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“Are you going to run again?”
The pain in his mental voice brought her up short. From the moment she’d left him at the house she’d felt alone, lost and a whole lot less safe even knowing he was behind her, and they be together again soon. It hadn’t been enough. “I’m not going to run. We’re in this together.”
He crushed her against his chest. His emotions hit her with a rush and in that moment, she knew what he feared, the only thing he feared… continuing his life without her. “I won’t let you down, my mate.”He slowly released her, letting her back out of his hug until he only held her hands. “I’ll need to distract the one following you. We’ll split up and meet back at my motel.”
“What if he knows where that is?”
“He doesn’t. No one does.”He pressed a key into her palm. “You go first to the Falling Sand motel out on Rte 595 and Jasmine. I’ll take your bike and lead this guy the other way. If it’s another assassin, he’ll be looking to take you out. He’ll follow me on the bike when we split up. You should be able to get away clean in my Charger.”Zeven brushed a kiss over her cheek.“I’ll join you at the motel when it’s done.”
Something about the way he said it… Her stomach knotted up with anxiety.“Are you going to kill him?”
“I’m going to keep you safe.”His non-answer was enough of a confirmation.
The knot in her stomach went from cold to hot.“There has to be another way.”She remembered the dead boy and her doubts about how he’d died. He’d had his whole life ahead of him. Sure, he was making a mistake this morning, a big one, but now… He’d never get the chance to grow up and become a better man.”
“Harley, it is the only way.”
“It can’t be. There has to be another choice.”She’d become a doctor to save people. So far, the guy in the sedan hadn’t done anything but scare her. What if he wasn’t a killer? What if he just had the bad luck to accidentally run into her? He could be investigating the attack at the bar. He might even have been looking for her to be sure she was alright.“Please don’t kill anyone else.”
“I can’t promise that.”He caught her jaw and forced her gaze to meet his. His expression was worried and conflicted.
Maybe he didn’t want to kill anyone. He just didn’t see any other choices. She was the one who limited him to the only one option.“We don’t have to stay any longer. We’ll leave Vegas together, today, right now. Let’s just lose the guy and skip town.”
His face hardened. “Harley, even if we leave, they will follow us. There is only one way to stop them.”
“No! There has to be another way. Can’t we just tell them that I’m your mate? Won’t that make them stop hunting me?”She gripped his jacket.
He nuzzled her neck.“Maybe.”While the reply was hesitant and less than optimistic, his emotions were absolutely certain. Maybe there was something he knew that she didn’t, but he was sure they wouldn’t let her escape.“For now, let’s lose this guy and meet at the motel. We’ll think of something.”
“You won’t kill him?”
He sighed and his warm breath blew over her collarbone.“I won’t, not unless I have to.”
She wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him with all her strength. It might have been a small concession, but she could tell that he was truly trying to hear what she was saying. Trying to understand her way of thinking.“Thank you, Zeven. I’ll see what I can think of on the way to the motel.”
“Don’t get lost in thought either…”He frowned.“Ignore that. I know you won’t. Just be careful and stay safe.”He leaned in and kissed her.
Damn fine kiss too… His fingers buried in her hair, holding her head in place while his gentle lips opened her. On and on they kissed. The best kiss. Not too hard or soft, just all Zeven.
Slowly they came apart.“Are you ready?”
Words wouldn’t come, so she nodded.“Be careful with my bike.”And the bag which held her life. Damn. If only she could grab that on the way to the car. Maybe then this wouldn’t seem so dangerous, so likely to end badly. It was a familiar feeling.“Wait!”
Zeven turned back her way with a worried frown.
“Does this all feel like the day your family found us? You told me almost the same thing, that you’d lead them away and that everything would be okay. Do you remember how it went wrong?”
“Yes.”There was the feeling of pain and regret to his thought, as if she were blaming him again for things he couldn’t change.
She slipped her finger under the neckline of her shirt, to tug out the snake talisman he’d given her all those years ago.“This time is different. This time we’re not running. You don’t run and I’m staying with you.”She pressed a quick kiss to his lips, pulled back and took off for his car.“Now get going, Zeven, and stay safe because when we both get to this motel, I have plans for you and that body.”
She reached the car in record time and found the keys still in the ignition. Her bike rumbled to life just before she turned the car over and drowned out the sound with the Charger’s own noise.
Funny how Zeven drove an old muscle car, that just happened to be one of her favorites. She shifted and flew out of the parking lot with a spray of loose gravel. She couldn’t help grinning when Zeven raced out of the lot on the bike. His wild zigzag path made it hard to make out any details. She turned the Charger up the onramp heading east just as Zeven shifted and roared past her toward the west bound ramp.
The only problem was the damn sedan followed her.
Shit. The Charger jumped under her encouragement. Accelerating, she was quickly over ninety and barreling between traffic on the interstate. She shifted gears and dodged in front of a semi to take an exit at the last possible second. To avoid the cars stopped at the light she drove over the curb and through the light to swing back onto the interstate going west, back toward Vegas.
