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“I’m leaving plenty for the rest of you,” Nate said from somewhere behind him. Marco dipped his head and shut the dooragain.
Did his expression look a little tighter than usual? Something about his stance had felt off.Hewasn’t upset seeing me with Aaron, was he? He knew how this was supposed to work just as well as the othersdid.
Probably it was my insecurities messing with my head. Out of the four guys, Marco seemed theleastlikely to get possessive. The way he carried himself, the way he talked, I was pretty sure he hadn’t let a little discomfort stop him from enjoying all the pleasures of the body with other women while he’d waited those sixteen years forme.
Aaron straightened up, tugging me with him. He slid his fingers into my hair and kissed me again, on the lips this time. His mouth lingered against mine just long enough for me to start wishing we could launch into a sequel to last night’s activities right now. Then he pulled back with a sheepish smile. His blond hair was delightfully rumpled. I couldn’t resist ruffling it a little more for goodmeasure.
He laughed. “I guess we really should get some breakfast. We don’t know what’s waiting for us inSunridge.”
Right. My giddiness faded as nervous anticipation coiled around my gut. I clambered out of the van. Nate looked up from where he was scraping at fried eggs on a metal sheet over the fire, the corners of his lips curling up when he caught my eye. Oh, he knew what I’d gotten up to with Aaron last night, all right. And from the slant of West’s eyebrows as he very definitelydidn’tmeet my eyes, it was obvious the wolf shifter didtoo.
Well, we hadn’t exactly tried to hide our new intimacy. What else did I expect? It was only going to get weirder as I accepted each of the others as mates too... whenever I felt ready to dothat.
I had plenty of other bigger concerns to tackle first. “How far off are we from Sunridge?” I asked the camp atlarge.
Aaron got out his phone to check the map, but West spoke up first. “About two hours, depending on the roads. Are you in a hurry,Sparks?”
I gave him a pointed look. “I’ve been wanting to know what happened to my mother for seven years,Wolfie. So yeah, I might be a littleimpatient.”
Marco snickered at the nickname, and Nate covered a guffaw. West glowered at me. “I guess you’d better get eatingthen.”
Nate handed me a plate, and I gulped down the flame-cooked eggs with one of the rolls the villagers had sent us off with. We piled into the SUV, West and Aaron taking their original places up front. “Come join me, Princess of Flames,” Marco said, patting the middle seat beside him, so I did. As Nate climbed into the back and West started the ignition, the jaguar shifter squeezed my knee briefly—just long enough to send a spark of heat up myleg.
Marco grinned at me, looking more relaxed now. I smiled back, but the view beyond the windshield pulled my gaze away. Down the road, where the forest thinned, tall mountains rose. A faint dusting of snow gleamed on the highest of the dark gray peaks. Sunridge lay just beyond that firstrange.
“Have you remembered anything that might explain why your mom sent us on this little road trip?” Macroasked.
I shook my head. “I don’t think she ever mentioned Wyoming. Are there any important shifter communitiesnearby?”
“Not that I’m aware of. But I’m sure the dragon shifters kept a few secrets tothemselves.”
He took my hand as we drove on, idly trailing his fingers back and forth over my palm, but he didn’t push for any more contact than that. As much as I enjoyed the warmth of his touch, I was too distracted towantmore.
Two hours, and I might finally get some answers. I might even see Mom again. The jitters of anticipation returned, fluttering around mystomach.
West eased on the gas as the road narrowed. It veered up, winding along a pass between two of the mountains. Stray rocks rattled against the SUV’s undercarriage. The sunlight dimmed, hidden behind the southernpeak.
“There’s someone on the road,” Aaron said. West slowed the car even more. He hit the button to lower his window and inhaled to scent the air. I leaned forward, peering between the front seats. A figure was standing in our lane a few hundred feet ahead of us—a young guy who didn’t look much past histeens.
“He’s one of us,” West said. “Feline from the smell of him.” He glanced back at Marco. “Do you knowhim?”
“Right,” Marco drawled. “Because all us feline-kin must know each other.” He narrowed his eyes. “No, he doesn’t look familiar, but that doesn’t meanmuch.”
“Can you tell if he’s one of the rogues?” I asked. “How do you know who’s kin and whoisn’t?”
“Kin take a mark of loyalty, like our alpha mark, on their palms,” Aaron said. “If someone once kin goes rogue, the mark fades. We’ll need to get closer toknow.”
“I don’t like this,” Nate said from behind me. “It’s too much of acoincidence.”
“I don’t like it either,” West said. “But some of my kin back in the village knew where we were headed. They might have passed on word if there was bad news from another group. I can’t just run the guy over withoutknowing.”
“Well, you could,” Marco said. “If he’s anyone’s kin, he’s mine. You have my full permission to plow right into him. If he’s got half a survival instinct, he’ll jump out of the way intime.”
“Right,” West said with an obvious edge of sarcasm. “That’ll really improve kin-grouprelations.”
Marco dragged in a breath. “Whatever you want, wolf boy. He’s just a bobcat. I’m sure between the four of us we can take him if we needto.”
But could we take whatever allies the stranger might have lurking nearby? My body tensed as we came up on the guy, the SUV rolling to a stop. I scanned the mountainside along the road. Nothing moved, but there were way too many crags and boulders that could be concealing anenemy.
