she watched Justin make quick work of the remaining tires before raising the van’s hood. Metal banged metal.
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V i r g i n i a K a n t r a
Oh,
Her mouth dried. Simon would be furious.
She rol ed down her window. “You didn’t say anything about destroying school property.”
“You got a better idea?”
“No, but—”
He raised his head and looked at her, his face hard.
Determined. Dangerous. “If I block the exit with a couple of these vans, I won’t have to touch the other vehicles. Now move the car.”
She released the brake, feeling vaguely betrayed, as if she’d befriended a stray that turned into a tiger. She maneuvered her car into the narrow space by the garage doors. In her rearview mirror, she saw Justin help himself to another key from the pegboard.
He drove the second van into place behind her, across the lane.
She gritted her teeth.
The passenger door opened and he slid in beside her, hot and male and overwhelming. The heth gleamed in the hol ow of his throat. “Let’s rol .”
Setting her jaw, she shifted gear.
*
*
*
Pain sank its talons into his skul . His eyebal s ached. His throat throbbed.
Justin glanced at Lara’s rigid profile. She was pissed, but she hadn’t panicked on him. Or bailed.
The red haze over his vision faded. He was pushing her, he knew. Playing the connection that sparked between them.
Trusting her innate decency and compassion to overcome her loyalty to Axton.
F o r g o t t e n s e a 97
She deserved better than that arrogant, ruthless prick and his stone-faced henchman.
Too bad he didn’t have anything better to offer.
Justin released his breath. At least they were free. He was free. For now.
The hot kernel of anger inside him eased.
She drove without headlights, knuckles white on the wheel, leaning forward to peer at the dark, winding road.
He could feel the moisture in the air, the rising wind of a gathering storm.
Something flickered through the trees. A fence. The black gleam of metal pickets fol owing the dip of the ground, the curve of the road. Ahead of them, a smal , square gatehouse rose out of the gloom.
Lara braked before they reached the metal barrier.
Justin tensed. “Guards?”
She shook her head, the shadows sliding over her face.
“Not at night. The exit gate is automatic.”
“Then why are we stopping?”
She turned to him, eyes wide in the dark. “Are you sure you want to go through with this? Once we’re outside the gates, I can’t guarantee your safety.”
She was worried about him, which was both convenient and oddly unsettling. Or maybe she was stil fretting over Axton’s probable reaction to his escape. Not to mention eight slashed tires and two busted timing belts. “I like my chances out there better than in here.”
“You don’t even know where you’re going.”
The bead at his throat pulsed in time with his heart.
They’d been down this road before. “You’re wasting your breath.”
She blinked once. “Probably,” she agreed cool y.
What did that mean?
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“Rockhaven is warded,” she continued. “The wards wil not stop us. But Zayin’s binding might. Crossing the barrier wil probably trigger the heth.”
“Trigger?”
She drew a finger across her throat.
