“No way.” His eyes shifted between Sebastian and me. “We can’t trust him, Adam. And sunset’s coming.”
I shrugged. “I can take care of myself.”
“You’re not thinking clearly.” Jason took the keys and stuffed them in his pocket. “You don’t even know if he’s helping you. You could be walking—”
“Right into a trap. I get it.” I got out and slammed the door. “This is my only shot and I’m taking it.”
“Shit, Adam. Don’t pull me into this with you. You know I can’t let you go alone.”
“Listen, Sebastian doesn’t want Nero to have Lana either. For now, we want the same thing. Stay here and watch for the Pack.” I glanced at Sebastian to be sure he heard. Since I didn’t know his motives for helping Lana, it wouldn’t hurt for him to know he’d be hip deep in wolves soon.
Jason groaned and shook his head. “Fine. Good luck.”
“Looks like it’s just you and me,” I said to Sebastian as we walked away from the truck toward the trees.
“I am only taking you along as a shield, wolf. Sasha carries a gun, and she never misses.”
“She missed with Aren.”
Sebastian raised a brow and kept moving. “So I have seen.”
When he didn’t say anything else, I realized what he wasn’t saying was probably more important than what he had. Arrogant bastard.
I struggled to keep my footsteps silent, staying close behind Sebastian. The wind whistled through the tops of the pine trees, bending the branches and masking our movement. I glanced up at the twilight sky. Fighting against the moon was painful, mentally and physically. Sweat soaked through my shirt, and I gritted my teeth to stay focused. I wouldn’t be able to hold off shifting much longer, and I couldn’t shift with Sebastian nearby. I’d be too vulnerable.
But there weren’t any other options. I had to follow him. Lana needed me.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Lana
Sasha stopped the car in a clearing off the main road. We were back at Lake Tahoe, which instantly made me think of Adam, of the way it had felt when he brought me here last time. The way he’d goaded me into jumping to the top of a boulder and showed me how to be me. Now my wrists were rubbed raw, my back was bruised from some sort of plastic bullet, and an armed woman was about to hand me over to Nero as a science experiment. I tried really hard not to feel sorry for myself, but none of this was fair.
She opened the back door and yanked me out of the car. The crisp night air felt good on my skin. Above us, the sky was a stunning masterpiece of reds and purples, completely unaware of its contrast with my current predicament.
“Turn around,” she demanded.
I faced the car and then felt her messing with the cuffs. The metal bands released me, and I gasped at the pain that shot up my arms and into my shoulders now that my hands were free. My right wrist was bleeding, my left looked bruised, but it felt so good to be free that I didn’t care.
“Thank you,” I rubbed at my aching arms.
“Nothing’s changed. I just don’t want them to pull some stunt about you being harmed and then break their end of the bargain.”
“I thought they said alive, not unharmed.”
She ground her teeth, the muscles of her jaw clenched, but didn’t answer. I couldn’t prevent a small smirk from creeping onto my face.
“Are they paying you a lot to bring me in?” The writer in me wanted to know details and keeping her talking couldn’t be a bad thing, I gathered. If I lived through this night, I had some great ideas for a book.
Sasha grabbed my elbow and walked me toward the trees. “They’re not paying me money.”
My jaw dropped a little. “You’re screwing up my life for free? Is this fun for you?”
She tightened her grip, and I made a mental note that pissing off my abductor was probably not a good idea. When we got to a shadowed area she pulled me down to the ground. I watched her crouch and take a deep breath.
Time was running out though, and at this point, my best shot at freedom was finding some way to appeal to her humanity. Sasha was tough, but I couldn’t let go of that moment in the car when I saw, for a second, a flash of what might live behind her emotional battle armor.
“You said if there were some other way, you’d take it. If money’s not what you’re after, then what is it? Maybe the Pack can help you get it.”
She kept her attention focused on the growing shadows. “No one can help me but Nero. There’s no other way.” She glanced my way as she lowered her voice to a whisper. “They promised me a cure.”
“A cure? For what—” Then it hit me. “They can reverse the jaguar bite?”
Her eyes scanned the wilderness around us. “They say they can.”
“Then what will you do?”
“Go back to my life, I hope.”
“How long have you been gone?”
She rubbed absently at the scar along her collarbone. “He bit me a year ago.” She gripped my arm tighter, and I couldn’t be sure if she was trying to convince me or herself. “They’re not going to kill you, you know. They want to keep you healthy.”
Revulsion snaked its way down my back. They wanted me healthy to see if I could create more female-born jaguars. I opened my mouth to reply, but Sasha shushed me. Without a word she grabbed my arm and started dragging me farther into the forest.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
“Away from Sebastian,” was her only reply.
Then I heard the lone howl of a wolf, and my heart stuttered. Sasha slid her pistol free from her shoulder holster. I didn’t care if she was trying to get a cure for her jaguar bite; if she was planning to hurt Adam or his family, then I was going to hurt her first. The realization hit me hard, but on some primal level my fear vanished and determination and love filled the void.
I loved Adam, and I wasn’t going to let this bitch hurt him.
Not a chance.
Sasha pulled me through the trees, only stopping when we reached the edge of another clearing. With the bright full moon overhead, we couldn’t hide, so she opted for taking the offensive. She shoved me in front of her, pressing the barrel of her pistol against my spine as she guided me to the center of the clearing. When we were where she wanted me, she didn’t holster her gun, instead she circled slowly, keeping it aimed and ready for anything that might approach us from the forest. Finally she lowered her gun, and I heard her exhale.
“Maybe they’ll actually get here before Sebastian screws everything up for me,” she mumbled.
A howl cut through the night, making her gun fly back up to the ready position. With both her hands on her revolver I could have tried to run, but as much as I wanted to believe I was more valuable to her alive, I didn’t want to prove that theory. Besides, she could always shoot out a knee.
My leg ached just thinking about it. I’d stay put. For now.
Chapter Forty
Adam
When we found Sasha’s car near Lake Tahoe it was empty, but the backseat was ripe with Lana’s scent. I glared at the darkening sky, the giant silver moon rising, calling to the animal inside of me. My incisors lengthened, and when my hackles rose, I could feel each hair bristling underneath my shirt. I’d never fought my instinct to change before. My skin hurt, my bones ached, and my pulse pounded in my head. I ground my teeth and kept Lana’s face in my mind. I had to resist the shift until I knew she was safe. She needed me, and it was programmed inside of me to protect her.
The reality that I needed her just as much as she needed me didn’t escape my notice. The primal instinct to hunt down and kill the person threatening my family made rational thought practically impossible.