“I’m holding you to that,” he replies, winking at me before turning to Luke. He pulls Luke into a tight hug, whispering something in his ear that I can’t make out. Their embrace continues for a few more seconds, then Keir lets go and smiles at Luke. “Take care of yourself.”
“Thanks. I will.”
Luke puts his arm around my shoulders and leads me outside to the SUV, taking the time to make sure I’m settled before getting behind the wheel. On our way out, he stops at a gas station to fill up and then gets on the highway, his attention focused on the road ahead. His brow is creased and there’s a tension to him that wasn’t there earlier.
I reach across the center console and take his hand, giving it a quick squeeze. He glances at me from the corner of his eye and smiles, though the expression is strained.
The drive is quiet, the flatness of Wisconsin slowly shifting to more rolling hills as we cross from Indiana into Kentucky. Eventually, we move from the interstate onto back roads as the area around us becomes less and less populated. Nothing looks familiar to me yet, but there’s something about the way the wide-open spaces intersperse with mountains in the distance that feels like home to me.
Not at all in the same way Luke does, though.
As we crest the top of another hill, I reach across and place my hand on Luke’s thigh. He glances at me, shooting me a soft smileand drops one of his hands away from the steering wheel to place it atop mine.
“You doing okay?” he asks, his gaze darting to the road and back to me.
“Yeah,” I reply. “I’m glad you’re with me for this.”
“Me too.” He pats my hand and returns his full attention to driving.
Maybe thirty minutes later, the sound of Luke’s ring tone over the car’s speakers shatters the quiet. Luke glances at the dashboard screen where the caller ID shows up as “Unidentified Caller.” His brows draw together, but he clicks the button on the steering wheel to answer the call.
“This is Alpha Anderson,” he says, his voice formal.
“Hello, Alpha,” says a female voice. “This is Miranda Yang.”
Some of the tension drains from Luke’s shoulders. “Hello, Yang. What can I do for you? I take you’re one of the praetorians the triumvirate sent to Smyrna? Are you there now?”
“Not exactly,” she says. “According to Matisse’s estimate, we’re probably about thirty minutes behind you.”
Luke goes silent for a second. “I don’t understand.”
She blows out a breath. “We need to talk about Rockcastle. I’m going to send you the address of a gas station that shouldn’t be too far from where you are now. We’ll meet you there.”
Before either of us can ask who “we” is, the call cuts out, a casualty of the numerous dead spots out here in the middle of nowhere. Thankfully, her text with the address manages to come through and Luke reroutes the GPS to take us there.
Yang’s time estimate ends up being a little off and it’s almost an hour before she catches up to us at the gas station. A dark blue mid-sized crossover with tinted windows pulls in to the nearly empty parking lot and takes the spot next to our SUV.
A female beta steps out from the driver’s side, walking around to meet Luke as he gets out of the SUV. The woman is onthe shorter side, her shiny dark hair hanging loose around her shoulders.
Luke holds his hand out to her, and she reaches forward to take it, giving it a firm shake before motioning me over. “Ollie, this is Miranda Yang. She’s one of the praetorians who helped Keir out in Chicago.”
“Hello,” I say, giving her a little wave.
“And this is Ollie,” he says to Yang. “My fated mate and, well, the catalyst for all this.”
Yang’s dark brown eyes study me. “He’s a male omega like Keir, right?” Luke nods. “Seems like those are the catalysts for a lot of crap.” She cracks a smile, her eyes warm. “Nice to meet you, Ollie. I wish it were under better circumstances.”
“Nice to meet you, too,” I say, returning her smile.
The passenger side door of the vehicle opens and another beta gets out, this one an older male.
“Smith?” Luke shakes the male’s hand. “You’re both here?”
“Not just us,” says Yang, gesturing toward the back of the sedan as Macy exits the vehicle. “Your second insisted on coming along.”
Macy walks over to Luke and pokes him in the chest. “I know you werenotplanning on walking into the territory of a hostile pack without me.”
He gives her a guilty grin. “We don’t actually know they’re hostile.”
