Page 42 of Hunted

Only a minute had gone by, though it seemed like a lifetime. Gunn hadn’t even opened the door yet—he was yelling at the men outside to stand down, that he’d take her to Thanatos himself.

She typed a message straight onto Gunn’s phone, in the text reply box so he’d see it instantly after he read Switch’s message. I can get to McIntyre. Going after the girl. Don’t follow. I’ll be in touch. Mikey.

Careful not to hit ‘send’, she left the phone on the bed. Then she dashed out of the room, scooped up her vest and holster from where she’d dropped them in the hallway, and headed for the escape tunnel.

She was going to fix what she’d screwed up. And then—well, she didn’t know what the hell she would do then. But it didn’t involve giving up and hoping for ‘someday.’

She took the exit Gunn had told her about—the one that came up within the compound. Gunn’s truck wasn’t actually in the parking area; it was still parked by the medical center where they’d left it.

Where there were no longer any guards.

Staying in the shadows as much as possible, Michelangela ran to the truck and slipped into the driver’s seat. The engine started smoothly, and she backed the truck up and started down the road leading out of the compound.

As she approached the compound gate, she hit the button on the key fob to raise the barrier. Inside the lighted guardhouse, she could see the guard raise his head.

She sped up. The barrier was rising—slowly. She hoped she didn’t have to hit it and smash her windshield.

The guard came out of the guardhouse, gun drawn, yelling something she couldn’t hear over the sound of the engine.

Michelangela punched the accelerator. The guard hesitated. He couldn’t see for sure who was driving the truck, but he obviously knew whose it was, and every instinct was telling him not to shoot his alpha.

She blew through the gate and blasted down the dirt road.

Free.

As she left the territory behind, she kept her speed up as much as she could, but the road was winding and the dirt gave crappy traction.

Her mind was racing and her wolf was howling. She did not want to leave Gunn behind.

Me neither, Michelangela told her. But we have to, for now. That little girl needs us.

Our mate needs us, her wolf said.

Our mate can take care of himself.

Mate. Was that really what he was? And if so, why was this whole scenario so fucked up?

She knew her parents and her uncles and aunts—honorary and blood-related—had been through a lot to find and bond with their fated mates, back in the day. Her friends had had some crazy times too.

But she couldn’t believe any of it had been as impossible as this.

She couldn’t worry about that now, though. There was a little girl’s life on the line. First things first: she’d have to find a place pretty soon to ditch Gunn’s truck, and steal another ride. Gunn wouldn’t report the truck stolen, but Thanatos probably would—she’d have every cop in the state looking for her.

She decided not to stop at Rockhaven—the town at the foot of the mountain. She didn’t know how far Thanatos’s reach extended, but her gut told her the farther away she got, the safer she’d be. She checked her phone GPS to see how far away the next town was. Fifteen miles.

Sheesh. They really were in the middle of nowhere here.

She still had the fake ID that she’d used on McIntyre before. All she had to do was contact him and wangle an invitation to the ball, like fucking Cinderella.

Then she needed money and fancy clothes, and she had to get them without using any bank accounts or cards Thanatos could trace—including the ones attached to that ID, because Gunn’s men had seen it when they searched her stuff. Any financial activity would give away her location.

Luckily she had emergency stashes all over the country. She also had friends—non-Enforcer friends who would back her up, no questions asked. She just had to decide how involved she was willing to get them in this mess.

Time enough to figure that out.

She was on the main road, nearly to Rockhaven, when she felt a prickling in the back of her neck. Someone was tracking her. The Hounds?

She increased her speed as much as she dared, using all her concentration to keep from sideswiping trees on the tight curves.