“It’s just a precaution, Jem,” Kade assured me. “We’re going to be fine.”
I sighed. “It looked like a lot of them and there’s only one of you,” I said softly. “I don’t want anything to happen to you.”
Kade laughed and then brought my hand to his face, kissing the inside of my wrist. “Do you see this?” he asked, twisting his right arm to display the tiny compass tattooed there.
I nodded. I’d actually noticed it when we first met but wasn’t sure if it would be rude to ask about it.
“I’m not going to bore you with details, but that mark means I am a bigger threat than most Alphas,” he said calmly, his voice matter-of-fact with no trace of ego or conceit. “We wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t one hundred percent sure I could protect you.” He reached over to stroke my tummy. “Both of you. But, if it makes you feel better, we’re not as alone as you might think.”
“I’m sorry,” I murmured. “I really do trust you.”
“You don’t need to apologize, baby. We’re still very new. I know that.” Kade shook my apology off with a smile. “It’ll come in time. Now, do you need anything before we get moving again?”
“No, Alpha,” I settled in my seat and reclined the back. “I’m ready.”
“Good.” Kade reached over to turn up the radio before pulling back onto the road that led off into the trees ahead. He reached for my hand and squeezed it. “This should be a beautiful drive.”
He was right.
Even in the total darkness, the headlights lit up enough of the scenery for me to be able to see that the road was lined with massive trees. Leaves from the low-hanging branches brushed over the windows, giving me flashes of deep orange and bright yellow, hinting at the magnificence of fall colors that the forest would glow with in the sunlight.
My night vision was excellent and I was able to make out deer peeking out of the brush and even caught a glimpse of a panther slinking through the trees. A sight so rare that it had to be a shifter. And even that was almost as rare as a hen’s tooth.
“Did you see that?” I gasped.
“What?” Kade asked, glancing over to look out my window.
“I swear I just saw a freaking panther!”
“Hm,” Kade hummed noncommittedly. “Well, they’re not that common, but there are cougars in these parts, I think.”
“No, Kade,” I huffed, rolling my eyes. “Not a mountain lion panther, a freaking black panther!”
“Really?” Kade sounded more interested, but still ridiculously calm. “That’s unusual.”
I narrowed my eyes at him, but my Alpha just gave me a bland smile and turned back to the road. I settled back into my seat and began to consider what, exactly, Kade had meant when he said we weren’t as alone as I thought.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Kade
I wasn’t lying when I told Jeremy I hadn’t seen the black panther in the shadows on his side of the camper as we made our way down the road. I simply neglected to mention the reason for my inattention. What was I supposed to say? That onmyside of the road, I was watching an African lion, a massive Kodiak bear, and a fucking white tiger making a clumsy attempt to match their gaits as they trotted at the edge of the light from the headlights as a familiar whisper in my head sang, “Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!”? That, my friends, is a level of fuckery that can only be born of years of serving together.
And while that friendship was the reason that I knew without a doubt my flanks were always covered, I also knew that civilians didn’t always understand that even professionals needed a little bit of horseplay in their downtime.
So, instead, I simply flashed them a discreet bird as we passed and pretended not to notice that my Omega was deep in thought as the forest continued to roll past the windows.
I wasn’t worried about a repeat as we continued through the night, knowing damned well that the gag had been intended to assure me that my change of plans messages had been received. I had no doubt that once our taillights had faded into the distance, my brothers-in-arms had reverted to their human forms, all silliness forgotten and restored their attention to the job at hand.
It’s what professionals do. And say what you will about mercenaries, the Böxenwolf Brigade are known the world over as the best of the best for damned good reasons.
~*~
The sun had been up for about five hours when I turned the camper off the quiet country lane and stopped at the massive wrought iron security gates next to the guardhouse. A huge man in a neatly pressed navy blue uniform with a rifle strung over his shoulder stepped up to the car window.
“Help you, sir?”
“Kade Bauer,” I offered him my state identification card. “Mr. Keir should be expecting us.”
