“Fine,” I say, matching the clerk’s lack of affect and reaching into my pocket for the money. I count out the correct amount and hold the stack of bills out to the clerk. “We’re going to need a receipt.”
A hint of greed flashes in his eyes when he sees the cash in my hand. “Deposit’s $350 if you’re paying in cash.”
I let out a slow breath and grit my teeth. According to Blake, this is the closest motel to Rockcastle territory and the only one for at least another fifty miles. Well, the only one in our price range anyway. There’s one of those nature retreat type resorts somewhere nearby, but I doubt we could afford one night there, much less two, so we’re stuck with this place.
“Fine,” I repeat, peeling off another hundred-dollar bill and adding it to the stack. At least we left Blake in the truck so this guy can’t try to charge us for “triple occupancy.”
The clerk snatches the money and pointedly counts it as if I were trying to short him. Finally, he nods and tucks most of the money away somewhere under the counter, that is very much not a cash register, and grabs a key off one of the hooks behind him.
“Room 17, on the end.” He smirks. “It has a pool view so consider it an upgrade.”
My hands curl into fists at my side, and I take a breath, getting ready to rip into this asshole, but Raquel puts her hand on my shoulder. She digs her fingers in, the pain grounding me enough to walk away. Losing my temper would not be the best use of our time at the moment. She knows it and I know it.
But still…
Sometimes I’d really like to introduce people like this guy to my wolf.
We get back in the truck, and I pull around to the parking space in front of room number 17. Blake and I aren’t planning to head to Rockcastle right away so the three of us file inside. Raquel sits on the single, small bed—double occupancy? Yeah, right—and rests her back against the headboard, curling her legs underneath her. I take a seat at the foot of the bed and Blake plops down on the floor next to my legs, resting his head against my thigh.
Raquel bites at her lower lip. “Are you guys really sure about this?”
I glance at Blake, who’s staring up at me with nothing but determination in his gaze. “As sure as we’re going to be I guess.”
“I still hate this, you know,” she says. She sighs and rests her forehead in her hands. “But I understand that this is how it has to be.”
I scoot along the edge of the bed until I’m next to her and wrap my arm around her shoulders, pulling her into my side. “We’ll be careful, and if this plan doesn’t work, we’ll figure out something else.”
She nods silently and leans closer to rest her head on my shoulder.
Blake watches us from his position on the floor, head cocked to the side, his expression making him look almost envious of mine and Raquel’s friendship. From everything he’s said about his past—which, granted, isn’t very much— his pack doesn’t seem very close, and I don’t think he had anyone except his brother, at least no one that he’s mentioned. That feeling of being alone while surrounded by people, growing up like that, is something I can definitely relate to. The only person in my entire life who has ever had my back fully and completely before now is Raquel.
Which is why I hate the idea of leaving her behind almost as much as she does—even though I know damn well it’s the best course of action. Letting a human know about the shifter world is already going to put us on the triumvirate’s shit list if they find out, and we need to have a better idea of what’s going on in Rockcastle before we add any complications.
Our admittedly half-assed plan leaves us a little over an hour to kill, so the three of us sit here in silence for a while, all of us lostto our own thoughts. I end up sliding down to the floor, Blake readjusting to lie down with his head in my lap and softly smiling up at me as a run my fingers through his hair.
After a while, I glance at the crappy digital clock on the nightstand. It takes my brain a second to interpret the numbers since parts of the display have gone dead, but it’s about time for Blake and me to go.
I stand up and lean over to press a kiss to the top of Raquel’s head. “It’s time,” I say. “We’ll be back as soon as we can.”
She sniffles and nods, maneuvering out from under my arm and getting to her feet. After making her way to the bathroom, she splashes water on her face and straightens her ponytail before returning to wrap me up in a tight hug by the door.
“You be careful,” she mumbles into my shoulder. She picks her head up to look at Blake. “Bring him back to me in one piece or I’ll be finding a spot for a nice wolfskin rug, got it?”
Blake smiles and lets out a quiet huff that’s not quite a laugh. “Got it.”
Raquel gives me a solid thump on the back, then releases me, placing one hand on either one of my shoulders and forcing me to meet her gaze. “If things go sideways, you run. Don’t pull any of that self-sacrificing crap or I’ll skin you too.”
The corner of my mouth curls into a tiny half smile. “Understood.”
She pulls me into one last hug, gives a surprised Blake one as well, and then Blake and I are out the door and on our way.
After I pull out of the motel parking lot, Blake directs me through the streets of the tiny town to a two-lane country road. We’re on that road for a good twenty minutes before turning onto a narrow, curving asphalt path that looks like it leads straight up the side of a mountain. Considering the width of the road and the fact that there’s nothing but a rock face on one side and a steep drop on the other, I really hope we don’t run into anyone coming in the other direction.
It seems to take forever to make our way up the mountain, my hands cramping up from how hard I’m gripping the steering wheel, but I’ll be damned if I’m going to go any faster than I am. I’m a city boy at heart, and the terrain here with its with blind switch-backs and steep incline is worlds away from anything I’ve driven on before.
The next so-called road Blake directs me onto isn’t any better. Except for the fact that it’s not rock on one side and a long drop to death on the other, this new road might actually be worse. He called it as a fire road when we were making our plans, but it’s barley more than a rutted dirt track filled with dips and rocks.
Tree branches whip at the sides of the truck as it shudders along, and I’m suddenly regretting not asking Blake what he meant by “fire road.” It’s a damn good thing we have Danny’s truck, because Raquel’s shitty hatchback would have never made it this far. Hell, it might not have even made it out of Nevada.
