“And they are heavily armed. Yet, another thing you failed to mention,” I groaned.
“How the fuck was I supposed to know?”
“You are the fucking handler! You’re supposed to know all the details about the target!”
“No one fucking told me! She was supposed to be alone out there!”
“Well, she fucking wasn’t.”
I zipped up my bookbag and looked around the motel room to make sure I grabbed everything. I wouldn’t be coming back to this place. The long road was ahead of me.
“I still want to know who tipped her off,” Lucas muttered.
“Don’t know what to tell you other than it looks like the Council has a mole.”
“A mole.” His words were a cross between a statement and a question.
That should keep you, fuckers, busy for a while.
322
Banshee
As often happened when I shifted into my leopard form, I lost track of time and came awake shivering in the cold air and surrounded by unknown trees far from the MC’s lands. Sometimes when I passed out from exhaustion, I’d shift back to my human form. Which is what happened this time and partly why I couldn’t have said if I ran for one day or two. My instinctual side didn’t give a shit about keeping track of time or keeping to the land around the club’s compound. All it had known was that my human brain and heart were in pain.
I rolled to my back and stared up through the branches of the trees. Light from the moon filtered through them and softened the world around me. It was calm here. Quiet. Sometimes, I missed the days when I lived in the forest away from everyone.
A shrill sound blasted from my pocket and ruined the calm I had found.
Digging into my pocket I pulled out my phone and pressed my finger to the screen before raising it to my ear.
“About fucking time you answered. Where the fuck are you, Banshee?” Roark’s voice boomed into my ear.
“Not sure,” I croaked as my dry mouth and throat protested speech.
“You’re fucking GPS just came back online. Hacker is tracking you now.” Roark muttered on the other end of the phone and I sighed.
I must have been gone longer than I thought for them to be watching the tracker hidden inside of my phone. Hacker complained all of the time about how our electronics didn’t work when we shifted. Whatever happened to our clothes and anything we carried, blocked all electronic signals.
“Where?” Roark bellowed.
“The Canadian border…” Hacker’s voice faded but I’d heard enough. I’d been running for days.
“Why the fuck are you in Canada, Banshee?” I whined as Roark’s voice hurt my ears. I held the phone away from my ear as a scuffle broke out on the other end of the line.
“Be nice to her,” Kendra demanded before Roark came back on the line.
“Banshee” – I almost laughed at the change in Roark’s tone but luckily was able to keep my mouth shut – “can you please explain to me why you’re not at the clubhouse or your strip club?”
“I… uh… needed time to think,” I replied weakly.
“Think!” Roark groaned as I heard someone get smacked upside the head. Goddess I loved Kendra. She was good for my adopted brother.
“Yes, think. Sometimes I need to get away from you assholes.” My words were to cover up the weakness I was feeling.
The rawness of my nerves from what had happened. I couldn’t explain any of it really. The truth was, I’d never gone into heat. Sure, I’d heard about it. Roark’s dad had one of the shifter women talk to me when I agreed to stay with him. Because of my genetics, I just figured it was something I wouldn’t have to deal with. I was different from other shifters in more than one way. Hell, no one could make themselves invisible the way I could.
“Why now?” I mumbled.
“That’s what I want to know, Banshee. You’ve never taken off without telling me before. And, now, with this shit with Billingsworth and the sheriff. I needed you here more than ever.” Roark’s voice was soft and I could hear the concern in his tone.
“Look…” Thoughts of why I was here instead of at the clubhouse filled my head. Thoughts of Chance… his golden eyes staring into my soul as he thrust into me. “Fuck,” I cursed as my chest began to burn.
If I hadn’t already been on the ground, I would have found myself there. I gasped as something inside of me shifted. My inner-feline went crazy and I felt as if I had been sliced wide open. My hand clutched at my chest and the pain slowly faded.
Looking down at where my hand clutched at my breast, I groaned.
“I’ll be back before you can figure out why your mate likes me better than you,” I sassed and hit end call on my phone. I slid the phone back into my pocket and shifted as it began to ring.
Roark was going to be pissed but he’d learn to deal with the fact that he wasn’t the only man in my life anymore. The club didn’t have my entire loyalty any longer. Now, I just needed to figure out why my mate lied to me about his name and who I needed to fuck up to clear the slate between us.
A day later when I dragged my sagging ass into the clubhouse, Roark was immediately in my face.
“Tell me right now why I shouldn’t tie you up and let the prospects use you as a practice dummy?” he demanded.
“Waxed hair,” I replied as I glared at him and placed my hands on my hips. “Now, can I get something to eat while you yell at me?”
“Fine. But I expect you to talk while you’re fixing it.” Roark was pouting as I expected. “And seriously, you’d wax all my hair off again?”
I barked out a laugh and turned a grin in his direction.
“In a heartbeat. And this time, I’d even shave your
