“Really. I might not always do the smartest things, but I know how rare fated mates are. I’m not a complete dumbass.” Raquel snorts, and I shoot her a quick glare. “Even with the shitty circumstances, I’m glad we found each other, and I’m more than happy to help you find your brother. I understand family too.”
Hope lights his eyes and he blinks a few times before whispering, “Thank you.”
“Of course,” I say, stroking my thumb across his cheek. “You’re not alone anymore.”
Raquel sniffles. “Okay, you guys have got to stop being so cute now. You’re going to make me cry—not that it takes much these days.”
I roll my eyes, letting out an exaggerated sigh, and Blake chuckles. Dropping my hand to my lap, I turn to my friend. “So, what’s next on your agenda then?”
“First, does your new boyfriend have a name besides Wolfie?”
I chuckle. “Yeah. His name is Blake.”
She nods and then holds the map up. “Well, Blake here is going to point out this Rockcastle place because I have no idea where that is. Then, once we figure out where we’re going, we can make a plan for exactly what we’re going to do when we get there.”
Twenty
Neil
ItturnsouttheRockcastle pack is located nearly a thousand miles away in Kentucky on the border of some National Forest. The route we plan out is a bit convoluted, but it will get us where we need to go while minimizing the risk of drawing attention to ourselves. There are way too many cameras these days, especially at toll plazas, so we’ll stay off major highways as much as possible and avoid any toll roads like the plague.
It’s only a matter of time before Danny’s body is discovered, and they’ll quickly realize the truck registered in his name is missing. There’s already a picture of Danny’s license plate from that red light camera in Vegas floating around somewhere. The last thing we need is our only source of transportation being used to track usdown, so the first stop on our little road trip needs to be somewhere I can take care of that particular issue.
Stealing cars has never been my thing, but it was my dad’s and, at one point, he hoped I’d follow in his footsteps. He taught me one of the easiest ways to avoid getting caught in a stolen vehicle is to get rid of the license plates by switching them with another car.
People will definitely notice if their car is gone and are likely to notice if their license plates are missing. However, they don’t often check to make sure the license plates on their car are actually theirs. As long as there’salicense plate on the car—something people expect to see—most car owners don’t bother paying attention to what the plate says.
Unfortunately, the pickings in the motel parking lot are slim, and there aren’t enough cars for me to pull a switcheroo on a couple plates without being noticed.
Especially since there’s a very large, very naked man in our party.
Blake’s lack of clothes does help us pick a place to stop, though. Big box stores not only sell cheap clothes, but they also tend to have large parking lots with plenty of license plate options, allowing us to kill two birds with one stone or whatever.
The closest option is about twenty miles away, so we load back into the truck and head out. I’m back in the driver’s seat, Raquel’s up front with me, acting as navigator, and poor Blake is crammedinto the back with only a stolen motel towel to protect his modesty.
Thirty minutes later, we arrive in a moderately crowded parking lot. I grin when I see the two pickup trucks near the back corner of the lot. Switching plates between similar vehicle types is ideal and, with two other trucks, I can confuse things further by changing the plates of all three vehicles.
I park between the two trucks, then turn to Raquel. “Are you okay to go inside for the clothes while I play musical license plates?”
“I’m the only option, aren’t I? You have to be here to do your magic.” She gives me a wry grin and jerks her thumb in Blake’s direction. “And as much as I can’t complain about the eye candy, other people might.”
I laugh. “I suppose you’re right.”
Spinning in her seat to face Blake, she asks, “Any requests? Fabrics? Colors?”
“Anything is fine,” he says in a low voice. “I’m not picky.” He glances up at her from under his brows, shooting her a small, shy smile, the expression almost out of place on such a large, imposing man. “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome,” she says softly, then flashes him a gentle smile and jumps out of the truck to head across the parking lot and into the store.
“I’m going for it,” I say to Blake. “Knock on the window if you see anyone besides Raquel headed over here.”
“Will do.”
I slip out of the driver’s seat and walk around behind the white pickup to the right. Lacking a screwdriver, I let my claws lengthen and use one to loosen the bolts holding the license plates in place. I quickly exchange the plates on Danny’s truck for the new ones, then put Danny’s plates on the second truck, and replace the first truck’s plates with the ones from the second truck.
That done, I hop back into the truck, turning around in my seat to give Blake a sympathetic look. He’s frowning, a disgruntled expression on his face, and his shoulders practically hunched up to his ears due to the lack of space in the back seat. It’s certainly not made for a man his size, but the back windows have some tint to them so the miles of skin on display won’t draw anyone’s attention.
Well, anyone’s besides mine anyway. And my wolf’s of course.
