Page 82 of Rejected By the Winter Wolf

She crosses her arms. “We need to stop at a rest area in the next twenty minutes or I’ll pee on your seats.” Her lips quirk. “I don’t think your sister would like that too much. She’d think I’m marking my territory like a dog. Would your wolf be into that?”

“For the love of God,” I mutter. It’s a visual I certainly don’t need, but my wolf does like the idea that she wants to mark her territory.

She smiles at me.

My heart—and cock—leap.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

I press the truck even faster, ignoring when it shudders as we pass a hundred miles an hour. Her smile slowly fades, replaced with suspicion.

We come up on a rest stop too quickly. Two miles. Then one.

Suddenly, the car with the wolf shifters is right behind me, keeping up with the truck.

“There will be another one,” I say under my breath.

“Kian–”

I put my hand on her thigh, and for once, it shuts her up. In the rearview mirror, I can see two shifters in the car. Their heartbeats confirm it.

We fly by the rest stop, and she groans.

There’s traffic up ahead. Not much, but more than I’ve encountered so far. I use it to brush off the car following us, and a semi truck switches into the fast lane behind me to pass another.

It gives me an opportunity to put distance between us, and I take it. Astra’s hand lands on top of mine. I don’t want to tell her what’s happening and have her freak out on me. We’ve already been through a lot.

When the car is finally out of my range, I let out a little sigh. I don’t ease up on our speed, though. It’s reckless to drive this fast with Astra next to me, but I have to keep her safe. There’s no other reason we’d be accosted.

“This one.” She points to a sign that announces another rest stop in five miles. “Please.”

“Okay. Fine.”

We come up on it in record time, and I reluctantly lift my foot from the gas pedal. The exit road splits into two lanes, and I follow the sign for passenger vehicles. The rest area is small, with just a few vending machines, bathrooms, and some fenced in areas for dogs.

I wrinkle my nose.

The first scent to hit me when we step out of the truck all the way at the far end is shifter. I don’t recognize the scent, though. And this being a rest stop on a thoroughfare, in the middle of nowhere, there’s bound to be a pack out here.

Maybe a small one.

Or just some wolves passing through.

Either way, I don’t have enough evidence to force her back into the car.

Before I can circle around, she hops down and hurries for the restroom.

“Astra,” I growl. “Wait.”

She pauses for me to catch up with her. I expand my senses. Nothing stands out, but that doesn’t mean shit. She eyes me like I’m acting weird, and I can’t really blame her.

I follow her to the restroom, then overtake her and go in first.

“This is for women,” she snips.

I check all the stalls, examine the space, then wave her in. There are no windows she could feasibly get through. The door is the only entrance and exit.

“I’ll be outside.”