Smart. It would take them a while to sort that mess out. Merek wasn’t going to say it out loud. “You want to tel me what al this is for? Where are we, and where exactly are we going in this stolen vehicle?”
He could feel the tension ratchet up in the smal car, saw Alex glance in the rearview mirror to meet Chloe’s eyes. The teen swal owed. “Yeah. There’s a story for that.”
“So.” Chloe took a deep breath. “Here’s what we figured. We can’t use the IDs or credit cards Mil ie gave us, and if those are blown, then any of the properties she owns are out as wel . We haven’t been using them, but not using them has seriously depleted our cash fund. And now we can’t use them because we don’t know which are covered by Smith’s men and which aren’t.”
Alex took up the thread of the explanation as he slowed the vehicle to make a turn onto a narrow two-lane road. “We need somewhere safe, somewhere I can Change, somewhere away from Magickals, somewhere not related to anyone we know.”
“ And . . .” Back to Chloe, and Merek was already sure he wasn’t going to like where this was going any more than he liked riding in a stolen car. These two were too damn smart. “We are running low on cash, but contacting Mil ie for more would be a bad plan, since they probably know she helped us with the IDs.”
He scrubbed a hand down his face. “Cut to the chase. Where have we gone?”
“You’re going to be pissed.” The glance Alex gave him was worried, and that in itself worried Merek.
“We stopped and picked up groceries after we . . . after we got off the ferry from . . . Seattle,” Chloe whispered the last word, as though that would somehow dampen the effect.
He jerked around in his seat to stare at her. “No.”
“Yes.” The stubbornly mutinous look was so familiar he wanted to shake her. He usual y found it endearing, but he was usual y in control of the situation. “It’s already done anyway. We’re here.”
He snarled. “You know how far werewolf senses can stretch!”
Rearing back against the seat, she held up a placating hand. “Wel , we just passed through Seattle. We didn’t stop. We’re on Bainbridge Island.”
As if that would reassure him. “You have to be kidding me.”
“Tess’s aunt and uncle have a house here.” Her fingers linked together in her lap, and she began reciting calm, scientific facts as though reading a checklist. “They’re on sabbatical in Rome, and I know the security code to their place. They have no connection to me; I’ve only been here once with Tess, when the system was instal ed, and I never even met them. More important, no Magickal is going to expect another Magickal to be there.”
He clenched his jaw, looking for a way around her facts. “I don’t like it.”
“Do you have a better idea for where Alex can Change?” Her hands lifted and fel back to her lap in a helpless gesture. “We have no ID to rent a car or house or campsite and not enough cash to convince anyone to look the other way.”
Of course he didn’t have a better plan. Damn it. “This is a bad idea.”
“We’re already here. If anyone was going to sense us, it’s a done deal. We can take a ferry back, if you want, but we might as wel stay until the ful moon is over. It’s just for a few days, and it’l buy us the time we need to figure out what to do next. We know it’s not ideal, but we don’t have that kind of option on the table, do we?” Alex spoke for the first time in several minutes.
“No, we don’t.” Chloe reached over and patted the boy on the shoulder. “I think this is the best plan we can get in the limited time we have until ful moon.”
Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck. Merek rounded on the kid. “Can you control yourself surrounded by that many Normals?”
“Yes.” His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swal owed, but the obstinate set of his jaw said he was serious.
“You’re sure?”
“Yes. I can.” He nodded for emphasis, taking his eyes off the road for a split second to glance back at Chloe, the person who’d believed in him first, who had trusted him and reassured him when he’d had a silver bul et punched through his gut. Then he met Merek’s gaze, his green eyes clear and certain. “I won’t hurt anyone. I can control it.”
“Shit.” Merek slumped, his face dropping into his hand for a moment. He rubbed his fingers against his eyes.
“It’s going to be okay.” Chloe patted his shoulder, and it pissed him off more that he liked her touch, craved it.
“This is a bad—”
“Do you have a better one?” Her fingers tightened on his shoulder, a reassuring squeeze, an apology. He shrugged out of her grip.
“I would have said so if I did.” He sighed and dropped his hand.
“I know.”
The last place he wanted them to be was Seattle, but the damnable truth was he didn’t have a better idea of where to go to keep Alex safe for the ful moon. Chloe was right about al of it, and their future was as foggy to Merek as it always had been. This could be the perfect plan, or it could be utter disaster. Al he could do now was mitigate any damage.
He jerked the cel phone out of his pocket and flipped it open. He placed a secure cal to Mil ie, got her voice mail and left her a message, then he tried Luca. Same thing. He tried to rein in a growl. “Caval i, this is Kingston. We’re on Bainbridge Island for the ful moon. Don’t send anyone over to check on us because I don’t want undue attention. I’l cal again if anything goes down, so be prepared to send in the cavalry.”
Closing the phone, he watched a barn-like two-story house come into view. Another wave of icy, impotent fury ripped through him. He just hoped this wasn’t the mistake that got them kil ed. Or captured. With Smith’s track record, Merek wasn’t sure which one would be the better option. Probably death.
“Fuck.”
“Fuck.”
Chloe slapped her hand against the shingled siding of the Jones’s house and glared at the keypad as if she could wil it to do what she wanted.
“What?” Alex’s quiet voice sounded behind her.
“The security code isn’t working.” She blew out a frustrated breath, shrugging her shoulders to work out the tension. Hours of sitting cramped in the miniscule backseat while she hovered over a pale, unconscious Merek had done nothing to make this easier. She’d never forget the way her heart had literal y stopped when her strong warlock had keeled over. The fact that he was obviously annoyed with the situation didn’t help either. She didn’t even want to consider his reaction when he found out she couldn’t get in the house as she’d claimed she could.
The wolf nudged her out of the way to scrutinize the panel. “Are you sure it’s the right one?”
“It’s Tess’s date of birth.” She lifted her hands and let them drop. “So, yes, I’m sure.”
He rocked back on his heels, sliding his hands in his pockets. His dark brows drew together as he thought, then he gave a definitive nod. “I can get around this.”
“What are we getting around?” Merek rumbled from the far side of the porch. He mounted the steps, a few grocery bags gripped in his hands. Alex had stayed in the car with the sleeping Merek while Chloe had stocked up with enough supplies to hole up until after ful moon.
If they could get into the house. Chloe’s muscles tightened even further as dread curdled in her bel y. She hated this, hated not being on the same side as Merek. Neither of them was backing down, because they both thought they were right. She pul ed in a deep breath. “They’ve changed the security code, but Alex says he can get around it.”
The teen glanced back at Merek. “I’m going to have to break the no gadget modification rule.”
He snorted. “You already broke that when you hijacked the car.”