“I’m all for helping them,” Nathan said. “I didn’t know if we should wait for more backup.”
Declan glanced at the SUVs following them. “It’s daytime, and I suspect most of the Savages left town when we escaped. We’re more likely to run into them out here than we are in Culver.”
“Happy thoughts,” Vicky said.
When Declan turned to look at Willow, she smiled at him, but with his empathic ability, she doubted her smile fooled him. “Do you think Gus and his family are okay?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” he said, unwilling to lie to her.
Willow nodded and bit her lips as she turned her attention to the farms, fields, and woods they passed.
“What happened out there?” Ronan asked.
Willow clasped her sister’s hands as she told them about the Savages rushing out of the tunnel and how Lucien ordered the rest of them to run while he stayed to fight them. She didn’t require Declan’s empathic ability to feel the tension ratcheting up in the vehicle. Lucien was their friend, their brother, and there was an excellent chance those bastards either killed or destroyed him.
She recalled her time in the woods and the tree until the waterfall. Declan took over from there. When he finished speaking, the hum of the tires against the asphalt was the only sound in the vehicle.
After a few minutes, Declan broke the silence. “A turned hunter named Derrick was leading this group of Savages.”
Kadence turned in the passenger seat to face her brother, and Nathan stiffened as they exchanged a look.
“Do you know him?” Ronan asked.
“When some of the other hunters decided to split off from us instead of joining the Alliance, Derrick went with them,” Nathan said.
“He was really opinionated,” Kadence said.
“But he wasn’t a bad guy; he was more annoying. Asher and Logan said they thought they saw him by the waterfall but couldn’t be sure. He disappeared pretty quick.”
“That’s because he was hunting us,” Willow muttered.
“What was he opinionated about?” Ronan prompted.
“The way things were done, and hedefinitelywasn’t on board for the Alliance,” Nathan said. “He was older than me, and he didn’t like getting orders from someone who, he believed, still required a lot more training before becoming a leader.”
“Well, he may not have been anything more than an annoying, opinionated, know-it-all before, but he’s a major asshole now,” Willow said. “And he enjoys torturing and killing.”
“That he does,” Declan agreed. “He’s alsoreallygood at tracking things, mainly us.”
“Tracking was his specialty,” Nathan said. “He spent years honing his craft.”
“He was very successful at perfecting it. The demons are also looking to breed with a purebred vampire woman,” Declan said and filled them in on what Derrick said to Willow.
Willow rubbed her arms as the reminder of Derrick’s words caused a chill to run through her. Vicky and Abby hugged her again. She knew they were all thinking about how bad her life could be right now if things had gone differently.
“That’s great; we needed another complication. Things were starting to get boring,” Nathan said sarcastically when Declan finished speaking.
Willow chuckled as she rested her head against the seat. The hum of the tires, the warmth of the vehicle, and the feeling of safety caused her exhaustion to rear its ugly head.
She resisted the pull of sleep but lost the battle and woke as the sign for Culver came into view. The roadblock was gone. She didn’t know how to take that; was it a good sign or a bad one?
They had no idea what they were driving into, and she’d never dreaded anything more in her life.
Chapter Fifty-Three
A knot formedin Willow’s stomach as she stared at the front of Gus’s house. At first, the neighbors who were outside glanced curiously at them, but when more SUVs pulled up on the street, they openly stared. Willow ignored their gawking looks as she focused on the unlit house. It was midmorning; there was no reason for lights to be on inside, but she wished forsomesign of life from the home.
There was none.
