Lie, lie, LIE.
“Lying again?”
I grab his jaw, forcing him to maintain eye contact.
“After what just happened to your hand, you’re still lying to me, you little shit?”
A tremble runs through his body. It’s hard for any alpha wolf to submit, even a young one, but hardest for those who rule over a pack. Still, he should know better than to keep foolishly resisting.
“Andrew,”
he finally whispers.
Andrew. The name means nothing to me, but I’ll find him soon enough.
“And why would this
Andrew visit her?”
Raphael swallows hard.
“He was checking on her well-being.”
Half-truth. The scent of deception is weaker, but still present. My eyes narrow, fingers digging into his cheeks. All I want is to rip this pup apart, to raze this pack to the ground, but I hold myself back. I have to.
If I kill everyone, she’ll always be afraid of me, won’t she?
“Checking on her for what purpose?”
Sweat drips down Raphael’s temple as he struggles to speak through my grip.
“Just to make sure she was okay.”
Lie.
“Last chance.”
I tighten my grasp on his jaw until he winces.
“What was Andrew doing in her room?”
Something in Raphael breaks. Perhaps it’s the pain, or maybe the realization that I won’t stop until I have the truth.
“We were going to move her,”
he gasps out.
“Tomorrow morning. To Forest Springs.”
Forest Springs is a neighboring pack. The Alpha’s daughter is now Raphael’s Luna, who hurt the girl only this morning.
“Do you know the price of stealing from the Lycan King, Raphael?”
Caine, Fenris says, growling. Fury burns through our bond, leaving my wolf incoherent with rage as he howls. Words are unnecessary, I already understand.
Grace is gone.
I feel obligated to pause and explain that Caine isn’t a *complete* psychopath and won’t be just willy nilly murdering people for the entire story…
Like, he DOES eventually grow past his two personalities, Caine of de Nile and Serial K…
Lenaleia
Creator’s Thoughts
Over the next two days, Lyre drags her camper-and me-across the country. It’s actually only across one state line, but it’s still farther than I’ve ever traveled before.
The driving itself isn’t long each day, Lyre says she never drives more than three hundred miles a day when she’s hauling a camper. Still, the routine is more tiring than I expect.
And Andrew follows behind every step of the way, clearly obsessed with keeping his eye on me. I’m sure it’s to tell Rafe where I am, but it isn’t like a new Alpha can just wander across the country to take me back. 2
Still, it’s not a great feeling to know you’re being essentially stalked. He doesn’t hide what he’s doing, but he isn’t not doing it, either… ?
The high noon sun is bright and merciless, which means the camper’s going to be an oven when we finally make it to our stop tonight. We still have another hundred miles to drive before finding a rest stop tonight.
“Food run,”
Lyre announces, exiting the highway.
“They have a dump station here, too. Why don’t you order while I get some diesel and clear out the tanks?”
I’ve learned a lot in the past forty-eight hours, and most of it involves how much work is involved in keeping a camper convenient. Like toilets. I never really thought about where waste goes when you flush, but it’s not as though we have plumbing in the parking lots of giant retail conglomerates.
We have a supply of fresh water for hygiene and dishes, but we also have separate drinking water. And tanks beneath the RV somewhere, magically holding all the gross stuff until we make it to a dump site. Lyre keeps talking about full hook-ups when we get to her friend’s place in Yellowstone, which will make our lives easier, but so far I haven’t had to lift a finger. Lyre does all the work.
“Got it. Bacon cheeseburger?”
I push open the passenger door, my blonde hair-still strange to see in mirrors-blowing across my face, thanks to the strong breeze. It smells like gasoline and fried food, which is now synonymous with freedom in my head.
“Give me about twenty minutes,”
Lyre calls after me.
“Get something for me too. Nothing with pickles.”
I nod and slip her credit card into my pocket. The first time she handed it to me, I’d stared at the plastic rectangle like it might burn my fingers. Now it feels normal, even as guilt gnaws at me for using a stranger’s money.
The automatic doors slide open with a mechanical hiss, cool air-conditioned comfort wrapping around me as I step inside. The cashier barely glances up from her magazine-another blessing of human society. No nostrils flaring to catch my scent, no scowls when they see I don’t belong. Even Lyre, with her rainbow hair, wouldn’t get a second look.
It’s so… anonymous. I love it.
But I need to find a job soon. Lyre’s generosity has limits, even if she hasn’t mentioned them. Strange how someone who seems so detached can be so thoughtful-letting me use her card, teaching me how to dye my hair, taking me in without asking for anything in return.
If angel shifters existed, she’d probably be one.
There’s a giant fast food restaurant taking up a third of the building. Several truckers are already scattered around, and there’s a mom with a toddler in the back corner.
So wholesome. So hum?n.
The only thing polluting this pristine bastion of human society is Andrew, five steps behind me. He pulled into the gas station right after us, of course.
My mouth waters as I scan the illuminated menu board.
“Two bacon cheeseburgers, large fries, and…”
I pause, remembering Lyre’s aversion to pickles.
“And make sure there’s no pickles on either.”
The hair on my neck rises as I pass Lyre’s card over. Andrew’s glowering, like he always does, but who knows what’s triggered him this time. We haven’t exchanged a word since I told him I wasn’t going back to Rafe, I’m trying to pretend he doesn’t exist. Hopefully he’ll get bored and leave once we get to Yellowstone and settle in.
The sensation of being stalked is not pleasant, but I’m getting used to it.
Who am I kidding? It’s weird and sucks.
There’s only one place I’m free, and I turn take the card and receipt and walk as casually as I can to the bathroom. It’s always good to visit one when we stop anyway, but it’s also the one place Andrew won’t follow me.
The women’s bathroom smells vaguely of vomit, urine, and some sort of orange-scented cleaner. Not pleasant, but at least Andrew’s eyeballs aren’t drilling into the back of my head.
It doesn’t take long to do what needs to be done, and I keep the water running for a while as I stand in front of the mirror, toying with my blonde hair. It’s going to take forever to get used to, but I think I like it.
Lyre says my skin tone seems to be more cool than neutral and my blonde is a little too warm, but I don’t really get it. In theory, I understand her words and the concept of warm and cool undertones. In practice? My skin just looks like skin to me…
Oh, damn. I’ve been staring at myself in the mirror too long. Our food’s probably ready by now.
Sighing, I push open the bathroom door, only to jump back when I nearly collide with a solid chest.
Andrew stands directly in front of the door, arms crossed as he frowns down at me.
“I was about to check on you.”
Nope. This is the final straw.
“Are you seriously waiting outside the women’s bathroom?”
I hiss, glancing around to make sure no one’s watching.
They aren’t. Everyone’s involved in their own lives, and nobody cares about what’s happening in this tiny little corridor.
His frown remains on his face.
“I’m just making sure you’re safe.”
“In the women’s bathroom?”
“You could have been unconscious.”
O
“Jesus, Andrew.”
Covering my face with my hands in an attempt to keep myself from screaming in frustration, I count my breaths. He remains silent as I breathe in deep. One. Two. Five. Ten times.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.