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“Who’s coming? And how does Natalie know anything?”
“I don’t know. Natalie could have talked to Theia or heard something from her own mother. Does anyone know we came here? Did you tell anyone?”
Alek shook his head. I could see the tightness in his jaw as he debated our options.
“Nobody knows where we are.” He instantly pulled himself out of bed, grabbing his shirt from the floor and pulling it over his head. “But we better move just in case.”
I took the hint and did the same, quickly dressing myself and running my hands through my messy hair.
I didn’t think about last night. I didn’t think about Alek’s hands on my body, scavenging every inch.
I shut the door to the bathroom and splashed the cold sink water onto my face. I stayed there for a few seconds before Alek knocked lightly. “Ly?” he asked. “Open up.”
My hands shook as I cracked the door, just enough for him to see my face.
“Hey,” he said with a calm voice. He tripped the wooden door and pushed it open the rest of the way. I let him. He reached out and held my face with both hands, running his thumbs across my cheekbones. “You okay?”
I nodded, but my throat tightened. Alek leaned forward and placed a light kiss on my forehead. We stayed like that for a few seconds. He still smelled like old pine, even after all of the traveling yesterday and the night we had. I breathed him in and tried to relax.
“We’ll be running forever,” I stated.
“Maybe,” he replied. “But at least we’ll be living.”
I pulled back and looked into his deep, green eyes. “Is that what you want? What will really happen to you, Alek, if you turn on everything? Your father needs me to open the veil.”
Alek shook his head, his thumbs making another sweep across my delicate skin. “I was on board with the idea when you were just a stranger, Lyra. But you’re not a stranger anymore. I can’t drag you back there for my father to use however he pleases.”
I gripped his wrists. “We’ll be running from very powerful people.”
Alek’s smile was contagious, even as we were about to run for our lives. “Doesn’t that sound exciting? Come on. We should get going.”
Hand in hand, Alek led me to the motel door.
Alek opened it, and sunlight flooded the room.
“I wondered when you two lovebirds would decide to wake up.”
ChapterThirty-Seven
Theia leaned back against the hood of her car with her arms crossed.
“What are you doing here?” Alek demanded.
“I think the better question is what are you doing here?” she pushed back. “And why are you with my daughter?”
“I’m saving her,” he replied. He tugged on my hand lightly, pulling my body behind his.
Theia laughed. “Saving her?” she repeated. “You call using her to drop the veil ‘saving’?”
Alek shook his head. “My father’s ambitions are not my own. Your daughter deserves more than sitting chained up in a basement somewhere.”
Heat rushed to my cheeks.
Theia pushed herself from the hood of the car and stepped forward. Her eyes dragged over Alek’s body, taking in every feature for the first time. “Oh, Lyra,” she said without taking her eyes off him. “You really fell for this?” She stepped forward again, moving inhumanly fast, and gripped Alek’s chin. He growled but didn’t fight back. “This pretty-boy act?” My heart pounded faster in my chest. “You made it too easy for her, didn’t you?” she asked him. “You made it too easy for my daughter to walk right into your little trap.”
Alek shook his head and ripped himself from her grasp. “Your daughter makes her own choices now.”
“Does she?” Theia’s gaze fell to me. “Please, tell me. Did she make her own choices when you bit her? When you forced her into becoming part of your rancid ‘pack’?” Alek’s jaw tightened. “Right. That’s what I thought.”
