Jessie dropped the pot on the deck chair and headed out into the pouring rain. She was instantly soaked to the skin. It was sheeting down so hard she could barely see. She followed Spike around the corner and across the tall grass and weeds of the front yard.
Jessie came around the lilac hedge, overgrown and rambling at about ten feet tall. Spike stood at the end of the hedge. She pushed past the dog, and saw Laura getting into Zach’s old pickup truck.
It was an ancient truck, likely mid 1980’s vintage. Zach kept the keys in a bowl near the back door. No one would have noticed them missing. Not with all the crap going on.Dammit.If Laura bolted now... Jessie didn’t want to think about Kade being forced to something drastic.
She had to stop her.
Jessie ran for the truck. The interior light showed Laura hunching over the steering wheel, no doubt inserting the keys into the ignition. As with everything Zach owned, the outside of the vehicle was deceiving as hell. The truck started with the healthy roar of a well-tuned engine, and when Jessie was still ten feet from it, Laura put it in gear.
Jessie reached for the passenger door as the vehicle rolled forward. Her heart in her mouth, she grabbed onto the handle. It opened.
Laura shot her a shocked look as Jessie pulled herself into the seat and slammed the door.
“Get out.”
“Laura, you can’t do this. If Braden doesn’t find you, the Sabres will.”
“I’m not mating a bloody monster.” The blonde woman put her foot down, and the truck accelerated.
“Look, I know it isn’t an ideal situation. But any Sabre is a thousand times better than Braden.”
Laura’s lips compressed into a hard line, but she didn’t answer. She swerved as the drive curved. The wipers couldn’t keep up with the water. they could barely see where they were going.
When Laura swerved again, Jessie reached for the seat belt, and put it on. “You don’t understand how determined Braden is.”
“I know Braden a helluva lot better than you do.”
“Braden is lying to you. And now you’re leaving the only safety net we have.”
“Safety? With a bunch of werecats?” Laura laughed.
The hysterical note in it twisted knots in Jessie’s gut. Short of wrestling the other woman for the wheel, she was temporarily out of options.
Laura sent the truck hurtling down the drive. The wipers swiped water aside, and suddenly the access road appeared. The blonde woman braked and skidded onto it, steadied the truck, and accelerated.
This was all kinds of bad. Regardless of whether she was running to Braden, or to the police, no way the Sabres could allow Laura to do this. Chances were good they were already after them. Jessie shot a look over her shoulder, but in the dim light and driving rain, she couldn’t see anything.
“They’re not coming,” Laura said. “I slashed their tires.”
Jessie stared at her in shock. The woman had planned this well. Was this Laura’s idea? Or Braden’s? Her answer came faster than she anticipated. Jessie caught a glimpse of something dark in the middle of the road. Laura slammed on the brakes. The truck’s tires bit into the gravel and hit the softer verge. It slewed sideways and then flipped.
Just like Zach’s dream, the world spun as the vehicle rolled. Its front end hit the side of the ditch, and it slammed to a halt, lying on an angle on its side.
Jessie fought to clear her head. The truck was too old to have airbags, and her chest ached where her body had come up hard against the seat belt. She glanced over to Laura. To her relief, the blonde woman had also put hers on. She was groaning and bleeding from a cut over her eye, but alive.
As was the way with thunderstorms, the rain shut off as though someone had turned a tap. The sudden cessation of sound gave everything a dreamlike quality.
The truck bounced as a heavy weight landed on it.
Jessie’s head snapped around to stare out the broken window. A Dire Were stood on the slanted hood, his claws hooking into the metal. Behind him, more dark heads peered at them from the road. With the storm abating, the sun was pushing through the clouds, revealing the variations in the colors of their fur.
Jessie had no idea that Dires came in so many colors. Her horrified gaze fastened on the one standing only feet away from the truck. The rain had plastered his dense black fur close to his muscular body. He met Jessie’s eyes. His lips pulled back from his long teeth, but only on one side of his face.
Braden.
He paced to her door. Wrapped his thick beast fingers around the twisted frame. And pulled it straight off the truck. The strength was so casual it stole her ability to breathe. He sliced through the seat belt with razor-sharp claws and pulled away as his frame writhed back to human, until he stood tall and naked. The entire time, his gaze remained locked on Jessie.
Then he closed his hand around her arm and hauled her free from the truck. He stuck his nose against her neck and inhaled hard.
