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The space I woke into was small and dark and reeked of spilled lubricant. My ears rang too loudly to hear tires against the road.
But I could guess where I was. In a car’s trunk. Ruth had drugged me.
Or, no, an accomplice must have been the one wielding the dart gun. Ruth’s nakedness made it impossible for her to have hidden a weapon on her person.
“Justice?” My voice was lost in the darkness as I reached out, expecting my cousin to be crammed in beside me. But my chilled fingers found nothing living. Just felted carpet and the empty plastic clamps that should have secured a tire iron. The emergency-release handle had been cut off so close against the metal that only a whisper of softness was evident at the rope’s fraying tip.
Predictably, my phone and sword had been removed also, although my pelt still wrapped warm around me. Ruth wouldn’t have forgotten what I was, so she’d open the trunk fully expecting me to emerge furry and foul-tempered.
The question was—where was she taking me? Back to Luke the way she’d proposed, or somewhere else entirely?
My pelt wriggled closer, pressing warmth into my body. Its touch soothed the pounding in my temples, clearing my ears until I could hear wind whipping past the car’s fenders.
Ruth was an aggressive driver. The floor slung sideways beneath me, pressing my hip up against the unpadded back of the bumper. Right, then left. We weren’t on a highway...which meant I’d likely survive the tumble if I managed to open the trunk and jumped out of the moving vehicle.
Plus, assuming Ruth wasn’t just hopping off the highway for a bathroom break, the declining speed meant we were likely close to our destination. If I wanted to maintain the element of surprise, I needed to act fast.
To that end, I clawed at the wisp of rope that would unhook the trunk latch. My fingers got no purchase, but I wasn’t completely lacking in tools the way Ruth had intended. Instead, the magnets that had held my pelt in cloak shape snapped together around the end of the rope, forming a replacement handle.
Unfortunately, they also clung to the metal the rope emerged from.
The car was slowing more precipitously now. My breath was loud in the darkness. I ignored the magnets for the moment, wriggling as best I could out of my clothing. The space was too cramped to undress properly, though, so I gave up on my boots at the end.
My pelt slipped back around my naked form with the ease of a hug. Fingernails that had gotten no purchase on the rope lengthened ever so slightly as my lupine nature rose within me. Fingernail-claws slid between metal car body and magnets. Allowed me to cling to the makeshift handle and give a sharp tug....
The trunk whipped open as if it was spring-loaded. There were trees above me, orange leaves half-blocking a crimson sunset. Vaguely, I heard female exclamations—not just Ruth; two other voices also. One high-pitched and young. The other deeper and old.
“What’s...?”
“Stop her!”
Then I was lupine and running. Clothes and magnet forgotten, I sprinted into the nearby woods.
***
PAWS CRUNCHED ALONG behind me less than a minute later. My pursuers weren’t woozy from whatever I’d been drugged with and they likely knew the territory. But I had a solid head start.
A head start...and a direction. I shouldn’t have been able to smell Luke, yet his spicy aroma tantalized me. Cinnamon sweetness led me due west into the sunset.
Luke met me halfway.
Black fur emerged from descending shadows. He was running three-legged, one hind foot tucked up beneath him. A sight for sore eyes...until I realized that bolt of energy rushing through me wasn’t joy.
Nope, that was pure rage.
Turned out I was furious with Ruth for drugging me and my cousin then stuffing me in a trunk to be taken where I refused to go willingly. I was mad at myself for pining—yes, pining, like a sixteen-year-old girl crying over the marriage of a twenty-something rock star.
Mostly, though, I was angry with Luke, who hadn’t trusted me enough to join him in what was clearly a perilous undertaking. Who had kept tabs on me online but never once contacted me. Who cared more about his pack, apparently, than he cared about me.
Or—my eyes flew to his tucked-up foot—more than he cared about himself.
But this wasn’t the moment for fury. Luke swung wide to come between me and danger as two scarred females and a slender, unmarked wolf crested the hill on which we stood. Rather than snarling, I took up a position one step behind him.
By then, Ruth, Aunt May, and Carly were shimmering upward in tandem. “This isn’t what it looks like,” Ruth—their clear leader—started.
I couldn’t shift in front of Aunt May and Carly. But I could get my point across. I growled deep and low in my throat while Luke unfolded upwards to speak the same spiky warning I was trying to convey.
“I sincerely hope not.”
His words were hard, but his right ankle was purple and swollen. Any of the women present could have pushed him over with a well-timed shove.
I was the one who wanted to shove him. Instead, I padded around to stand between Luke and his relatives. After all, I possessed fangs and four working limbs.
My gesture drew a chuckle from Aunt May. “All’s well that ends well though. Isn’t it, nephew?”
Luke closed his eyes for one split second—was he battling the same rage I was at this whole situation?—then he bit out a command. “Leave us. Ruth, get her belongings. The rest of you, don’t tell anyone Honor’s here.”
Ruth snorted, staring at me hard as if trying to remind me of my supposed purpose. What had she wanted me to do, again? Something about my bite?
I wasn’t interested. Luke’s leg quivered. He needed to sit down before he fell down.
So I barked an agreement with Luke’s order. And, to my surprise, Ruth nodded. She and her two companions shimmered down until they were once again four-legged, then they retreated back the way they’d come.