Leaning against the side of the car, I let my head fall back and sighed.
I wished I’d brought some blood with me, or at least a bottle of hard spirits. The scent of violence was stuck up my nose, my throat had an annoying itch, and death was on my mind.
Behind me, the compound was lit up with a thousand artificial lights, but darkness clung to the alley. The sky was tinted orange by the city. Always orange. I decided I hated it. Being alone out in the middle of nowhere with Sloane had been a nightmare, but strangely, it had been the calmest I’d felt in a long time. Maybe it was her, or maybe it was the lack of Fortitude.
Movement drew my attention, and I straightened up, my palm settling on the gun shoved into the waistband of my jeans.
Sloane emerged out of the darkness, her hand firmly in Sam’s grasp.
I didn’t want to know how they got out of the compound with no one noticing, but I assumed Gasket had something to do with it.
“Okay?” she asked, her voice low.
I nodded. “Clear.”
Sam glanced at me warily, her gaze falling to the gun. I knew what she thought of me—that I was a cold, hard killer who cared nothing for nobody. Everyone said the same thing, so I wasn’t surprised by her hesitation. She was here because she had nowhere else to turn to.
Sam had brought nothing with her, just the clothes on her back.
“Here.” Sloane took Sam’s hand and set something into her palm.
“You got it?” Tears misted Sam’s eyes as she inspected whatever Sloane had given her.
Sloane nodded. “I promised, didn’t I?”
The two women embraced and I turned away, not entirely sure if I was irritated by their display of emotion or saddened by it. They would likely never see one another again.
“You’ll like Yvette,” Sloane said. “She’s got a daughter. Bringing her up on her own. She’s going to meet you at the border, give you a ride back west, and give you a place to stay for a while.”
I opened the car door and raised an eyebrow.
Sloane waved me off. “Give us a second, would you?”
“We’re out of time,” I told her.
Sam nodded. “He’s right. If you get caught—”
They hugged again, this time a little tighter.
“Thank you, Sloane. For everything.” Sam wiped a tear and got into the car. Fiddling with the necklace in her palm, she reached behind her neck and put it on.
“Take care of her,” Sloane said to me.
I smirked. “I got you here, didn’t I?”
Sloane’s lips curved, and she pressed her forehead against mine. “What about Marini?”
“He thinks I’m scouting out the Hollow Men,” I told her. “He wants us to think he’s planning some kind of retaliation.”
Sloane glanced at the car, but Sam was already sitting inside and out of earshot. “Is he?”
I tensed, conflicted about telling her the truth. After a moment, I settled on, “Not the kind the pack wants.”
Sloane pulled back and I knew she was onto me. Her gaze studied mine and her scent was full of the wolf I knew lived inside her. It was almost time.
“Gasket’s waiting for me,” she said after a moment.
“Go. I’ll send word when I get back.”
I rounded the hood and opened the driver’s side door.
“Hey, Chaser?” Sloane’s voice echoed down the narrow alley.
I glanced over my shoulder. Even the darkness made her look beautiful.
“Thank you.”
I nodded and slid into the car.
“What’s with you two?” Sam asked as I turned on the engine and coasted down the alley.
I grunted, not wanting to talk about it. Sloane had started off as cargo, just like Sam was now. Difference was, Sam would stay that way. Unless Marini realised where I was, who I was with, and where we were going. The Hollow Men didn’t rate a mention…yet.
“You fell in love with her, didn’t you?”
“You don’t know anything about my life,” I replied, keeping my eyes on the road.
“I suppose not.”
Thankfully, she shut her mouth because I was not in the mood for a heart-to-heart. I was driving ten hours across the country for her—for Sloane—risking my life to get Sam out. I didn’t need another big-mouthed woman telling me what I needed to do on another long drive through hell.
“She’s not safe there,” Sam said, breaking the silence I craved. “She’ll never be safe.”
“She knows that,” I shot back. “We know that.”
“If you care about her, you need to get her out of there.”
“Sloane… She has unfinished business with her father.” It was all I could say on the matter. Trying to explain my past, Sloane’s, and our current plans for taking Fortitude to a woman who’d become a widow less than twelve hours ago was impossible.
“You can tell me, Chaser,” she said. “I’m not going back there. I can’t.” She snorted and sank back in the seat. “Harley was the only person who kept me safe, and even then, he’d become a monster. I loved him once, but I was too afraid to leave. There was still a part of me that hoped the man I fell for was still in there. That Fortitude hadn’t taken him away from me entirely, you know? I was afraid to let go.”
I tensed, her words hitting home. He’d become a monster. I was the same. I was a vampire, which made me a monster by default, but through the talisman I’d become the Devil himself.
“Everyone else, they might’ve liked me in their own way, but they didn’t stop him hurting me,” she went on. “Not once. Sloane was the only person who stepped in, you know. I should’ve trusted her.”
“You had no reason to trust anyone,” I said. “Not with a track record like that.”
“I only trust you and this Yvette woman because Sloane vouched.”
I gritted my teeth. I hated deep and meaningful conversations. I wouldn’t even entertain them with Sloane, let alone Sam.
“No one ever stuck up for me like that,” Sam went on, babbling. “Stood up to Harley. I can’t believe he’s gone… Just… Dead.”
“Sloane stood up for you for a reason,” I said. “She risked her life for you.”
“You risked yours for her, right? You got killed?”
“It’s my job,” I snapped.
“No one voluntarily gets killed,” she declared. “Not even a vampire.”
“I do.” I was so over this conversation.
Sam’s mouth fell open in shock. “She’s got you by the short and curlies, hasn’t she?”
I screwed up my face. “Huh?”
“Kelly will be devastated.”
“Who the hell is Kelly?” I scowled and rolled my eyes.
“Stewie’s woman.”
“Bet he’d have a few things to say about that.”
“What are you going to do?” she asked. “When you get back to Fortitude? I don’t think Marini’s got good intentions. I’ve always been scared of him.”
“Smart girl,” I drawled.
“So?” she prodded. “What are you going to do?”
Thinking about Marini’s plan to sell Sloane off to the Hollow Men, I narrowed my eyes. We were on the highway now, travelling away from the lights of Melbourne. Soon, we would be able to see the stars again. The real ones.
I grunted, signalling I didn’t want to talk about it because I didn’t know what I was going to do.
Whatever happened, it was going to be a bloodbath. Sam should be happy she got out now. Extremely happy.
“We’ve got a long way to go,” I said, turning on the radio. “You should get some sleep.”
Sam sighed and nestled into the seat, rubbing her eyes with the sleeve of her cardigan.
“She’s so got your balls,” she muttered.
It was a long way to the border.
A full night had passed, and the sun was showing its face by the time we parked in the lot of a McDonald’s near the highway. I left Sam in the car stuffing her face with cheeseburgers and fries while I sat on the bonnet, watching the traffic come and go.
Apart from our insightful conversation about who had or did not have the possession of my short and curlies, the trip had been uneventful. Unlike the last time I drove across the country, no one had shot at us.
Sam… Well, after a while, things kind of got to her. She’d fallen asleep after a while but had cried and sniffed straight across Victoria. Couldn’t blame her, but I had no words of comfort. Harley was dead—I’d snapped his neck and covered it up to save Sloane—and there was nothing I could do about that.
Besides, I wasn’t Sloane. Sloane knew how to use her words. All I knew was how to pull the trigger. The life I led at Fortitude had erased the one I knew when I was with Loretta—a life full of tenderness, smiles, care, and sacrifice. How did I get those things back? If I lost Sloane to the Hollow Men or her father, did I want to care that much about her? Loretta’s murder had destroyed me utterly and completely. Her death had turned me into a shell with no humanity.
I watched as a red Suzuki Swift turned into a spot across the car park and lifted my head.
I vaguely remembered Yvette from the pub where I’d found Sloane. A tiny blonde with pouty lips. That and how much Sloane cared about her. The fact Yvette had just upped and left her kid to drive across the country to take in a woman she didn’t know scored more points in her favour. She was taking on a lot for no other reason than Sloane had asked.
The driver’s side door opened and a little blonde woman climbed out. Turning, she spotted me sitting on the hood of the car and glanced around. Inside the McDonald’s, there were tables full of travellers eating their way through chicken nuggets and sweet and sour dipping sauce, but the far edge of the car park was empty, save for a few long-haul trucks.
The woman wandered over, her hands shoved into the pockets of her denim jacket.
Yvette pouted and looked me over. “I can’t believe Sloane trusted you.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Is that right?”
“How is she?”
“Fighting.”
“She was always good at that.” Yvette craned her neck and gave Sam the once-over in the car behind me.
I slid off the bonnet and opened the passenger side door.
“Your ride is here,” I said, tapping the roof. I narrowed my eyes, warning her to keep her mouth shut about all things supernatural.
Sam got out of the car with a sigh and sized Yvette up. Immediately, she combed her fingers through her knotty hair and wiped the back of her hand across her mouth.
I snorted, earning myself a glare from Sloane’s BFF. I could see why she intimidated other women. She was pretty and all, but she wasn’t Sloane.
“Hey, I’m Yvette,” she said, smiling at Sam.
Sam glanced at me, and I nodded.
“We’ve got a long drive ahead of us,” Yvette went on. “We can get to know one another in the car. Are you hungry? We can get something to go if you are.”
“Chaser already got me something,” Sam replied.
“Good. I’m glad his surly arse was thoughtful enough to feed you.” Yvette turned her attention to me. “You look after Sloane, okay? I’m holding you responsible if anything happens, you got that?”
“Sure,” I drawled, handing her an envelope.
“What’s this?” She took it and peered inside at the wad of yellow fifty-dollar notes.
“Money.”
“No shit, Sherlock.” Yvette rolled her eyes and pocketed the cash.
When she didn’t leave, I asked, “Why are you still standing here?”
Yvette scowled at me and wrapped her arm around Sam’s shoulder. “Is he always like that?” she asked as they walked off.
“Yep.” Sam gave me one last look and mouthed the words thank you.
I waited until they were in the car and on the road before I turned away. The things people did for Sloane never failed to amaze me. Gasket, Yvette, me. But she deserved it, right? Look what she’d done for Sam, a woman she’d known for a little under a month. It was always something with her. Passionate, reckless, and completely selfless. Sloane had a definite sense of right and wrong.
Gasket was right about one thing. Fortitude wasn’t for her. I wondered what would happen if she managed to take alpha.
Shaking my head, I got back into the car, backed out of the space, and turned back the way I’d come. Back to Melbourne, Fortitude, and an all-out war.
Back to Sloane.
As the lights of the McDonald’s faded in the background, I thought about the things Sam had told me.
Maybe it was love, after all.