Angie stumbles back a few steps, then spins and marches back to the other vehicle as if she can’t wait to get space between us. Or as if she’s a soldier following her commanding officer’s orders without hesitation.
More of that energy tugs my attention to the horizon. The land is a flat swath of brown grass from my feet to as far as I can see.
And this time, I understand what the feeling means.
My soul-bound mate is reaching for me through our nascent bond. I try to open myself up to him — to Rought — sending him my thoughts. I’m heading for home. With no idea whatsoever how the connection between us even works.
Still perched on the tailgate, Cal eyes me with an exaggerated tilt of his head. “What are you?”
“Are you riding with me?” I ask in lieu of answering that rather complicated question.
He shrugs, but he’s tight on my heels the instant I move to climb into the truck.
Jewels is next to me a moment later, partly blocking the driver’s-side door even as Cal clambers over into the middle passenger seat. A sulking Lou climbs into the back seat.
“I’ll drive,” I say to Jewels.
She gives me a doubtful once-over. “Shouldn’t you … nap?”
“You’ll want me awake for this part.” I smile down at the dark-haired child holding her hand. Wild curls bounce around the girl’s medium-brown face as she peers up at me warily. She’s about five, or maybe a small six, with bright-blue eyes. “What’s your name, darling?”
“Sara Ann,” the girl says, air whistling through the gap in her teeth.
Nodding, Jewels lifts the child up into the back seat with Lou, then crosses around to take the front passenger seat.
Angie is driving the other truck, vehicle already running, hands poised ready on the wheel. The second-oldest child is in the passenger seat, with the toddler, his mother, and the two other kids in the back. All the children have various shades of brown hair and tanned skin. Their mothers have been very careful, as Jewels indicated, when selecting their secret sperm donors.
I transfer my smile to Angie. She nods stiffly. Again, like a good soldier ready to follow me into battle.
I seriously hope it doesn’t come to that.
“Get in the back,” Jewels growls at Cal in the middle seat.
“I’m fine here,” he says, back to being belligerent.
“I don’t need your pointy elbows in my side for the next ten hours.”
“Ten hours! What the fuck?!”
“Cal!” Lou admonishes from the back seat.
“Language!” Jewels cries.
I climb into the truck, nearly taking one of those sharp elbows to the head when Cal finally decides to listen to his elders and crawls into the back seat. Sara Ann tucks in between him and Lou. She should probably have a booster seat, but maybe the laws are different in the Federation.
“Where is your shirt?” Lou hisses to Cal.
“I don’t know, Lou, where’d you put it?”
His self-appointed guardian huffs but doesn’t push him.
I start the truck, pulling up the driveway.
Jewels doesn’t look back at Ricky, though I catch him in the rearview mirror as he steps out to watch us leave. He stays like that, with the berserker just behind him, even as we turn onto the road.
Jewels gestures toward the navigation system. “Do you …”
I shake my head. I don’t need directions. The tug in my chest draws me forward, and essence is already shifting underneath the tires of the truck. I’m in the eddies of a knowing. I don’t need the GPS.
