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Unfortunately, we hadn't even gotten ten feet from the town walls before Ada and Theo were at each other's throats about our destination.
"I'm the one driving this fucked up party bus," I said, raising my voice to be heard over all the damned arguing going on behind me. "I was hired to come get you and take you back to Westhold," I narrowed my eyes at the assholes. "That's it."
Ada turned her angry blue eyes on me. "I'll pay you for the detour then." She placed a hand over her stomach. "I need my mate by my side when this baby is born! He's suffered in exile far too long as it is."
I glared at Theo. Had he known all along that his cousin was going to insist on a detour to pick up her baby's daddy? At some shack town in the middle of nowhere?
"Back the fuck up," I growled, eyes pinned to the dwindling road leading away from Golding. "Mate? Humans don't have mates. They have husbands. Girlfriends. Life-fucking-partners. Not mates."
Silence stretched out its awkward fingers, giving me a little tickle of hell no.
"You're right," Ada said with a sigh. "But shifters have mates. My husband is a cur—a canid shifter similar to a coyote."
I glanced at Theo in the rearview, to find him studying his cousin with his lips pressed together. His eyes were glinting with that dangerous look again, the one that reminded me that he might look like a weak human, but he had to have climbed to the top of the politics ladder somehow...probably by sheer ruthlessness. "Babies are born without fathers every day. This one will survive too," he said firmly.
The woman let out a high-pitched, whistling shriek and I was pretty sure I was going to see the precious human sovereign gutted with a set of pink manicured fingernails. Luckily, the bodyguard stepped in, catching Ada's wrist and sitting forward on the bench seat to insert herself between the two cousins. "Ada, he's just trying to push your buttons. You know he'll eventually do anything you ask."
Ada huffed and tugged her arm free, crossing her arms over her swollen midsection and looking at Theo with tears shimmering in her big blue eyes. Fuck. The bodyguard was probably right. Human males were notoriously ill equipped to deal with crying pregnant women. Not that I blamed them. I was feeling attacked myself.
Theo sighed. "Ada. If it really means this much to you, we'll go. But...are you sure? Is it worth the price you'll pay—your parents' disapproval, the political fallout, the shit you're going to have to deal with every day?” I rolled my eyes. Fucking humans. Of course, it wasn't just about a dangerous and inconvenient detour. It was also a Godsdamned spiritual quest for her to stand up to societal norms for a taste of shifter ass.
Humans were so weak and stupid. Sure, the whole discrimination thing sucked—on both sides—but humans had it good. Only a chick from a rich family would go looking for trouble, while the rest of the population was perfectly happy to stay separated as long as they had food and shelter for another day.
"It's worth everything," the stupid woman whispered, her voice hushed, but fierce.
I rolled my eyes.
"Sam," Theo said, resigned, but still perfectly capable of trying to order me around. "Head east."
"Double," I growled. "And if any of my team or my equipment are damaged, it's coming out of your fucking weak human skin."
Theo just stared me down in the rearview, his bright blue gaze steady and confident, like someone who always got his way. Well, tough titties. This was the fucking wastelands, not a courtroom full of old rich people.
I swerved around a rock, then met his eyes again. He arched a brow at me in challenge. "I'll pay you triple, if you just do it without bitching."
I bit back a laugh. "Throw that stupid strategy book of yours out the window, and we've got a deal."
He rolled his eyes. "Strategy is everything, Sam. Brute force, stubbornness, and plain, dumb luck will only get you so far."
I flicked my eyes back to the road, but I could feel his gaze boring into the back of my head. Whatever. Like he knew anything about me. Dumbass.
We stopped a couple hours later. If Emerson's patchy satellite info was any good, we should be getting close to the stupid shack camp. Whether anyone would even be alive there when we arrived was anyone's guess. Settlements didn't stand much of a chance outside the walled protection of a city.
I slipped out of the driver's seat and stretched my whole body, feeling like I needed a good fight to loosen up my muscles. I eyed the bodyguard—Jenny—where she stood near Ada, close enough to defend the woman if there was a need, but far enough away to almost look professional. I noticed Ada was always looking for the other woman, darting glances, turning her body to keep her in sight as she talked with the others.
I sidled up to the tall, muscular woman as she fingered the knife at her waist. "So," I said in a low voice. "Does the husband know you guys are fucking?"
Cold gray eyes met mine. "How is that any of your business? You're just a high-paid bus driver."
I arched my brows at her. "Wow. Thanks. Look, lady, I'm not blind." I waved a hand toward Ada. "You're all over that. And I could give a fuck less. But I don't want to show up to collect this random shifter at a fucking shack village that's probably filled with low-lives who got thrown out of a real city, only to get my ass caught up in some stupid drama about mates and who's bumping uglies." I shrugged. "I drive and I kill shit. I don't deal with drama."
She snorted. "Don't worry. Our relationship isn't a secret. Even from that asshole."
I sighed. "So, there is going to be drama."
She lifted one leather-clad shoulder in a half-shrug. "I don't care for the fucker. But for some reason, Ada loves him. He doesn't ask about her relationship with me, and I return the favor."
I nodded. That was the way some poly relationships went. Not one I think I'd particularly enjoy, but each to their own.
"How about some sparring?" I said, twisting from side to side to limber up. I hated sitting still on these long drives.
She eyed me up and down. "I'm part Jackalope," she said in a dry voice. "Just in case you were hoping for an easy human target."
I laughed. "I've never met a Jackalope before. Sounds fun."
She grinned, but it wasn't any warmer than her usual glare. "I'd be happy to kick your scrawny ass, for demonstration purposes."
And that's what I proceeded to let her do. The others watched with varying levels of concern, irritation, or boredom. But I enjoyed every minute, gloried in every punch I took, every vicious kick from her powerful legs.
There was no better way to learn than by getting your ass kicked. I felt Ahura's sharp red eyes on us the whole time. She understood, and I bet she was cataloging all of Jenny's weaknesses, just like I was. When I finally held up my hands to call a halt to the brutality, the bodyguard stood over me, smirking, sure of her superior strength and speed.
"Get up bus driver," she said, extending a hand to pull me to my feet.
I wiped a trickle of blood from the corner of my lip and waved to the others. "Round it up. We need to get moving if we want to get to the village before full dark."
Fin was shaking his head and muttering about my need for violence. Emerson was making puppy dog eyes that made me think he'd like nothing more than to come hug me and fix my boo-boos. I glared at them both until they got in the camper.
Ahura arched a brow at me and winked before she followed. She knew what was up, for sure.
Theo stopped me as I went to cross to my side of the camper. I looked down at his hand on my arm, then pointedly lifted my gaze to meet his.
"Don't let Jenny get to you," he said gravely. "I know she's abrasive, but she's been a good companion to Ada since Hans was wrongfully accused and sent to the wastes."
I stepped closer to him, angling my body so no one else could read my lips. "Do you really trust any of this?"
His blue eyes glowed in the sinking sun, and I felt the flare from his purchased wards as I got into his personal space. He lifted a hand to stroke my hair behind my ear, and I froze under the unexpectedly intimate gesture. Then he leaned in, bringing his body closer to mine in a way that must look like something sensual to anyone watching us. They'd all think we were flirting. I tilted my head as he leaned in, his lips brushing my earlobe. I definitely didn't shudder a little at the warm caress of his breath, or his scent of hot sunshine and fine clove cigarettes.
"Not one bit," he whispered. "Keep your eyes open Sam. I'm pretty sure there's a snake in our midst. But sometimes you have to let these things play out."
His fingers slipped from my hair and he stepped away to casually walk back to the camper.
That's what I'd thought. Just fucking great.
I should have asked for way more money for this job. Like enough to buy a new house in a different city, far away from this asshole and his stupid games.