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She gets up, taking her phone out as she leaves the room.
“I should check on Leo,” Ivy says, suddenly, as if she just remembered about him. “He crashed pretty early. If he’s awake, I’ll bring him back down with me.”
“He’s in the room next to yours,” Noah says.
“Great. That’s perfect, thanks.” Ivy leaves the room.
“I’ll go grab some chips from the pantry,” Cheryl says. “I’ll see if there’s anything else for a late-night snack.”
I’m pretty sure no one’s hungry, but she seems to need something do, so I don’t try to stop her.
Noah gets up and grabs a soda from the fridge.
Vi’s still passed out cold on the couch.
I look at Oscar’s flask on the table, remembering the day I gave him it. I could see he needed an anchoring object, and at the time it seemed appropriate. His eyes lit up when I gave him it and he saw his initials carved into the metal. It might not be something he can use in a practical way anymore, but it still belongs to him. I tell myself it only needs to stay on this table waiting for Oscar for a day. He’ll be home to collect it by this time tomorrow.
While the Alpha who took him will be nothing more than a pile of blood and bones.
It’s exactly what that fucker deserves.
Chapter Eighty-One
Oscar
Thedrivetomynew home is tense. I’m stuck next to one of the big, silent, Betas in the backseat of a car that has a weird, unidentifiable smell that stings my nostrils and makes me sneeze like I have allergies. With the scowls my new friend gives me every time I unexpectedly have a nasal explosion, it seems they’re no less surprising to him than they are to me.
“I think I’m allergic to something in this car,” I blurt.
“You’ll quieten down unless you want to find out if you’re allergic to my fists,” Mr. Big and Bad in the back seat mutters at me.
“Knuckle sandwiches are actually quite tasty,” I tell him with a sliver of regret.
He growls, and I brace myself for a bruise.
“Don’t you dare use hands on him,” The Alpha commands from the passenger seat.
There’s a hint of threat in his voice and something deadly in his eyes when he turns his head.
I suspect his concern for my welfare is more about how harming me might look to the Council of Witches, than it is a statement of his character. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad we’re all out of knuckle sandwiches in this car, but I still have my doubts about what my life is going to look like from now on.
The Beta gives me another scowl when his leader turns his back.
I turn my head to look out the window. I watch the landscape fly past, all traces of familiarity disappearing from sight. Nothing but trees and fields line the empty road that takes me toward my new home. No other cars pass us on the way there. We’re the only ones out here.
It’s kind of spooky, especially when it starts to get dark.
Eventually signs of an actual town come into sight.
Buildings, streetlights, fences.
I pay a little more attention, trying to take in the details of the town as we fly past a long line of houses in the dark. We’re still way past the speed limit. The Beta in the driver’s seat doesn’t show any signs of slowing down until we get to the front gates of what looks like a large estate.
Then, he practically needs to do an emergency stop.
My seatbelt cuts in hard as my ass lifts off the seat and drops back down. My stomach lurches and I bite back a sudden urge to puke. Fuck, that was close. Almost threw up on my new Alpha. What a first impression that would make. I look around.
No one else seems to notice or care that we just went from sixty to zero in two seconds flat. Must be his regular driving style. Maniac.
