His lip was starting to swell, making his smile crooked. Without a sound he was past us and in the back of the truck.
Sebastian was focused on his tracker while I maneuvered Jason’s truck out of the parking structure. When we hit the highway, I heard Sebastian yell through the back window. “Keep heading north. I think she’s going to the Lake.”
I glanced over at Jason as the speedometer edged past eighty miles per hour. His eyes narrowed, but he kept his voice low and even. “Since when do we work with jaguars? Ever occur to you that this guy could be leading us right into an ambush? Think, Adam.”
Keeping my eyes on the road, I did my best to keep my voice down. “The jaguars are coming from a place called Nero. They’re breeding and training assassins for hire, and if I don’t get to Lana first, I’ll never see her again. If I have to work with a jaguar to find her then that’s what I’ll do. I don’t expect you to understand. I do expect you to call the Pack and let Malcolm know we’re headed toward Lake Tahoe.”
“This is insane,” Jason grumbled, but he made the call. I nodded and focused on the road.
Jason finally slipped his phone back in his pocket. “Jared is getting everyone together, then they’ll head up to the Lake. We can change up there tonight.”
“Thanks, Jason,” I said without making eye contact. Right now the only thing I could concentrate on was the vision of Lana’s smile in my head. Everything about her taunted me as I pushed the truck faster. I could see her looking up at me when she told me she loved me. I could hear her laughter and see her dark eyes flash at me when Aren had been impersonating me the first time they met. Dammit, I could even smell her hair. I gripped the wheel tighter. I had to believe we’d get there in time. We had to.
“This is the exit,” Sebastian shouted from the back of the truck.
Once we were on the main road around the lake I slowed down, breathing in the scents, praying I’d pick up Lana’s. From the back of the pick-up, Sebastian kept watch on his tracker. This time he leaned up into the window, keeping his voice soft.
“They’re close by, wolf. Do not go gentle into that good night.”
“What the hell? Isn’t that the line from a Rodney Dangerfield movie? What does that have to do with anything?”
Sebastian rolled his eyes. “Uneducated wolves. It’s one of the finest villanelle poems ever written, by Dylan Thomas.” When Sebastian saw that didn’t explain anything, he shook his head. “It means do not give up. Don’t lose hope.”
My nerves were wrapped so tight I could explode at any second. Some jaguar reciting poetry was
“I would pull over here. We should go on foot. Otherwise Sasha will hear us coming.”
Jason shot me a silent don’t-do-this-Adam look, but I parked anyway. When I turned off the key I handed the key ring to Jason. “Stay here and wait for the others.”
“No way.” His eyes shifted between Sebastian and me. “We can’t trust him, Adam. And sunset’s coming.”
I shrugged. “I can take care of myself.”
“You’re not thinking clearly.” Jason took the keys and stuffed them in his pocket. “You don’t even know if he’s helping you. You could be walking—”
“Right into a trap. I get it.” I got out and slammed the door. “This is my only shot and I’m taking it.”
“Shit, Adam. Don’t pull me into this with you. You know I can’t let you go alone.”
“Listen, Sebastian doesn’t want Nero to have Lana either. For now, we want the same thing. Stay here and watch for the Pack.” I glanced at Sebastian to be sure he heard. Since I didn’t know his motives for helping Lana, it wouldn’t hurt for him to know he’d be hip deep in wolves soon.
Jason groaned and shook his head. “Fine. Good luck.”
“Looks like it’s just you and me,” I said to Sebastian as we walked away from the truck toward the trees.
“I am only taking you along as a shield, wolf. Sasha carries a gun, and she never misses.”
“She missed with Aren.”
Sebastian raised a brow and kept moving. “So I have seen.”
When he didn’t say anything else, I realized what he wasn’t saying was probably more important than what he had. Arrogant bastard.
I struggled to keep my footsteps silent, staying close behind Sebastian. The wind whistled through the tops of the pine trees, bending the branches and masking our movement. I glanced up at the twilight sky. Fighting against the moon was painful, mentally and physically. Sweat soaked through my shirt, and I gritted my teeth to stay focused. I wouldn’t be able to hold off shifting much longer, and I couldn’t shift with Sebastian nearby. I’d be too vulnerable.
But there weren’t any other options. I had to follow him. Lana needed me.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Sasha stopped the car in a clearing off the main road. We were back at Lake Tahoe, which instantly made me think of Adam, of the way it had felt when he brought me here last time. The way he’d goaded me into jumping to the top of a boulder and showed me how to be me. Now my wrists were rubbed raw, my back was bruised from some sort of plastic bullet, and an armed woman was about to hand me over to Nero as a science experiment. I tried really hard not to feel sorry for myself, but none of this was fair.
She opened the back door and yanked me out of the car. The crisp night air felt good on my skin. Above us, the sky was a stunning masterpiece of reds and purples, completely unaware of its contrast with my current predicament.
“Turn around,” she demanded.
I faced the car and then felt her messing with the cuffs. The metal bands released me, and I gasped at the pain that shot up my arms and into my shoulders now that my hands were free. My right wrist was bleeding, my left looked bruised, but it felt so good to be free that I didn’t care.
“Thank you,” I rubbed at my aching arms.
“Nothing’s changed. I just don’t want them to pull some stunt about you being harmed and then break their end of the bargain.”
“I thought they said alive, not unharmed.”
She ground her teeth, the muscles of her jaw clenched, but didn’t answer. I couldn’t prevent a small smirk from creeping onto my face.
“Are they paying you a lot to bring me in?” The writer in me wanted to know details and keeping her talking couldn’t be a bad thing, I gathered. If I lived through this night, I had some great ideas for a book.
Sasha grabbed my elbow and walked me toward the trees. “They’re not paying me money.”
My jaw dropped a little. “You’re screwing up my life for free? Is this fun for you?”
She tightened her grip, and I made a mental note that pissing off my abductor was probably not a good idea. When we got to a shadowed area she pulled me down to the ground. I watched her crouch and take a deep breath.
Time was running out though, and at this point, my best shot at freedom was finding some way to appeal to her humanity. Sasha was tough, but I couldn’t let go of that moment in the car when I saw, for a second, a flash of what might live behind her emotional battle armor.
“You said if there were some other way, you’d take it. If money’s not what you’re after, then what is it? Maybe the Pack can help you get it.”
She kept her attention focused on the growing shadows. “No one can help me but Nero. There’s no other way.” She glanced my way as she lowered her voice to a whisper. “They promised me a cure.”
“A cure? For what—” Then it hit me. “They can reverse the jaguar bite?”
Her eyes scanned the wilderness around us. “They say they can.”
