We scanned the alley and our eyes fell on a door at the far wall opposite the club. The door said “Bakery” in a pastel blue cursive font. Logan took two steps towards it and shot the lock out, kicking the door open. Eva had thrown some kind of smoke spell, making it impossible for the bad guys to see what we were doing. Sophie was right behind us, gunraised.
Logan went first into the dark room, before declaring, “All clear.” I followed, with Sophie behind me. We were in a bakery; the whole front wall was glass, and I could see one of the druids standing there outside, not looking in the shop, but it was too close forcomfort.
“Get down,” Logan hissed, and Sophie and I dropped to the ground and went left, away from the druid and towards the display cases. My stomach growled as the smell of sugary icing hit my nose.Would it be bad karma to steal a donut?I thought tomyself.
‘Yes,’Loganreplied.
My eyes widened. This was not going to work. I couldn’t live with someone inside of my every thought. And what the hell, I wasn’t getting any thoughts fromhim!
‘Eva can fix it. I’m linked to the pack, so I’m used to this,’was all he toldme.
He was? Since when? It hit me then how little we knew about eachother.
‘That is something we can remedy with time,’he said and I groaned. We army-crawled our way to the back and through the kitchen. When we realized we were out of sight, and no one was in the bakery late at night working, we popped up. There was a huge tray of creamy, frosted, ice-pink cupcakes sitting on the table, and Sophie’s eyes met mine and we both smiled. She totally wanted one too.Hah!
Logan called us to the back, and upon further inspection we found a back door that led to another alley, this one deserted and leading to the open street, where we couldescape.
“Sophie, get the pack. Have Eva do a blinding spell so they can’t see you guys coming through the door. Sloane and I will bring the cararound.”
She nodded and re-holstered her weapon. “You gotit.”
Logan took my hand in his, then we started running out the back, where I assumed Logan had a car waiting. As we reached the end of the alley, I saw some cars parked on the street, but didn’t recognize any of the pack’s. I was shocked when Logan pulled out keys and beeped them, lighting up a large stretch limousine. “What the...?” I stood there dumbfounded as Logan waved away my expression. “Don’t ask. We put Danny in charge of getting a car big enough for all ofus.”
I grinned, forgetting for a moment the horrible situation we were in. He popped open my side of the door and I got in, shotgun. The second I closed my door, Logan put the car in drive and careened the huge vehicle down the alley, nearly scraping the sides at the tight turn. The limo was newer, with black leather and a divider glass window. As Logan drove us up the alley, I could see most of the pack outside of the back bakery door, and was flooded with relief. I thought back to Steven and something that had been bothering me, something I wanted to askLogan.
“Logan, that druid. He was inside, and I barred the door with the dumpster, and then he was right behind me. Then when you and Keegan had him up against the wall … he justdisappeared.”
Please let him have had a twin brother waiting in the alley or somethingexplainable.
Logan nodded. “Ardan has the power to teleport. They’re wind druids. Steven must be his new right-hand man. Ardan’s power trickles down the druid line and gets more diluted as it goes. The second I saw him vanish like that, I knew we were dealing with a powerfulone.”
He lost me at teleport. He’d freaking just said “teleport.” I didn’t know what was crazier, the fact that teleportation was real, or the sight of half a dozen naked shifters in the alley covering their junk with their hands. Logan pulled the limo up to the side door and everyone but Sophie was either fully or partially naked, save for Eva and Danny, who didn’t have the ability to shift. Which was funny considering Sophie was probably the only person who liked to be naked. Instead of watching the alley for threats, she was checking out Ruben’s impressiveglutes.
“Get in!” Logan whisperscreamed.
Everyone piled in the back and the car sank down a few inches with the weight. I was assuming there were clothes in the back; otherwise this was going to be a long and uncomfortable drive. The privacy panel had been pulled up so that Logan and I couldn’t see or hear anything from theback.
Mentally, I had calculated everyone, and finally figured out who was missing. “Wait! Gear,” I shouted, as Logan began driving the limo off down the alley and back onto the mainstreet.
Logan pointed up to the sky. “He’s been looking out and reporting if anyone was coming near the backalley.”
“Reporting how?” I took a side glance athim.
Logan tapped his head. “I have a mental link to the pack. They can all talk into each others’ minds, but only when in animal form, and I can talk into their minds in my human form since shifting isn’t a great idea for me. Eva did it with magic,” heexplained.
Wow. This whole time they had … what had they said about me that I didn’t knowabout?
Oh. Another thought struck me then. “Mycar!”
Logan sighed. “Gear will have to get it later and drive behindus.”
I scrambled to get my keys out of my clutch, but Logan laughed. “Gear doesn’t needthat.”
Oh.Right.
With nothing left to say, I gave Logan a long look, staring at the strong features of his face.Mate.What a weird and freaky word, and yet … so right. From the moment I met him there had been this magnetic attraction that I kept trying to blame on the heat or every other thingbut…
A thought struck me then. “Logan? Did you know that we were mates? I mean, before tonight?” The way he’d almost kissed me in my room that day … some of the things he’dsaid…
