She nodded again but he wondered how much she actually processed. No doubt she was at the end of her rope. He met her gaze for a long moment, willing her to keep it together long enough for them to get clear, and crouched so he could squeeze her knee. The wolf wanted to climb in with her and curl up around her until she was safe and protected. But there wasn’t time for that.
Dodge kept his eyes on hers, relieved that she no longer cried. “You can do this. You’re very brave. I just need you to be brave ten more minutes and then I can take over. Look straight ahead, put it in neutral, keep the car on the road, and I’ll do the rest.”
Persephone stared at him, then managed to take a deep breath. “Okay.”
He squeezed her knee one more time, more for himself than to reassure her, and carefully shut the car door. He went to the back and dug in his boots, ready to push the car across the damn city if it meant keeping her safe.
Chapter 11
Percy
Ialmost peed myself when Dodge grabbed me in the kitchen. It would have served him right for sneaking up on me like that, but most of me was too relieved to have someone else there to deal with the awfulness of what those saws and cleavers...
I shuddered and dragged my attention back to what I was doing in that moment. He’d said I just had to be brave for ten more minutes. That was it. Focus on steering the car. I’d managed to get it into neutral and then he grunted and the car started moving. I looked back once to see him pushing the car, not even breaking a sweat, but his head cocked as he looked at me, like he was irritated I wasn’t doing what he said. I turned back quickly to focus on the road.
Luckily, there wasn’t traffic. I might have passed out completely if another car drove by. With nothing else out there, it gave us plenty of warning if anything else approached. My foot kept creeping toward the gas, wanting to go faster and get the fuck out of there.
We must have gone a mile, at least, before Dodge came up on the driver’s side and opened the door, shooing me toward the passenger side. “Good girl.”
Good girl? What, like I was a Labrador? I gave him what I hoped was a withering look. “This is my car, and –“
“And how much experience do you have with combat driving and evading pursuit?”
I scowled, wanting to give a smart ass remark, but the memory of thosethwack-thwacknoises and then the foot hitting the floor... If those guys pursued us, I didn’t want to be the one in charge. At least Dodgelookedcapable. That was half the battle. Maybe.
So I climbed over the console, almost busting my knee on the gear shifter thing, but finally flopped into the passenger seat. My legs remained mostly under the steering wheel, even with Dodge already getting in, shutting the door and starting up the engine. He patted the inside of my knee absently as he moved my legs out of the way. I could only stare at him in consternation as he put the car in ‘drive’ and headed at a leisurely pace toward the city. I would have floored it, but he drove like it was a Sunday afternoon on the way to the park.
“Who the fuckareyou?” I finally asked. My brain didn’t want to come up with any other words. Stopping to think meant stopping toremember, and I didn’t want that. I wanted brain bleach. I wanted one of those movie devices that zapped away your memories. I wanted to go back in time and never accept the job at the animal sanctuary.
“I’m Dodge,” he said, and damn me if he didn’t reach over and offer his hand to shake. “Since we haven’t been formally introduced, I suppose.”
I stared at his hand, flabbergasted. “I – What –“
He sighed, like I was completely unreasonable, and caught my hand to shake with an exaggerated up-and-down. “Nice to meet you, Persephone.”
“Why were you out there? What were you – were you following me?” My voice ended in a shriek, loud enough it bounced around inside the car and made him wince.
“There are some things we have to talk to you about,” he said slowly, not looking at me. He kept his attention alternately on the road in front of him and the road behind him. “And since you ran off before we had the chance to explain what happened this morning, yes – they sent me to bring you back.”
“So you’re kidnapping me.” I debated reaching for the door handle and jumping out of the car.
He gave me a sideways look, like he could read my mind, and just about dared me to try it. My cheeks flushed and I gripped the strap of my purse harder. At least I’d left it in the car, so my stuff wasn’t left behind at the sanctuary.
Dodge shook his head and sighed. “I’d say I just saved your life, sweetheart. But if it makes you feel better about the whole thing, sure. I’m kidnapping you.”
I fumed. What a dick. Even if he’d been nice enough to keep me from freaking the fuck out earlier. Although that was more likely just him wanting to keep his own ass safe. Before I could come up with an articulate way to tell him to go jump in a lake, he drove faster and took a sharp turn. “Who else knew you were there? Are there security cameras around the facility? Do you have to swipe a badge to enter or check-in?”
I blinked, struggling to keep up with the rapid-fire questions. “Uh... Just Geordie and the people who were working earlier. The last one left around... three thirty, I think? I wasn’t paying attention to the time. There are security cameras but they’re mostly focused on the animal pens and the vet block where the tranquilizers are kept. I don’t know if there’s anything where... where we were. There’s no badges or ID swipes. They keep talking about putting a system in, but Ms. Bridger hasn’t had it installed yet.”
He shot me a sideways look. “Bridger? That’s the woman who’s running this place?”
“Yeah,” I said slowly. “Do you know her? She’s older, blonde, has dark eyes...”
“Yeah, dark eyes,” he muttered. “As black as her fucking soul.”
I reared back in surprise. “What are you talking about? She’s done a lot of good, and –“
Dodge shook his head and pulled out his phone, dialing without taking his eyes off the road. I faced him, feeling one more thing spiral out of my control. “You don’t know her. You must be thinking of someone else.”
