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“No kidding, Sparks,” West said. “Do you want to headback?”
I couldn’t tell if he meant the question seriously or as a jab. “Is that really an option?” Isaid.
He gave a choked laugh. “I guess that depends on how much diplomacy matters toyou.”
“I’m not thinking about diplomacy. I’m thinking about not getting uskilled.”
“Believe me, that’s at the top of my priority list too. Any brilliant suggestions for how to weight theodds?”
They might be calling us to this parlay to try to slaughter me and the alphas the way the rogues had failed to. Or they might honestly be willing to negotiate some kind of peace. Ha. On the other hand, if wedidn’tshow up, we were pretty much ensuring that they’d immediately attack the shifter community again. Horrible situation or awful situation. I’ll take neither,please!
Of course,thatdefinitely wasn’t an option. I sighed. “I didn’t even know vampires existed a month ago. Shouldn’t you have a better idea than Ido?”
“I don’t think you’d like the idea I’m having,” Westmuttered.
What the hell was that supposed tomean?
Just then, the phone’s alert went off again. The guy in the back made a disgruntled sound. “Another truck full of the bloodsuckers showed up. And they’re fanning out around the crossroads. Blending into the darkness like they do, but our people can scent them. It looks like they’re planning on having us surrounded after wearrive.”
That didn’t sound like preparation for an honest conversation. West and I exchanged a glance. His expression had gone evengrimmer.
“We can’t meet them like that,” I said, braced for another snarkycomment.
But the wolf shifter nodded. “No. There are risks and then there’s insanity. Bertrand, is there anywhere decent to park between here andthere?”
His lieutenant scanned the area on a phone map. “There’s an old gas station a couple miles down the road. Out of business, so there won’t be anyone there, and the lot looks a decentsize.”
“That’s our place, then. Tell the other cars to convenethere.”
“And then what?” Iasked.
West’s smile was still grim. “Then we tell the vampires we’ve met them close enough to halfway, and if they want us, they can come to us, on groundwechose. And if they try any funny business while they’re arriving, we deal with themthen.”
“The guns,” one of the guys in the back said, and cut himself off with a swipe across his mouth as if worried he sounded toonervous.
“If the vamps start firing, we should get out of there,” I said. “Everyone in the cars, head back to the estate. Tell them thattoo.”
The second I stopped speaking, I wondered if I’d crossed a line, giving orders to West’s kin. But he didn’t comment. I guessed that meant he agreed with the plan. He’d pressed his foot to the gas, speeding up so we’d reach our new destination sooner. The sky was almost fully blacknow.
“I’ll cover everyone,” I added. “Lay down some fire of my own to hold them off while the rest of you are gettingaway.”
West’s gaze shot to me again. “Don’t be stupid, Ren. You’ll need to get out of there too. You’re the last one we can afford tolose.”
“I’m the most likely one to make sure we don’t lose anyone,” I said. “I can dodge a fewbullets.”
“You haven’t faced guns like thisbefore.”
He wasn’t entirely wrong. But my mind slid back to Fisher, the guy I’d stolen for in exchange for food and shelter alongside a bunch of other street kids when I’d been fending for myself after Mom had disappeared. To the revolver he’d always kept shoved in the back of his jeans. To the guns I’d caught glimpses of on some of his colleagues when they’d come tocollect.
“You don’t know what I’ve seen before this. I’d bet I’ve seen more guns than youhave.”
“That doesn’t mean you should throw yourself at them,” Westsnapped.
I tensed, but he looked immediately chagrined. Because he regretted saying that to me or he regretted saying it that way in front of his kin? Who knew? But I felt, underneath the tense anticipation coiled through his body, a quiver ofconcern.
Maybe he didn’t want to put all his faith in me to save his kin. Maybe he didn’t trust my ideas. But whatever the case, he was also at least a little bit worried aboutme.
The retort that had been on my tongue wisped away. “I’m not looking to get shot,” I said, my voice softening. “I’ll only do what I have to, to make sure we all get out. And all of us includesme.”
