“Perfect.” Holly nodded. “Lucien, if you come with me to my home, my friends might be able to help you find your wife.”
“Thank you.” Lucien nodded.
Holly felt a weight lift from her chest. Having a plan helped.
“Are we leaving, then?” Johnny asked.
“Yes.” Holly nodded.
“Wait for nightfall,” Lucien suggested. “If the town is being watched, it’ll be easier to get away at night. I can offer my protection as well.”
“Is that all right, Johnny?” Holly asked.
“I’ll do whatever is safest for you,” he said. “Lucien, can you keep up with a bear?”
Lucien grinned, showing the needle-like tips of his fangs. “I can outrun a bear.”
CHAPTER TWENTY—HOLLY
“You aren’t upset, are you?” Holly said from the doorway of Trevor’s room.
He looked up from his desk, brow furrowed. “Why would I be upset?”
“I’m leaving you here.”
He smiled. “I’m going to miss your company,” he admitted. “It’s going to drive me crazy, not knowing if you’re safe or not. You and I both know this is the best course of action. Something bigger than our love story is happening now. We have to handle it.”
Holly arched her brow. “Our love story? Who said anything about love? I thought we were partners that fuck every now and again.”
“You’re falling in love with me.” He winked. “I saw it all over your face before Lucien walked in.”
“Just because I liked the idea of you bending me over the armrest doesn’t mean I’m falling in love with you,” she said.
“No, it doesn’t.” He smirked. “But, you’re still falling in love with me.”
“You wish!” she teased. “I don’t have the mental capacity to fall in love with anyone else.”
“That’s right. You’ve got your hands full with that broody bear. Is everyone else as dark and gloomy as he is?”
“Johnny’s not dark and gloomy.” Holly rolled her eyes. “You’re dark and gloomy.”
“Me? No, I’m not!”
“Yes, you are,” Holly said. “You’re just so used to it that you don’t even notice it anymore.”
“Putting love on the backburner to focus on a literal life and death situation doesn’t make me dark and gloomy. It makes me smart. It makes you smart, too.”
“I came up here to tell you I’m going to miss you,” Holly said. “You just had to go and ruin it.”
“I’ve developed a talent for ruining things.”
“How is that not dark and gloomy?” Holly pointed out.
“That was wit, not gloom,” he replied.
“Whatever you say.” She chuckled. “I’ll tell Elise you’re well. Should I tell her everything else?”
“You won’t have a choice, will you? If you’re going to get the others on our side, they have to know. It’s not like you can lock Elise in a room while you talk it out.”
“True.” She nodded. “She’ll understand.”
“She might not. I kept so much from her. We promised never to lie to each other, and I broke that promise.”
“To save her life,” Holly added. “She’ll forgive you. Her dedication to you is unlike anything I’ve ever seen before.”
“Really? It’s not at all like the dedication four firstborn shifters have shown you?” Trevor chuckled.
“That’s different.” Holly shrugged. “A prophecy binds all of us together. Nothing like that is binding Elise. Nothing is stopping her from turning her back on all this and moving to Vegas.”
Trevor tried to argue but quickly gave up. “That’s a damn good point.”
“Exactly. Don’t worry about Elise. She’ll probably fight me for the bottled death so she can come to see you.”
“You can’t let that happen,” Trevor said sharply. “She can’t be anywhere near this place if she knows the truth. As you might’ve noticed, she likes to go rogue.”
“I’ve noticed. I’ll make sure she knows not to seek you out.”
“Thank you.”
“Holly?” Johnny called from the bottom of the stairs. “Lucien’s ready to depart.”
“That’s my queue.” Holly looked at her feet. “Are you sure you’ll be all right here?”
“Aw, are you worried about me?” Trevor simpered. “See? You are in love.”
“If Mrs. Sanders wouldn’t hate me for it, I’d shove you out the window.” Holly smiled sweetly. When she turned to leave, Trevor shot up from his chair and rushed after her to grab her arm.
“What are you—?”
He pulled her just inside the room and kissed her deeply. When he pulled away, Holly’s brain was nothing more than a fuzzy blank slate. “One for the road.” He winked.
“Catch ya later,” Holly said before dashing out of the room.
“Are you all right?” Johnny asked when she reached the bottom of the stairs. “You look red.”
“I’m nervous,” Holly answered too quickly. “I’m just waiting for the day when this world stops kicking my ass.”
“That’ll be the day we die.”
“Shall we depart?” Lucien asked from his place by the door. “Night’s officially fallen.”
“Do we have enough bottled death?” Holly asked.
“Plenty. We only need it for a moment.”
“Great. Let’s go.”
She didn’t wait for the others as she strode out of the inn. She didn’t look back until she reached the entrance of the trail that led to the park.
“Are we using the main roads?” Holly asked.
“We don’t have to avoid them this late in the day,” Johnny said. “We can cross them where we need to. Otherwise, I’d prefer to take a straight shot through the woods.”
Holly rubbed her bare arms. “I should’ve grabbed a jacket. I didn’t think of that.”
“Just hang on to me.” Johnny smiled. “I’ll keep you warm.”
Holly expected to feel butterflies erupt in her stomach. Johnny always gave her butterflies. At the moment, she felt nothing.
“Sounds great.” She smiled.
“Can you keep up through the woods, Lucien?” Johnny asked.
“If I knew the location of the house, I’d beat you there.” He grinned.
Johnny pulled out the bottled death and took a small sip before passing
