She’d been kidnapped, seen multiple dead bodies, shot a man, and she hadn’t once asked to call the police. I wrestled with the urge to pull the car over and grill her for information. Who the hell was she, really?
“Left at the next intersection,” she ordered as we pulled off the freeway.
“You realize that you’re going to have to come clean, right?” I asked, following her directions.
Gods, I wanted to reach for her. It felt like everything was spinning. Euphoria that I’d finally found my mate was juxtaposed with the reality that she had something to do with the humans that were targeting Vampires and their mates. We’d found her in one of their hideouts, and she’d come out swinging. I didn’t believe that she’d been with them—the universe couldn’t be that cruel—but she was involved somehow.
She’d immediately recognized that she was my mate.
My head throbbed.
“Now, right,” she said, pointing.
I turned onto a two-lane road and slowed as we rounded a curve. We were headed into a less populated area, leaving streetlights behind, and for a moment, I wondered if she was leading me into an ambush of some sort. My gaze shifted toward the dash where she’d stored my pistol, and I discarded the idea.
“I need a shower,” she mumbled. “Then we can deal with”—she waved her hand around—“whatever.”
My phone vibrated in my pocket, and I pulled it out. I’d left our home, prioritizing my mate above the mess I’d left behind, and while I knew everyone would believe I’d done the right thing, guilt still lay heavy on my shoulders.
“Still have your head?” my brother Chance asked when I answered it.
“For the moment.”
“Where’d she take you?”
“Track me,” I replied vaguely. “How’s it going there?”
“We didn’t lose anyone,” Chance said with a sigh. “Lucy isn’t great, but Ambrose is with her. Mom’s going to be down for a while.”
“Matthias?”
“He’ll be fine.”
Chance hesitated, and my gut clenched.
“What?” I barked.
“Uncle Sven hasn’t woken up.”
“At all?”
“It was a partial,” Chance said quietly. I could hear him moving. “He’s alive, though.”
“Shit.”
“You know they have to take our entire head,” Chance reminded me. “He’ll be fine. Oh, and Dad’s awake.”
“How’s that going?”
“He’s surprisingly calm.”
“So not tearing down the house with his bare hands?”
“Not yet, anyway.”
“What about Reese?” I asked. I hadn’t seen my brother Beau’s mate at the house. There was a very good chance that they’d been together long enough that her immortality had locked in already, but it was impossible to know for sure.
“She and Aunt Alice are fine. Did you know she could shoot?”
