“I’m from the Brooks Pack.”
“Guessed that,” Lucidia answered in an annoyed tone. She didn’t take kindly to surprises and didn’t like the notion that the girl knew exactly where to wait for her arrival. “Are you even old enough to drive?”
Her eyes narrowed, and she crossed her arms. “I got here, didn’t I?”
Lucidia felt a smile creep onto her face. She was warming up to this girl. “What is it?”
“Clay wants you to know that they found Reykon’s car, and they’ll be closing in tonight.”
“Where did he find them?”
“Looks like they’re headed to Grand Junction.”
Lucidia cursed in frustration. Grand Junction was on the other side of Colorado. She’d make it in time if she drove all night, but even then, she wasn’t sure where they’d be or when they’d move against Reykon.
The girl seemed to sense her frustration. “Clay wanted you to have this,” she said, tossing a weathered map over to her.
Lucidia looked it over, seeing numerous hand marked houses on the map of the state. “What is it?”
“They’re safe houses. Clay will find one of them to hunker down at after the mission’s done,” she said, glancing down at the ground and then back to Lucidia. “He also said if something happens, you can go to one of them.”
Lucidia raised an eyebrow.
The girl shrugged and held up her hand in a ‘hang loose’ signal, and then touched her thumb twice to her forehead. “A friend of the pack is a friend of mine.”
Lucidia returned the gesture, extending her thumb and pinky and tapping her own forehead, a reflexive greeting and goodbye learned during her time spent with the wolves. It was a universal gesture of benevolence and hospitality. “A friend of the pack,” she returned softly.
The girl gave a nod of satisfaction, knowing she’d done her duty. She began to turn.
Lucidia called after her, and she paused.
Closing the distance between them, Lucidia surveyed the bruise a little more. It looked like a fist, or a glass bottle, but about a week old.
“What’s your name?” Lucidia asked.
She straightened up, thrusting her chin out. “Megan.”
“Where’d you get that shiner, Megan?”
“My dad’s a drunk,” she said matter of factly. “That’s why I learned how to drive so young.”
Lucidia smiled and pulled a slim black cylinder out of her pocket, tossing it to Megan.
She caught it with one hand (wolves have excellent reflexes) and studied it with a scowl.
“Press the black button,” Lucidia said.
She clicked it, and jumped slightly as the nightstick shot out, about a foot and a half of mean titanium. She raised her eyebrow and a smile broke out across her face.
“Now the red button.”
She turned it over and pressed the button. Blue electricity raced up the pole, lighting up her face and making the hairs on her hand stick up. “Woah,” she grinned.
“Next time your dad gets drunk, you hit him first.”
Megan, still smiling, gave her a resolute nod.
Lucidia donned her helmet and got back on her bike, zooming west towards Grand Junction.
Robin
They finally made it to the hotel in Grand Junction. She was actually looking forward to the bracelet, because it meant she could move her arms and legs, as crazy as that sounded. At first, she’d been terrified that the taser would go off by accident. But after the immediate fear had subsided, wearing the bracelet meant that she could move unrestricted. Enjoy the little things in life, right?
As they approached the lobby, Robin couldn’t help but notice a change in Reykon. Normally, he was relaxed, attentive, and charming. Right now, she was getting another side of him. Concerned. Calculated. Ready to attack. Even his hand felt different on her arm – like at any moment, he’d yank her out of the way of a threat.
When they got into the room, he set his backpack down and ran a hand through his hair. She traced over his normally smooth albeit prominent eyebrows, seeing a crinkle right in the middle of his brow line. He was on alert. She sat on the bed, watching him in silence.
Again, she felt adrenaline creeping up at the notion of his concern.
Because his fear meant that something was going to happen; he was smart and experienced enough to have a sense about these things, she’d hypothesized. And right now, he was sensing that something was off.
Which meant someone was going to try to get her.
It was a confusing little human-trafficking triangle, after all: Reykon had gotten her first, and now Lucidia was trying to get her back from him for god knew what. A glorified game of monkey in the middle: that’s what her life had been reduced to. Not to mention, the notion of vampires and witches and all those monsters weren’t exactly helping her paranoia. At the outset of their journey, she’d believed that Reykon was the most despicable person on the face of the planet. After seeing his strongblood friends, and hearing about Lucidia and Darian and all the other creepy crawlies, she wasn’t so sure.
Reykon moved across the room at a normal pace – alert, but not panicked. He moved the curtain with a finger, studying the parking lot. He was entirely still, like a hawk, scoping out its prey.
“What is it?” she asked softly, resisting the urge to whisper.
He broke away from the window and pretended like nothing had happened. “Hmm?”
“What’s out there?”
“Nothing,” he said calmly, stealing one last glance and backing away from the window.
She let out a long breath and ran her hand through her hair, ignoring the way the taser bracelet slid a little every time she raised it.
His
