“It’s in the other car.” He winces still not looking at me.
“What? Why!?”
“Umm…it’s, uh, it has to go through a security check then you can have it back.”
I rub my hands on my face. I guess I get that part a little bit, even if I think it’s stupid. I’m being taken to?his pack permanently and he knows nothing about me. I’m also going to be closely connected with everyone who is closest to him. I’m an unknown security risk. I won’t admit that I understand though. Why couldn’t he just tell me that himself? Ugh.
“Can I have my bag then? I could at least get some homework done. This drive is not a short one.”
He sighs again. “Also in the other car.” This time he opens his eyes slowly to look at me. He knows I’m getting more angry by the minute and he’s going to be on the receiving end when I do lose my temper. He looks ready for a verbal lashing. get seriously hurt. By human standards, I am a great fighter, but by wolf standards I can basically keep myself from dying or getting injured and that’s about it. What the hell am I supposed to do if something happens in the pack? The Luna is one of the protectors just like the Alpha. Will I even be able to do that, or will I just be a liability? I am going to have to really up my training game if I want to avoid being the weak link.
We have stopped every hour to let the patrol wolves change out and rest. I can’t believe they are following us on foot in their wolf form. It’s impressive. I assume it’s to prevent an ambush, but of course I can only guess since no one is allowed to confirm or deny my questions. I have tried each time they switched out too. I thought Josh was going to gag me at one point based on the looks he was giving me. I should not have gotten as much enjoyment out of it as I did, but what was I supposed to do? They took every other form of entertainment and distraction away from me. I am not a wallflower or an ornament and I won’t be treated like one. I made sure to talk his ear off the entire time he was in the car with me. On the third stop I finally see Greta. She gets to escort me to the bathroom, because now that is mandatory as well. I don’t even get to choose when I go pee. She’s at least pleasant to me and can hold a conversation without having to clam up because she might reveal pack secrets. Although there isn’t a lot to talk about through the bathroom? stall.
Ryker?”Bossman. Give me something, man. My ears are bleeding and she knows it.” Josh whines. “We could use her for torture tactics. Seriously. Anything. Let me tell her something. I could talk to her about f*cking stickers for all I care, just let me talk to her.”
“No. I don’t know enough about her to know if she can be trusted with the most basic information. And all of you are quick to give her whatever she wants. Once she gets you talking, who knows what she will throw into the conversation. She already got Bennet at breakfast this morning.”
“You mean on their date?” Danny throws in. Why he thinks now is a good time to piss me off, I do not? know.
“It wasn’t a f*cking date. And she got him to spill her entire security detail in a matter of seconds.”
“That is something she should know about. Especially if something happens to me. She needs to know there is someone else close to feel safe.” Bennet is too gentle with her. She should just know that people are set to protect her and be good with that.
“The protocol around our Luna is a need to know situation for a reason. Now she can tell anyone in earshot how many people are trailing her at all times. She can’t even sit in a car quietly for a few hours. Who’s to say she wouldn’t just start running her mouth to the first person she meets?”
“Maybe if we were allowed to talk to her, she wouldn’t just go around talking to anyone else.” I am going to throat punch Bennet before the day is over. I can feel it.
Josh breaks through my thoughts. “This is definitely a controlled form of torture. She knows what she is doing. I am ready to take a page from her book and jump out this window.” I roll my eyes while the rest of the guys laugh in my head. My beta isn’t usually one for dramatics. But at least she has some defenses. I have to fight a smile at the brilliance and stupidity of the situation.
“Hey, boss.” Bennet chimes in tentatively. He’s running the left flank next to her car. He already has a soft spot for her. I guess it’s to be expected since he is her gamma, but he is so easily swayed by her it’s disturbing. “In all honesty, she’s bored. We all have something to do. You are working and the warriors are focused on protection. Can we give her her bag and let her study? She’s used to being busy. It’s just a suggestion, but it might help.”
“Fine. Greta?”
“Yes, Alpha?”
“When we stop, go through Kennedy’s bag and remove anything electronic that may have a tracer on it. I want them thoroughly checked before she uses them. She can have her school bag for the rest of the trip.”
“Yes, Alpha. She will appreciate the gesture.”
F*ck! Kennedy has her too. I could hear the ‘good boy’ in her remark. She’s been around my mom for too long. I take a deep breath and let it out slowly.
“Alpha, we’re about ten minutes from our next stop.”?”Thanks Rick. Coordinate with the other drivers and make sure we pull all the way to the back of the building and set a perimeter. The Luna will be getting out to stretch her legs.”
“Yes, sir.”
I mindlink the rest of our team what is happening. Kennedy has chosen to stay in her car at every stop so far. I won’t give her a choice this time. If she is this bored and driving my team nuts, she needs to get out and move around. I won’t let her act like a child and distract them. This is when sh*t usually hits the fan.
We pull into a rest stop that is neutral territory and managed by several different packs. There shouldn’t be any issues here, that would be detrimental for everyone, but it is a great place for an enemy to gauge the size of the team we are traveling with and set up an attack down the road. By sticking close to the back entrance we can conceal some of our numbers and more importantly, Kennedy’s presence.
I don’t travel with women outside my warrior team, ever. Not even my mother travels in the same vehicle as me, so having Kennedy in my car would be a blatant invitation for someone to attack. There was no time to explain the situation to her before we left, not that it would have made any difference, she’s too immature for that. She needed to be separate from me to not draw attention. I will not put anyone’s lives in danger simply because my wolf couldn’t leave her behind.
I pretend to be completely interested in my phone as I head back to my vehicle, but my attention is solely on my mate. I hear her yell ‘Jeeves!’ to Grant. He’s never going to live that down. Then she has an animated conversation with everyone in her vehicle. The way her hands move and the playful expression in her eyes tell me she’s being a smart*ss, probably about me. But, I can’t stop the longing for her to turn some of that playfulness towards me. As I watch Greta hand Kennedy her backpack, the smile Kennedy gives her makes my wolf sigh and Greta gives me a quick ‘I told you’ look. The warm sensation is short lived though when Kennedy raises her voice. “I understand the security protocol. It would just be nice to have it explained to me in more than half assed grunts.” I catch her quiet thank you to Greta and her comment about boys being stupid although it wasn’t meant for me to hear. Or maybe it was.
I immediately opened my link to Danny. There’s no way she’s done with her rant based on the drive today. I have had her chittering in the back of my head the whole trip, thanks to my wolf wanting to listen to her voice and my team thinking I deserve the punishment as much or more than they do. My wolf actually laughed at Josh’s annoyance with her. He also thinks it’s hilarious that she calls Grant ‘Jeeves.’ He will never go by his given name after today, but he’s being a good sport. She’s growing on him too.
My thoughts zero in on the conversation when she calls Danny a man child and mentions me c*ckblocking him at my sister’s party. I didn’t realize she caught on to that situation. Maybe she’s more observant than I thought. I freeze getting into my seat when he mentions Ben’s having a thing for her and she doesn’t deny it or try to explain. My wolf’s irritation flares and we see red at the mention of Ben’s hand on her waist when we arrived in Silver Crescent. I take a deep breath in and let it out slowly as I get in the car.
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.