Something jolted me awake, and I sat straight up. Pale light drifted in through the windows, making me aware that it was probably insanely early.
The truck shook, and Neo made a disgruntled sound as he sat up as well.
“Do you hear something?” I whispered.
He tilted his head, then startled the breath out of me as he shifted into his human form again. “Someone’s coming.”
Separating the guys’ thoughts from the unfamiliar ones creeping closer, I invaded the new minds with ease.
“Are we sure this is the truck?”
“You heard the man. We’re searching for six young kids. Late teens, early twenties. I was told only the girl and the guy with blond, curly hair are crucial. Oh, and the younger-looking guy. He’s pretty important as well.”
Nausea filled me at how close these men were. I might not know my guys well, but I didn’t want anything bad to happen to them. I scrambled to my hands and knees, jolting a bit when I ran into someone, and they grunted.
I shoved Neo toward the open window into the cab of the truck. “Go through the window to let Galen know.”
Neo nodded once to show he heard, then he transformed into a pup again and leaped through the open window.
As the truck started, gunshots rang through the air, and metal pinged as they shot toward the tires.
Donovan pulled me to the blankets, rolling so he lay on top of me.
“You okay?” he asked gruffly.
My heart pounded hard as we lurched into motion.
“I’m fine,” I managed to squeeze out through a throat swollen by fear.
“What the hell is going on?” Frosty and Aidan demanded simultaneously.
Neither had moved, so I hadn’t realized they’d woken up.
Above me, Donovan shook his head. “I swear you two share a brain.”
I was pretty sure I was the only person who heard him over the roar of the engine. I smacked his shoulder, then attempted to shove him off me. Which went… well. Yeah, we’ll go with that, considering he didn’t move at all. “Play nice with everyone.”
He ducked his head, his hair brushing against my cheek. “Sorry.” His lips moved against my collarbone, the rasp of his whiskers over my skin making me shiver as my skin heated.
Frosty and Aidan both peered out the window at the sound of an engine speeding toward us.
“That didn’t take long,” Frosty said.
My mind raced through a million different solutions. “Can you slow them down?”
They turned their heads to look at me, Frosty with surprise, and Aidan with narrowed eyes and pursed his lips.
“Slow them down… how?” Aidan asked.
“With your abilities,” I clarified.
They moved away from each other, and I couldn’t decide if it got warmer or colder under the canopy. I felt like I was overheating, even though my breath hung on the air.
“Donovan, anchor her down. We’re going to open the door so we can see them,” Aidan said as the temperature rose another degree.
I didn’t like this. Not at all. We were all going to fly out the back, then become speed bumps for the men chasing us.
Donovan grabbed the strap of the backpack with one hand and pressed against me as Aidan shoved the door open. Cool air rushed through the canopy, nearly ripping the door off its hinges, but at that point, I didn’t care if we got sucked out the door. At least, it was cooler than being in an enclosed space with someone who couldn’t control their heat output.
Aidan snapped his fingers, the sound carrying over the heavy winds. It seemed almost anticlimactic when nothing happened, until an explosion burst to life on the far right. Up to that point, we hadn’t seen many other cars, but of course, one chose that moment to swerve past.
I barely paid the other car attention as I yelled, “Uh, what was that?”
Frosty braced his feet on the wall next to the door, practically echoing my words. “What the hell was that? They’re behind us, not out in the desert!”
Aidan didn’t take his eyes off the car following us. “I’ve never attempted to hit a moving target before. It’s not like there’s a user manual on how to aim a fucking fireball!”
He snapped his fingers again. This time, the fireball exploded closer to the car but still didn’t touch it.
“Once more, and a little to the left!” Frosty shouted.
“I know! I’ve got it!”
Something pinged against the car multiple times, and I covered my eyes. “Are they still shooting at us?”
Even though I asked the question out loud, I heard from Aidan’s and Frosty’s minds that we were being shot at.
“Shit!” Aidan yelled, and I peeked through my fingers to see him press one hand against a wound on his bicep. Blood seeped through his fingers, while he snapped again.
Heat flew at us as this fireball hit its target, completely engulfing the car and stopping it in its tracks. Fire flew in all directions, and I mentally grabbed for the door, using as much power as possible to yank it closed against the wind that tried to tear it out of my grasp.
Out the side window, a car pulled to the side of the road, the driver climbing out of his car with a phone to his ear. That couldn’t be good.
Aidan lay down, panting as he attempted to put pressure on his wound.
Frosty shoved Aidan’s hand aside, then put his own weight into stopping the flow of blood. “Tell Galen we need to stop soon to see if he can heal this.”
I nodded, glancing through the window separating the bed of the truck from the cab as Neo, the puppy, jumped through it.
Galen? Aidan’s been shot.
Shit. Lots of blood?
Enough.
I have to stop soon anyway. We’re out of gas.
I turned back to the rest of the guys. “Galen will pull over soon. Apparently, we’re out of gas.”
Surprisingly, we were able to travel another mile or two before the truck slowed to a stop. Gravel crunched under our tires as Galen pulled off the road.
It didn’t take him long to climb into the back and heal Aidan. A wound appeared on Galen’s bicep matching the one disappearing from Aidan’s.
“Is it supposed to do that?” I asked.
Galen wiped away the drop of blood dripping down his arms. “Yeah. I can’t technically heal others. I absorb their injuries and heal myself.”
“Sounds painful,” I murmured.
He shrugged. “I heal faster than Aidan does.”
He wasn’t wrong about that. The wound was already closing up. Or, at least, blood quit oozing from it.
“Grab as much as we can, then let’s get out of here. They found us fast, so there’s probably a tracker on the truck. We should leave it here, anyway.” Galen hopped back out of the truck, the GPS in his hands. “I have no clue how long the battery will last. It wasn’t exactly charged when we found it, but it still might be useful.”
Donovan and I shoved everything toward the tailgate, letting Frosty, Aidan, and Galen take it. I hopped out next, grimacing at the warm pavement under my bare feet. The sun hadn’t been up for long, and I could already tell it would be hot today.
“Would have been nice if they’d given me actual clothes,” I muttered.
Frosty crouched next to me. “Want a ride, blondie? At least, most of us actually have shoes on.”
I contemplated his offer, but he was right. I’d slow them down by walking on my own. And in the end, I’d probably end up with burns on my feet as well. “Fine.”
Climbing onto his back, he hefted me up, then Aidan helped him stand with my weight on his back.
I wrapped my arms around Frosty’s shoulders, a slight chill seeping through his shirt that I did my best to ignore, and we set off with Aidan carrying the backpack and food, Galen holding onto the blankets, and Donovan with the water.
Frosty shifted me into a more comfortable position. “What happened to your shoes, anyway?”
“They took them after I attempted to escape for the second time,” I admitted.
At my words, I felt interest spike in Frosty’s mind. “You tried to escape? More than once?”
“Four times. The final time, I actually made it out of the facility. That’s when they put me into a cell I couldn’t see out of.”
“Why?” Donovan asked. He had no problem keeping up with the others, even while carrying the heavy jug of water.
“They were under the mistaken impression that I couldn’t use my abilities on things or people I couldn’t see. It makes it harder, but I can do it blind.”
“Like when you reached me?” Donovan asked.
I nodded.
Frosty jostled me. “Just to clarify, you can only talk to people mentally, not see inside their thoughts, right?”
I winced, not sure I wanted them to know I could see into their minds without much effort now. “Normally.”
Aidan studied me with his dark gaze. “What does that mean?”
“It means that before they decided to inject me with your blood, if I wasn’t trying to get into someone’s mind, all I got off people were feelings.” At his confused look, I clarified, “Sort of like being an empath. Like, I could feel people’s reactions. If they were upset, happy, not feeling well, etc.”
Aidan tilted his head. “And now?”
“Now… the thoughts won’t stop pouring into my head. If I concentrate really hard, I can block most voices out, but I’m constantly hearing everyone’s thoughts at once, so none of them make sense. Not unless I choose to concentrate on a particular voice.”
“But you can hear anyone’s thoughts. Not just ours.” It was a statement from Donovan.
I was surprised he knew. “Yeah. It’s what woke me up. I could hear them talking, only it was all in my head. I’m sort of blocking you guys out of my head now. I mean, I can still hear you, but I’m ignoring it, if that makes sense.”
Galen glanced at me over his shoulder. “Is that why your head hurts?”
“I…” My mouth opened and closed as I searched for something to say. How was I supposed to react to that? “Yeah, I guess. But it’s not so bad. I can mostly ignore that, too.”
Headaches had plagued me for as long as I could remember, and this one was pretty low on the pain scale.
Images flashed through my head, and I was beginning to realize that was Neo’s way of gaining my attention. A GPS flashed through my mind, followed by a compass. “I think Neo wants to know if we’re going the right way.”
Frosty snickered. “You communicate with animals, too?”
I bent, sinking my teeth into his shoulder. A chill ran down my spine as his cold shirt touched my teeth. “No. I’ve never been able to communicate with them before. My guess is it’s only because Neo is technically human.”
Frosty stopped moving to glare at me over his shoulder. “Did you seriously just bite me?”
“Uh-huh. ‘cause you were laughing at me.”
Aidan flicked a glance in our direction. “She bit you?”
Frosty started walking again, and by the slow grin he tossed over his shoulder, I wasn’t going to like what came out of his mouth next.
“Hot, right? You’re probably jelly, but I’m not sharing. I can tell she only has eyes for me.”
And I was right. He was officially an idiot.
I flicked his ear.
He jumped. “Hey, none of that, dearest. We don’t want to fight in front of the children.”
How had I lost control of the conversation so quickly?
Neo growled at Frosty as Donovan scowled and said, “She’s not yours.”
“She totes is. She bit me. That’s like… yeah. She has the hots for me.” He leaned back, whispering, “Don’t worry, babe. The feeling is completely mutual.”
Where did this conversation go so wrong? “What did I do to deserve this?”
“I believe it was when you bit him,” Aidan replied helpfully.
“Not helping,” I muttered.
“I know. Really, there’s no helping this entire situation.”
Frosty chuckled. “C’mon, babe. You’re going to hurt my feelings.”
I sighed. “Whatever.”
With a small smile, Galen glanced at the GPS. “To answer your question, Neo, we’re heading the right way.”
After that failure of a discussion, I decided to stay quiet.
We’d walked quite a ways, and Frosty and Galen essentially kept us alive. Periodically, Frosty would cool everyone’s core temp to keep them from getting heatstroke or whatever. With the sun beating down on us and no shade, Galen used his ability to heal when he noticed us getting pink.
After a while, Aidan offered everyone something to eat, and I hopped down from Frosty’s back while tugging at my shirt. I was just glad no cars had passed us or they definitely would have received an eyeful.
We ate, then Donovan shoved the water canister at Frosty. “You get this, I’ll carry Embry.”
Frosty scowled. “But she’s mine. I don’t share well with others.”
“Well, learn.” Donovan didn’t say anything else before helping me climb onto his back.
Truth be told, I felt safer with him. At least, my crotch and legs wouldn’t go numb from Donovan’s body temperature.
I curled against his back. “You’re so warm.”
He didn’t break stride. “Is that bad?”
“God, no. I’m pretty sure Frosty made me go numb at every point of contact we had.” I shivered for good measure, though it wasn’t exactly true. I was pretty sure the only reason he felt so cold was because of how warm it was out here.
Frosty glanced at me with that look in his eye. The one that said something idiotic was going to come out of his mouth. Surprisingly, all he said was, “Frosty. I like it.”
Aidan sounded incredulous. “You’re joking, right? You hate anything that reminds you of your powers.”
Frosty gestured to himself. “Can you blame me? I’m like a fucking cliché. But also, not true.”
“So true,” Aidan argued back.
With a shake of his head, Frosty flipped Aidan off and sped up.
Now, look what you did.
I frowned, wondering whose voice that was. If I didn’t know better, I’d say it sounded like Neo, except Neo was still a dog, so his thoughts should have been pictures, right?
“Neo?” He turned toward me, tongue lolling out as he panted in the heat. “Never mind,” I mumbled. As he turned away, I added, “And I did nothing.”
His amber eyes jumped to me again, then he turned forward. If you say so.
Did he seriously just speak? My breath caught in my throat as I stared at him for a moment. I wasn’t sure how to react to that new information, so I internalized it to examine at a later time.
“I do say so, dammit.”
Donovan paused. “Embry?”
My cheeks flushed when I realized what this probably looked like. “Hm?”
“Are you talking to someone in particular?”
Slumping over so I could rest my cheek against his soft hair, I muttered, “Neo.”
Donovan chuckled. “I see.”
Amusement flitted through our link, and even though he couldn’t see it, I stuck my tongue out at him. It made me feel better, at least.