"There's no winning and losing," he insisted, a look of pleading in his face as he tried to make her understand.
"Yeah, I know. All there appears to be is losing. At least you have your brothers. I don't even have that."
Kellen lowered his gaze.
Damn his wolf to hell.
She turned to face the window, but she wasn't about to let him get away that easily. Mentally, she reached out to see if she could talk to his wolf shadow. She wasn't sure if wolf shifters had telepathic abilities, let alone one that was supposed to be dead, but she tried anyway since she had nothing to lose. If she gave his wolf shadow a piece of her mind, she'd feel less out of control.
Let him go, you selfish son of a bitch. Get your claws out of his soul and let him choose who he wants. I swear, if I really am a wolf shifter, and my wolf is beta or alpha, I will fight you into oblivion for Kellen and fuck you if you try to get in my way.
Kellen suddenly sucked in a breath. From the front seat Leo turned around. "You okay there, Kel?"
"Huh. Um, yeah. I'm fine. Just got a chill, that's all."
Chill my ass. She'd thrown down the gauntlet and his wolf knew it.
May the best predator win.
Chapter
Twelve
They took turns driving, even Samara, with the driver choosing the music. She sat through country for Leo, symphonies for Stephen, and classic rock for Kellen. When her turn came, she spared them the boy bands and instead chose a jazz station. She had considered disco, since there weren't any pictures on Kellen's wall from the 70s, just to see what they would say. But then she'd never driven anything as big as this van and she needed to concentrate so as not to plow them into a boulder that lined the interstate.
Plus, after her little 'chat' with Kellen's wolf, she felt energized, as if she could take on the world. His wolf had heard her loud and clear, but she had no idea if the wolf shadow took her threat seriously. At least it knew how she felt and that fighting could wind up hurting Kellen more than her.
She had no life so long as Josiah had a bounty on her. Walking away from Kellen would tear her apart, but that feeling would pass before she died sometime in the next four or five decades if she was careful. Kellen's wolf would have to live with Kellen's disappointment until the day he died, which could be centuries. If he honestly cared about her.
That was a question for later, though. For now, they needed to focus on getting ready for the evening. After twenty-two hours of driving, Leo checked them into a no-tell motel on the far edge of the Riverstone border using fake IDs and cash. The Riverstone Pack's compound was still a twenty minute drive northwest, but Leo said this was a better location to keep the van. When he returned with the room keys, they deliberately parked on the other side of the parking lot in front of different room doors. If somehow Josiah did find them and tracked the van, keeping the van away from their actual rooms would give them a head start to shift and run, or fight if necessary.
The Winterbourne Brotherhood took no chances with safety. "Um, there's only two rooms?" she asked.
"Don't worry." Kellen opened the back doors to the van. "I'm bunking down with those two. You get a room to yourself."
She did her best to keep her expression neutral so the disappointment she felt deep down wouldn’t show.
Leo pulled a wad of dollar bills out of his wallet. "There's nothing around here for food except a couple of vending machines. What do you guys want with your coffee?"
"Chips," Stephen said, pulling a couple of backpacks out of the van.
Kellen raised his head from where he was digging more sandwiches out of the cooler. "Cookies."
Huh. Kellen liked vending machine cookies. She tucked that information away for later. Then she realized Leo was waiting for her answer. "Anything chocolate."
He nodded and disappeared around the corner.
"He better not spill the coffee," Kellen muttered, balancing the sandwiches in his arms before knocking the cooler's lid closed with his hip.
"Can I help?" she asked, holding out her arms to grab a sandwich or two.
Instead of giving her any of the food, he nodded toward another backpack. "That one is yours. Bring it into your room. There's more clothing, but also a few extra things you'll need."
Samara grabbed the extra-large, and very heavy, army backpack and slipped the straps over her shoulders and set out for the rooms. Once inside her room she dropped it on the bed with a thud. The bed springs squeaked in protest. She could already tell this was going to be a noisy night, and not in a fun way.
That thought presented an opportunity to get a one-up on Kellen's wolf.
A second later Kellen entered the room with a box of bullets. "We're going to hike to Riverstone, and I want us to be ready for anything."
