Lucidia opened her eyes, immediately squinting into pure sunlight.
“Jesus,” she muttered, trying to bring her arms up, and finding that they’d been tied to the door handle.
She let out a grunt of frustration and yanked, looking around.
Clay was slumped over in the backseat next to her, their legs tangled up in a mess.
Megan sat in the driver’s seat, her rifles and shotgun standing up in the passenger seat. She had her hair pulled up into a high ponytail and was blasting country music with the windows rolled down all the way.
“What are you doing?” Lucidia demanded.
She smiled widely, resting her arm on the door and letting her hand float through the wind as they chugged down the freeway. “I’m getting the hell out of dodge.”
“Let me go,” she snapped. Clay rolled slightly, his head falling down in front of him. It was still bruised and cut from her knuckles, but already, the major damage had begun healing.
“So you can beat my face in, too?” she shot back. “Don’t think so.”
“I should have never given you that fucking nightstick, you know that?” Lucidia jabbed, shaking her arms again. The ties were crude and wouldn’t be difficult to slip out of.
“You’re probably right,” Megan laughed, cranking the radio up further.
“Where are we going?” Lucidia said loudly, over the music.
“I have a human aunt in Tennessee. Don’t know where you’re gonna go, but that’s where this truck’s headed.”
“Why’d you tie me up?” she snapped.
“Because I thought you were going to kill Clay. I’ll be happy to untie you as soon as I’m sure you’re not going to follow through on that threat.”
Lucidia’s eyes slipped over to him. She’d lost control, and she’d beaten him in a fit of rage; he hadn’t stood a chance against her. Her brow furrowed into a deep scowl as she thought about what he’d say when he woke up. They came from different worlds; his was one of camaraderie and loyalty, and hers, one of cold-blooded, ruthless killing.
He would hate her.
Or at the very least, he would never be able to trust her.
Not that he ever had, or ever should.
They’d risked their lives to break her free, and she’d repaid them through violence. Like a wild animal, she thought bitterly.
Darian had raised her that way.
She needed distance. She needed a clear head, and she needed to find her sister. Then, and only then, would she think about apologizing to Clay. He was better off without her, anyway; if the events that had landed his face that many bruises had taught them anything, it was that.
Lucidia narrowed her eyes and watched a road sign for Dallas pass by. It was a big city, where she could go unnoticed. There was a minor vampire House about forty miles north, but she doubted House Ramsey would bother looking for her. They kept to themselves.
She sighed and collected her thoughts. She’d officially declared herself free, and there was nobody who knew where she was. Lucidia had a few connections and could easily find a safehouse from her connections with the freed supernatural people. Dallas would be a good place to regroup and find a plan to get Robin back.
Robin was blood, after all.
And Lucidia was now a free woman, self-declared. Free people protect the ones they love. They don’t stand by as their family is shipped off to enslavement and death.
The plan hadn’t changed, despite all that had happened: she would find Robin, get her to safety, and they’d burrow into a nice, deep hole where no supernatural creature would ever find them, living out the rest of their days in self-imposed solitude.
“Drop me off at the next exit,” Lucidia called.
Megan gave her a questioning glance but nodded and veered off. Lucidia glanced to Clay, who was still unconscious. It was better that way. She knew that he’d try to stop her, to convince her to stay. If she were being honest, he probably could have.
She’d already gotten out of the ropes, and rubbed her wrists, tossing the cord up to the front seat. “You’ve gotta work on that.”
Megan rolled her eyes. “I’ll get right on it.”
They rolled into the outskirts of Dallas, a sprawling, heatwave shimmering city clustered in smog. It didn’t help that it was summer, either.
The truck slowed to a stop on the side of the road, leaving a cloud of dust behind them.
“This good?” Megan asked.
Lucidia gave a sharp nod, and then hopped out.
Megan leaned her head out of the window. “Hey!”
“What?” she asked, turning around.
“You’re not going to say goodbye to him?”
“He’s unconscious.”
“Wake him up,” she shot back, narrowing her eyes like Lucidia was stupid.
“No,” she said.
Megan got out of the car and stood toe to toe with Lucidia, crossing her arms angrily. “That guy laying in the backseat? He didn’t shoot your buddy because he wanted to. I saw the look in his eyes, when he looked at you, sniveling like an idiot on the ground. He did it because he knew someone had to, and he didn’t want it to be you. And now, you’re acting like a butthurt toddler, and punishing him for it.”
Lucidia glared at the child. “It doesn’t change anything.”
“We risked everything for you.”
“I didn’t ask for that.”
“Yeah, well we did it anyway,” she snapped. “He said you were worth it.”
Lucidia sighed. “Your whole wolf thing is about the pack, right?”
Megan watched her with angry eyes.
“Robin is my pack. She’s the only pack I have left, okay? And she’s about to be sold off to a vampire overlord. I know it’s not good timing, and I know you risked your necks for me, but now I’ve gotta go risk my neck for my sister, because I guess that’s just what family does. And I’ve never had to deal with it before, but it turns out this whole feeling thing is a lot more complicated and annoying than it looks. So I’m sorry if I hurt you, or if I
