trapped.”
“With the median there, it will be easy to see if he saw us and is still after us. We’re a good mile ahead of him, at least. There are already six cars behind us. He can’t get to us in here and I can make certain that he didn’t see which way we went before I start heading back towards Washington.”
“We’re going to Washington?”
“Yes. It’s where my family took their last vacation together. Sable and I found an abandoned cabin in the woods, deep in the woods. We can hide there until we figure out what to do.”
“Is he going to meet us there?”
“I’m sure he’s already on his way.”
Olivia sat back against the chair and relaxed a little, still glancing at the side mirror now and then to make sure the man from the diner wasn’t after them. When the HOV lane offered a left exit several miles later, Egan took it and turned the car around in a gas station parking lot, stopping in front of a gas pump. From the pumps, he could see the exit clearly.
They sat for a few moments with the car running, watching each vehicle as it exited from the freeway. The right hand exit from the highway eventually merged with the HOV exit, so if the man had made it this far, he would be coming around the corner pretty quickly. The intersection was a busy one, and even if he had seen them take the exit, it was unlikely that he would notice their car tucked back behind the pump.
“Olivia, get into the driver’s seat while I fill the tank. I don’t think he’s followed us, but I want to be sure just in case.”
Olivia nodded and slid across the seats into the driver’s seat, the movements not nearly graceful as she worked around her ever-growing belly. Overnight it seemed to have gone from a small bump to a roundness that resembled a swallowed basketball. She fastened her seatbelt and kept her hand near the ignition, ready to turn the key back on if the man suddenly appeared.
Egan filled the tank, his eyes scanning the cars as they piled off the freeway and onto the busy streets fanning out in all different directions. Satisfied that enough time had passed, he topped off the tank and moved to the driver’s side to help Olivia out.
“I have to use the restroom.”
Egan nodded, handing her some cash for snacks for her and an energy drink for him.
“We’re going to drive through the night. That guy was probably just a creep, but we can never be too careful. Once we get out of this area, this is the last big city for hundreds of miles. We can’t afford to stop in the smaller towns now that our picture is plastered all over the news.”
“I understand. I’ll be quick.”
Olivia ran into the store, headed straight for the bathroom. The gas station was a travel center for truckers and road-trippers, and the bathrooms were huge and included showers and a large sitting area. Tucked in the corner, Olivia was surprised to see a bank of pay phones. Looking over her shoulder to make sure she was alone, she hurried to the nearest payphone and fished in her pocket for loose change. She fed several quarters into the machine and dialed Grace’s number.
“Hello?”
“Grace, it’s me. Can you talk for a second? I have less than two minutes.”
“Oh my gosh, Olivia! Where are you? Are you safe? Everyone is looking for you.”
“Grace, hush. Just listen. I’m fine. None of what the news reports are saying is true. No one kidnapped me. We’re going to Washington to hide out until this all blows over and I have the baby. I just wanted to let you know that I’m okay.”
“Oh, Olivia, I’m so glad you called. I love you. Please be careful and call me when you can.”
Olivia said her goodbyes and hung up. She rushed into the bathroom to do her business and then hurried through the store, grabbing snacks and drinks along the way. There were two clerks and four registers. Each clerk bounced between two, ringing up the second customer as the first signed credit card slips or entered their pin number on the key pad. The clerks were friendly and fast, but neither made eye contact with any of the customers. Olivia moved into line, and paid for her things. The clerk set her change on the counter in front of her while Olivia gathered her bags and moved immediately to the other register to ring up the next person. Under different circumstances, Olivia would have been bothered by the service here. But today, the clerk’s refusal to waste any time interacting with customers was perfect.
She carried her heavy bags outside to the waiting car, climbing into the passenger seat and handing Egan his energy drink.
“Sorry, it was busy in there.”
“No worries. Let’s get moving.”
Egan drove out of the lot and headed west, guiding the car smoothly onto the interstate and settling into the flow of traffic. Olivia pushed her seat back and put Egan’s folded jacket against the door before laying her head down.
“I can drive for a bit when I wake up if you want to sleep in shifts.”
“That
sounds good. Once we get into Utah, we stay on the 84 for a while. We can switch then.”
Olivia wanted to laugh at Egan, and remind him that she had been driving long before she met him, but she was too tired to argue with the eighteen-year-old. He had probably saved her life, she could let a little misplaced concern over her driving go. She smiled as she drifted off to sleep. Ignoring the fact that they were running for their lives, she was rather enjoying Egan’s company. He would make some girl very happy someday.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Laskin sat in the back of the common room, amused as he watched the elders argue among themselves over Olivia, Egan, and the now missing Sable. Sometime the night before, under Aldrich’s watch, Sable had slipped away and was nowhere to be found. Laskin fought the urge to taunt the old man, who had briefly nodded off in Sable’s library. Within minutes, Aldrich was asleep and Sable had disappeared into the night.
They can’t blame me this time. Laskin sneered as he sat there, trying not to laugh at these fools as they tried to figure out where the trio had gone. Anyone with half a brain could figure out that they’d long since left Florida and would be headed for somewhere to hideout. If they were smart, they would leave the country. Both Canada and Mexico had their own shifter government, and the two rarely backed up the American shifters in matters such as these. Mexico as a whole would not extradite anyone who faced the death penalty, including shifters. No matter which way they went, it was doubtful that either country would turn over a pregnant woman who fled a forced marriage. No, their only hope of catching the trio and bringing them to justice was to find them before they got out of the country.
Laskin’s cellphone vibrated in his pocket. Moving quietly, he left the room and went into the hallway to answer.
“Yes?”
“Laskin, it’s Gary. I think I have some information for you.”
“Let’s hear it then.” Laskin tapped his foot impatiently. Gary had been manning the tip line and had called him several times over the last twenty-four hours, always excited to share nothing of value. Laskin couldn’t wait to eliminate all the foolish humans. Maybe they’ll kill themselves when they discover they’ve been working for a shifter and not against them. Laskin’s face broke into a huge grin, imagining the carnage that would ensue if they suspected there was a shifter among them. He made a mental note to call in an anonymous tip claiming Gary was secretly a shifter as soon as the humans helped him find Olivia and Sable.
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