Brock grabbed Heather's hand in his much larger one and pulled her along behind him, forcing her to pick up her pace as the three of them ran down the alley outside her apartment.
Grace reached the end of it first and hesitated. She looked left, then right, and then back over her shoulder at Brock with a panicked expression.
"Go right," he ordered as he caught up to her. Placing his free hand on the small of her back, he urged her to go ahead of him. Once Grace took off, he let go of Heather and sent her out behind her friend. A quick glance behind him confirmed what he'd been afraid would happen as soon as he saw that box.
They were being followed by demons. A LOT of demons. And the fuckers were currently bottlenecking at the opposite end of the alley.
Their only hope was to outrun them until the sun came up. Luckily for them the bodies the demons possessed were still vampire bodies, and would burst into flames within minutes of being exposed to the sunlight.
If he could keep the girls alive until sunrise, they would have a good chance of getting away without being tracked.
Jogging behind the girls as they weaved in and out of the people on the street, he racked his brain for a plan that would put some distance between them and those things on their tails. Failing to protect the witch...yes, he knew she was a witch...and her clueless but incredibly sexy friend certainly wouldn't earn him any brownie points with the new wolf pack, or the vampire they'd obviously come here to help.
The same vampire he could smell all over Grace.
Earlier that night, Brock had been hot on the trail of a group of demons. He'd hunted them to the park with the silly ball sculpture, but had stayed hidden, curious as to what they were up to.
Staying just inside the tree line, he'd seen the entire thing go down: The demons chasing off the people at the park, then digging underneath the sculpture. He'd seen the humans in the fancy suits arriving, and Grace and the vamp appear from a secret hatch when they'd gotten rousted out of what had to be an underground hideaway. They'd had a fight, and then she'd left with the humans while the demons physically detained the vampire.
Then the other wolves had arrived. He'd scented them just a few seconds before they'd shown themselves, and knew right away that they were foreign to the city that had become his home. Staying to the trees, he'd watched as they'd quickly shifted and attacked the demons.
Unwilling to reveal himself to a strange pack in the middle of a fight, he'd decided to follow the female that had gotten into the car with the humans.
Shifting into his own wolf form, he'd kept to the shadows and loped along behind the cars, moving fast and keeping out of sight of the few humans who were still out and about.
The entire time he was chasing the cars, he'd been wondering what the hell he was thinking, getting involved with something that was obviously none of his business. He was risking a lot by doing this, and he had no pack to protect him if anything went wrong.
Brock was a lone wolf, exiled from his pack three years before. Something that was practically unheard of. He'd wandered aimlessly for a while until he came upon this city and its unusual population of possessed vampires. It had taken him a while to figure out what they were, but once he had, he began to do what he did best.
He started to hunt them.
That was what he'd been doing when he'd followed that group to the park and saw what was going down. Instinct alone had made him follow the witch.
He had no reason to help this girl, but something was telling him it was what he needed to do.
When they'd arrived downtown and she'd given the humans the slip, he was glad he'd listened. Her actions showed him beyond a doubt that she was just as much a victim as the vampire she'd left behind.
And now that he knew that she had possession of that box, and the clue inside of it, he really had no choice but to get her somewhere safe, and to keep that box out of the hands of the things that were following them. Hopefully not getting himself killed by demons or an unfamiliar wolf pack in the process.
On the other hand, if he'd known he was going to get the added bonus of meeting her exquisite friend, he wouldn't have thought twice about it.
Heather.
Just her name alone brought to mind the rolling pink and purple hills that were native to his Scottish homeland, and the sweet childhood kisses that were stolen there from the neighbor's daughter. In contrast to his innocent memories of his first love, the reality of Heather's voluptuous curves and honey-musk scent was all woman, and made him think dirty, dirty thoughts.
He wanted to sink his teeth into her soft flesh, and then kiss her wounds until she was whimpering like a bitch in heat underneath him. And that was just for starters.
But he'd never be able to do that or anything else if he didn't get her and Grace somewhere far, far away.
Up ahead at the intersection, he saw a taxi stop at the red light. Perfect timing.
Easily catching up to the girls and passing them, he ran to the driver's side and yanked open the door. "Sorry, man. But we need your car." While the driver protested loudly in Chinese, he reached in and unbuckled his seatbelt, then yanked him out of the car and tossed him out of the way. Scooting the seat back to make room for his long legs, he got in just as Grace and Heather arrived.
Following his lead, they eagerly got into the taxi.
With a quick glance in the rearview mirror, he accelerated through the light, barely avoiding a collision with another car coming up fast on his left.
Grinning widely, he asked, "I take it you ladies have no issues with me borrowing this car?"
Grace snapped her seatbelt on then pushed her long hair out of her face. "Nope. None at all."
"I'm good with this also," Heather chimed in from the backseat.
"Awesome," Brock told them. "Let's get the hell out of here."
They drove for about thirty minutes before anyone spoke.
"Thank you," Grace told Brock earnestly. "You saved us back there."
He reached over and rubbed her leg reassuringly. "Don't worry about it. I couldn't let such pretty ladies get hurt by those things."
"Who were those guys anyway?" Heather asked from the back.
Grace widened her eyes in warning, and he gave her a reassuring wink in return.
Brock told Heather simply, "They're after this box that Grace has."
"Why?" Grace asked, curious to know what he knew about it. "What's so important about this box?"
Turning on his turn signal, Brock headed north on the toll road. "That etching in the bottom of the box, it's of a dagoba."
"Yes, I know."
But what I need to know, Grace thought, is why demons are so hot after a box with a picture in it?
With a quick glance in the rearview mirror, Brock pressed his lips together. "I don't really know why they're after it. Maybe it's worth a lot of money or something."
He was lying, she could tell. But she decided to hold her tongue for now. She'd question him again when Heather wasn't around.
Heather leaned forward and rested her arms on the backs of their seats. "Well, something's got them all hot and bothered about it. Which tells me that we need to hang on to it, especially if we can use it to get Grace's hot, British friend back."
Brock's hands tightened on the steering wheel at Heather's choice of words. Actually, he looked like he wanted to rip it right out of the dashboard.
She scowled with disapproval. She didn't like him being so aware of her best friend, and as soon as she could get him alone, she was going to order him to keep it in his pants.
Heather was the most important person in the world to her. She was smart, and funny, and innocent of all the fucked-up-ness Grace had been experiencing recently. And she wanted to keep her that way.
"I think we should just get somewhere far, far away from here," Grace told her.
"What? But what about what's-his-face? Aiden? You're just gonna leave him with those mafia guys, or whatever the hell they are?"
She looked over at Brock for backup, but he just stared straight ahead at the road. So much for getting any help there.
She chewed her bottom lip, questioning her decision. But he'd told her that friends of his had helped Aiden. He was probably fine, slurping down a human somewhere.
"I'm sure he's fine," she said. "Brock said he saw some friends of his show up and help him, remember?"
"Well, don't you want to call him or something?"
"No."
"Grace..."
"I said no! Now please, Heather, just leave it alone."
With a huff, Heather plopped back in the seat. "Fine. Whatever."
"And put your seatbelt on," Brock ordered, then softened it a bit by adding, "Please."
The "click" of her belt seemed loud in the suddenly quiet car.
Brock glanced over at Grace. "I was thinking we should head to the Shenyang Taoxian International Airport. It's a few hours away, but they won't expect us to go there. They'll think we went to a closer one if we planned on leaving the city."
"I don't have any money. I don't even have my ID."
"Let me worry about that," he smiled. "Now where do you ladies want to go?"
Grace looked back at Heather, but she just shrugged, still in a snit about Grace snapping at her.
Turning back to the front, Grace watched the taillights of the car in front of them.
"Seattle," she finally said.
"Seattle?" Brock repeated. "Like in the state of Washington?"
"Yeah," Grace nodded, feeling more and more sure of her decision with every passing moment. "Aiden lives there. That's where he'll go back to. And he has friends there."
"Okay then. Seattle it is."
They arrived at the airport a few hours later. Grace didn't know how Brock managed it, but he bought their tickets and somehow got all three of them bypassed through security.
As they headed to their gate, Grace dropped back to walk alongside Heather. Linking her arm through her friend's, she told her sincerely, "I'm sorry, chickie."
"For what?"
"For snapping at you in the car, and for getting you involved in all of this. I never should have come to your apartment. I just didn't know where else to go."
Heather stopped in the middle of the aisle, eliciting dirty looks and a few rude comments from the people rushing around them trying to make their planes.
"Are you fucking kidding me?" She looked at Grace incredulously. "This is the most excitement I've had in years! And, I get an unscheduled vacation from work. And," she emphasized, "I get to look at that." She sighed aloud as she watched Brock walking off, not realizing that the girls had stopped. "Even if I can't touch him. Which I still think is totally unfair, Grace."
Grace squeezed her hand. "I'm only trying to protect you."
Heather squeezed back. "I know, and I love you for it. Even though you really don't have to."
Brock finally noticed they weren't behind him and stopped to wait for them.
Heather pulled Grace close and they both looked at him, standing head and shoulders above every other male in the airport. "Just look at that hunk of manliness, Grace."
"That man is trouble, Heather."
"Yeah, I know. I have to have him."
"We'll fight about this later."
"Deal." Heather started walking again.
Grace grinned and followed her. Their plane didn't leave until late this afternoon, so they had plenty of time.