“Why does your skin turn colors?” Lucyasked.
He told her about purebreds, what happened tothem when they were enraged, and about mates.
“And Melanie is your mate?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“So, this color thing won’t happen tome?”
“No.”
“Good.”
“I have to find a phone,” he said.
“And how do you plan to do that?” Lucyasked.
He had no idea, but it had to happen. “Let’ssee if we can find a car.”
“Lead the way.”
They stayed parallel to the road as they ranthrough the woods together. He remembered seeing a couple of housesand apartment complexes on their way to the grocery store, and itwasn’t long before they came across the first house.
He was on the outskirts of a garage when afloodlight turned on and dogs started barking. Slipping back intothe shadows, Kyle blended into the night and rejoined Lucy in thewoods. They couldn’t have the cops arriving again.
They moved on to the next house, but thereweren’t any cars in the driveway. At the third house, there weretwo cars parked outside; both were locked. When they arrived at thefirst apartment complex, he searched through four unlocked vehiclesbut didn’t locate any keys.
At the next apartment complex, he hit paydirt when he discovered a set of keys tucked under the seat of abeat-up truck. He stepped away from the pickup and waved at Lucy asshe closed the door on another car.
She ran over to join him and jumped into thepassenger seat as he climbed behind the wheel and started thetruck. He shifted into reverse and pulled out of the parkinglot.
On the drive here, he’d been careful, andthey’d taken the time to make pitstops, but he wouldn’t do eitherof those things tonight. If he got pulled over, he felt strongenough to change the memories of whatever police officer stoppedthem.
Lucy gripped the oh-shit handle over her headand braced her foot against the floor when he pushed the truck upto ninety miles an hour. It vibrated so much he was convinced itwould rattle a few screws out, but he didn’t ease up on thegas.
“We’re not going to catch them before theyget to the facility,” Lucy said.
“I know.”
She looked about to say more but closed hermouth and leaned back in the seat like she was trying to melt intoit. It wasn’t until they were a good twenty miles down the roadthat he glanced at the gas gauge, and his heart sank. The truckonly had a quarter of a tank left. There was no way it would getthem back to the facility, and he couldn’t stop at a gasstation.
He stared at the gauge as if he could will itto be more, but the needle kept moving lower. “The gas in thisthing isn’t going to get us much farther,” he said.
“Of course it isn’t,” Lucy muttered. “Nothingelse about this has been easy; why would it start now?”
He gripped the wheel so tight that even withthe red and black color covering his skin, his knuckles turnedwhite. He hunched forward as he resisted tearing the wheel from thetruck and smashing it off the dashboard.
“Will her father kill her?” he asked.
“Before you, I would have said absolutelynot. The man is a maniac, and so is my mother, but I didn’t thinkhe would ever hurt Melanie. I also never thought he’d lock her awaylike he did and put her through the kind of interrogation he did,but I was wrong. I have no idea what either of them are capable ofanymore.”
Kyle closed his eyes and took a deep breathas his fangs lengthened and bloodlust thrummed through his system.“I have to contact my family; we’re going to need help getting intothat facility.”
“How do you plan on getting in there? Ifthey’re here, then I’m going to assume they got the Savages backunder control, the place is guarded, and the gate is eitherrepaired or well on its way to being repaired.”
“I’ll tear that fence down with my bare handsif I have to.”
“They’re all heavily armed.”
