If I gave into Carlos, I would lose Ethan. I wouldn’t allow that. I let the fear of losing Ethan fill me, robbing Carlos’ need of its potency. Willfully, I turned my head, trying to dislodge his touch.
The heat in Carlos’ gaze turned to frustration, and his fingers twitched against my cheek.
Suddenly the back door opened, and the car dipped as someone got in. The door closed again.
“I think you two need a chaperone,” Grey said.
The emotion immediately vanished, and Carlos slowly dropped his hand. I sagged against the seat and a shaky exhale escaped me. Grey’s gaze bounced between Carlos and me.
“Did Carlos manage to discuss anything with you?” Grey asked. “I’m guessing it’s the reason behind the swerve and the sudden stop.”
Neither of us answered. I wasn’t sure I could talk yet without quavering.
Carlos straightened in his seat, checked his mirrors, then signaled that he was ready to pull out. A distance ahead of us, I saw the other cars had pulled over as well.
“You two are a chatty pair,” Grey said with humor.
“We’re not a pair,” I said and looked out the window. I refused to play their little matchmaking game.
Silence reigned for several long minutes. It was enough time for me to relax and notice Grey’s sadness.
“You’ve been with us a handful of days. You know we’re different from you, but you haven’t asked any questions. Aren’t you curious about us?”
“No.”
“I’m curious about you. Will you tell me about yourself?”
I kept my gaze focused on the horizon. Damn Ethan for abandoning me with these people.
“What do you want to know?” I asked in a flat voice.
“What’s your favorite color?”
His question surprised me. I’d expected questions about my power or my relationship with Ethan.
“I don’t know. Blue?”
Grey laughed.
“You sound like Carlos. I’m guessing you’ve never given something like that any thought because there were always too many other things that needed your attention. My favorite color is green. Blue would be a runner-up. What about a favorite food?”
That question was easier.
“I don’t have a favorite food. I have a food trinity. Pizza, burgers, and cereal. I could survive forever on all three.”
“Burgers are good,” Grey agreed. “Have you ever had a fajita? Those are good, too. I think my trinity would be Carlos’ fajitas, burgers, and Winifred’s cookies.”
I immediately saw what Grey was doing. I didn’t want to know anything about Carlos. I knew enough. He thought we had some magical connection. We didn’t. End of story.
“I appreciate the conversation, but I think I’m going to try to take a nap. I’m not a fan of long, boring car rides.”
I curled my legs up on the seat and leaned on the window.
* * * *
A sudden burst of worry nudged me from the light doze I’d managed out of sheer boredom.
“Carlos, get ready to turn left.”
Hands settled on my shoulders as the car lurched at Carlos’ sudden turn. Tires squealed. My eyes flew open, and my pulse leapt. I gripped the door as the car’s speed increased significantly before Carlos even straightened the wheel. The other cars raced just a bit ahead of us.
“What’s going on?”
The hands gave my shoulders a quick squeeze then released me. I turned to look at Grey as he settled back into his seat. He gave me a shadow of a reassuring smile. I wasn’t fooled. His concern perfumed the air.
“Gabby didn’t like the way they were netting to the north. She thinks we can pass by to the west. But it’s a small window, and we need to get there as quickly as possible.”
I stared ahead at the SUV, at Ethan.
“How close are they?”
“Close enough that Carlos is willing to speed.”
I glanced over at the speedometer. We still drove on back roads. There weren’t any other cars in sight. The three vehicles moved in tandem, a little too close given the high speeds. My grip on the door tightened.
Carlos glanced at me but said nothing.
In the backseat, I felt Grey’s frustration. “We might not make it.”
“How many are we talking?” I asked. My gaze swept over the tree-studded landscape as I wondered how close they really were.
“Five.”
All my tension melted. “There are fifteen of us, right? Why are we freaking out over five Urbat?”
“Right now, none of them know where we are. If we’re spotted, they’ll all know.”
The next few minutes passed in silence. We turned twice before hopping onto a highway. As soon as we hit the ramp, Grey’s worry vanished.
“Now, we were talking about favorite foods, weren’t we?”
I sighed and curled up for another nap. It didn’t work.
“What kind of music do you like?”
“It depends on my mood.”
“Do you like rainy days or sunny ones?”
“Rainy.”
“Are you a morning person or a late night person?”
“Neither. I’d rather sleep all day.” He didn’t take the hint.
“What—”
“Is the point of all these questions?” I turned to look at Grey.
“You’re only encouraging him,” Carlos said. I glanced at him. He watched the road.
Grey’s amusement floated around me. Too bad for him I was out of patience.
“One more question, and I knock you out.”
Grey winked at me but kept silent.
“How much longer until we get where we’re going?” I asked Carlos.
“A few more hours.”
The car ride from hell…
* * * *
My bladder was ready to burst when we finally turned into the hotel parking lot. My door was open, and I was out before the car stopped moving. I beat Emmitt to the door.
“Bathroom?” I said loudly.
The man behind the reception counter looked up and pointed to his left. I veered in the direction he indicated and closed myself in the small bathroom.
After the day I’d had, I officially disliked werewolves. And when I found Ethan, I was going to hit him. Gently. I’d only leave a tiny bruise.
I finished using the bathroom, washed my hands, and stalked out. Not only had they deprived me of a bathroom, I was starving.
In the lobby, Carlos stood holding my bag.
“Where’s everyone else?”
“Dropping off their things. Everyone’s hungry.”
Instead of handing over my bag, he handed me the keycard. Good. I’d have two hands free to deal with Ethan. I glanced at the number on the card then took off in the correct direction. Our room wasn’t far. I unlocked the door and pushed it open. Grey looked up from the bag he had on the foot of his bed. The room was otherwise empty. My gaze drifted to the bathroom door. It was closed.
I marched up to the panel.
“Ethan, get out here.”
His muffled refusal confirmed my suspicion that he was hiding from me.
“I invoke my tenth grade birthday present.”
That sneaky jerk. I pounded on the door in frustration.
“You can’t. You used it already. Like, three times.”
“That card had no expiration or number of use limits.”
I slapped the door. That gift had been my worst mistake. I’d made a card with a coupon on it. The holder of this card can piss Isabelle off and not get hit for it. I’d written it out of guilt because the day before his birthday, he’d tried kissing me for the first time. And I’d punched him in the face. Not for the kiss, but the overwhelming flood of teenage-boy horny emotions that had come with it.
“Fine. Come out.” I backed away from the door and looked pointedly at Grey and Carlos.
“We’ll wait for you in the lobby,” Carlos said.
Ethan didn’t emerge until the door closed behind the pair. He eyed me warily. Looking at him hurt.
“How could you?” I said. “You’re supposed to have my back, and you just left me with him.”
His tension eased, and he took a step toward me. In a heartbeat, I was wrapped in his strong arms. His hold felt like home.
“I’m sorry, Z. Winifred was persuasive. Plus, I had questions I knew you wouldn’t want to listen to.”
I didn’t ask what. He knew me well; and if he thought I didn’t want to listen to him, he was probably right. I wrapped my arms around his waist and talked into his bruised shoulder.
“I don’t want to do this anymore.”
“You know we’re stuck with them, right? On our own, the group that’s hunting you girls would find you. And on your own, you wouldn’t stand a chance.”
He was wrong. On my own, I would stand a chance. But I wasn’t on my own. I had Ethan. He was my weak spot.
He smoothed a hand over my hair.
“What’s making you want to run? Same thing?” he asked.
I pictured Carlos, cringed, and buried deeper into Ethan’s shoulder. He sighed and kissed the top of my head.
“How do you feel? Need to spar?”
I shook my head. Despite the long ride, the back roads meant fewer accidental pulls; and Grey had kept most of what he’d felt to himself.
“Then, let’s go eat.”
We left the room together and walked the hall side by side. The rest of the group already waited in the lobby. When they saw us, Jim was the first one out the door, all the while mumbling about starvation.
Instead of walking, we drove; and Ethan stuck with me. The Chinese buffet we pulled into didn’t surprise me. After skipping a meal, I was willing to bet the men would be ready to wolf down anything, as long as it was in quantity.
A long table in the center of the place fit us perfectly, and I found myself between Ethan and Carlos. Jim led the charge to the six buffet stations. The variety of food amazed me. They had standard Americanized Chinese fare such as beef and cashews with broccoli; they had straight up American food such as mac and cheese and chicken nuggets; then they had the atypical foods such as crawfish, eel, and shark bites. When Charlene walked past the crawfish, she shuddered. Thomas, who wasn’t far behind her, chuckled.
I didn’t blame Charlene for her shudder. Anything with eyes still in place was off the menu for me.
Plate loaded with Crab Rangoon, General Tso’s Chicken, and fried rice, I made my way back to the table. Carlos was already sitting. He barely had anything on his plate. He had a bit of rice, a bit of something that didn’t look familiar, and that was it.
I studied him as I sat. As usual, he gave nothing away.
“You sick?” I said.
He exhaled slowly and turned to look at me. His dark eyes hinted at sadness, though he continued to be an emotional void.
“No.”
“Don’t you like Chinese food?”
He glanced at his plate.
“I’m not sure I’ve had it before.”
Not had it? It wasn’t in my trinity but it was darn close.
“Then you need to start with one of these,” I said, holding up a Crab Rangoon. He didn’t even look at what I offered him, just leaned forward and took a bite while maintaining eye contact. My hand started to shake. He reached out to steady it, eating the second half in one bite. His lips brushed my fingertips.
“Thank you,” he said.
I cleared my throat before I attempted to speak.
“No problem.”
For the rest of the meal, I kept my food to myself. Slowly, the emotions of everyone else in the room started to bleed into me.
If Ethan thought I was unusually quiet, he didn’t mention it.
* * * *
Grey beat me to the room, and I saw my bag on the bed with him.
“Werewolves are ridiculous,” I said before closing myself in the bathroom to change into my exercise clothes and pull my hair back. When I stepped out again, Ethan was on the opposite bed, reclined and watching TV.
“You game for a little exercise?” I asked him.
He glanced at me and gave me a reassuring smile.
“Nah, I’m going to milk it another day.”
I shook my head at him and left the room. He probably wasn’t milking it. He hadn’t asked me to rub any more ointment into his shoulder, and I was willing to bet it was because he didn’t want me to see the ugly colors his bruise was turning.
The exercise room in this hotel was almost nonexistent. The tiny room had a treadmill, an elliptical, a TV, and a Carlos. He leaned just inside the door and straightened when I walked in.
I debated turning around but knew I would regret it if I did. My skin already itched. He was here and sparring was always better than running. So I stayed.
Ethan had made a valid point before we’d eaten. Running wasn’t an option. That left tolerating these people. Most days, I didn’t tolerate well. I needed to set things straight with Carlos.
“We’ll need to be careful in here,” I said, looking around at the foot room.
He nodded and got into his ready stance. I started out slow with easy jabs. He blocked each one with an open palm. His stoic silence, both emotionally and verbally, bugged me.
“What did you think talking would accomplish?” I asked, just before I picked up the pace.
He shrugged.
“Not good enough.”
I dodged around his block and caught him in the ribs. He exhaled slightly, so I knew he felt it, but otherwise gave no other indication I’d even touched him.
“It was obviously planned,” I said as I continued with a few jabs. “I mean, you had Winifred say something to Ethan, so he wouldn’t ride in the car with us. And you said Grey wanted you to drive, so you would stay calm. Meaning, you talked to him about it beforehand. If you planned something, you had to have an expected outcome.
“So, what did you hope to accomplish?”
“Alone time.”
“We’ve had alone time. This is alone time.”
“Alone time where you weren’t angry.”
“Then you picked the wrong topic.”
He stopped blocking and straightened. I automatically stopped hitting.
“Why did it make you angry?”
“Are you kidding me? I’ve known about you people for what? Three days? You flipped out when I first met you. The girls in this group—my ‘sisters’—are all paired up with a werewolf; then, the first night Ethan and I join the merry men, Michelle comes to my room and mentions how she was attracted to Emmitt. Next, you try to start talking about ‘the pull.’ Three days. How would you react?”
“So, it has nothing to do with him?”
I knew he meant Ethan.
“It has everything to do with me. Just me. I will never be with anyone. Ever. I kill people, Carlos. Slowly. I leave behind burnt-out shells of who they used to be. Ethan understands that. He jokes, and I know he would be there waiting for me if things ever changed; but he knows that, to keep him safe, I have to keep my distance.”
“I’m not like Ethan.”
“No. You’re not. You’re scarier. The control you have over your emotions is incredible. But, you’re a volcano. When your emotions finally erupt, you will leave devastation behind. If I’m around you when that happens, I can’t imagine how it would feel under my skin.”
I sighed and rolled my shoulders.
“Now, are you going to help me purge or not?”
He nodded and got back into a ready stance.
* * * *
“Isabelle, get up and get dressed.” Grey’s loud, firm voice startled me awake. I sat up as a light turned on.
Grey was out of bed, grabbing my bag. Carlos was reaching out to shake Ethan. Grey tossed the bag to me. His urgency seeped into me.
I quickly got out of bed.
“E, get your lazy ass out of bed. Now.”
Ethan sat up and looked around at us.
“What is it?”
“Gabby said we need to leave immediately,” Grey said. “A group of ten are netting this way. We have five minutes to be a mile from here.”
Crap. I shouldered my bag and slipped on my shoes. I had a tank top on and leggings. Good enough.
Ethan bounded out of bed, grabbed his shoes and bag, and went to the door. As soon as he opened it, I heard movement in the hallway.
“Hurry,” Winifred said.
I hustled to the door with Grey close behind me. The others were already speed walking the hall, heading toward the lobby. I kept pace with Ethan. The glass door showed the lit parking lot. The sun wasn’t even close to rising.
Ahead, I saw Clay walking near Gabby. She was speaking softly.
Ethan went straight for the car and slid into the backseat. I got in and closed my door a second before Grey and Carlos closed theirs. Ours was the second engine to roar to life. We were in the middle of the procession out of there.
“Talk, Grey. I want to know what’s happening.”
“There are more now. They’re closing in fast. Gabby says they aren’t veering at all, almost as if they know right where we are.”
We sped through the streets. The city wasn’t overly large, and it didn’t take long to reach its outskirts.
“They’ve made city limits and have split up. Five in each group. They’ll find our trail.”
The vehicle in front of us accelerated suddenly. Carlos pressed the gas to keep up.
“Buckle up, Isabelle,” he said, glancing in the mirror.
I hadn’t realized I’d skipped that part. I clicked the belt and reached out for Ethan’s hand. His strong fingers wrapped around mine.
“We’ll put as much distance between them as we can. It should be fine,” Grey said. He faced forward, watching the road, so I wasn’t sure who he was reassuring.
For the next two minutes, only the sound of the wheels devouring the blacktop kept us company. I wasn’t sure if it was because Grey had no update or because he focused on something we couldn’t hear.
His uneasiness worried me, though.
“Grey?”
“They have our trail. The net’s closing.” The quiet way he spoke sent a spike of fear through my chest. Ethan’s reassuring fingers squeezed mine lightly.
“How many?”
“At least sixty, more closing in behind them.”
My pulse spiked. Sixty? I looked around. Fields and trees and a few houses.
“Stop the car by the next field,” Grey said.
“There’s no way to avoid them?”
“None.”
I turned to look at Ethan. He met my gaze steadily. He’d already closed himself off.
“Keep that wall up,” I said, squeezing his hand. He nodded.
“Grey, warn the rest. They need to close themselves off from me as best they can or stay away from me.” My insides quivered with what I knew I would need to do, what I didn’t want to do. But I needed to protect everyone. I needed to protect Ethan.
“Done.”
The vehicles pulled over and doors opened. I wanted to tell Ethan to stay in the car, but given our last experience with Urbat, a car wasn’t any safer than out in the open. We moved into the field. Emmitt, Clay, and Thomas pushed their women into the middle of our loose circle. Winifred stayed near them. Bethi came to stand beside me after handing something to Ethan. She oozed fear.
“Take a hit,” she said.
I pulled her fear away from her like the thick, unwanted skin it was. It filled me with energy. She pulled out a wicked knife from her jacket and held it with ease.
“Have you used that before?”
“Yeah. You taught me how in another life.”
“Good.”
After that, no one spoke. We waited in silence under the stars.
